Looking for recommendations and advice on house/garage alarms and/or CCTV…
House currently has an old wireless system linked to phone line and texts us if alarm goes off. Detached garage currently has nothing and I want to enhance security before starting to use it to store ‘stuff’. I suspect the house alarm control panel is too far (with too many thick stone walls between) to add garage as an extra zone. TBH I'd rather have a separate alarm for garage anyway to keep it armed 100% of the time including while we’re home.
We really just to make ourselves a harder target than some other poor sod. Alarm and/or CCTV should do that? (combined with other physical security).
I'm unsure about the value of a linked alarm: if it goes off and alerts me, WTF am I actually going to do? I'm not likely to challenge anyone if I was at home (life's too short), so failing to see the benefit and am looking at basic alarms. I've seen Texecom alarms recommended on STW previously. Our last house had one and it was 100% reliable for the 12 years we lived there, so I'm gravitating towards this: https://www.coditech.co.uk/texecom-veritas-vr8-fully-featured-wired-burglar-alarm-kit-1692-p.asp - good buy, or can I do better?
And CCTV... useful or not? I'm doubtful many burglars care about being on camera or not, so I'm already doubting its value. Am I wrong to think that? Is it a decent deterrent? Not sure where to start with finding a system with sufficient clarity to identify faces etc without breaking the bank.
Already have dusk-to-dawn bulbs in lights at front door and multiple floodlights on PIRs mounted high up, so got those bases covered. Work is ongoing to improve the robustness of garage doors etc too. We’ll be adding wall-mounted ground anchors and big chains too.
Recommendations/advice much appreciated. TIA.
We have CCTV - easy to fit yourself, but most crims don't give a stuff about it these days. Even a simple PIR alarm in the garage could be a deterrent. I've gone with securing the doors, and ground anchoring the bikes, and making it very noisy for someone to even break in. There is 'other' stuff they can nick.
Most IP cameras can be set up to alert you of movement - would work well in a garage as there would be none - so an alert is likely to be genuine.
I fitted a separate alarm system to my garage for the same reason you've given.
CCTV wise I've set up a few raspberry pi cameras that message me when they're triggered
I wouldn't rely on them for identifying burglars or as a deterrent though, unless the cctv you pick can see through hoodies/caps etc
Think I’ll go with a basic alarm such as the Texecom plus CCTV around the outside of the house. But going to beef up the doors, etc first to make entry as difficult as possible in the first place, along with internal security.
I was lucky to have a whole room in last house dedicated to bikes and had none of this worry I’m having now about security for our bikes.
And CCTV… useful or not? I’m doubtful many burglars care about being on camera or not, so I’m already doubting its value. Am I wrong to think that? Is it a decent deterrent? Not sure where to start with finding a system with sufficient clarity to identify faces etc without breaking the bank.
I don't know how effective CCTV is as a deterrent, but my experience locally at least, was that the police like it as evidence, when we had a minor vandalism issue, the first thing they did was to check whether there was any chance that the vandal(s) might have been captured on neighbours' CCTV, if only to confirm someone's presence as a start point. I think the unspoken thing here, was that they know who a fair few of the local idiots are, so if they can place one in the vicinity, it's a lead.
If you step back a little, what you also need to consider, if you do have CCTV, is whether you make it obvious as a deterrent - cue hoodies over faces etc - or you make it as discrete as possible as an evidence gathering tool. If it's simply there as a deterrent, you might as well just fit dummy cams and save some money, maybe.
And also stock up fluorescent cctv in operation stickers to let them know.
Nice bit of advertising there.
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And CCTV… useful or not? I’m doubtful many burglars care about being on camera or not, so I’m already doubting its value. Am I wrong to think that? Is it a decent deterrent? Not sure where to start with finding a system with sufficient clarity to identify faces etc without breaking the bank.
We had an attempted break in on our garage (seperate from the house). After that I bought a Netgear Arlo camera. A few months later we then had a local scrote wandering around the garage trying to figure out how to get the bikes unlocked. I got an alert on my phone, called 999, had the police round there within minutes who caught one of his mates but not the actual one caught on camera inside the garage. One look at the CCTV footage and the officer said "I know who that is, we'll give him time to get home and then go round to pick him up", so I think
is correct.they know who a fair few of the local idiots are, so if they can place one in the vicinity, it’s a lead.
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I have a 3 camera Arlo set up and an alarm fitted by a local firm. My garage is separate to but connected to the house, so is wired up as a different zone. I have a setting that lets me alarm the garage only if required.
We also have a couple of CCTV and alarms stickers on the front and back of the house. Would be good to do a bit more just in case though, our area is very prone to burglars
Very timely, some scrote had a crack at my garage sometime last week - screwdriver marks all over the door. Its a serious bit of kit that door on purpose so no danger it would come open , they've also tried to lever the handle off and basically hung off it. Place is alarmed to the hilt anyway so should they have got in they would have set that off and got a Police visit (eventually although quite quick when i've done it by accident !). We need cameras though so am investigating that - those Arlo look ok but don;t seem to have mains power - battery only ? I'm away a lot so thats why i need the ability to be told of nocturnal adventures around the property.
If you do get a CCTV system and have it on a network, I'd strongly suggest changing passwords and closing off some ports before actually connecting it to the internet. And probably disable UPnP on your devices too. Definitely change the default passwords at least, and check for firmware updates too. IoT and CCTV units are prime targets for being part of a botnet.
e need cameras though so am investigating that – those Arlo look ok but don;t seem to have mains power – battery only ? I’m away a lot so thats why i need the ability to be told of nocturnal adventures around the property.
There is an arlo variant that can be powered. (Not sure if it's indoor only)
Also Solar versions too.
those Arlo look ok but don;t seem to have mains power – battery only ?
It depends which version, I think. The Pro and Pro 2 and presumably the Utra can all be connected to an outdoors charging cable via the USB port and they also do a solar panel if you happen to live somewhere with sunshine. The internal batteries last weeks in normal use, but having to de-mount the cam and recharge it is a pain.
Also, they're expensive things and inherently insecure in the sense of being very easy to steal. People improvise more secure mounts / cages etc, but imo they're missing a trick by not producing a simple, lockable, secure mount for the things.
The other thing that's worth being aware of is that the standard Arlo cams don't detect movement through glass, though the Q version - the indoor one does. Though oddly the Q, apparently, doesn't network with other Arlo cams.
My batteries last months, I use rechargeables
I have it on a timer to come on at certain times of day (e.g. at night), and they're motion activated