Home Security Facts

The control panel might be thought of as the “guts” of the home security system. Better yet, it’s the “brains” of the system.

Its housing is usually a steel case, about the size of a child’s lunch pail, is often painted beige or cream, and often has a lock on it, with an accompanying key.

It typically contains the main wiring connections, a computer board, and a back-up battery (automatically rechargeable).

The control panel usually contains what are known as “zones”, so that the panel (and the monitoring company “command center”) can identify what “zone” of your home is causing the alarm to go off, or even where a problem with the system might be located.

For example, the front door might be “Zone 1″, the back door “Zone 2″, the motion sensor “Zone 3″, etc.

If your touch pad has a digital readout, for example, it will actually tell you where a door is open, or if there is some other situation.

The Control Panel is typically mounted in an interior closet, so that it’s not readily accessible to a burglar or Einstein-curious children. It will usually be somewhat centrally located, as a means of centralizing the wiring set-up. Or in the case of a totally wireless system, a central location keeps the wireless components close to the “mother ship” for good communication.

Without the critical Control Panel, you pretty much wouldn’t have a security system at all.

Every home security system should have an interior siren.

When a burglar breaks in, you want them afraid to proceed with their burglary. One of the things that scares them the most is the siren going off.

Most sirens are close to 100 decibels, and they will surely hear it. It tells the burglar two things: 1) these people actually have a security system, and 2) there is shortly going to be someone calling the police.

Common sense tells the crook, “Get yourself outta here!”, and you know what? They almost always do when the siren goes off.

Of course, the siren also alerts you, if you’re home and there’s a break-in. It’s scary, but better that you should know than have the burglar entering your home secretly.

Sidenote: Exterior (outdoor) sirens are not very popular anymore, for obvious reasons. Most time a siren goes off, it’s the homeowner accidentally setting off the alarm. Maybe we forgot it was armed and opened the door in the morning to let the dog or cat out. If a loud alarm blasted to the neighbors every time that happened, the neighbors wouldn’t be too happy. And they probably wouldn’t pay much attention to it anyway, as you’ll often see in the case of car alarms.

But the Interior Siren is a vital part of your burglar alarm. Don’t leave home without it. In fact, don’t STAY home without it, either