Security Guy » Alarms

Alarm Systems

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:51:45 +0000

It’s alarming how much spam you can find on the net when searching for good alarm systems. You have to sift through dozens, hundreds of websites – some e-commerce, some even useless with zero good content. It will greatly help me offer quality content if you let me know in the comments what were you looking for when you got to this post! I want to help my readers as much as possible with every single post I shoot on the net.

When considering security for your home, you need to consider all types of risks – fire alarms, smoke alarms, burglar alarms – and it’s best to find a provider who does all that and can sell you everything you need from one brand – which is important for quality and compatibility reasons. You should really steer off from DIY systems as they tend to break much more often and you can’t blame anyone for their failure except yourself and the person who built the initial design and published it on the web. Which won’t help in the end.

The top 5 alarm security system manufacturers are (I’m not getting paid to recommend any of them):

ADT
ADT is the leading electronic security services company in the U.S. If more than half the biggest US banks trust them, it’s also a good idea for you too. Their support is awesome and talking with them on the phone usually gets you what you’re searching at a pretty good price. Definitely recommend. Their home security and small business protection systems are top of the line – they even offer a free security review (heck, after the amount of money they expect to get from you is huge, they sure as hell should offer free reviews and they do)! You just call them, set up an appointment and a security specialist will be with you in a convenient time. Yes, their website is a bit shallow – but I guess what’s behind it is much more important than the way they present themselves on the Web. Being the biggest is often backed by some serious proof – and they have it.

DSC
This company

Incoming search terms:

adt security reviews

Intruder Alarm Systems

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:00:21 +0000

I talked previously about the topic of “do burglar alarms work“, but this post will be something different.

Burglars love to go undisturbed and usually pick easy and insecure targets. For example ones with weak doors, frequently absent owners, no dog, little to no present neighbors. Your only source of protection in a situation like that is installing an alarm system – preferably an active vs. passive, but I’m not sure it will be legal in your state.

In such cases you turn to getting domestic alarm systems – preferably of good quality and fair price.

By definition, an “active alarm” is one which would disable the thief – there are such based on gas, electricity, some even spray the burglar with fuel and light them on fire! Yea, I’ve seen them and they’re damn serious. The trouble is, you may come in drunk someday and forget about the active alarm… it lights you on fire! You can pretty much see where this could go if used without caution… and it’s only recommended if there are very, very serious risks which can’t be taken into account without employing an active alarm.

All others are considered “passive” – they don’t take any action against the thieves except probably blowing their ears with a thunder-loud siren – which is something I’ve always recommended. Sure, if it goes off on a false alarm you will experience some inconvenience, but security comes with it’s own glitches, you can’t avoid that. The more security you install, the more alarm systems you set up to repel criminals, the more trouble you will have to go through in your day-to-day life.

Incoming search terms:

Motion detector false alarms

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:11:42 +0000

2 years ago I got robbed – and as tragic as it was, I had to deal with it somehow.

The door was broken into and a lot of valuables were taken out – so I had to figure out a way to repel any criminals who might wish to come back and take more (there were still things they could take and probably didn’t out of a hurry). I had a choice – spend a boatload of money on security cameras and alarm equipment or buy something cheap to do the job.

Can you guess what I chose?

In this particular case I was renting the place and didn’t want to invest much into it’s security. I still had to protect myself somehow though.. so I chose to pick a fake motion-activated camera – really cool, as you pass in front of it, it would flash a tiny red light as if it was filming.

It looked exactly like this one – http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/488665470-FREE-SHIPPING-wholo-world-Home-office-No-induction-camera-Security-LED-Fake-Camera-wholesalers.html

I put 2 duracells in it and stuck it at the ceiling in front of my door – and trust me, it was very impressive! All my neighbors were asking me how expensive was this “security camera”, how was I storing the recorded video, etc – nobody ever suspected it was fake. Cool, huh?

How do burglar alarms work?

admin — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:36:22 +0000

Do cheap burglar alarms work well? That question has most probably crossed your mind if you’re reading this. The answer depends on the type of burglar alarm you have (or plan on buying) and on the intellectual properties of the particular criminal who may have a desire to enter your home.

The simple rule is: the cheaper, the higher the chance of failure. Yes, the alarm will work when your dog activates it accidentally but it will most probably not work when someone enters your hose with the desire to steal something.

and the answer is… YES! They do. You already know that, the question is which work best and which underperform under certain conditions. Education is always good! When searching for burglar alarms on AliExpress, look for kits with positive reviews and also look for the ones with the most sales (there’s a filter for that).

