Welcome to Black Mountain Alarm

For most people, alarm systems are an enigma. A device that you use "hopefully daily", that magically protects you from the bad guys. The simple fact is, an alarm system is an electronic control, no better than the detection devices connected to it.

An alarm system works like this. When you arm your system, devises like door and window switches, motion sensors and glass break detectors, are connected to the alarm via a closed loop wire. Any opening of each circuit or zone will trigger the alarm.

1. EXTERIOR SIREN

The most important part of your alarm system is your EXTERIOR SIREN, although most companies do not put in outside sirens, mostly because of the additional labor and cost. The main theory to an outside siren is to attract attention to your property. If you only have an inside siren, a burglar will simply locate it and rip it off the wall, or disconnect it in some similar fashion. They know that it’s likely no one will hear it in the short time it takes to do this. Your alarm system, when armed, should, if the phone line is cut, trigger your outside siren, again, drawing attention to your property. No outside siren, no noise, no attention!

2. MOTION DETECTORS

Your alarm detection devices, the door and window switches, only work if the door is opened, or the windows sliding part is opened. If the burglar simply throws a brick through your window, arcadia, or French door, knocks the remaining glass out of the way and climbs in, the switches will not trigger the alarm. This is why motion detection is so critical to a good alarm system. When you are home, the motion detectors are generally, automatically bypassed so you can move around your home. If someone breaks out your glass while you are home, you will likely notice the noise. If your home is too large to be able to hear certain areas, you may want to consider adding glass break detectors to your system. These devices can detect breaking glass from an average of 30 feet in any direction from the unit. Most homes do not have glass break detectors.

Motion detectors see movement and trigger the alarm. If you have a dog or cat, there are inexpensive motion detectors commonly available that will allow you to have animals, but will still detect a human presence. A motion detector should cover anywhere from 40 to 60 feet from the detector.

3. BATTERY BACK-UP

If your AC power is interrupted, either by an outage, or by someone turning off your breakers, your alarm will rely on your back-up battery. When it comes to rechargeable back-up alarm batteries, all batteries are not made equal, and you get what you pay for. You should have, at the minimum, a 12 Volt DC battery, with a 7 amp hour rating. A lot of companies install smaller 4 to 5 amp batteries. These will last only a short while, and their useful life in very limited. How long your battery will last when your power is off is in direct relation to how many "mili amps" of current your system uses. In any case, an old or bad battery, besides not being there when you need it most, can cause permanent damage to your alarm control panel. The reason for this is that most alarm manufactures control panels are designed to dump excess voltages, "power surges" to the back-up batteries charging circuit. In the case of a good battery, it will take the voltage in, much like when it is charging. In the case of an old or bad battery, the cells of the battery are beginning to short, the same way your car battery becomes useless. The battery will no longer hold a charge, so when your alarm panel dumps excess voltage to the bad battery, it is kicked back to the control, possibly resulting in irreparable damage to the control.

4. ALARM CONTROLS

Like batteries, not all alarms are created equal. The two top selling manufactured brands of alarm controls are DSC and Ademco, sales of other brands pale in comparison. Because of this fact, if you have a DSC or Ademco control, any alarm company can help you in your time of need with such things as programming, parts, etc. The less popular the brand, the more likely your are of getting stuck with an alarm control that only a handful of alarm dealers can work on, hence, they will likely charge you more money because your options are limited. In addition, some brands, like Radionics, Napco, Morse, Apex, DMP, among some others, have no "back-door" into programming. If your original installer and company changed the factory code to their own secret code, which is normal for most companies, there is no way for another company of your choice to reprogram your alarm and monitor your system, again, limiting your options. This effectively makes you stay with your higher priced monthly monitoring rate and a company you may not be happy with. If you are in this situation, it may be worth spending a little money to replace your alarm control and keypads because you will get it back in the savings that you will receive with a lower monitoring rate. Spending more money on your alarm control does not make it better! The fact is that generally means the alarm’s manufacture does not sell many controls in comparison to the more popular brands. Both DSC and Ademco controls are fully capable of doing many complicated things other than trigger your siren. Both support X-10 protocol, the most popular home automation devises available. End user X-10 units are available from your alarm dealer, at your local home improvement store, or directly off the web.

5. CONTRACTS

BEWARE! Many alarm companies use alarm controls that are "proprietary", or "semi- proprietary", meaning when you finally get out of that minimum three year contract, and providing you remembered to give them at least a 30 day written notice, prior to the end term of your contract, the alarm cannot be reprogrammed to another alarm company. Forget to notice them in writing 34 months after signing your initial contract, and expect to get stuck for at least another year by the terms of your contract, usually at a higher monthly rate. Read your contract fully, front and back! In addition to this tactic, some companies retain ownership of at least the "alarm control", and sometimes the keypads, and more recently, the entire alarm system! So despite what your sales person says, read your contract fully, front and back, or you may find that they want to remove your alarm system if you cancel, despite all the monies you’ve paid, both initially and monthly.

