From: akent@telesoft.com (Alan Kent @lone)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Alarm systems and cats
Date: 11 Apr 92 05:56:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: telesoft.1992Apr11.055641.8395
Organization: TeleSoft, San Diego, CA, USA

In <92099.153919ICSAFF@ASUACAD.BITNET> Allen French <ICSAFF@ASUACAD.BITNET> writes:
>I just had my post-burglary :-( alarm system installed, but I don't see
>how I can leave the motion detector on since I have a cat that does get
>up on things high enough to set off the alarm. They pointed the detector
>to catch things waist-high, but the beam naturally gets lower the further
>it gets from the detector. I can't afford to have contacts on ALL the
>windows, so the motion detector is an important element in the system.

Sooner or later the cat will find someplace to go that will set off the
motion detector and cause false alarms.  Motion detectors and cats don't
mix.  Get them to take out the motion detector and put in a point to point
IR beam instead.  Something like a Wonderex AX-100S or AX-100SR would work
great.  

You can have a beam down the middle of the house, in the hallway or whatever
so that they are sure to go thru it if they come in your house and start
looking around.  I put one in a house in far end of the living room, crosses
the entire living room, goes across the entry way, bounces off a wall mirror
(the whole wall is mirrored), and then goes all the way down the hallway
where the bedrooms are.  We kept the beam away from furniture so even if the
cat jumps up on the furniture (he will) he can't go thru the beam, which is
about 4 feet off the ground. 

But contacts on the windows/doors should be your first line of defense, with
the interior sensors only as a backup (for the one that breaks the glass and
climbs thru instead of opening the window).  At $6 per contact (such as an
SM-207) it's not really that expensive, it's just a pain to wire them (but
it's not that hard if you know how, have a 36" 3/8 drill bit, fiberglass
fish, 1/4" teflon hose and an attic above :-). 

The best way to stop a burglary is to sound the alarm BEFORE they are
actually inside.  If the alarm sounds while they are standing out in your
yard with a part of your window in hand, they are most likely to just leave
fast.  If they are already inside they will probably take the time to grab
some stuff before going out.  Make sure the siren is *loud*, install at
least two 120 db sirens IN the house, not outside (more for big houses). 
External sirens don't do any good, they just annoy the neighbors.  You want
it so loud that it's painful and disorienting.  When you have a loud alarm
the burglar inside will be very uneasy and won't want to stay long because
they can't hear what's going on outside, they can't hear if a car drives up,
or if someone else is in the house, this is disconcerting to a burglar.  Put
the sirens behind fake heater vent grills or behind the heater/AC air return
vent grill.  I put two in a small house (1800 sqft) and you can't tell where
they are at all when they are both on, the sound seems to come from
everywhere and it's so loud they only way I can be in the house is with both
hands over my ears (making it hard to carry TV sets :-). 

No matter what you do though you can't stop a determined burglar, or a pro,
but most burglaries are done by amateurs anyway.  And for all the high tech
alarm systems we have, the best deterrence is still a big dog in the yard :-)
-- 
Alan Kent (akent@telesoft.com)