Alarm systems

[Rhica]

We are midway through extension and we would like to get an alarm installed. Just to cover doors and windows as we have 2 cats so sensors would be useless. Any advice?

We have the electrician coming Monday but also considering those which can be installed wirelessly ourselves which seem good value. Anyone have experience of either? Pros/cons?

My biggest worry with wireless one is that in guessing if you have power cut or WiFi goes down then they would be useless. Advantage of a wired one is the box outside which in itself woukd act like a deterrent I think.

Thanks in advance

Let the sparky take you through it when he's there. If you're not having the motion sensors then it's just fitting magnetic sensors on the windows etc plus wiring.
I think the wireless ones all use IR sensors (motion) so not of much use if you're worried about the cats setting them off. Could easily be wrong!

Thanks @Loofah01 I will see what he says. Kind of makes the decision easier in a way if that is the case with the IR sensors

We have Bosch sensors that ignore our cat. We set the upstairs at night and he is downstairs and it has never been set off by him (just in case you want to go that route)

Wrong! We set the downstairs at night and he never sets it off!

I have used wireless systems before and they have the advantage of being cheap and easy to install.

Wired systems are generally better, and cost more.

If your insurers require a professional system, you may need one installed and maintained by an accredited alarm company (not a local electrician) with telephone monitoring. This is particularly expensive.

We've just had a wireless one installed. Sensors on all external doors and I think 5 internal PIR sensors.

Can be linked to app on my phone so I can set it from Tesco if I've forgotten.

We had a wireless Yale with pet sensitive sensors and some door/window sensors for years, worked fine, even for a cat who loved to sit on windowsills and watch the world go by 😄

Check your wifi signal is strong enough to maintain a signal. Ours isn’t and more often than not when we’re out we get a call from the monitoring company to say they’ve gone off because of a powercut. Absolutely pointless telling us because we can’t get back to turn them off and having just moved house we can’t ask any neighbours yet to take responsibility for them.
If Covid wasn’t here and we would be in our ‘usual’ scenario and out regularly, I wouldn’t bother setting them

In our old property the hardwired monitored one could be set with a dog up to 28kg moving freely inside. We did that for 12 years and no issues- no comparison.

Dogs are easier to screen out, because they tend to move around near ground level and the sensors can be adjusted not to "see" them. Cats however can jump and climb so cause more false alarms. I'm pleased if more modern sensors are better in this regard.

Don't bother shelling out for a monitored system. DH is a police officer and says they are a waste of money. The vast majority of activations are false alarms so the police don't routinely attend and if they do, they won't be there quick enough to catch anyone.

I'm never sure about monitored systems. We've always had one- but I've never assumed the police would come out. Having said that, someone from the monitoring company will, and I was told (by a police officer), that professional thieves tend to wait and see if there's a phone call to the landline before going through the whole house - indicates whether the system is monitored or not. I was also told that these days a do-it-yourself cctv system is as much of a deterrent as an unmonitored alarm. The sad fact is that you only need to have a "better" system than your neighbours.