Prepare for a Home Security System Consultation

Many factors affect this choice.

The major factor is the construction and decoration of the premises. Can the location be wired and how much labor will be involved in wiring for the alarm? Will wireless devices be able to communicate to the alarm panel? Plaster walls with metal lathe in them can block the wireless signals. Large mirrors, foil wallpaper, metal lockers and other radio systems nearby might prevent a wireless system from working properly.

Many new systems integrate wired devices with wireless devices. The main thing to consider is whether the system meets your current needs and whether it can expand to meet your future needs.

Every accessible door and ground accessible windows should be protected. All fixed glass windows should be protected with some sort of glassbreak detector. Windows can also be protected using shock detectors.

Obviously in a three-story residence, the windows on the third floor cannot be opened by normal means; vibration sensors or glassbreak detectors should be sufficient if the windows are kept locked.

Rather than contacting these third floor windows, the money could be spent on additional interior protection or other security features like fire detection.

However, if you would feel unsafe with these windows un-contacted, contact them. It's your security and your peace of mind.

Garage overhead doors are a special case. A lot of people get these doors contacted and then pay extra to have the door bypassed automatically when the garage door opener is used.

Since the only way to open these doors is by using the garage door opener, they are paying for the door to be protected and then paying more for it to be unprotected. If protection for your garage door is important to you we suggest you purchase a remote key-fob. With this you can open and close your door and then arm or disarm your alarm system from your car.

If there is no automatic opener, a contact alone can be useful protection on a garage door.

This depends on you and your installing company.

Does the burglar seeing the switch go elsewhere because he now knows you have more than just a sign and some decals?

Can the burglar defeat the contact just because he can see it?

Some people cannot tolerate the sight of normal surface mounted contacts or feel unsecured because "the burglar knows what's there." Other people feel secure seeing the switches because "the burglar knows I really do have a system installed by a professional."

Surface mounted switches often are easier to install. Although the price for installing recessed switches may be higher with some companies, generally prices run the same for either switch.
Keep in mind that depending on the construction of your home and/or window it may not be possible to install a recessed switch.

It depends on what you are trying to protect.

Are you mainly concerned about protecting your property when you are gone? Or is personal safety while you are home your main concern?

Protecting your property can be accomplished with interior motion sensors. You will still need a contact on the main entry/exit doors but if someone comes through the window, a properly positioned motion detector will set off your alarm instantly. One such motion detector can protect many windows and most companies include at least one with their most basic system.

On the other hand, the motion detectors must be turned off while you are home. So for personal safety, you probably want to protect some or all of your windows using contacts or glassbreak detectors. A wireless panic button is also a good solution.

Outside bells can provide additional peace of mind, but there are also some drawbacks:

Outside bells often cause complaints from the neighbors, sometimes resulting in a noise citation.

If your bell goes off and neighbors do respond, they could be hurt by an intruder. When the police arrive, they may confuse a neighbor for a burglar. So many bells go off these days; most people tend to ignore them. Also, bells are supposed to be programmed to shut off after 5 to 15 minutes.

A great alternative or addition to outside sirens.

A latching strobe, a red, blue or amber light on the front of your house that will begin to flash if your alarm is tripped. It is less expensive than a bell and will continue to flash until you physically turn it off on the control panel.

This way, when you come home, you can look at the light and know whether a burglary has happened or not. It also makes the house a little easier for the police to find at night if they are responding to an alarm.

A lot of older systems required the system to be disarmed from outside.

The owner of the property needed to know whether the system was armed or disarmed before opening the door. Lights were used to indicate whether the system was on or off.

A lot of effort was spent to find a way to let the owner get into a protected property without announcing to anyone outside whether the system was armed or disarmed. The solution to the outside key station was to program an entry delay for certain detection devices that allowed the customer time to disarm an alarm system from inside the protected area.

These newer systems require a code be entered in a keypad after entering the premises.

A remote similar to one you use for a car alarm .

Some systems use wireless keys or wireless keypads to disarm the alarm system. These devices may be the only wireless devices on a traditional wired alarm system, or they may be just part of a complete wireless alarm system.

If a wireless key is lost or stolen, service is required to change the "key" immediately. A wireless key disarms the system with one press of a button; the system does not care (or know) who actually pressed the button.

