3x door sensors - front door, back door, garage entrance
Motion sensor in great room, likely in corner of back wall
Shock sensor in main bathroom, mounted to single-pane, fixed (non-openable) frosted glass window, not pictured
This provides coverage of the obvious spots, but I’m not sure precisely what I need for the main bedroom, and the secondary bedrooms. Considerations:
Main bedroom: a bed and bedside table sit in front of but only slightly cover the two single windows.
Glassbreak sensors seem impractical, as one per bedroom would seem to be needed, and they wouldn’t cover the window being pried open
Two shock/window combo sensors would be required per double window
Motion per bedroom gets expensive at $80+ per sensor
Crucially, it looks like I’m stuck with the 345mhz IQP4 because I want the Firefighter listener that can detect T4, per my previous thread. This kind of sucks as it eliminates a number of vastly cheaper encrypted sensors.
Not every secondary bedroom will have valuables in it, but they are potential points of ingress, and at least one (likely BR1) is likely to, at least to the eyes of a petty thief. So what would you recommend?
A motion sensor per bedroom? This would seem ineffective for Stay mode; the secondary bedroom motions could be armed in Stay, but not if guests ever stay, and there’s a chance I would forget and trip the alarm
Window/shock sensors on all bedroom windows? This would call for six combo sensors, $300+.
Something else?
Also of consideration: the dining room at the front of the house would likely be out of view of the great room motion detector, but no valuables would be stored there, they’d be in the great room under the detection area. Does anything need to be done for dining? (Two more combo sensors?) And what about the back window? Also pointless to add sensors to, because of the motion?
I get that there is savings involved with not putting window sensors on every window. Add to the fact that they won’t detect a broken window and their utility goes further down.
However, I’ve found that they are useful as reminders to close all the windows. When I go to arm the system, it’s helpful to know that if no sensors are open, then I’ve closed all my windows and doors. Same goes for a garage door sensor, even if your setup doesn’t include it as part of the perimeter.
This helps fight the most common type of home invasion: crimes of opportunism. A window or garage door left open will look much more inviting than a house that looks to be all locked up.
You can get barebones 345mhz door/window sensors for $20 if you look around. Like from
eBay (I recommend going with sellers that have lots of sales and ratings if you choose to do that).
Also, someone who breaks into your home isn’t likely to stay in a single room. A motion sensor in the great room will be fine, since that is a room that the thief will basically have to walk through at some point. Yes, a motion sensor in each bedroom (or glass/shock) might catch them like a minute sooner, but keep in mind that the police response time to intrusion alarms is usually abysmal. And that’s after the monitoring company finally calls them, they’ll spend several minutes trying to call you first. So, that minute isn’t likely to make a difference. The most likely outcome is the alarm scaring the invader away in either setup.
If you wanted to put glass break or shock sensors in the secondary rooms while saving money, consider buying the unencrypted versions. They can usually be had for less than half the $ of the encrypted versions on eBay, etc. And, you might feel as if, for these secondary locations, an unencrypted sensor is better than no sensor at all.
Also, anecdotally, shock sensors aren’t the most reliable things in the world. If you do get one, make sure to follow the calibration and placement settings exactly.
Thanks for the reply. Basic unencrypted 345mhz door/window sensors are $15 directly from Surety, so I’m covered on those.
While you’re right that a thief would eventually have to exit, assuming that they don’t just climb back out through the window they climbed in, I’m not sure that the great room motion would necessarily catch them no matter where I place it, because of the pillar by the front door.
Some manner of garage door sensor is probably a good idea given that I prefer to leave the door open for some time after driving in to dissipate the exhaust fumes (incl CO) and have occasionally left it open overnight by accident.
Perhaps some cheapo window sensors and glassbreaks are the way to go for the secondary bedrooms. Windows might be somewhat useful for primary, but perhaps another motion is the way to go there, for when I’m away. When I’m in… the last thing an invader after property wants to see (other than a loaded firearm pointed at them) is a large naked man.
Yep, a quick search on eBay shows unencrypted 2GIG-GB1 sensors available from a seller with 18,000+ ratings for $35. Seems ideal for secondary situations.
Crucially, it looks like I’m stuck with the 345mhz IQP4 because I want the Firefighter listener that can detect T4, per my previous thread. This kind of sucks as it eliminates a number of vastly cheaper encrypted sensors.
Correct, the 319.5 firefighter would only cover smokes and not carbons. Unfortuantely, there is no PowerG option, nor does anyone make a 319.5 fighter that does both.
Not every secondary bedroom will have valuables in it, but they are potential points of ingress, and at least one (likely BR1) is likely to, at least to the eyes of a petty thief. So what would you recommend?
You could put shock/DW contacts on every window but this coudl be overkill. Glassbreaks can be a good primary option for windows that dont open or for windows that could be broken and entry achieved wihout tripping a DW contact with a reed switch, a good secondary . They can cover multiple windows in one room, cutting down on costs as well.
Your typical motion sensor is going to be good for mostwhole room motion detection but can also be used at choke points, like hallways or any area where someone would have to cross through.
Just be sure to mount sensors following mounting directions in their respective manuals and avoid pointing motions at windows, as sunlight hitting the lens can cause false triggers.
