How The Effectiveness of Home Security Systems Can Be Determined?
With the high rate of home theft, many people are looking at home security systems to keep their property and families safe. If you are worried about the security of your home against the intruders or you want extra protection against fire and flood, then a security system can help you to give peace of mind.There are a wide range of quality manufacturers, installers, service technicians, monitoring providers and alarm operators out there. These all factor into the efficacy of a home security system. Essentially there are 4 elements of evaluating the effectiveness of your alarm system: hardware, installation, programming and monitoring.
Hardware- Alarm manufacturers build the product and generally run their products through rigorous testing including the most commonly known certification - UL Listed testing. After passing these tests, hardware should be “beta” tested. Beta testing is the process of releasing the hardware to a small number of educated alarm technicians and possibly end users so they can find issues or bugs. A lengthy and proactive (respond to feedback by fixing the issues) beta test is paramount to an effective piece of hardware. The more testing the better. Testing is expensive which is why large companies with deep wallets like Honeywell have such excellent equipment.
Installation- Following proper installation requirements are very important. If a motion detector is not positioned between 6 and 8 feet from the floor it may not trigger when a human enters the room. There are a lot of nuances to alarm installation which is why most are executed by professionals. However advances in wireless encryption technology has changed all that. Wireless sensors work incredibly well. In fact, our support techs deal with more issues on wired sensors than wireless. There is a larger “human error” factor in wiring a sensor than there is simply mounting it properly. With that said, the Do-it-yourself (DIY) market is growing rapidly. The key to installation is following the instructions and making sure you test thoroughly. Make sure the magnet beside your door sensor is within the maximum spacing requirement. Make sure that your glass break detector is within 25 feet of the protected glass (does not detect broken hurricane glass). There are a few things you need to know about each type of sensor and there is a growing community of DIY companies out there that offer this detail in the form of FAQs and video. The key is that the installation is not complete until a “walk test” has been completed (maybe 3 or 4 of them to be safe). A walk test is a mode on your home alarm systems that allows you to trigger each sensor and ensure it is working properly. This should be executed at the end of your install and bi-annually after that, just like checking your smoke detectors. Every system has a slightly different name for it but each one will have some type of test and anyone can do it.
Programming- Configuring the proper response types and entering serial numbers requires attention to detail. Luckily most alarm systems now feature an “auto-enrollment” process that eliminate all of that. After the system is in this learning mode it will “listen” for devices. If your equipment is already installed you can open the door/window or press the test button on your compatible smoke detector. Some devices may still need manual enrollment in which case the walk test I described earlier will be crucial. If you are having your system professionally installed you should still run your walk tests habitually. Just because they are professionals does not mean they do not make mistakes. If you are doing a DIY install make sure that your alarm company reviews your programming to catch any silly errors when activating the alarm monitoring service. Again you should catch these if you properly test but it is always good to have another eye on your work.
Monitoring- Choosing a reliable monitoring provider is incredibly important. The live operators standing by for alarms are only as effective as their infrastructure. Most central station operate with multiple “load-balanced” centers that will be able to operate with full bandwidth if any of the centers are offline. Generally the concern would be to protect against physical events like a natural disaster but also virtual issues like hacks or network issues.
Installation- Following proper installation requirements are very important. If a motion detector is not positioned between 6 and 8 feet from the floor it may not trigger when a human enters the room. There are a lot of nuances to alarm installation which is why most are executed by professionals. However advances in wireless encryption technology has changed all that. Wireless sensors work incredibly well. In fact, our support techs deal with more issues on wired sensors than wireless. There is a larger “human error” factor in wiring a sensor than there is simply mounting it properly. With that said, the Do-it-yourself (DIY) market is growing rapidly. The key to installation is following the instructions and making sure you test thoroughly. Make sure the magnet beside your door sensor is within the maximum spacing requirement. Make sure that your glass break detector is within 25 feet of the protected glass (does not detect broken hurricane glass). There are a few things you need to know about each type of sensor and there is a growing community of DIY companies out there that offer this detail in the form of FAQs and video. The key is that the installation is not complete until a “walk test” has been completed (maybe 3 or 4 of them to be safe). A walk test is a mode on your home alarm systems that allows you to trigger each sensor and ensure it is working properly. This should be executed at the end of your install and bi-annually after that, just like checking your smoke detectors. Every system has a slightly different name for it but each one will have some type of test and anyone can do it.
Programming- Configuring the proper response types and entering serial numbers requires attention to detail. Luckily most alarm systems now feature an “auto-enrollment” process that eliminate all of that. After the system is in this learning mode it will “listen” for devices. If your equipment is already installed you can open the door/window or press the test button on your compatible smoke detector. Some devices may still need manual enrollment in which case the walk test I described earlier will be crucial. If you are having your system professionally installed you should still run your walk tests habitually. Just because they are professionals does not mean they do not make mistakes. If you are doing a DIY install make sure that your alarm company reviews your programming to catch any silly errors when activating the alarm monitoring service. Again you should catch these if you properly test but it is always good to have another eye on your work.
Monitoring- Choosing a reliable monitoring provider is incredibly important. The live operators standing by for alarms are only as effective as their infrastructure. Most central station operate with multiple “load-balanced” centers that will be able to operate with full bandwidth if any of the centers are offline. Generally the concern would be to protect against physical events like a natural disaster but also virtual issues like hacks or network issues.
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