Wireless keypads do not require immediate service if they are lost or stolen. Though service would be required to replace or remove the lost wireless keypad, there is no need to race to the system.
Knowing the proper code would still be required to disarm a system using a wireless keypad. Bi-directional wireless keypads let you know (after pressing the correct code) whether the system is armed or disarmed.
This added security should be considered when deciding whether or not to use a wireless method of arming and disarming the alarm system.

This is a security issue that is too often overlooked.

Most homes have smoke detectors installed, but what happens if no one is home when they go off?

More importantly, what if you don't wake up because carbon monoxide puts you into a deeper sleep?

A simple but priceless solution is to have at least one monitored smoke/heat detector to supplement the others in the house. This way, the fire department will come whether you are able to call them or not.

There are also gas detectors available for most home alarm systems.

Do they check in so that the panel knows they are working and whether they need a new battery?

Portable devices like pendant panic buttons should not be supervised because you often will leave the premises with them for several hours. Since they don't check in, you will have to test them manually every month or so.

Smoke detectors and burglary devices should "check in" at least every hour, since these devices never leave the premises.

Typically, alkaline batteries must be changed every year. Newer systems often use lithium batteries that should last 5 years or more.

Your control uses a Gel-Cell type battery and should be replaced every 3 to 5 years recommended by the manufacturer.

Therefore, in order to keep your system in top condition in case of power outages, we recommend that you have it replaced every 4 years.

Please remember that this type of battery should not be thrown out with your regular waste. Please dispose of it as you would a car battery.

Alkaline batteries can be purchased at any hardware store for a few dollars.

Lithium batteries are more expensive and probably must be purchased through the security company, although they are becoming more common.

Depending on the cost of the plan, this can be an excellent option or it can be an expensive option.

Be sure any contract for a maintenance policy has what it covers in writing.

If batteries are not written into the maintenance contract, they are not covered.

On an average day in Sacramento, about 50 to 75 alarms go off and all but about one or two of them are false alarms.

Many law enforcement officers report that in their entire career, they have never personally responded to an alarm that turned out to be a real burglary.

However, every day there are well over 100 real burglaries reported in Sacramento. That means burglars are not targeting locations that have an alarm. Therefore, having an alarm is obviously a great deterrent and virtually takes your property "off the market" of burglars.

Since only about 20 percent of Sacramento residences have alarms, burglars have plenty of other targets.

There are penalties for false alarms, which vary according to the jurisdiction and location.

Usually there is no penalty for the first offense. What is most important, however, is that false alarms can be easily avoided.

Most false alarms occur at the keypad due to pressing the wrong buttons. Make sure your alarm is easy to use and that you know how to cancel a false alarm immediately by calling your alarm monitoring station.

There are usually no penalties or charges if you call right away.

If just trying to protect the property, the average systems cost range from $295 to $600.

It should include all entry doors, (as three out of four burglars gain entry that way), and at least one interior motion sensor.

If your home has 10 to 15 doors and windows and you need the full perimeter protected for your personal safety, a quality system should cost from $1,000 to $1,500.

Monthly monitoring ranges from $17.95 to $40 per month for either kind of system.

Some companies require a contract for monitoring.

Most alarm companies have a reduced price for the home alarm system if the system is going to be monitored.

Typically there is an increased cost if the system is not going to be monitored. The length of the contract will usually effect your upfront cost for the alarm system.

Verify with your security consultant if your alarm system cost is based on a monitored system or non-monitored system.
Get this in writing.

Here again most larger alarm companies have a monitoring rate structure based on your upfront payment and the length of the monitoring contract.
Typical monthly rates will run from $17.95 to $40.00.

Verify that the equipment to be installed can be monitored by another alarm company.

The larger companies will normally use there own branded equipment, meaning that they are the only ones that can monitor the system.

This means that for you, as the owner, must stay with them, paying a higher monthly fee or pay for new equipment should you decide to go with another monitoring company.

Verify that if you should decide to go with another company for monitoring that your existing company will either provide your systems "dealer program" access code or set a code for the new company to use.

Get this in writing
If possible get the "dealer" program code at the time of install.