I'm thinking I ought to get an alarm for my garage which is in two sperate sections so I ideally want a remote controlled system so I can set the alarm regardless of which door I use. I have mains power available if required and I'm happy to put any required cabling in.
What systems should I be looking at that won't break the bank?
There is a lot available. I used to have one linked to the doors which could be remote 'blipped'. Ran off batteries. Did the job.
I now have a separate IP camera in there that alerts my phone if it detects movement. It does have ability to activate the siren on detection. The only issue is that you get the occasional bug flying in front of the IR sensor and it triggers an alert, although sensitivity can be turned down, mine is quite high.
I had a basic Yale. Can't post a link but Amazon has some Yale alarms with a remote, IR detection and a separate door magnet.
I should add I already have Blink cameras in the main section of the garage, in the conservatory and on the drive so all approaches are monitored.
That Yale is the one I spotted.
Lots of choice for alarm systems out there from cheap and basic up to more sophisticated alarms with instant notification etc...
A wireless alarm with anti tamper and anti jamming features and with push notifications are a good start
Only problem with alarm systems are people tend to ignore them unless they are going off for a while and if the thief gains entry quickly whilst the alarm goes off at 2am by the time you have been woken up by the alarm, ran downstairs naked, found the back door keys, got out the backdoor and unlocked the garage door the thief has grabbed whatever they can see and ran off!
It well worth reinforcing the interior of the garage if possible to slow down anyone breaking in, things like bars on any of the windows, if you have roller shutter or up and over doors then some kind of anchor point where you can slide a bolt from the door into the wall and padlock it from the inside, security shutters/grilles are an option too, i keep seeing these cheap on FB marketplace and seem like a good defence option
I’ve had a Ring floodlight camera on the front of my garage for 4.5 years and it’s still working perfectly, particularly given it’s survived quite a few storms, gets blasted with moist sea air and shows no signs of corrosion. Fortunately, there’s almost zero theft here so the only alerts we get tend to be for deer, hedgehogs, pine martens, birds, neighbourhood cats, couriers and postmen.
I used to fit and service security systems for a living.
1. Keep it simple. Movement detection in a poor environment like a shed or garage will mean false alarms. See point 3.
2. Wired is almost always better.
3. People will treat your alarm going off as an annoyance. I once attended a break in to be shouted at by a neighbour, because it woke them
4. I’d actually not bother with an external sounder, maybe a loud internal one.
5. Make it awkward to steal anything, spiky plants, trellis above side gates, that sort of thing.