How Many Of You....

[Blkhrt13]

I currently only have ring cameras. There is a drawback about the lack of window coverage. But I am selling the house soon in a forever home I will have at Minimum an unmonitored system. Many of them can be set up to notify you via sms if they are triggered.

 

[Anchorite]

I correctly only have ring cameras. There is a drawback about the lack of window coverage. But I am selling the house soon in a forever home I will have at Minimum an unmonitored system. Many of them can be set up to notify you via sms if they are triggered.

Ok, this sounds interesting. I’d like to have cameras that are hard wired to my Ethernet and a dummy AWS account that just stores my video.

Not interested in window sensors and sirens and a third party monitor (ADT), just basic stuff.

The odds that someone would intervene in the event of a “break in” are negligible. Same goes for LE response. So it’s cameras to observe and record.

But I’m certainly not computer or security literate so I don’t even know where to begin.

 

[Blkhrt13]

This link may be helpful. https://homesecurityplanet.com/security-camera-that-sends-text-message/

 

[Shawn Dodson]

I just keep the front door locked when we're home. It's a two-story home with only one window in the front of the house that opens. It stays shut and locked when nobody is in that particular room. The only time the garage door is open is when a vehicle is going in or out, or when one of us is physically in the front yard.

I do a security sweep before we leave the house, making sure all windows and doors are shut and locked on the first floor.

When nobody's home, the TV in the front room is kept on to create ambiguity and uncertainty whether or not the home is occupied.

We've lived on cul de sac streets in four different neighborhoods since 1993. One would think that with just one way in and one way out that it would deter property crime. That hasn't been our experience - especially nighttime car prowls.

 

[herrwalther]

I've had a security system for about 6 months. The "At Home" function gets used the most. I still have not fully armed the system. I am a bit concerned my dogs will set off the motion detectors if they climb up on the furniture. So I have yet to test the full thing. It takes a little while to get used to arming and disarming it when going in or out the door. But it does offer me some peace of mind in many ways. I added nifty, non home invasion type sensors to mine like water sensors to keep an eye on things that can leak. Well worth the add on price as my water heater started leaking last week. System let me know before any serious water damage was done.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I appreciate all the responses.

I bought a security camera this weekend as sort of a "dip my toe" into the home security world.

Its super cheap cost wise and thats ONE of the main reasons I got it. Figure if it doesn't work out then whats $50.

I got it at Harbor Freight and so far am liking it pretty good. Technically its advertised as an indoor unit but I have a pretty well covered front porch (12x20), attached car port (20x20) and back porch (16x20). So general precip isn't a concern, the main thing it will have to deal with is heat/cold/humidity. Time will tell how well it holds up.

Anyhow, it has a 1080HD camera, motion detection, motion tracking, night vision, two way audio, the ability to snap pictures/record/or constantly record and the ability to remotely move (pan) the camera.

It plugs into a standard 120v receptacle and uses Wi-Fi. You DL the app and set everything up from there.

So far my impression is surprisingly impressed. The video quality is outstanding. The sound is great on the user end but not so much on the intruder end. The night vision is surprisingly good, although not as good as the day time video. The ability to pan the camera remotely is super cool. Overall there is a tad bit of lag, I'd say a couple of seconds, sometimes. I think it really depends on how strong your Wi-Fi signal is.

The one thing I like about this set up is that you have the ability to not record at all, record 24/7 with a micro SD card or record 24/7 uploading to the "Cloud". I have chosen the micro SD route which means I have control over what's recorded. According to the manual on average it will use about 1gig per day so with a 64gig card I should get about a couple months of constant recording. Another bonus of this system, once the card fills up it automatically starts recording over the oldest footage. No need to remove the card and clear it.


Anyhow I'm still researching security but thought for the cost this would be something to play around with.

If this thing lasts I'll most likely get two more for the car port and back porch.

Here's the link for those interested....


https://mygeeni.com/products/sentinel-1080p-pan-tilt-smart-wi-fi-security-camera-black

 

[Anchorite]

This link may be helpful. https://homesecurityplanet.com/security-camera-that-sends-text-message/

What about hacking into my WiFi? I think a system that will work when the power is down would be preferred, would it not?

 

[Blkhrt13]

What about hacking into my WiFi? I think a system that will work when the power is down would be preferred, would it not?

Absolutely but you either need to add a cellular device or run your Wi-Fi on a battery backup. But if the substation goes down you will still lose the ability.

 

[lightman]

Modern alarm systems can be programed to do just about anything that you want if you're smart enough to program them. No insult intended! You can turn off different areas, specific doors, motion, ect. The things that modern systems can do are amazing

Our system has 2 basic modes, home and away. Home basically means that the motion sensors are off but the doors and windows are protected. Away basically means that the interior motion sensors are turned on and that the door sensors have a delay that allows you enough time to enter and turn the alarm off. The motion sensors are adjustable so that a pet doesn't set them off when we are away. Ours can be operated with either a cell phone of a FOB. We also have cameras that cover all 4 sides of the house. Both the alarm and the cameras notify our phones. You can turn off the notifications from the cameras if something is going on like mowing the yard, ect. Our cameras are ARLO brand. Our system also has glass breakage, fire protection and CO-2 protection. John Wayne on TV set ours off one time when he broke a window out to shoot someone!

We arm our system when we leave home and at bed time. The Wife uses it sometime when I'm away if She is not expecting company. When I'm at home we usually don't have it on during the day until it starts getting dark. We currently live in a low crime area but we try to stay prepared.

 

[Anchorite]

Absolutely but you either need to add a cellular device or run your Wi-Fi on a battery backup. But if the substation goes down you will still lose the ability.

Hate to sound stupid, but I don’t know what “adding a cellular device” means in this context.

 

[Blkhrt13]

https://www.security.org/home-security-systems/best/cellular/. Most of these are monitored. Such as simplisafe or adt. But the article explains.