Effin' Neighbors Burglar Alarm

[T2T]

OK, time to blow off some steam.

My neighbor was out of town for the past week. His security system went into alarm mode several times (about 10). Each time, the police were dispatched and left a notice on his door.

Yesterday morning, the alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. and at 6:30 a.m. - plus, a few more times during the day. We're listed as the alternate contacts. Needless to say, we received phone calls for each incident and during the 6:30 a.m. call, 2 police cars were actually dispatched, when I met up with them at the house.

I know alarms have their purpose. But, damn, one sensor or contact goes out of alignment and it could mean trouble in the event you're away from home. Plus, add to the fact that our county will respond to 2 alarms in a year period, then you pay fines for the follow-up visits.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[Geno]

If misery loves company, you've got company. I have a couple of neighbors with the same problem. The result is that nobody pays attention to alarms any more.
My own philosophy is: get good door & window locks & use them, get a dog, and most importantly, don't associate with lo-lifes.

 

[Johnd]

The result is that nobody pays attention to alarms any more.

Hassle? Yes. Inconvenience? Yes.

But I'll bet it does serve to keep the ne'er-do-wells and riff-raff away. That is, I'm sure they pay attention to the alarms. So while I sympathathize with your plight, I'm sure the glitch can be easily remedied (and should be). Neighbors looking out for neighbors is a good thing.

 

[Tsunamii]

Oddly enough, at least hear in Ma, it is the Health Dept that most of these complaints go through. The thought is that the constant noises have an impact on your health if you can’t sleep hence its a public nuisance and goes to the Health Dept.. Weird..

Oh Ya and John I don’t think "sympathathize" is a correct word. I know how particular you are on your Grammar and thought I would point it out for you.

 

[Jedi2016]

What I don't get is why people bother with outdoor motion sensors. And why, when they do have them, they're always improperly calibrated. A squirrel runs across the yard, and all the lights come on.

I live in an apartment, so it doesn't really apply to me, but if I ever have a security system installed in my home, it will be exclusively on the doors and windows. Only in the event of an actual breach of the house will the alarm go off. And squirrels running through the yard don't breach the house. And if I do install motion sensors outside, they'll be calibrated so that they won't turn on the lights for anything smaller than an adult male. And then, they'll only turn on the lights... they won't set off any actual alarm.

 

[Johnd]

Yes. Hard-wired motion sensors can be calibrated for a certain pound weight. Wireless motion sensors cannot. Improper calibration and wireless detectors create problems, but either can be remedied.

 

[Tsunamii]

Yes, Yes I believe the word would be empathize.... Jeez, what are they teaching kids these days.

 

[mtrycrafts]

get a dog, .

Good advice
Does anyone rents them for the periods you are not home and takes care of them?
Maybe an electronic dog?

 

[Johnd]

Good advice
Does anyone rents them for the periods you are not home and takes care of them?
Maybe an electronic dog?

A dog is good, a neighbor (or two) "looking out" also helps.

 

[Mort Corey]

Even a properly calibrated motion detector can give a false signal if a spider or something crawls across the sensor. I'd bet that this guy has a few cobwebs near the sensors.

Had a fire alarm go off in my building last week (morons doing construction and the dust setting off the smoke sensor) and it took the fire department almost 15 minutes to arrive......good thing the station is only a block away

Mort

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

OK, time to blow off some steam.

My neighbor was out of town for the past week. His security system went into alarm mode several times (about 10). Each time, the police were dispatched and left a notice on his door.

Yesterday morning, the alarm went off at 3:00 a.m. and at 6:30 a.m. - plus, a few more times during the day. We're listed as the alternate contacts. Needless to say, we received phone calls for each incident and during the 6:30 a.m. call, 2 police cars were actually dispatched, when I met up with them at the house.

I know alarms have their purpose. But, damn, one sensor or contact goes out of alignment and it could mean trouble in the event you're away from home. Plus, add to the fact that our county will respond to 2 alarms in a year period, then you pay fines for the follow-up visits.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Thank heavens I dont have your neighbors

If their is any consolation, at least your neighbors will get stuck with fines.

 

[sjdgpt]

The repeated alarms are not due to calibration.

How do I know? I have business that is wired with a couple bushel baskets of motion (IR), noise (broken glass) and magnetic contact (door) sensors that suffer from repeated false alarms.

If the problem was calibration, the alarm promptly sound with each reset. If it was absolute system failure, the unit would not reset (re-arm to sound an alarm at a future time).


Either there is the spider problem with a motion sensor (the spider passes directly over the sensor... to the system the spider is the size of an elephant and promptly responds) or the electronic circuits have a failing component.

Most likely it is an electronic problem.


(spiders don't move directly over the sensor that many times in a day because most spiders with an established web do not need to move that many times per day, and a spider without an established web tend to move at random and will seldom pass over the sensor that many times in a day)


A. The circuits of the sensors uses resistors to equalize the resistance of the differening length wires from the sensors to the main control box, as well as the different types of sensors used on the system. Resistor failure will cause those repeated alarm cycles. (each alarm resets the circuit, each reset of the control panel resets the circuit, and failure (alarm) time can actually be predicted from the time of the last reset)


B. Sensor Ghosting. Some motion sensors when they start to fail will detect Ghosts. Little things, such as the HVAC coming on, will cause an overly sensitive sensor to go nutz and sound an alarm. I have never had a noise detector go bad (knock on wood), but I suspect the sensor Ghosting problem would be similar with the motion sensors.


By the way for most IR motion detectors that are used in the typical business a small animal (or even a German Shepard sleeping the warehouse) does not have enough mass to set off the alarm. Laser motion detection devices will pickup a field mouse, but few businesses outside of museums, banks and jewelry stores will use a laser system as their primary motion detection system.

 

[majorloser]

Cats WILL set off motion sensors!

Cats can jump on top of furniture and get closer to the detector. My cats used to set mine off all the time! They also used to run into the sliding glass doors setting off the breakage detectors in my old house. (I think they used to do it on purpose just so I'd have to pay the repeat alarm fines )

Noise detector glass breakage sensors work great in houses with hard floors (tile, wood, etc.) I have heard of animals breaking large glass items in the house and setting them off, though.