I'd like some advice on Burglar alarms. I'd like to help secure a small 900SF rental house. I suppose a couple of wireless door sensors and a couple of wireless motion sensors.
I'm confused about standards and intercompatibility. Are there any?
I'm looking at something like this:
Jeff
I would think you'd have to change batteries or at least check them every year. Would be a PITA with all these individual units.
Go to a well known dealer like this...
What would you assume you are are going to get with an "all this for less than $100" unknown brand unknown dealer deal?
Is the house empty, or rented out, or what???
Are you the landlord or the tenant in this 900 s.f. house ?
If you are the tenant you will need to discuss this addition with your landlord and obtain permission as the installer/dealer is going to need consent from the property owner to install the control box and phone dialer for central monitoring...
If you are the landlord don't be cheap about this... If you are looking to invest in your rental home and add an amenity then go through a local alarm company dealer which will be around to service your system in the future if something ever goes wrong with it...
~~ Evan
"Evan" wrote
This type of system has no dealer or installer. It is plugged into the phone nad there is an AC adapter for power. I don't see where the homeowner needs to give consent for anything.
Our alarm company charges $90 an hour for service. This entire system sell for $93. Sure, it may not be quite as effective as a monitored system, but a blasting siren solves most break-in problems.
...and a blasting from a gun solves the rest.
I installed a wireless one back in the 80s made by Schlage in my condo. Overall, it worked OK and served it's purpose. Except one time it did malfunction while I was away on a business trip, set off the siren, and failed to reset. After neighbors called me, I had to get my cleaning lady to go over and cut the wires to the siren to stop it.
If it's a property you are renting, you may need to get permission from the landlord to install it. For example, how are you going to mount window and door sensors? You need to either screw them on or glue them on. The former being obviously more reliable. Once you do that, expect the system to then be left behind when you leave. If you go only with a motion sensor type system, then you may be able to avoid those issues.
To answer the question about compatibility and mixing modules from one manufacturer with another, I highly doubt that is possible. AFAIK, I've never heard about any standards. And alarm companies tend to closely guard their technology and want to keep everything proprietery. I'd just make sure that whatever one you choose you can get every module you want from the one company, which should not be hard.
Overall, the wireless ones while being low cost, do have some disadvantages:
less reliable than hard wired less likely to be eligible for an insurance discount possibly more likely to be falsely tripped
And all alarm systems have some disadvantages, mainly false tripping. Think about who is going to come find out what's wrong when the thing dials you or the neighbors call because the siren won't stop. And weigh that versus what you have to lose that this kind of system might avoid.
A little background: I've come into a small inheritance (my brother and myself took care of Mom in her house rather than a nursing home).
It's a great time to buy houses if you have cash, a bad time if you don't. I have a house I just acquired with tenants (previous owner just dropped 10K in improvements it, nicely done, my price 17K). Next week, I'll be buying an unoccupied house. Good neighbors though. In addition, I have my own house. I'd like to put an alarm in each. I've looked at several and they seem to have similar to identical features. I know a bit about electronics and most electronics are designed using the same chips or chip families, the ergonomics are different and the discreet component that "glue" it together are different, but the core logic/functionality is identical. I'm thinking this may be the case here.
I'm thinking one or two motion sensors and the door sensors. The window sensors I think are a pain, and the motion detector should pick it up. I think we are now in the wireless age and I'm down with not crawling through a crawl space. These alarms seem to let you set rules for different zones, so some may trip an alarm and some will just log the intrusion.
But I have no actual experience with them...
Jeff
On Sun 15 Aug 2010 06:49:02a, Jeff Thies told us...
Our current system has all wireless contacts for windows, doors, and motion/body heat detectors, as well as smoke detectors. All transmit back to the central panel. The siren is also wirelss. If desired, all the window and door contacts can be mounted using adhesive velcro tape, so there is no defacing of the surfaces. Our system is monitored with a phone line connection, but similar standalone systems are availalble without the monitoring feature. Most systems have a CO2 detector available if you have gas appliances. Our complete system cost only $149. Monitoring is $29/mo.
Because you are attaching things to doors, door frames, windows and window frames and adding a very loud noise making device for which your landlord as the registered owner of the property becomes legally responsible for after it is installed... If it keeps going off, the landlord and not the tenant is going to be cited for the noise issues... Therefore since it is their property and NOT the tenants they should have the right to impose reasonable restrictions on what kind of system is installed and who does the installing...
Renting is not owning, you do not have the "right" to do whatever you want with a rental property as a tenant, your rights are restricted by local laws and the terms of your rental/lease agreement...
~~ Evan
Which system (brand name)?
Jeff
If desired,
On Tue 17 Aug 2010 02:45:52a, Jeff Thies told us...
Our system components were made by Honeywell and installed by ADT.
Thanks! Jeff
On Tue 17 Aug 2010 08:10:38p, Jeff Thies told us...
You're welcome!
Not true. I had a wireless system and the sensors were installed with double sided tape.
Even window sensors installed with double sided tape are likely to damage the paint. At least if the the adhesive is strong enough to be reliable and they are left there for a couple years or more. I found both of those conditions to be true with the Schlage sensors I used. I then had to use contact cement to keep them in place. And if one falls off, it will trip the alarm.
I'd say do not bother with an alarm system. They almost never prevent or stop anything. They have hundreds of thousands of false alarms to one real one. Around here our local government has created a "fee" if the police get called out to your house more than x times for a false alarm. Find something else to "improve" your property with.
The home had aluminum windows and the sensors never fell off after the
3 yrs that I used the system.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.