If you’ve kept up with our blog at all, you know that we rank installing a monitored burglar alarm right at the top of any security plan. We highly recommend that any home or business owner install a security system. Most people think of these systems as a way of catching burglars once they breach a property. Of course, this feature represents one of the top aspects of installing this security. However, we also surprise customers with one of the more recent security advantages to our security systems in the form of outdoor security! In this post, we review some of our exterior alarm security options.
First, we’ll explain the basics behind alarm-based security. This will provide a great base for the rest of the information in this post. Then, we’ll review some of your options for exterior alarm notification. These devices provide exterior notifications of any alarm activation. From there, we’ll look at some of our outdoor security sensor options. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a focus on adding alarm-connected cameras to your security system design. Now, let’s get started with an overview of how we use burglar alarms to create security.
A Crash Course in Security System “Basics”
We install security systems with a couple goals in mind. The first response comes in the form of an audible — and occasionally visual — response in the form of sirens and potentially strobes. This alerts anyone onsite to the potential danger. It also encourages the burglar to take off as soon as possible. Obviously, many thieves flee as soon as they realized they’ve “tripped” an alarm.
Additionally, we also connect monitored security systems to our central station. Upon receiving an alarm signal, our central station operators call the premise to check on the situation. If they fail to reach anyone, or if the person who does answer cannot provide pre-determined credentials in the form of an authorized name and verbal passcode, the operator then calls for a police dispatch. The blaring siren and police responce to an alarm add tremendous security to any application.
A monitored security system can create an audible and visual notification upon activation, along with a police dispatch when necessary.
A little later, we’ll get into even more specific details about how we connect our alarms to our central station. For now, we’ll turn our attention to the specific exterior alarm security options we offer. The solutions described in this post will take the security offered by an alarm and allow you to add it to the area surrounding your property! Let’s continue with a look at installing exterior alarm notification devices.
Exterior Alarm Notification Devices
As we mentioned, an alarm activation trips notification devices on your security system. At the very least, these devices include enough sirens to provide an audible alert throughout an entire home or business. As part of the alarm installation, we can also add exterior, waterproof sirens for an even greater effect. This allows neighbors and passersby to hear the commotion as well. Of course, this in turn increases the chance of the situation receiving attention, increasing the chance of the burglar’s fleeing upon hearing the commotion caused by their actions.
Moreover, we also pointed out the ability to add a visual component to your alarm’s response to an emergency. This generally takes the form of indoor strobe lights that flash during an alarm event. Just as before, we also offer an outdoor version of these strobes. Like an outdoor siren, these strobes can attract additional attention from the general public. Furthermore, they also serve the double purpose of attracting any authorities responding to the alarm. This proves especially useful in strip malls and other areas that host multiple businesses. In addition to installing exterior notification devices, we can also install outdoor alarm sensors. Let’s move on to describe some of these devices now!
Long-Range Wireless Outdoor Sensors
When we install any security system, a majority if not all of the contacts we install use wireless technology. Decades ago, we ran wires from a central control panel to each and every alarm sensor. However, wireless technology has made this need a thing of the past. Instead, we now install sensors that speak to the alarm panel using radio frequency (or “RF”) technology.
While useful, in the past these sensors had some limitations. For starters, older wireless sensors utilized “AAA” batteries for power. These days, we use lithium batteries that often last upwards of 5 years to minimize how often you have to swap them! Additionally, older wireless alarm sensors used to have a somewhat limited range. This would make it difficult to secure larger homes, where range could create an issue. However, we’ve seen this problem addressed as well. Today’s wireless security devices have superior range, allowing us to secure almost any location without any issues. Specifically, our preferred “Power G” sensors created by DSC have the longest range of any sensors on the market!
With this new technology comes added security potential. In fact, we can now add weatherproof sensors to outdoor locations to help secure your perimeter. Wireless door sensors make a great way to secure fences, sheds, and pool gates! We’ve surprised many customers with the opportunity to add alarm equipment outside of their home or business. Let’s move on and take a look at one more way that we secure the outside of our customer’s properties.
Alarm-Integrated Smart Cameras
As we touched upon earlier, creating a monitored security system requires a connection between your alarm and our central station. Traditionally, we’d create this connection through the use of a property’s phone lines. However, this method will fail you anytime your phone goes out. For this reason, we prefer using an Alarm.com- powered cellular dialer to monitor your alarm. This piece of equipment gives you cell tower-based monitoring that works even when your phones do not. This alone provides a huge security upgrade over phone-based monitoring.
Alarm.com cameras watch your home at all times, and can even send live video clips upon detecting motion.
Additionally, our “interactive” Alarm.com customers can use a cell phone app to control their alarm, as well as alarm-connected smart devices. This means that they can arm and disarm their security systems remotely. Furthermore, we can also connect exterior cameras to your alarm app. This allows you to check on live and recorded video on the same app that you use to control and track the rest of your security devices. Additionally, you can even create notifications that send you live, instant alerts with video clips when your cameras detect motion. This gives you instant “eyes” on your property’s exterior whenever anything suspicous occurs. These features make Alarm.com cameras one of our most popular and effective exterior security alarm options.
Putting Our Exterior Alarm Security Options to Work for You
We hope that this post helps you see how we can help you secure your property’s exterior! Additionally, we encourage you to contact us with any security-related inquiries you may have. We will hapilly guide you through your security journey, regardless of what stage you currently find yourself. Moreover, we invite you to take advantage of our long-running free site survey program. We offer both new and existing customers complimentary security audits and equipment quotes. While onsite, we can address your existing security concerns using a variety of security approaches and techniques. Furthermore, we can also make suggestions of our own based on what we see during our visit.
Perhaps you have some security equipment in place now, but wish to take advantage of some of these exterior alarm security options. Or, maybe you have very little in the way of security now. In this case, we can get you started on the right foot, building from the ground up. Over our 35 years in business, we’ve helped over a thousand customers design and implement effective security measures. Together, we can help you fully secure your home or business, inside and out!