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Becoming a home security system expert

November 29th, 2009 |

Author: Brat Lee

An hour or three of internet browsing is all it takes to become a self-taught expert on the subject of installing home security system components. These days, it’s a far cry from the hassle-filled experience installing home security sensors or security cameras was in previous years. Indeed, the advent of wireless security cameras means that the gigantic job of laying down cabling for a house has become vastly more simple, no longer limited to those with an understanding of the workings of electronics and complex, inefficient computer interfaces. What this means for you is that getting a home security system is no longer something to put off, to shirk like the chores of going on a diet or finding the perfect power suit. It’s something you should make a real priority – because you never know when it might be too late for you, your family, or your personal possessions.

Creating a Hollywood-style spy camera inside a teddy bear, a toy, or a paperweight is one carnival trick that’s become very easy to perform. You can set these covert wireless security cameras up as an integral part of your home security system, even if you know no more about computers than your typical 7-year-old kid. Just drill a hole in the underside of the device you’re using to conceal the camera, cut a lens hole, drill another hole in the surface on which you plan to keep the ornament (for the power cable) and voila, you’re all set. If the feed cable is a USB, then the camera doesn’t even need to be wireless – you can power the device and retrieve information simultaneously. Note that you can save a lot of money on storage space by using basic motion detection software, which will activate the recording function on your cameras, thus eliminating the need for constant recording.

It’s also possible to have the device activated by various kinds of home security sensors. Infrared sensors activate when an object of sufficient heat moves across their detection field. Contact sensors, by contrast, are activated by the opening of a window or door, an action which either opens or closes the circuit made by the two installed sensor pads, which in turn sends a signal to the central home security system hub to which the sensors are wired. Another type of home security sensor utilizes UWB (ultra-wideband) radar. For the purposes of motion detection, these sensors function by ’staring’ over a fixed range and sensing any change in the average time taken for the signals the device emits to be returned.