House Security

mysticsniper · 21 Apr 2006 at 15:29

All, I am about 2 weeks awat from moving into my new house, I will of course be buying myslef some home security. I have seen in Comet a Yale wireless alarm kit for £249, but not sure on the quality of Yale or the price. Does anyone else have this kit or can recommend other brand

TIA

sphen · 21 Apr 2006 at 15:31

mysticsniper said:
All, I am about 2 weeks awat from moving into my new house, I will of course be buying myslef some home security. I have seen in Comet a Yale wireless alarm kit for £249, but not sure on the quality of Yale or the price. Does anyone else have this kit or can recommend other brand

Rubbish, stopped working after a few months and has given me nothing but hassle since. I'll probably get one of those home monitoring systems soon to replace it.

pinkacidbootson · 21 Apr 2006 at 15:32

I believe my dad bought a similar product 2 years ago, but i coudnt possibly comment on it as its still lying around in a box somewhere

so much for security. Im just waiting for a burgalr to steal my PC

Carlos_S · 21 Apr 2006 at 15:33

People seem to just ignore those kind of alarms these days, even if they go off. I personally think they're pretty useless.

Kol · 21 Apr 2006 at 15:34

We've had a Yale wireless system for about 4 years now. Can't fault it. Always works, will report what zone has been tripped and all this to 5 nominated numbers of your choice.

Thankfully, we have a contract with some fella who comes and checks it yearly and ensures everything is upto speed, but we've never had a problem with ours.

Not too sure what model it is though, cost a wee bit more, but should be similar.

UKDTweak · 21 Apr 2006 at 15:37

BT do their own wireless kit for £199, all reviews seam to suggest its good, im considering it for my house, you get a call, text and email if the alarm is triggered, there is a £5 per month charge to BT though.

mysticsniper · 21 Apr 2006 at 17:00

I have had a look at the BT system, it seems to be ok, but the Yale one has more features and comes with an online Secured web monitoring as well.

I have seen an alternate as well, you can install a camera system as well, just not sure weather it would be that viable, as the alarm would be a deterrant, but the camera system would give you positive id on the crooks, buying both is out of my budget

What would you suggest, alarm or camera :confused:

Heliospherez · 21 Apr 2006 at 21:34

Have a similar wirefree kit that has the solar charging alarm....have also added to it with addional PIRs and mag sensors...

It has worked flawlessly for 3 years and gives great peace of mind (considering 5 houses in our street were burgled one night last year)

LeftfieldTilt · 22 Apr 2006 at 09:37

Wireless kits are pretty good (make sure its a class 6 signal) but you do need to maintain them (change batteries, clean sensors etc) on a regular basis.

If you have the technical knowhow I would recommend a wired system (more work but less likely to fail) get down to a security wholesaler and get 4 Quad detectors (Dualtechs are better but cost more), 2 Magnetic relay contacts, an 8 zone panel (Scantronic 9651 - keypad comes free with it) an internal and an external sounder and a roll or 2 or cable. you and a friend could get it done over a weekend or less.

If you want to get a security firm to install your system please look elseware than ADT, thier Maint & Monitoring charges have a tendancy to climb over the years its installed. a lot of our takeover systems are from them. you are best looking at bell boxes on shops in the area you live in and ask for the shopkeepers opinion on the install etc

If you lived in South Africa you can get armed response for your alarm system- anyone on the premises who dosent know the password when challenged gets shot :eek:

hope this helps

basmic · 22 Apr 2006 at 10:20

I wouldn't bother with an alarm system, unless it phones the police.

These days I consider alarm systems as a contribution noise pollution. This is concluded from having a somebody down the street going on the holiday every summer, the alarm goes off for a fortnight, every 10 minutes for 20 minutes.

If it happens again this summer, I will be making my own attempts at disabling the alarm.

Wyrdo · 22 Apr 2006 at 11:16

basmic said:
I wouldn't bother with an alarm system, unless it phones the police.

These days I consider alarm systems as a contribution noise pollution. This is concluded from having a somebody down the street going on the holiday every summer, the alarm goes off for a fortnight, every 10 minutes for 20 minutes.

If it happens again this summer, I will be making my own attempts at disabling the alarm.

Yeah, have had similar experiences on the estate I used to live on. Everyone ignores the alarm and it just repeats itself all day.

