Home Improvement DIY

Home Security:  Automated Security Systems

Although we are all aware of the fact that computers and the internet is affecting every part of our lives, automated home security systems using these technologies are often over-looked.

There are now intelligent video surveillance cameras that work on a combination of hardware and software.  They have the ability to come on when you leave your home and then turn off when you arrive back.  They are so intelligent in fact that they can be programmed to follow sounds or movements detected.

Although you are probably aware of those light timers that come on and off at set times, they have now been incorporated into new technology.  Instead of coming on and off at predictable times, showing any experienced thief that you are not in, they come on and off at random times and days.  This makes it look a lot more natural and will help fool criminals.

The drawback is that some of these systems will cease to work if the electricity is off.  It’s simply a case of the thief switching off the power to your home which disables cameras, lights and computers which you may have installed.

Luckily there are battery backup systems which vary in price from $50 to a few hundred.  They’ll then be able to keep your security system going for anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours.  Hopefully this will be enough to show any thief that their plans in disabling your security system have failed.  They’ll then go and look for an easier target.  You can expect to pay a few thousand dollars if you want a system that can keep the power to your home going for several hours.

You can even have the locks in your home automated so that they lock and stay locked between certain hours.  So even if a thief has somehow got a hold of a set of keys, they won’t work.  They’ll then have to make the decision of giving up or forced entry.  Hopefully they’ll leave and look for an easier job.

These automated locks can go a step further too.  They can come with a combination system that requires a small token which only selected people will carry.  This combination is changed at random but synchronizes with your tokens.  That means that at any given moment, only you and trusted others have the correct sequence of numbers.

These same features have also been worked into alarm systems.  Although the more traditional alarm units work on a combination, thieves can still easily crack it.  A lot of people find it difficult to remember passwords so write them down, or they use something that is very obvious.  But a token-based system changes the combination every minute, making it possible to disarm it only if you have the token.

Have a read at all the ways you can protect your home and make your own decision.  You may feel that you want to protect yourself like Fort Knox but on the other hand you may feel you want a bit more freedom.  If you do go down the route of spending a lot of money on a quality alarm system you’ll find that your insurance premium will probably go down, which will help offset the costs.

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