House alarm advice

I want to get a new house alarm or security system. One that is likely to help if someone tries to steal the bikes rather than wake me and the neighbours up at 2am again. Current system is old, came with the house and needs replacing.

No idea what to look for though. We had a guy come and fix it recently and he suggested alarms might not be the best system – no one batted an eyelid when it was going off at 2am!

We’re in a Victorian Terrace. Long and thin over three floors. Attached garage which I use as the entrance most days as I cycle to work.

I want to be able to get in and not have to strip off muddy clothes to run through the house to turn it off.

Is anything more than a basic alarm necessary? A box on the front and back to show we’ve got one. A big siren and some flashing lights. Couple of entry points (maybe fob/phone control rather than code). Are things like cameras worth it? Is a nice video of some **** stealing my bikes going to do anything? I don’t really want to know someone’s broken into my house while I’m on holiday. All that means is I know my bikes have gone I can’t do anything and I don’t get to enjoy my holiday in ignorance. I quite like the idea of being able to connect it to google home as we have various other devices on that network already – mostly so I can turn it on and off and alter settings remotely.

Any good resources? Anyone care to make any good recommendations.

Fit a pyronix – if current alarm is wired go with a euro 42 and use existing wiring but change control box and sensors, can probably keep some existing stuff like bell boxes and door contacts etc. The enforcer wireless system is good but wired better imo.

Use a wireless add on to expand – can be set up quite easily to allow access through certain doors etc and you have the app to control the system anyway.

When it goes off also goes off on your phone and works very well. Setup is fairly easy. Cloud access is £36 a year plus around £500 ish for the hardware depending on what you go for and how much needs changing etc.

IMHO concentrate funds on the perimeter of the property and doors and windows. Don’t make goodies obvious, e.g. local social media FS adverts, “Where RU M8?”. An alarm is only really to get thieves to move on to the next property, they’ll be in and out regardless if there’s something worthwhile

Are things like cameras worth it?

Every video that I’ve seen shows a group of unidentifiable men in hoods

Thanks, sort of what I was thinking. I’d rather they went elsewhere, I doubt they’ll be caught or things found so everything is insured.

We went for a Verisure setup. I paid about £450 last year for supply and install. That was sensors on all downstairs windows and doors (7), a motion sensor/camera in the kitchen and one in the garage, a smoke/fog device at the top of the stairs and finally a control hub which we have in our bedroom. I then pay an optional £40 a month subscription fee for their additional services. Too long to list but stuff like call centre support when the alarm goes off, private security people in the event of an incident etc.

So far, so good. Fully controllable from the app. Any triggered alarms instantly ping the app and a follow up call comes from the control centre to make sure everythings ok.

We’re fully insured but with things like multiple expensive bikes and guitars, plus just general belongings, I like the piece of mind. No box on the outside but we have stickers on door and window glass as well as one on our side gate.

We’ve unofficially tested it when a mate was staying and went downstairs for some water in the middle of the night. Triggered the motion sensor, the alarm goes off, the service centre then talked to us through the control box in our bedroom saying there was a man in our kitchen and asking if it was us.

The smoke thing is quite cool. If an alarm was triggered and they call and we confirm we’re not at home, they will trigger the smoke device that will fill the house with fog that will hopefully force them away while the police and private security folk go to our house

Having worked for Verisure, I wouldn’t recommend them at all to be honest.

Alarm is fine if your sales/installer does a good job and knows what they are doing. I’d say they’re quite overpriced for what they are, but customers I visited had wildly varying bill amounts for similar setups.

Not including sales lying to vulnerable/elderly customers, self-signing contracts, leaving installations incomplete/non-working.

As someone pointed out in a previous thread, they don’t have a sterling reputation in the security industry. I would get advice from a security company who fit different brands so they can advise what is best for your setup.

£40 a month subscription

I thought the £450 install sounded too cheap. I guess they get you with the £480 per year extras.

I’m sure the Verisure install is great but they have a terrible rep in the security industry.
I’ve seen some interesting installs ..

I’d go for a local accredited company personally.

Edit, too slow. Yeah it was me who mentioned it before.

@jamesoz It was usually my job to go to those dodgy installs and try to put everything right. Doing that day in day out wore me down to the point of quitting. Sales people basically scamming and breaking the law for massive commission and the higher ups didn’t want to know 🙂

Actually, the scamming and lying was actively encouraged by some of the sales trainers!

Have noticed a lot of high-pressure Verisure ads on TV lately!!

Of course all that call-centre/connected alarm stuff is all very well unless someone snips the phone/fibre line going into your house…

The fog device is interesting, though. Hadn’t actually considered that for home use, possibly the only thing that might actually stop a thief given that as said neighbours etc tend to just ignore alarms! I’ve seen a fogger going off in a commercial premises and it looked incredibly effective I.e. zero visibility!

