Dang, Chuck, that wuz a bad doode: http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_217.html And his buddy, Congressman James Traficant is out of prison now and wants to run for office again. You were lucky to walk out of that situation.
Dang, Chuck, that wuz a bad doode: http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_217.html And his buddy, Congressman James Traficant is out of prison now and wants to run for office again. You were lucky to walk out of that situation.
We have a subscription for our security system ($30 per month) and it reduces the premiums on our homeowner's insurance. The system was installed by the previous owner, so I'm not sure of the equipment cost.
We have a G.E. simon system and love it. All wireless and you can put it in yourself and add on to it as you desire or can afford. They have light switches,glass break sensors,motion sensors that wont pick up a cat. The system uses lithium batteries and ours are going on 5yrs with no problems. Be wary of the monitoring companies and do your homework. They have some nasty early termination charges.
Yeah, Doc, that was a scary time. To this day, Traficant is loved by the people of Youngstown, which is probably the most corrupt city in the US. And the Mob, while a bit less rambunctious, is just as powerful. I had an in-law killed in a Mafia hit, Bad memories.
f86sabjf wrote: We have a G.E. simon system and love it. All wireless and you can put it in yourself and add on to it as you desire or can afford. They have light switches,glass break sensors,motion sensors that wont pick up a cat. The system uses lithium batteries and ours are going on 5yrs with no problems. Be wary of the monitoring companies and do your homework. They have some nasty early termination charges.
Will it call the police for you when you're on vacation? That's the one thing I like best about our monitoring company. If I'm home, I'd prefer to shoot & kill anyone who breaks in. I don't know about other states, but it's legal in South Carolina.
I personally like the big and little dog approach. A little dog that will bark a ton at anyone breaking in and a big dog that, if the fool is stupid enough to enter, will make the robber crap his pants.
In reply to 96DXCivic:
Better the dog bark a lot than be physically capable of doing damage to a person. The best thing a dog does for your home is make it less attractive to the smash-and-grab guys. Its not the fear of the dog - its noise that draws attention.
Not even the biggest, meanest junkyard dog is much of a match for a guy who wants your stuff bad enough to plan a real robbery. Lucky for me my tax bracket is sufficient to dissuade those guys.
Monitoring contracts are the lifeblood of all alarm companies. They make next to nothing on the install, and count on the RMA (recurring monthly accounts) to provide the profits. No, they don't want you to terminate, and many of the large companies have departments doing only collections and contract enforcement. Caveat emptor.
Im a big fan of being pro active. And I believe fully that a barking dog is the best way to to prevent a break in. also finding the darkest, most likely point of entry to your property, and illuminating it with a motion light or even an IR Camera array will keep 99% of the bad guys out. Ill take a good dog and a $20 motion light over a 10k alarm system any day. Ive worked with every thing from simple foil alarms to pressure sensors buried in the yard and night vision PTZ domes that automatically pointed towards the point of contact, bio metrics and facial recognition cameras/programming. All good stuff depending on the application. But unless your protecting priceless artwork or a celebrity that needs to keep crazy fans out or defend against ransom threats or kidnapping, most of this isnt needed.
A good dog, a few bright lights, and if you feel you need a bit more or dont want a dog, a DIY alarm set up (use motions with heat sensors) that you can program to call you directly if it activates, with an ear splitter siren.
You can get a voice dialer for ~125.00 that will call several different phone numbers and play a prerecorded message. DO NOT PROGRAM THE POLICE. But a couple of trusted buddies, neighbor, you have most of the benifits of central monitoring.
It would be cool to wire up a target acquisition system to a servo mounted laser pointer so it tracks movement of heat sources and optionally fires a water cannon, paintball or other "fun" projectile that says GTF OFF MY LAWN. I may as well add sound to just yell that... except it would be shouting at deer, turkeys and racoons for most of the night.
A much simpler method would be a sensor beam across the yard, connected to an electrically operated valve to open the water flow. I've seen video of the results, fun times. If anybody can come up with a grassroots style tracker, please let me know.
In reply to cwh:
dvr or multiplexer with programmable alarm, and alarm out puts. tie the alarm out put to the trigger (an e trigger paintball gun ! ) .
