Smart Alarms - advice needed please

[Stuart]

Morning chaps.  We live in a quite rural property and would like to upgrade to a Smart Burglar Alarm with camera PIRs.  Are there any experts here who could give me some advice as to the best system to get? 

 

OR, is it possible to upgrade the existing system to make it smart?  Current system is hard wired with dual microwave/PIR detectors.  Could I just add a couple of strategically placed cameras to this and, say, change the panel for a smart one?  Or is it better to chuck it and start again? (this is what I'm thinking).  If so, wired or wireless?  Single or dual detectors? DIY or installed?  Who to buy from? etc.

 

Any advice very  much appreciated.  Thanks.

[Stuart]

No-one?

[TAFKARM]

To be honest I don't know what a smart burglar alarm is!

[Terryathome]

So many things to consider.

Bells only

speech dialed

wired

wireless

smoke alarm requied

Battery backed, most are but the type of battery used

Power supply, direct or 3 pin plug tranny

keyfob activated

wireless activated

Grade of alarm 1 to 4 I think

Monitored or not

£100 could do it, threw £400 at mine all for a garage lol

Configuring the control panel with door contacts, PIR's and smoke alarm/heat sensor could be a nightmare if you get a high grade one like I did 

[Stuart]

RussH - it's an alarm that contacts you if it is triggered and can send you images so you can assess if it's a real or false alarm

 

Thanks for the comments Terry.  I already have the answers to most, if not all, of those questions, but what I want to know is what kit I should use and whether it's easy to install yourself or whether to get a professional in.  What kit did you use?

 

It's a 7 zone dual tech (PIR/microwave) system at present so ideally what I'd like to do is replace 2 of the PIRs with camera ones and turn the system into a smart one, which presumably means a control panel change.  Alternatively could go wireless if it makes sense, But presumably even wireless PIRs need a power supply

[SootySport]

I would go for a hard wired system, battery sensors are a nuisance as they need changing regularly, even when using Duracell.

[Terryathome]

I went for Texacom alarm. The after service is quite good

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

Hard wired alarm and then Swann security cameras all linked to recorder and veiwable anywhere in the world on Phone, Tablet or PC. Works very well and if nothing else is a deterent to the thieves.

[Stuart]

Thanks guys.  Texecom and Swann kit both look good.  Awful lot to figure out though 

[Yanto]

I can't help I'm afraid, we also live in a quite rural area, we decided not to have any alarms after suffering from many false alarms in previous house , but we do have big dogs...........!

[Luapno]

I used Texecom several times in the past they do very good quality kit. Not used their latest stuff but it looks very good. Might need to upgrade soon   

[SootySport]

To be honest I don't know what a smart burglar alarm is!

Even I know what they are  .   You can access the cameras on your phone at your house wherever you are and watch the burglars live doing your house in.    Problem is you can't do anything about it but phone the Cops and they'll turn up 2 hours later

[Terryathome]

Multiple sound bombs in mine, I tested it and it hurt my ears

[dstorey]

Several wifi cameras in the house all UPS backup (so if power cut still operate for about 20mins :-) ) Router on UPS so will keep emailing/ streaming too...

 

Cameras detect movement and email pics/ stream video to NAS drives and can be accessed anywhere via mobile (with passwords) (NAS Drives also UPS)

 

http://foscam.co.uk/products/fi9816p-black-indoor-720p-megapixel-wireless-p2p-ip-camera.html

http://www.misco.co.uk/productinfo/productinfo?productCode=163302&affiliate=GOOGLEPLA&cm_mmc=google-_-Product_PlusBox-__-163302&gclid=Cj0KEQjwpZO_BRDym6K_nMye7cEBEiQAVA7RaDj3dfRAwKywBsoMN7Av7p8ZJiNcDELNkdlzDzsKBtIaAmF88P8HAQ

 

 

Sometimes I feel like I should be in the militatry!! ;-)

 

All overkill as I have absolutely nothing worth stealing, (except the Westy of course!!!)

[dombanks]

You guys must live in really ropey areas... 18yrs in Toxteth and I never got broken into. Worse was my bike got stolen from inside the block of flats and that was a friend of the neighbour.