Have I ever told you guys Hubby is in security? He specialises in security alarm systems and now that we finally have our own house...
For the last couple of weeks alarm supplies have been trickling in...
First were the siren boxes. Apparently they now have a new style siren box, which doesn't look like a box, but reminds me more of Eve from Wall-E.
(Source: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/EVE)
Call me old school, but I prefer the boxy siren box. I feel like it has presence. Like BOOM, Siren Box ~ can't miss it. Wether I get the box I want or not is dependent on if it will work out with the camera.
A little about us.
I'm a Libran, he's a Gemini - between the two of us, by the time we've tossed all the pros and cons around, we still can't make a decision, which eventually ends with us selecting all options available.
Like how we opt for degustations or how we ended up with two outdoor sets.
You're looking at some of the equipment Hubby is using for our system.
The back 4 boxes are 8 megapixel cameras and so far there's 2 card readers (I'm still pushing for a fingerprint reader instead), 1 smoke detector and 2 motion detectors.
There's also a alarm panel and a recorder somewhere, kms worth of cables and a whole bunch of holes around the house.
This last hole/cable combo is for the camera watching our garden. Now don't laugh it's actually quite sensible.. ok excessive but it still has purpose!
In some of the gardening videos we've seen, some recommend observing where the sunny and shady parts of the garden is, so plants can be placed appropriately.
I don't have time for that. Hell, I barely have time to blog these days, sister girlfriend ain't sitting outside to watch the garden, that's just not happening.
In comes the garden cam. All we need to do is play back the footage on that cam (fast forward style) and that's that sorted! Also it will allow us to see if animals try to take a cut of our crops.
In terms of security, that's the second camera we have in the back yard. Considering we have a tall fence along the side of a steep bushy drop and I'm pretty sure behind us is a cliff drop... One camera at the back is definitely enough.
(Here's one of them up.)
But, before a camera can go up, once the cables are in place the connections are made.
It was really cool to watch him make the connections. I didn't realise what a finicky job it was.
Is all this even necessary?
One of the things we love about the Blue Mountains is it's tight knit community. People here are so nice and are always ready to help each other.
I witnessed that first hand when I needed help giving away 12 bags of clothes before we moved, and even when we needed to borrow the next door neighbor's bin.
This is no where near where we used to live, where we were broken into. We moved shortly after that, still in the same city, but at least not in the worst part of it anymore.
That was the 4th time in my life I've been broken into. Once when I was little in the Philippines, twice when my family first moved out to Western Sydney, then again in Western Sydney.
When you've been broken into that many times a few things start to click, security is the main thing.
I am also at home most days on my own while hubby's down the mountain working, if anything happened it could take him ages to get back home. Our system will be back to base, that means if our alarm triggers and there's no reply back from us or if I trigger it on purpose the police will be sent to the house.
Wether or not we need 4 cameras is a different story lol.
I do I feel very secure and loved though.
As much as I'm a bit horrified at the excessive amount of equipment all around me, I know he does it all for love and it's his way of looking after me even when he's not home.
He's been at this for weeks, doing bits and pieces as the parts arrive, he's crawled through our roof in 30 plus degree weather, came out covered with dirt, batts and whatever else.
If I was to be honest right now. I'm not fussy about the alarm. I just appreciate all the effort he's putting in for us. I'm really proud of Hubby right now.
In fact I'm gonna go give him a huge hug!
(After he's had a shower.)
New development....
I decided to take a walk around and inspect his progress. As expected cameras 2 and 3 are now up.
I look over to the other side and was like, whaaa???!!
Make that 5 cameras š± Lawdy. We don't need 5 cams!
I'm gonna need this shirt for when I leave the house.
(Source : https://www.jokertshirt.com)
What does he say when I'm all WTF 5 cameras!
"It's ok. We've got 8 channels to play with." 8 channels means room for 3 more cameras on the recorder. š¤£
In his defense I see what he's doing. He's getting all the angles, he doesn't have to but he's going the extra mile.
Back to my question..
How much security equipment does a standard 3 bedroom house need?
I would say cameras are unnecessary, and if you really wanted cameras, 2 (one at the front, one at the back) would suffice. 5 cams is insane.
The amount of motion detectors depend on how big your house is, for ours 2 is perfect as you basically want the main areas covered.
Do I need a fingerprint reader? Probably not, but I'd never forget to bring my finger with me..... Just sayin...
Do I need 2 keyless entry points? Depends, is it a fingerprint scanner? š
Ok, ok... I don't really need keyless entry. My keys and the door work just fine. Again this is hubby going that extra mile ā¤
So before I go and give the man a huge hug, check it out!!
4 of the 5 cams are now live and this is one of the shots from one of the cams.
As you can see we tried to get our side windows and the mountains in our shot. Who knows.. We may be able to spot a UFO on our cam one day š½
What do you think about having 5 cameras with a possible 3 more in the future?
š¼ Arly