If you want to get fancy, use a self tracking web cam , mount the p-ball gun to that, set your motion/alarm box on the dvr and pay neighbor kid to run around with goggles on and enjoy hours of fun...
okay, not really that simple, but not really that difficult either.. :)
All my DVRs have programmable motion detection and alarm outputs. I just wanted to keep it simpler/ cheaper. The only fully operational tracking camera I have seen is a Bosch unit. 5K$, and not real good. Technology has a way to go on these. Don't get into web cams.
CagleRacing wrote:f86sabjf wrote: We have a G.E. simon system and love it. All wireless and you can put it in yourself and add on to it as you desire or can afford. They have light switches,glass break sensors,motion sensors that wont pick up a cat. The system uses lithium batteries and ours are going on 5yrs with no problems. Be wary of the monitoring companies and do your homework. They have some nasty early termination charges.Will it call the police for you when you're on vacation? That's the one thing I like best about our monitoring company. If I'm home, I'd prefer to shoot & kill anyone who breaks in. I don't know about other states, but it's legal in South Carolina.
yes it does or i should say the monitoring company does and it also has fire and live talkback built into it so if we are in the house we can communicate or scream whichever need may arise. They can also listen silently and record the bad guys when they speak. I love the talk back feature. Theres something to be said for being able to communicate with them if need be while moving from room to room in the house. I'm also a big proponent of a dead criminal but what can you do if your not there. Those of you that have dogs think again. I can be your dogs best friend in 5 min with a hunk of raw meat no problem without you there agitating the dog to attack.. I dont care how well hes trained .
f86sabjf wrote: Those of you that have dogs think again. I can be your dogs best friend in 5 min with a hunk of raw meat no problem without you there agitating the dog to attack.. I dont care how well hes trained .
My dog is a 5th level vegan. You will have to shoot him.
Dogs are great. I have a very vocal dachshund, and a 9mm. But, they can be suborned. Good chunk of tasty meat, taser, gun, not so effective. Stupid electrons are more dependable. That said, I have a dog, but no alarm system. Yes, I am ashamed of myself. My two sons, both in the alarm business, same thing. Dogs, no alarms. Does this say something? Mostly that we don't have anything to attract a good burglar.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: It would be cool to wire up a target acquisition system to a servo mounted laser pointer so it tracks movement of heat sources and optionally fires a water cannon, paintball or other "fun" projectile that says GTF OFF MY LAWN. I may as well add sound to just yell that... except it would be shouting at deer, turkeys and racoons for most of the night.
With my luck, it would hit a friend or relative dropping by late & unexpected. Then again, it would give them incentive to call first. 
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:f86sabjf wrote: Those of you that have dogs think again. I can be your dogs best friend in 5 min with a hunk of raw meat no problem without you there agitating the dog to attack.. I dont care how well hes trained .My dog is a 5th level vegan. You will have to shoot him.
nope just scratch his belly :)
I have a ADT sign in the front yard; never had the service and two mutts.
For years I never even locked my doors. I believe the decision to brake into your house is made at the curb. With all the glass, how hard is it to really break in? If they want in, they will come in.
I owned one house for 8 years (ADT sign, two dogs, doors unlocked.) The month after I sold it (no more ADT sign, no more dogs) the back door glass was broken to gain entry by theives.)
Sure, this is not scientific but that was my experience.
What the hell is a fifth level vegan?
Beats me, and I'm vegetarian. My wife's been vegetarian for 30+ years, and has never heard of "levels." There are a lot of different "types," though. Some eat chicken or fish and still call themselves vegetarian. Others won't even eat milk products.
cwh wrote: What the hell is a fifth level vegan?
--Cute Fifth Level Vegan that Lisa Simpson has a crush on-- "I don't eat anything that casts a shadow"
Dragging this thread back from the dead.
I'm looking for a wireless alarm to install at work, our old setup is starting to flake. I worked as an installer 5 years ago so programing is not an issue although I would prefer an easy setup over some horrible binary craziness.
features important to me:
- two door sensors and a motion
- good battery life on the sensors
- decent sounding door chime, I have to listen to this thing all day, a gentle gong is preferred over some shrill beep.
- second keypad to ease entry
- key fob remote to make the boss happy
A little late to the party, but I'm surprise no one mentioned using timed lights in the house. Having a light turn on and off is a safety measure.
You folks are making me a bit paranoid as I know crime picks up during the holidays and california is gonna start releasing cons one of these days as they cost too much to house.
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