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Do-It-Yourself Home Security?

Posted by Cliff on from the wiring-it-on-your-own dept.

pussycat asks: "Having recently purchased a home in an urban area, I am investigating monitored home security options -- I'll feel better when I'm away, and I'll get a break on my insurance. I am rejecting the big security services like Brinks because of their very high monitoring fees: $25-45+/month. I've found a cheap monitoring service (911Alarm has one for $13/month), but I'm overwhelmed by the choices for hardware. SmartHome has some nifty devices, but the hardwired stuff looks like a real pain to install, and the X10 stuff seems kind of cheesy. Does anyone have experience with setting up a do-it-yourself home security system? I'm interested in reliability (minimizing false alarms) and low-cost." Has anyone wired up their own home security system? What things should one watch out for when tackling a job like this?

4 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Print yourself some ADT stickers by xyzzy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My recommendation: find an ADT sticker, scan it, print a few, and stick it on your house. You'll get plenty of security that way.

    Avoid ADT like the plague: They will try to get you to commit to a $22/mo *3 year* contract, that will automatically roll over for two further years after that. Now, remember what they do: the alarm goes off, they call your house. If there is no answer, or the person who answers doesn't give the passcode, they call the cops. THAT'S IT. It is NOT an active monitoring system, the alarm in your house calls them -- so you are paying $22/mo for someone to answer the phone and screen false alarms.

  2. A few suggestions... by txguy1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ultrasonic/infrared motion detectors are subject to false alarms due to pets or movement of plant leaves etc when the A/C kicks on.

    Glass breakage detectors will sometimes trip if you "clink" glasses or dishes while loading a dishwasher. They also trip if you drop your keys.

    As far as monitoring: by the time the alarm company has called your home and received no answer/reached someone who doesn't know the codeword to say, and has then called the police, the burglar and your belongings will be long gone.
    Police departments assign a low priority to alarm calls from services anyway due to the prevalance of false alarms. (And some cities charge a fee per false alarm--50 bucks or so) For these reasons, I suggest foregoing the monitoring services and their subscription fees.

    How about picking up a cheap 486, installing it in a secure/hidden place and running a webcam(s) to it. Motion detecting software will save images to the harddrive which you can later retrieve so that you or the cops have an idea who broke in. Maybe you could get the images run on the local crimestoppers show. If you want to get fancy, you could include a modem and have the computer page you when the system is activated. You then call the system and see who is in your house and whether you want to call the cops.
    Good luck.

    1. Re:A few suggestions... by Anml4ixoye · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, generally speaking a lot of false alarms are generated. And I know that, from working with the fire department, we go on a lot of them. A normal house fire response would get 3 fire engines, a ladder truck, a rescue car, and a batallion chief (at least here). Fire alarms get a single engine- though still emergency - response.

      Does it make sense to do this? Well, while I can only count on one hand the number of these alarms that have turned out to be real - I can count more the number of people who have been killed or lost everything because they didn't have them.

      And since I am ranting :) - If you are going to spend a lot of money for your house - lets say your study is going to be bigger than my apartment - invest in a sprinkler system for your house too. It adds I think about 10k to the total cost, but our response area includes two neighborhoods where 3 million dollar houses are fairly common.

      And yes - you do get charged a fee for false alarms - $30 for each alarm after 3 false alarms within a given time period. Hey, mistakes happen.

      --
      Random Musings
    2. Re:A few suggestions... by BlueLightning · · Score: 3, Informative

      I work for a security equipment supply company. For that reason I won't talk about brands, but here is some information that might be useful.

      Actually, ultrasonic is rarely used these days - most motion sensors are based on PIR (Passive Infra-Red, which detects the movement of body heat patterns) or microwave (which transmit microwaves into the protected area and use the Doppler effect to measure for movement). The best kinds of motion detectors use both of these (called dual-technology sensors). Dual-technology sensors are far less prone to false alarms since both technologies have to trigger before the detector will go into alarm. Also, some motion sensors are available with pet immunity, which with some restrictions allow you to have pets in your house while the alarm is on.

      The comment about glass breakage detectors applies to acoustical glass breakage detectors only (which detect the sound of glass breaking) as opposed to shock sensors which are attached to the window or window frame and detect the sharp seismic signature of the glass breaking. I'd have to agree that acoustical sensors are usually rather indiscriminate and are not suited for all situations. They're fine for places like shop-fronts, but for homes you are better off with motion sensors, door reed switches and shock sensors for the windows.

      Monitoring: I don't know how things work in the USA, but in NZ, the police don't generally respond to alarm calls - if your alarm is monitored then the monitoring station calls a guard company, who upon arrival will detain intruders until the police arrive. They do charge for call-outs, but it amounts to about 20 USD. This is worth it since they will make sure the house is secure and you can have them call people in to fix broken windows, etc.

      If you choose quality equipment and have it professionally installed, you shouldn't have problems with false alarms. Unless you've installed alarms before, I would recommend you don't do it yourself. A lot of the DIY alarm equipment is cheap junk and should be avoided at all costs, and there are some tricky situations in installation that really require training to avoid.

      Generally, simply having an alarm is deterrent enough, and there are still enough people out there who don't bother to have one that theives will go elsewhere if they see your house has an alarm. So if you do have an alarm, make sure there are plenty of window stickers prominently displayed. Also, people tend to forget that electronic security isn't everything - make sure your physical security is up to scratch as well (decent locks, don't leave windows open, etc.)