Kona* · 22 Apr 2006 at 11:29

If you have the cash, get yourself a Honeywell wireless system - we sell them at work so I got one of our engineers to install it at our house. It sends you a text or email to let you know it has gone off or when it has a tamper alert, the wall sensors have microwave and IR (They need to trip both to go off) so you dont get false alarms. They are a bit more than £250 for a kit but well worth it, means that you dont have to count on your neighbours to call the old bill

quick edit: They can also be integrated into a RedCare system (calls the police) which adds to the cost, and also into a Milestone IPCCTV system - but they cost many pennys!

Craig

Vanilla · 22 Apr 2006 at 11:34

I think alarms are good. People do leave them without doing anything because they dont KNOW THE PEOPLE. If my neighbours alarm went off then i would respond.

It takes a brave burglar to stay in a house when the alrm is going off and I consider an alarm just a device to inform you or those you know around where you live that there may be a burglar in your house

SexyGreyFox · 22 Apr 2006 at 11:37

Click here - http://ttsfire.co.uk/acatalog/

Click on the top link Wireless Home & Small Commercial Security Alarms

I've been using the top one for 3 years and its superb.
I took the PIR's off because I don't trust them on any system and replaced them with quite a few of the Visonic Powercode Magnetic Contacts

Its also a class 5 security alarm.
Those in B&Q are a Class 1.

Sirrel Squirrel · 22 Apr 2006 at 12:28

Screw an alarm, just get a dog, no one would dare break into my house when they hear my dog.

SexyGreyFox · 22 Apr 2006 at 12:53

Sirrel Squirrel said:
Screw an alarm, just get a dog, no one would dare break into my house when they hear my dog.

Perhaps your dog but most dogs when in on there own turn into mice and will hide from burglars.
Most dogs only act hard when they're with their owners.
Just ask the police how many burglaries they go to where there have been dogs in the house.

You do what you can to protect your property even if you only put a £5 dummy alarm box up on the wall. If a £5 box can prevent some opportunist scum causing £100 worth of damage then job well done. Professionals will come through regardless but anything that can put them off is worth it and that includes a dog.
I personally have the alarm system in my above post with all doors and windows on contacts, the alarm will ring me up (but obviously too late), I have 3 cameras (front back and side), 3 alarm boxes, I have a metal defender in front of my garage doors which makes it very hard to get the doors open and I made some solid wooden gates that go across my drive which again slows the pro down.
I've been in this house 25 years and the only burglary I've had was when I didn't have the gates, cameras, defender and the garage doors were falling apart. Somebody pulled the garage door open and stole the lawnmower.
I like to think that when the houses are being cased that the scumbag looks at my house and thinks "Too much trouble".

mysticsniper · 22 Apr 2006 at 12:56

dmpoole said:
Click here - http://ttsfire.co.uk/acatalog/

Click on the top link Wireless Home & Small Commercial Security Alarms

I've been using the top one for 3 years and its superb.
I took the PIR's off because I don't trust them on any system and replaced them with quite a few of the Visonic Powercode Magnetic Contacts

Its also a class 5 security alarm.
Those in B&Q are a Class 1.

Thanks for that, but they do seem a bit pricey. I have had a search on the net & I have found a complete system for my 2 bedroomed house and the total price is £298 of which includes:

Kit Components

1 - Powermax+ control panel
2 - Next MCW PIRs
2 - Door contacts
1 - Key fob
1 - Dummy box
1 - RJ11 Telephone Lead

http://www.home-monitoring-systems.co.uk/

You you say that this is quite a good deal m8 ???

Youstolemyname · 22 Apr 2006 at 13:01

I've always wanted a series of large booby traps such as boulders like out of raiders of the lost ark, punjii spikes and boiling oil installed but alas mrs youstolemyname doesn't think they will fit with our decor.

Sanzy · 22 Apr 2006 at 13:07

My house doesnt have all this fancy equipment .. i do have a basic alarm

but my house is like fort knox on the front door theres the normal lock and then a dead lock , theres then 3 locks on the living room door , 3 more locks on the door which enters to the kitchen then 3 more locks to get into the utility room then 1 more lock to get outside , oh and the backgate is locked.

obviously tho we only fully lock it up when we go to places longer then a few days as locking all the locks would take waaaaaay to long

Sirrel Squirrel · 22 Apr 2006 at 13:10

dmpoole said:
Perhaps your dog but most dogs when in on there own turn into mice and will hide from burglars.
Most dogs only act hard when they're with their owners.
Just ask the police how many burglaries they go to where there have been dogs in the house.

Depends what sort of dog it is though, my dogs a big german shepherd, so even if he didn't do anything to the burglar, the burglar is going to be pretty intimidated if they saw him when they have a peek through the window. So its more of a deterrant than anything.