Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with system and alarm

Give my girlfriend peace of mind when sleeping home alone

wordsmith — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:23:55 -0800

I travel frequently, and my girlfriend has an (admittedly) somewhat-irrational fear of someone breaking into our apartment when she's home alone, asleep. What can we do to make her feel more comfortable when she's home alone? Googling things like "home security" or "security alarm" unloads a wrath of bad links filled with questionable, expensive hardware. Are there some decent, quick, effective home alarm systems that can be easily installed by a non-professional?

We live in a loft-style apartment with a front door, back door that leads out onto a deck, and one large window overlooking the deck. Other than that, the floor plan is completely open. Ideally, I'd like to secure both the window and back door that leads to the deck. And by "secure," I mean both physically -- making it tougher to breach -- and audibly, so that it can be immediately obvious if someone tries to break in.

Finally, are there any other products or systems or philosophies that we could use to make her feel more secure? We've read books like Strong on Defense, but simply having a better of idea of what to do if it happens doesn't alleviate her fear of it actually happening. It doesn't give her peace of mind.

The reason I said "somewhat-irrational" is because she knows if someone is going to break in, they're going to break in, and no amount of security alarms or baseball bats is going to keep that from happening. She knows this, but still occasionally has a hard time getting to bed at night.

A big, scary dog would be nice, but not what we're looking for at the moment.

What is a recommended replacement to an existing home security system?

scooterdog — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 04:16:36 -0800

Home Security: What is a recommended alarm panel to replace a 15-year old hardwired alarm system? Just moved to a house built 35 years ago, and this house used to have ADT monitoring with a 15-year old 'Moose' brand 'Z1100 System II'. (Not to get into too much detail, but from what I can tell there are three doors, two motion detectors, and six windows with sensors on them.)

I used to use Brinks and would like to use a low-cost (i.e. $9/month) monitoring system like NextAlarm.com, but they do not support alarm systems as old as the one I have.

Any suggestions on what alarm panel that would use the existing wiring/sensors? I see brands like DSC and Ademco, and want a system that is relatively easy to program. The existing system appears to be very complicated as the manual which I have was printed in 1985, and is not unsimilar to programming an Apple ][+ in assembly language. (Not that there's anything against that but it does stretch my abilities...)

I'm fine (budget-wise) to spend up to $250 on a new panel. Ideas?

Origin of a drastically false assumption about actual alarm system status?

Quarter Pincher — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:55:23 -0800

Where does the idea come from that an alarm company can actually tell whether the system actually is armed? I've worked for an alarm system monitoring company for 6 years. In all my experience, there's only been one single system (that 98% of customers do NOT have) that a dispatcher can actually go into right that moment and determine whether the system is armed or not. Very very few people have this system, yet it is "common knowledge" that alarm companies are able to do this, despite being absolutely untrue. Where does the idea come from that alarm companies can tell? Movies?

On all the rest of the systems, the status is only determined by the signals the central station has received in the past even if that was moments ago. There is no way to actually tell if the system is actually armed right this second. If there is a severed connection, such as a clipped phone line (with no radio-based backup)(among thousands of other possibilities), the system very well could be disarmed and we simply wouldn't know. The fact that an alarm company says "the system is armed" is purely a guess providing for an absurd number of assumptions such as the phones being in proper order, etc.

We've had so many cases of people simply failing to hang up their phone properly that prevented the alarm signal from reaching us (because it couldn't dial out), that when we tell them "it isn't armed" they go back to check to discover that it really is armed (and thus get mad at us), we've had to resort to "we show it is not armed" or "the building may not be armed."

Every time we explain why we only "show" that it isn't armed or why it "may not" be, it's like they're brand new every time, and to a lot of people we have to explain it multiple times, as if the "we actually know" assumption is the automatic default.

Or is this simply not the case at other alarm company central stations?

Home Security

benjh — Sat, 11 Sep 2004 20:55:25 -0800

I am in the process purchasing a house and want to feel more secure. Security in a concern... My first goal is to install a pricacy fence around the back yard, which has one side facing the street since we are moving in on a corner. But I also want some kind of security. Is it better (ie. worth it) to get a monitored security system? Or should I just buy some componants from Home Depot and build an audible alarm system?

The systems seem very expensive, and the monitoring costs seem excessive. Suggestions