I’ve got a hive door opening sensor (battery powered) on the garage (*as we have hive I got a few other bits to play with it), but with hive app I can set up action, ie when door opens turn on a specific hive plug (which could have a siren in it)/or light/or get a app notification (but I’ve never used notifications), within that I can add between these times type controls but also from my phone I can turn the actions on and off (ie if I was going into garage etc). I can do similar with a battery powered motion sensor. (*all subscription free)

There must be similar products that are app based and linked to door/motion sensors – eufy ???? That would let you build a little system.

There must be similar products that are app based and linked to door/motion sensors

a lot of home-automation types use Alarmo – open-source, local, free (no cloud/subscription required)
https://github.com/nielsfaber/alarmo

I thought the £450 install sounded too cheap. I guess they get you with the £480 per year extras.

You can choose not to go for the monthly subscription at all and it all still works. You just don’t get the call centre support plus additional stuff.

The alarm will go off, you’ll get a notification to the app etc.

We’re away a lot at weekends for work etc. Our subscription includes a service where if there’s a break in and we’re not there, they will send private security people to remain at the property until its been secured by whoever does etc. If there is a proper break in, they dispatch security people instantly. To be honest with the police struggling for resources, the fact we can have someone attend probably quicker than the police gives me peace of mind. I’m ok spending £40 a month on that kind of stuff but you can get the install and not pay for the additional stuff

The fog device is interesting, though. Hadn’t actually considered that for home use, possibly the only thing that might actually stop a thief given that as said neighbours etc tend to just ignore alarms! I’ve seen a fogger going off in a commercial premises and it looked incredibly effective I.e. zero visibility

It’s interesting you can get them for domestic applications.
In the dim and distant past when I used to fit/service security systems, the only one I was aware of in use was at the manufacturer’s premises. Never saw it go off thankfully.
Back then (90’s/2000’s) there was a worry about liability, if an intruder injured themselves due to the smoke. A bit like if you left a bear trap or shotgun shell trap. I guess sensibly, that’s been resolved.

We used to have ADT but have switched to Simplisafe. Seems good so far, self installed and is modular so you can add what you want. Monitor service is £25 a month, half the price of ADT.

Bottom line: if they want in there’ll get in. The trick is to make your place harder to get into & with more risk of being identified than your neighbours place. After an attempt on my garage – defeated by a Banham lock they couldn’t open – I’ve put in a full Ring system. They’ve not been back & hopefully have given up the whole idea..

We have a yale ‘smart alarm’.
Had the same but an older version in our previous house and can’t fault them.

It’s all wireless – very easy to DIY install.
Makes it great as we have sensors in our detached garage – they claim 200m range.
Batteries last 2yrs+ (Previous house we changed the siren batteries once in 5yrs, the rest I’m pretty sure were still original when we moved)
You can add extra sensors/accessories on top of standard kit contents and they do various size kits.

Also connects to phone app so you can set/unset from that (when you forget, or when you are just leaving garage, not going back into house or back from a ride straight into garage etc.) or the keypad, and alerts you when it goes off via text, email and app.

Something like this (you can see the kit options);

^^^ Agree with above recommendation for Yale wireless smart alarm. Installed that ourselves in current house 3+ years ago, changed some batteries in a couple of sensors in that time which is easy to do. Straight forward setting up. Mix of door/window contacts and PIRs covering main house, detached garage plus a couple of sheds/summerhouse at opposite end of garden.

Additional sensors inexpensive.

Mobile app great. Mrs a11y’s chuffed she can control the alarm from her new Apple Watch too. We’ve got a remote fob thingy too but never used it.

Keypads are only ‘OK’: no blacklight (not suprising given they’re battery-powered).

Slight tangent: there’s an alarm system at our house which I’ve never investigated. Keypad in the hall (always forget it’s there as it’s behind the coat stand), a few PIRs scattered about and a siren/light on the front of the house (which is the only bit I’d be interested in). Anyone who knows or (used to) work with them, what is the deal with these sirens? Are they generally mains or battery powered or could it be either? How is the alarm/siren activated? Is it just a signal coming in which I could trigger using a WiFi relay? (i.e. to DIY my own alarm system as above, but re-use the existing siren)?

Slight tangent: there’s an alarm system at our house which I’ve never investigated. Keypad in the hall (always forget it’s there as it’s behind the coat stand), a few PIRs scattered about and a siren/light on the front of the house (which is the only bit I’d be interested in). Anyone who knows or (used to) work with them, what is the deal with these sirens? Are they generally mains or battery powered or could it be either? How is the alarm/siren activated? Is it just a signal coming in which I could trigger using a WiFi relay? (i.e. to DIY my own alarm system as above, but re-use the existing siren)?

Also watching with interest – we are taking out the ancient faulty alarm system and I thought about just connecting one of the PIRs to the siren and mounting it inside the garage next to the door, with a simple hidden switch or something outside.
Enter without turning it off and get your eardrums blown 6 feet into your skull 🙂