Types of burglar alarms

They are best divided by the type of the sensor used:

Indoor:

Passive infrared detectors – most commonly used, cheapest and easiest to bypass. Good to have, but not much secure.
Ultrasonic detectors - if you can, get one of these. They’re using the Dopler effect to detect motion and are very difficult to bypass.
Microwave detectors - due to the high risk of false alarms these are often combined with passive infrared detectors. If you don’t like false alarms, don’t get one.
Photo-electric beams – bypassing these is explained on this site and thus – not recommended for home use. You’ve seen them in the movies – they get bypassed there like a … child’s play. Of course it’s not as easy in real life, but hey, why risk your security?
Glass break detectors - you can’t break a glass without triggering one of these in most cases. If you can, get these on the first floors of your property. They definitely do work.
Smoke, heat, and carbon monoxide detectors - these are used to protect you from risks of human stupidity or the nature – sure, they may work if a burglar decides to light a cigarette or light your house on fire to wipe his tracks – but that’s rarely the case.

Outdoor

Vibration (shaker) or inertia sensors - you will most likely not need one, as it’s used in military installations and such. Used to detect structure attacks – such as a broken barrier, etc. They definitely do work, but are not used for burglar protection.
Passive magnetic field detection – low false alarm rate and high sensitivity causing this alarm to be one of the most effective out there.
E-field – don’t even consider buying this one for your house. It DOES NOT WORK! I mean, really – with the high chance of false alarms and high cost, it’s illogical to get one unless you’re very very paranoid.
Microwave barriers – cheap, easy to install and really hard to bypass. But it’s sensitive to weather conditions and not really useful in the winter.
Microphonic systems – you will need it if you have a chainwire fence… not likely. Cheap but prone to false alarms too.
Taut wire fence systems - does work but it’s very expensive and complex in operation. Not recommended for your average home.
Fibre optic cable - I’m not even considering to review this one. Expensive and has a very high rate of false alarms!

Besides these, integration with cctv cameras is usually a must, as well as wireless security systems usually bound with some kind of mobile network via a sim card and a mobile phone-like device. Glass break detectors are a must if you live on the first floor – get the most reliable you can buy. Complete intruder alarm kits are available all over the net too – just search for them and you’ll find them.

Just getting a detection tool won’t give you security. You might also employ some type of an access control system – regular keys are old school – RFID has it’s own vulnerabilities, but there are other electronic access devices available, look around as I will write about them soon. Fire alarms are important too – what use is there for a burglar alarm if your property turns to ashes?

You better have several different burglar detection systems installed and couple them with a really good siren – the louder, the better. Thieves love covert operations and get really freaked out by the sound of a loud siren – so get one, power it independently so it would work even if they cut the power to your house and be safe.

Alarms do work as long as you make sure they are power independent and difficult to notice – you should not advertise the presence of detection systems unless you want them to come prepared exactly for your protections – the less the burglars know, the higher the chance of failure for them and the higher security you get.

Do cheap burglar alarms work?

It really does matter what type your burglar alarm is. Try not to be cheap on this one – as it’s not about your valuables when someone breaks into your house. I’ve been through that and I know how it feels – you feel as if your house has been raped, literally – and you feel everything being ‘dirty’ and touched by someone else – trust me, in such a case you would give anything to prevent what happened.. but it’s already done and there is no going back. You will have to deal with being robbed and it’s not a pleasant feeling.

The best you can do is prepare yourself in advance – find out what the weaknesses of your house/business are and then improve them with appropriate protection. If you have windows on the first floor it really makes no sense in buying a $10 000 door security – as all it takes is to break your window, and your door security is gone. Same goes for the alarm systems you install – make sure they are independent and really, really difficult to bypass. Think of it as if you were a thief – would you notice there is an alarm installed and could you research online on how to bypass it? If you can, then probably every regular thief can, too. And you should not allow that to happen!

Burglar alarms work only when their owner/installer has a head on their shoulders and knows how to use it. They also work best when nobody knows about them except for their owner – especially the horn / siren types.

I entered an office (legally and with a permission once) – but forgot to turn off the alarm. The sound of the siren blew my mind off – and literally caused me to run out of the building immediately – as it was unbearable and I couldn’t stand the extremely loud sound of it. There was no way I could stay there and steal something, for example – it was physically impossible. Yes, sure – the thief might be “hungry” enough and still have the nerve to steal something – but you have decreased the chances of that happening at all if you’ve installed a tremendously loud siren.

Burglar alarms function best when there is an owner who is concerned with their use and their usability, or usefulness – someone, who is not afraid to invest a couple hundred dollars more into a security system which would be difficult to notice and bypass, thus difficult to overcome.

I will probably post some burglar alarms reviews on this site in the future – in the meantime, feel free to leave your comments below!