If you’ve read any of our posts in this space, you know that we do our best to keep both existing and potential customers informed as to their security options. From long-term security standards to newly-available, cutting edge equipment, we want to educate people about their options to secure their property and even the lives of those in their homes or businesses. However, many of our customers fail to safeguard the very equipment that provides their security. In this post, we will give you tips to help you with securing your security equipment!

A hand holding a paper that reads "Inspection Passed"

Periodical alarm inspections help ensure that your alarm’s components and monitoring service will work when needed.

We will begin with a look at installing your equipment properly to provide this security. From there, we will also look at equipment you can add after installation to keep your security equipment as safe as possible. We will also look at steps you can take to keep your security equipment working during power outages. Finally, we will look at some security equipment and security account maintenance tips. Keeping your equipment maintained and up to date, as well as maintaining your information with your security company, goes a long way towards maintaining long-term security. Now, let’s get started with a look at proper equipment installation!

Following Installation Best Practices

You may recall our post comparing DIY Camera Systems vs Professional Surveillance Cameras. In that post, we discussed the advantages of professional security equipment installation. For starters, when security companies such as ourselves install alarms, cameras, access control systems, or any security measures, we use trained electricians with the proper security and electrical licenses to do the work. Therefore, you can trust the methods and means of our company’s installation.

Furthermore, we also complete all legal requirements to install these systems. This often includes pulling permits for the work with the local city or town hall. After we complete our work, your local inspector will check our installation methods. Passing this inspection requires that we keep all wiring out of the elements. Moreover, it also means that the equipment we use meets local and national codes and industry standards. Our customers receive a great deal of both peace of mind and security due to these safeguards. Now, let’s look at some items that help in securing your security equipment by locking up your property’s most important security appliances.

Adding Lock Boxes for Your Security Panels

Recently, we created a post providing options for “Add-Ons” for Effective Video Surveillance. As part of that discussion, we introduced the concept of installing a lock box to secure video recorders. These lock boxes have fans that keep the equipment within them from overheating. Additionally, their solid construction keeps the equipment inside safe from accidents, and makes it very difficult for people to purposefully harm the equipment that the box holds.

Candles and a clock on a counter

By taking the proper precautions, you can receive the benefits of your security equipment even during power outages.

Most security systems have an appliance that acts as the system’s “brains.” Surveillance systems have the aforementioned video recorders. Burglar alarm and access control systems have a control panel. This panel includes the computer boards that control the entire system. Securing these pieces of equipment goes a long way towards securing your security equipment! If you have any type of physical security, consider having us install a lock box to keep the most important parts of your systems safely locked away. Now, let’s turn our focus towards keeping your security equipment working through power outages.

Providing Backup Power for Electronic Security

Nighttime power outages provide criminals even more cover than usual to commit their crimes. Unfortunately, power outages often disable security systems. This means that your security can fail you when you need it most! However, we do offer solutions to keep your systems up and running at these times. For example, we can provide backup batteries for many types of security panels. These include fire alarms, burglar alarms, access control systems, and intercom systems. Furthermore, we also sell these batteries over the counter. These batteries often keep the systems we install them in powered up for 24-48 hours. If you have a few of these batteries stored away, you can keep your security up and running even through extended power outages!

Video recorders provide an exception to the backup battery possibility. These recorders plug into a standard outlet and do not have the capability of receiving battery-based power. However, we can still provide some security against power outages. By plugging your recorder into an Uninterruptible Power Supply (or “UPS”), we can provide a few hours of backup power in case your property’s power goes down. These devices store backup power, which gets used only when your outlet stops supplying electricity. Next up, let’s look at how our warranty plans can help with securing your security equipment!

A sticker reading "Satisfaction Guaranteed"

Customers who have our extended warranties can receive both free inspections and free system repairs, ensuring their security equipment works properly when they need it most.

Adding Extended Product Warranties

We always recommend that our customers test their security equipment on a regular basis. Furthermore, we also provide system inspections ourselves. We recommend having your security company inspect your systems periodically to check for proper functionality and make any necessary repairs. Moreover, regular system checks can give you the chance to install updated equipment as it becomes available.

As an additional option, we offer warranties that cover the cost of inspections as well as the cost of new parts as you need them installed! This means that you will receive regular assurance that your security system works properly. Of course, if we do find anything wrong during our inspection, we will fix it for free. The same goes for any problems that occur in our absence that you discover on our own. If you do have us as your security provider, feel free to ask us about our warranty options. They are quite popular with our customers, and they assist you with securing your security equipment. Now, let’s look at one last important tip that our alarm customers occasionally forget to keep up with.

Keeping Your Information Up to Date

When we install a monitored alarm system, we gather all of the contact information we can from our new customers. Of course, our central station uses this information to call your property and check in on you following alarm events. This alone makes keeping your phone numbers as current as possible. However, we also use this information to tell you when things go wrong with your panel.

For example, we attempt to contact our customers if their alarm panels fail to send a test signal. Commercial fire panels send out a communications test every day, while residential panels send out a test every week. If we do not have the proper information to get in touch with you, this could potentially lead to your alarm failing to communicate, without you even knowing! We encourage our customers to check in with us once or twice a year to make sure we have the most current set of contact numbers for your property.

Putting it All Together and Securing Your Security Equipment

We hope that this post will help you secure the equipment that secures your own property! If you have any questions about the material here, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will happily answer any security-related questions you may have. Furthermore, we offer free site surveys to both new and existing customers alike. Maybe you have security equipment in place and wish to install additional equipment to keep your systems safe. Or, perhaps you wish to design some security measures from the ground up, incorporating the equipment described in this post from the get-go. Either way, we will be happy to meet with you and discuss your options. Together, we can create a plan to keep you and your family as safe and secure as possible!