Home security system

exiled_red

We have recently bought a house and are under going some renovations which involves rewiring amongs other things. We were wondering about home security systems, this seems the obvious time to get infrastrucure in place.

I was wondering what type of systems people have/would suggest. Few people seem to take much notice of a neighbours burglar alarm going off, and from viewing houses it seems they few people who have alarms actually use them. So part of me is thinking about not getting one, but the other part is thinking this is not a sensible approach while finding something suitable and useful isn't straight forward, we can't get motion sensors in the house as we have pets which would set them off, door sensors I guess would only partly be useful, if someone breaks in through a window the system doesn't notice.

What are your thoughts?

stator

I would get an external box with flashing lights that looks like an alarm system.
But I would spend most of my money on an Analogue High Definition CCTV system, using 1080p AHD cameras and a full-frame AHD 1080p DVR. Acquire the equipment yourself and pay someone to install it. You can find some good deals on the internet but a professional is likely to get rip off prices.
Install cameras on the outside and a few on the inside too, at key points like the entrances and hall ways/landings. You can get small cameras that are disguised as other things, like PIR sensors.

EssexExile

You can get pet friendly systems but what you really need is a box with flashing lights.

I_have_spoken

Most home alarm systems use wireless sensors, otherwise they'd never sell due to the hassle of fitting.

However, I'd install a control box from it's own switched spur and which is wired to a phone dialer or has a SIM card so people get called when the alarm is triggered. You can also do a wired alarm and maybe some wired external lights too. The lights should be on PIRs too; use bulkhead lights not the ridiculous 500W LED floods.

Also put in CCTV cameras, these day they generally post images to the cloud. There's nothing worse than getting a txt the alarm has gone off and being unable to see what's happening in the house in realtime.

exiled_red

The box was the minimum I would like to do, I thought about CCTV cameras, but that seems more like gathering evidence after the event rather than anything preventative, I know that you can get motion activated cameras that will alert you to motion (eg Nest).

Again I was considering motion activate lights around the outside.

exiled_red

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Most home alarm systems use wireless sensors, otherwise they'd never sell due to the hassle of fitting.

However, I'd install a control box from it's own switched spur and which is wired to a phone dialer or has a SIM card so people get called when the alarm is triggered. You can also do a wired alarm and maybe some wired external lights too. The lights should be on PIRs too; use bulkhead lights not the ridiculous 500W LED floods.

Also put in CCTV cameras, these day they generally post images to the cloud. There's nothing worse than getting a txt the alarm has gone off and being unable to see what's happening in the house in realtime.

Presumably this is the core of an alarm system which everything links into? Do you know if you can get such an item which you can interface with other wireless devices such as cameras and build up a system (e.g. Nest) or are the only really available as part of a system install?