OT Home Alarm Systems
 

Any recomendations?
The house is wired for smoke detectors, door and window switches and motion detectors the boat lift is also wired for motion detector and lift movment would like x-10 compatability

Thanks
Klaw

You have most of the hassle/labor out of the way with everything prewired. I think my controller can handle 15 zones. I know I have 11 active now.
Shop around, I'd stick with a name brand company. When I had mine installed it was through one I hadden't heard of. Price was OK but the installer never called again to see if I was happy and the monitoring company is way up in Tenn.. I was also suckered into a 5 year contract at 30.00 a month. Now that it's about to expire, and I now own all the equipment, I can look elsewhere for monitor service.

Klaw, as Iggy said as long as you stick with name brand panels you should be able to pick any monitoring service. Moose, Ademco, and FBI are brands that come to mind. Hooking them up is pretty easy. I bought my system at ADI (www.adilink.com) but I work for a reseller - I'm not sure if they will sell to individuals.

I don't have mine monitored - instead I use a siren that raises hell if somebody breaks in. I'd rather scare them off than wait for the police to arrive.

I am sorry to say but some alarm companies are like some of the engine mechanics people are *****ing about. As with engine mechanica there are a lot of good ones but watch out for the bad ones. I would say you would be better to go with someone in your area that recommends someone. When you call them ask how long they have been in business?, if they are going to sell the contract?, & who is going to do the monitoring? With some of of the big national ones if you have a problem you will never be able to talk to the same person twice. Look for someone NOT selling the contract. Most of the ones that sell the contract after you sign it are hard to get back to take care of any problems.

I do not know about your state but down here if you have a monitored fire & burglar alarm the insurance company will give you a discount that will over time pay for the system & monitoring. Having your lift & dock wired should be easy to get in system. If not there are a lot of good wireless sensors that will work.

I feel you should get all of your opening windows & doors contacted. Do not let someone just sell you motion detectors. Every year there is a TV show that keeps reairing about houses being broken into & the alarm never went off. The news stories never go into the reason alarm never went off was people never pair for ALL of the windows & doors being wired into the alarm.

So, what do you do when the thief cuts the phone line? Sorry, but I'm just not a big fan of security systems. Too many false alarms and they can be disabled too easily.

many systems have a wireless backup in them as well...

I couldn't remember the name of my system before, it's ADEMCO (thanks Cignificant). We have every door and window covered.
If you have pets in the house, don't get regular motion detectors, get the pet friendly type. I was conned into a regular motion dectector and had to have it aimed up high so the cats can't trip it, now anyone can crawl under the coverage area. What good is that?
One other thing, if you have a door from the house to the garage, don't put a sensor on it. We have, I should say, had one. We would forget that the alarm was on and go out in the garage to empty trash or do laundry. What a pain.

If you want I could give you a lot of information about alarm systems. That is my business down here, I can even sell you the equipment and you can install it your self.

N.A.S.D = National Association of Security Dealers

I am a local company here in Houston and surrounding area, our monitoring station is local as well. Our monthly monitoring is $ 15.00 to $ 17.00 per month, with no contract, the equipment is yours forever. I can walk you thru installs, and programming, we use pretty much any Major brand down here. Most companies that set you up free, charge a lot for monitoring, we can also set your system up to just page you, if you don't want the monitoring.

Moose= no longer in business
Ademco= good but quite expensive
DSC= our primary usage, www.dscsec.com
Napco= not installer/user friendly
FBI= not bad, same company as ademco now

Systems can sometimes be gotten around, they are only to detect intrusions, not to prevent. As far as phone lines go, there are several different wireless back up options, it really depends on your area. Cell phone back ups and radio are the two primary. Good thing about cell is they have greater range and can be installed in just about any part of the house. Radio's must be mounted in the highest point of the house for good signals.

Thanks
Alan

b.t.w. We have thousands of customers, 90% are referrals, the only place you will find our ad is in the phone book. We would not have this type of customer base without good referrals, and employees.

PLEASE BE SURE TO USE WIRELESS BACK UP DOWN WHERE I LIVE ITS VERY COMMON TO SIMPLY CUT PHONE LINES AND THEY CUT HORN AND STEAL YOU BLIND ,,THE CELLULAR ,WIRELESS BACK-UP WILL NAIL THEM ,,,ALSO LET THE SYSTEM MAKE AS MUCH NOISE INSIDE AS IT CAN IT REALLY STRESSES THE BAD GUYS ,ALSO A STROBE ON THE ROAD SIDE OF YOUR HOUSE HELPS THE GOOD GUYS FIND YOUR HOUSE QUICK
:D :D

Pet motion detectors can now tell the difference between an animal & human. The old way was to mount up high above where the animals walked. Don't have to do it that way anymore.

"Too Many False Alarms" False alarms are caused by systems not being installed correctly, or user error. User error can be anyting from someone not trained in the use of alarm or forgeting to tell someone they have alarm after giving them a key to the house. In our company 99% of false alarms are caused by user error.

Most new alarms can be programed with a line fault monitor. What this does is monitor the phone line. When the phone line gets cut or goes down it starts a timer. After the time that is programed in control expires the siren will go off. When someone cuts the line & the siren goes off before they are in the home most high tail it out. Just this feature works when lines get cut. Uplink or cell back up gets the call out to the central station.

Cord, Sorry you are not a fan. If an alarm is installed correctly they are worth it. If not for the money you save on insurance. Do you want to pay more for insurance or get another service & be out allmost no extra $. Have you ever come home & found your home ransacked? Most people that have been broken into & had someone eatten their food and/or gone thru their closets tell me they feel violated. If they would have had an alarm it most likely would have scared them away after they set it off without getting in the home.

If someone wants something from your home an alarm is not going to stop it, but it is going to cut down on all or some of what they can take.

Nasdboy- I feel same about NACO