6. WIRELESS VERSES HARD-WIRED

In regards to wireless alarm systems, there is a general simple rule, if you can get a wire there, avoid wireless. Sometimes, depending on attic access, or the lack of access, or block construction, there comes a time when wireless is needed. Only in these cases should wireless be considered, even if you are planning to take the alarm system with you when you move. Another reason to avoid wireless is that the wireless receiver and transmitters are almost always indicative to the alarm control panel. If the receiver goes bad, and they no longer make that brand, or the frequency changes, as in a recent FCC change that kicked the alarm manufactures out of the 900-megahertz range, you are stuck having to buy an entire new alarm! With a hardwired alarm, if the motion sensor goes bad, you have a broad range of manufactures to pick from, the same goes for replacing a simple generic door or window contact.

7. LOCAL MONITORING VERSES OUT OF STATE

Why is local monitoring better than an out of state central station? The main reason is a local phone number, just like when you call your neighbor, it costs you nothing extra. If you are monitored in state, the phone number your alarm calls is a local number, and any amount of calls from your alarm do not actually cost the local central station anything extra. In addition, you are supporting local jobs right here in the valley! Out of state central stations generally use 800 numbers, costing them money every time a call is made, and costs on the duration of the call. So, with the sheer volume of hundreds of thousands or millions of alarm signals every day, it is a great way to keep their costs down by killing these extra signals. In actuality, you are the one who pays the price in that your alarm is probably not sending all the signals it was designed to send. Signals like a daily test timer, where your alarm calls the central station everyday and sends a test signal, that way the central station can supervise that your alarm is communicating everyday. Other signals like burglary zone restores and AC power loss are also often killed so the company can save money, despite you paying a higher monthly monitoring rate. These extra signals can actually aid police in the case of any activation, and also keep you apprised of important activity at your premises. For businesses, extra signals like opening and closing signals can help owners keep track of who and when someone accessed the alarm system. Some companies charge extra for these signals, others do not. Without the minimal daily test timer supervision, you could unplug your alarm’s AC power, then disconnect the battery right away and your alarm would be dead. The out of state facility would never know! As long as you keep paying them every month they are happy!

8. INSTALLATION IN GENERAL

Yes, free or nominal installation prices are appealing, but you inevitably end up paying more than you should have for your alarm over the course of the initial three-year minimum contract. The reason for a three-year minimum is because most alarm companies actually sell their alarm contracts, and the purchasing company requires a three-year minimum. When looking for an alarm system, compare apples to apples. Are they installing an exterior siren? Is the keypad alpha numeric? Is the system proprietary? Do you own the entire alarm system? Look at the total cost over the three years, you may be surprised! It is generally cost effective to purchase an alarm and have a lower monthly rate. Compare and save! Better to find out the facts now rather than find out three years later, after paying all that money, that you are in a situation you do not want to be in! Also, your alarm company should be a licensed contractor in your state. In addition, many municipalities require special alarm business-company licenses, and also alarm agent’s licenses, requiring extensive background checks. Check with your local police department prior to any alarm purchase to see if the company you are considering is actually licensed!

To make your home OR BUSINESS physically secure, there are some basic tips to follow.

When someone is moving around the exterior of your home at night, security lighting can help by drawing attention to your home, possibly a neighbor may be outside and notice the light, and it makes the would be burglar a little uneasy being lit up!

If you want to make it harder for a burglar to enter and exit your home, remember that, if your inside dead bolt had a thumb turn on the inside, all the burglar has to do is break the glass and open the door. If you have double key dead bolt, they will have to make more of an effort to get in and out. Remember, you may want to leave the key in the lock during the day, but at night or when you leave, remember to place the key in a location were you can get to it in case of a fire. You don’t want it to be in plain view, but easily accessible.

Don’t place your expensive items in your jewelry box, this is the first item a theft will take. Also, clothing drawers and pockets of cloths are also the number one place they look for your items. Also, removable safes can be taken! Most people care about family pictures, etc. A fire safe is a good place to keep your negatives and video of family events. Leave the safe closed but unlocked, so the burglar will see there is nothing of value in there for him. If you can secure the safe in or to the floor go ahead, but a long crowbar will easily lift it up and break the concrete that secures the safe. Floor safes are the most secure, and this type of safe you can use for expensive items.

Placing security bars on windows and doors can be a great deterrent to burglars, but they are only as good as their method of installation. If the bars can be easily pulled off the wall from the outside, they are not going to be of much help. For your own safety, make sure the security bars can be opened from the inside in case of a fire, but not easily accessible in case the burglar breaks out the glass and attempts to open the from the outside. Again, if your dead bolts can be opened from the inside without a key, they will not serve to slow the burglar down, because once inside, they can simply open the door with the thumb turn on the inside of the dead bolt. Anything you can do to slow down an intruder will work to your benefit.

One of the best and least expensive things you can do to prevent loss of personal item is to create a secure closet. This may be a hall closet or any closet that you can put a dead bolt into. Keep you important items, like cameras, guns, etc in this closet. Like most closets, the hinge pins are located on the outside. To keep the theft from easily entering the closet by removing the pins, you can place several finishing nails on the hinge side of the door making sure the stick out about half way. Then you slowly close the door until the nails start to hit the inside jam of the door. Make a mark were the nails hit, and then drill a small hole for each so that when the door closes, the nails recess into the holes. Now, the burglar cannot open the closet because of the dead bolt lock, and when he removes the hinges, if he has time, your nails you placed in the door prevent the door from being opened from the hinge pins side also. If the burglar has time, there is no telling what damage they can do, so this is where a good burglar alarm system comes into play, by preventing the burglar from having time inside your premises.