Common Mistakes People Make With Their Home Security System

In today’s fast-paced world, where you may not even know the name of your neighbors, it’s important to take precautions and invest in a home security system to safeguard your home against burglary. While a security specialist could create a customized solution to protect your home, many choose to install and maintain a security system on their own, which often leads to dire consequences.

Alarms may not work, or motion detectors are installed in such a way that they do not deter thieves. These common scenarios compromise the safety of your family, and it costs a hefty sum to replace stolen valuables.

To help you avoid some basic errors that could prove to be costly when installing and maintaining security cameras and alarms in your property, Locktec, Inc.  has put together a list of the most common mistakes people make with their home security system.

1. Not testing alarms.

One of the biggest mistakes customers make is not testing their alarms. Burglar alarms should be manually tested at least twice a year. If a burglar alarm is never set off, then it may never show a wrong communication path to the monitoring station.

a.   The first step in testing is to call your alarm monitoring company to let them know that you are going to test your system and inform them to put it in test mode for at least thirty minutes.

b.   The second step is to arm the alarm like you are leaving your house, then open the door like you were going out and then shut it closed. Now, wait for the alarm to fully arm, which will happen when the alarm stops beeping.

c.   Then walk around the house in front of the motion detectors. If they don’t go off immediately don’t worry, wireless motion detectors go into sleep mode if you have been in the room recently. Give it about ten minutes, and it will switch on.

d.   By now, the alarm sirens should start going off, so you need to open a few doors, and windows. Wait for one minute after the last door or window is opened before entering your code to turn off the alarm. Depending on the system you may need to enter your code twice.\

e.   The Last step is to call the monitoring station about three to five minutes after you turn off the alarm and see if they received signals. If they have not, then you need to call the company that installed your alarm to resolve the issue.

2. Leaving the automatic vacuum cleaner on.

An automatic vacuum cleaner will start cleaning while you are away and will set off your motion detectors. The best solution is to set the vacuum cleaner to start at night when you’re at home and turn it off altogether when you go out of town.

3. Forgetting the alarm password.

Customers often forget their alarm code or the password for the monitoring station. Forgetting your alarm code can be an issue even if you don’t use your alarm. Your alarm will do system checks, and if it finds a problem it will start beeping to let you know, and the system will then require that code to make it stop making noise. Forgetting the password for the monitoring station can be even worse because if you accidentally set off the alarm, the monitoring station has to send the police, if they do not have the password.

4. Not using the alarm.

The biggest mistake customers make is not using their alarm. An advantage of using an alarm is having the peace of mind that when you get home, no one has been in your house. If the alarm is still armed and doesn’t say alarm event or history, then you know nothing happened while you were gone. Today, there are systems which will message your phone to let you know that your kids got home from school, or inform that your family from out of town arrived safely. There are so many more advantages of using your alarm than just protection from burglary.

To avoid these and other home security system mistakes, reach out to the experts at Locktec, Inc. We are based in Huntsville, Alabama and serve clients across Madison, Decatur, Athens, Scottsboro, and Arab. We have provided alarm system monitoring since 1997. The burglary detection devices that we install include door contacts, glass break detectors, window contacts, and infrared motion detectors. Apart from security systems and security cameras, we also provide locksmith, access control, safes, and automatic gate access services.

For a complete list of our services, please click here. If you have any questions about home security system installations, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us here.