Home security comes with many vital design elements. When you said about creating your comprehensive home security package, you have to ask yourself many questions:
- Do you want to arm your security system only when you are physically at the house, when you are gone, or both?
- Do you have pets who are given free reign to go anywhere in the yard and do you have to consider motion activation with regard to moving pets?
- Who do you intend to have use the home security system?
- What design elements will you include?
- Are their specific parts of your property or sensitive items that require extra design elements?
- Do you want smart home automation features that link to your phone?
- Do you want the ability to view the cameras built into the design elements of your home security system remotely?
Home Security – Discrete, Yet Effective
There are an array of things that can work together and monitor your home both inside and out. What else should be considered? You should consider the location of your control panel. The control panel is what allows you to communicate with whatever system you design. This typically has a keypad and it is the focal point where you activate and disarm your system. You might consider having more than one control panel if your house is split into multiple levels or you have multiple doors through which you can enter.
Cameras
When it comes to security systems, you do not want an intrusive, ugly design. Rather, you want things like discreet security cameras that do not draw attention to themselves. A system complete with concrete walls, barbed wire, and swivel-mounted cameras in plain sight are for war-torn embassies and airports, not for homes. Security cameras are one of the most important elements in any home security design. Security cameras work well with any and all features listed below. They can capture images as well as video and can be transmitted to your home directly through cable and then stored on a DVR or stored on a web server. You can also have them linked to your phone so that you can literally open any security camera on your property directly from your home television or from your phone when you are away.
Announcing Intruders with Alarms
One of the main design elements with home security systems typically involve alarms or sirens. The whole point is to alert intruders that they have been identified and to alert you that there is someone in your house or shouldn’t be. There are a range of different alarms in which you can invest in your property. For example, you might invest in smart alarms that measure water in your home identifying a water leak early on. Similarly you might invest in a life safety sensor for a family member so that you can be alerted to situations where they are at risk. Internal systems can include notifications for fires, floods, carbon monoxide, and other critical systems. More comprehensive home security might have built-in voice features and chimes to notify you when the doors are open, or when windows are opened.
Entry Point Sensors
Sensors on your doors and windows are particularly important design elements. These work well with security cameras in that they can notify you when someone has entered through a door or window and the camera can catch who it is on film. A pivotal part of all home security systems are sensors that have a transmitter and a magnet and are typically installed in the most vulnerable points of intrusion. For example, if you have a home with a large bay window facing a street, even if there was a hedge in between your yard and the street, it is a vulnerable point of entry. But with a window or door sensor, whenever the magnetic contact between that magnet and transmitter is broken, the transmitter sends a signal back to your main control panel which could potentially notify you with an alarm or a voice sensor or a chime. You can also have it link to your smartphone so that you can see what’s happening even if you are far away.
Monitor Your Motion
There are lots of other sensors you can install, starting with motion detectors. Motion sensors can generally detect motion up to 80 feet away and you can connect them to a security camera so that the security camera pivots to wherever the motion was detected. Typically these will search for heat signatures and as such, if you do have pets you can find a system that screens out smaller animals. This is also beneficial for people who live in an area with a lot of wildlife such as deer or turkeys that roam the property.