I am looking for some advice as I am a new to home security. My house is a split level with a walk out basement. I have three casement windows, front entry door, and a patio door on ground level downstairs.
Would it be more effective to use the 2GIG Combined Shock Sensor Window Contact (SC2G-THNSHK) or 2GIG Thin Door/Window Contact (2GIG-DW10-345) and Honeywell 5853 Glass Break Detector on my casement windows downstairs? As or right now, I am not planning on using motion detectors.
Also do I have to worry about the 2GIG Recessed Door Contact (2GIG-DW20R-345) getting too cold if I install it on the front exterior door (I live in a cold weather state). What do you recommend?
On double casement windows I would use a single Mighty Mouse or Thin Door/Window window sensor between the two windows and then one 5853 glass break per room (unless they’re large rooms). The combined shock sensors wouldn’t work well because the shock sensor could only cover one of the two windows, leaving the other one unprotected.
Unless it get’s below 32 degrees on the inside of your windows you should be fine. The thin door/windows probably work down to a bit lower temperature, they’re just specced at 32 degrees or higher. Resolution Products sensors like the Mighty Mouse and the Door Contact are rated down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit so according to specification they would be safer from the cold than 2GIG sensors.
Would you recommend also using the combined shock sensor on the basement walk-out patio door or use the thin door/window sensor and glass break. What do you typically recommend for walk-out patio doors? Also should I be using motion detectors?
Both work, so I would look at it from a cost perspective. If you only have 1 or 2 windows in the room then it’s probably cheaper to use the combined shock sensors. If you have more windows then it’s probably cheaper to use one glass break sound detector and a few window open/close contacts.
Also consider whether you CAN use the combined shock sensors. They don’t work as well when a window has multiple panes of glass such as double hung windows. In that case I’d lean toward a glass break sound detector instead.
If you don’t have cats or large dogs then, yes, I would normally recommend motion detectors. Motion detectors will cover larger areas better and at a lower cost. There are 2 ways to break into a window - pry it open or break the glass. A single motion detector detects both of those cases for multiple windows at the same time. It takes a contact for each window and a glass break detector to achieve the same coverage. Even then, motion detectors have a longer range of detection than glass break detectors.
@spahdog, it is important that you read the datasheets of sensors first. Industrial standards generally imply that the sensor will work from -20C to 80C but since you might have window frames and all the sensors might not be conforming to industrial standards. You can just download datasheets from the internet and compare their power utilization, cost and sensing results to judge a sensor. That is what I actually did and never had a problem since.
You can put a piece of electrical tape or any insulator on the metal to make sure the exposed antenna never touches the metal. If the antenna touches the metal it won’t transmit at all. However, even if you do electrically insulate the antenna from the metal, the wireless signal will still probably be reduced by the nearby metal. Metal absorbs wireless signal like a Brawny paper towel soaks up a puddle in the kitchen.