In Pictures: Getting Connected To Next-Gen Home Security

Where There’s Smoke...

Yes, it seems redundant to put a smoke detector next to another smoke detector. However, there are two kinds of smoke detection technology: ionization (which came with the house) and photoelectric (used by Vivint). Whereas ionization monitors whether smoke is disrupting current flow through an ionization chamber, photoelectric technology monitors to see whether smoke particles are scattering beamed light into a receptor. Photoelectric generally requires more smoke to trigger an alarm, so Vivint equips the unit with a heat detector for double protection.

Breaking Glass

Because several of our windows use hand cranks rather than sliding designs, we picked “glass break” sensors for two rooms. These devices listen for the sound frequencies typical of shattering glass. One glass break sensor is sufficient to cover our front room windows, as well as a side window. First-gen glass breaks would trigger if someone dropped a piece of silverware on tile. Modern units are much more accurate, and require a fair amount of actual glass breaking in order to cause an alarm.

Shave And A Wood Cut

Now the scary part. Watching anyone carve into the permanent wood of your home is disquieting, though here it was necessary. After removing the old deadbolt, we had to carve a recess into the door in order for the new bolt plate to fit and not obstruct the closing of the door. I noted that the installers were very conservative here, only shaving off as much as absolutely necessary in order to get a flush fit.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

More destruction. As with the sliding doors, Vivint relies on magnetic sensors for wooden doors, preferring to drill into the wood of both door and door frame into which “recessed door contacts” will snugly fit. The sensors, like most of Vivint’s hardware, are made by 2Gig. Today, these sensors are proprietary, but Vivint tells us that a move to industry standards is likely in the future. With no other real competitors in this market, there’s little need for Vivint to change.

Sensor Innards

As you can see, there’s not much to these contact sensors.The tube has a 2.5” length, and the lithium battery (rated for five years)takes up nearly half if its interior. The magnetic sensor must have at least0.625” between itself and the magnet plug that fits into an opposing hole inthe door. A 0.85” gap is typical. Naturally, this leaves quite a mess, but ourinstallers were great about cleaning everything up.

A Major Lock Upgrade

Now for the other side of the door. The new deadbolt mechanism is motorized, and to lock it from the outside, you need only press the lock button in the center of the keypad. To unlock from the outside, you enter a four-digit PIN on the keypad and hit the lock button, or you can use a key in case the battery or lock motor fails. Note that higher-quality locks like these are less prone to increasingly common “bump key” break-ins.

Power And Motor

Inside, here’s how the door lock gets connected. The outside keypad wires in and connects to a circuit board which, in turn, connects to a motor that turns the deadbolt. After mounting to a plate that screws into the deadbolt’s circular frame, the whole apparatus is powered by four AA batteries. Note the DIP switches for controlling features and the program button for adding new PIN codes into the keypad. We added these same entry codes into the Go!Control panel to designate different users.

Lights!

Our installer is holding down the pairing button on Vivint’s latest model lighting and small appliance control switch. With this, the Go!Control panel can issue on/off commands to lights or similar low-power devices, such as a coffee maker, via Z-Wave wireless communications. We're able to use Vivint’s online scheduling capabilities to control these lights and simulate people being home when we’re away on vacation.

Cameras!

The only issue we had with Vivint’s hardware choices concerned its IP cameras. Shown here are the service’s only two options: one fixed and one able to pan/tilt. Both max out at 640x480 resolution, have 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and 10/100 Ethernet connectivity, and record in MPEG-4. Their image quality is fair, but at these prices ($149 and $199, respectively), we expected better. If nothing else, we’d like to see infrared added for night surveillance.

Action!

Like most decent IP camera kits, though, you get the ability to establish monitoring zones within each camera view from within the Web-based management GUI. You drag with your mouse to create the monitoring area, then use the slider to indicate sensitivity. For example, within one field of view, you may wish to monitor the doorway, but not the scene outside of a window. You can also establish recording schedules, email alerts, view live video, and review saved 30-second clips.

  • richboyliang
    I wonder how necessary a security system is in an affluent neighborhood
    Reply
  • QEFX
    richboyliangI wonder how necessary a security system is in an affluent neighborhood
    Burglar alarm ... probably not necessary. Well other than for specific high cost items and any home safes.

