Home Alarm Advice

[benos]

Brian.. did you go ahead with this?

I've been sitting on the fence so long.. time to act.

No, still dragging... Going to actually write it down, TO DO.

be

[benos]

Searching for "ademco wireless home alarm"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=ademco+wireless+home+alarm+system&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

- clicking through the results is a bit overwhelming. At this point all I want is a Keypad and 2 wireles detectors, and a siren. Maybe I should just pick one of the sites and call them.

And I'd think installing a system as simple as that would be pretty easy to do.

What are the vibes on a monitoring service. On one hand, like was mentioned, the typical $20/month fees can add up. On the other hand, it seems that when the siren goes off, the theif would assume the police are on their way.

[sci]

My thoughts on monitoring are to have it call my cell phone which is on me 24/7 if it armed as "away" and not sound the siren. I'm capable of calling my local police department and telling them I have a silent alarm triggered and then when it is armed as "stay" have it sound the alarm to get our attention and Sarah, Sue and I can deal with the problem.

Steve

Edited September 16, 2010 by sci

[Nik Habicht]

I like monitoring simply for the eventual fire response -- but that assumes that there are smoke/CO, etc. detectors incorporated in the system....

[ninemmbill]

Lots of good sugestions so far. Here is just one more. Check with your local police department to see what their response / SOP's / protocal is for dealing with burglar alarms. Where I live, local police do not respond to residential burglar alarms. So unless the alarm company has its own armed response, no one else is going to show up.

[sperman]

What do you guys recommend as a substitute for motion detectors if you have dogs lose in the house?

[Pro2AInPA]

What do you guys recommend as a substitute for motion detectors if you have dogs lose in the house?

Bright flood lights outside the home on motion detectors is a good deterrent and early warning system.

[Chris Keen]

What do you guys recommend as a substitute for motion detectors if you have dogs lose in the house?

Depending on how big the dogs are, you can find motion detectors that are specifically made to ignore pets up to 50 pounds or so. I have also had good luck taking a regular motion detector and turning it upside down so it only "looks" out and up, instead of out and down. This will work well for dogs that spend most of their time on the floor, but for cats or any dog that likes to jump up on furniture you may still have problems depending on how sensitive it is set.

[Jman]

Amazing threat detection skill set.

His "alarm bark" is from the gods. You can actually feel it.

Very low maintenance BUT a giant handful due to his strength.