    Weather (as in this instance), Water (as in water tank failed), Gas (as in gas line failed), Fire (many systems have integrated fire detection), CO Detection, Nanny/Family Cam (to make sure the kids aren't having a party while your out) and maybe Line Disruption Warning (phone/power not working - network/wifi ?) ... could be useful.
    Reply
  • Pyree
    I learn that there is a company called Vivint that sell and install security system after reading this article.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    richboyliangI wonder how necessary a security system is in an affluent neighborhood
    Frankly, very. I have friends who live on golf courses in a neighborhood patrolled by two security trucks who've been broken into. The fact that it's affluent paints an even larger target on it. The challenge is overcoming the security, so you end up with a more skilled thief.
    Reply
  • ikyung
    richboyliangI wonder how necessary a security system is in an affluent neighborhoodThats where the money is at. Who is going to rob the ghettos?
    Reply
  • xtreme5
    ahhh! what a lock.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    where there is valuable stuff, crooks will try to find a way to get at said stuff. The #1 best protection anyone can have is window blinds to keep people from seeing the more valuable stuff. Most thieves know exactly what they are going for before they break in because they know they have at least 5 minutes before anyone will be there to stop them no matter how good the security system is. Sure, you want it to be a pain in the ass for a thief to get into your house (it is soooo easy to take a whole window out, completely bypassing most magnetic alarms mounted to the housing of the window instead of the window and the sil/wall), but if they know what they want and have a plan there is no alarm on earth that is going to keep them away.
    The #2 best protection anyone can have is good relationships with their neighbors who know you, know what your friends look like, and are not crooks themselves.
    #3, if someone really wants your stuff, they will get your stuff. Prevention is largely based on intimidation. The real trick is catching someone's face and/or actions on camera. Not having night vision on a $4000 system would have been a dealbreaker for me. That is just really dumb. Your average $20 piece of crap pinhole camera has night vision, there is no excuse to not have it in a $150 camera.
    #4 where prevention fails, recovery is most important. Everything of value that you own of value should have a marking on it that you can prove to be yours. Back in high school and college it was as simple as putting some nail polish in an obscure place that you document, but nobody else knows about. Then when your bike/laptop/whatever is stolen you can show the cops a picture and easily identify the item as yours. As you get older there are more advanced ways of doing this, but the general rule applies. I recovered my bike 3 times back in college with this method. Thankfully that was all that was ever stolen.

    Anywho, I think my point is that for the average person living in an apartment or 3 bedroom house in a suburb, the bulk of your security money should be in documentation and recovery, with just a little bit invested in prevention and active protection because the monthly premium that comes with that $4000 system will likely add up to more than would ever be stolen in the first place for most of us.
    Reply
  • alidan
    CaedenVwhere there is valuable stuff, crooks will try to find a way to get at said stuff. The #1 best protection anyone can have is window blinds to keep people from seeing the more valuable stuff. Most thieves know exactly what they are going for before they break in because they know they have at least 5 minutes before anyone will be there to stop them no matter how good the security system is. Sure, you want it to be a pain in the ass for a thief to get into your house (it is soooo easy to take a whole window out, completely bypassing most magnetic alarms mounted to the housing of the window instead of the window and the sil/wall), but if they know what they want and have a plan there is no alarm on earth that is going to keep them away.The #2 best protection anyone can have is good relationships with their neighbors who know you, know what your friends look like, and are not crooks themselves.#3, if someone really wants your stuff, they will get your stuff. Prevention is largely based on intimidation. The real trick is catching someone's face and/or actions on camera. Not having night vision on a $4000 system would have been a dealbreaker for me. That is just really dumb. Your average $20 piece of crap pinhole camera has night vision, there is no excuse to not have it in a $150 camera.#4 where prevention fails, recovery is most important. Everything of value that you own of value should have a marking on it that you can prove to be yours. Back in high school and college it was as simple as putting some nail polish in an obscure place that you document, but nobody else knows about. Then when your bike/laptop/whatever is stolen you can show the cops a picture and easily identify the item as yours. As you get older there are more advanced ways of doing this, but the general rule applies. I recovered my bike 3 times back in college with this method. Thankfully that was all that was ever stolen.Anywho, I think my point is that for the average person living in an apartment or 3 bedroom house in a suburb, the bulk of your security money should be in documentation and recovery, with just a little bit invested in prevention and active protection because the monthly premium that comes with that $4000 system will likely add up to more than would ever be stolen in the first place for most of us.
    #1 document everything

    most people are lazy as hell in this regard, everything of mine of reasonable value that wont degrade (as in lose value fast or naturally be used up) i have the serial numbers, and photos, and a safty deposit box with a usb duplicate.

    #2 insure everything for more than its worth

    make damn sure everything you own is documented and insured for more than its worth. my speakers arent great, they cost me about 250$, but if they were stolen, it would cost me 1000$ to get an exact replacement.

    #3 have a list of small items.

    i'm in the process of finding software to record the bar codes of all my games, dvds, and other valuable coded items, dvds and games are easy to get rid of because no one really thinks twice that this may be stolen

    #4 prepare for the worst

    no mater the lock, no matter the security system, it can be broken in seconds by someone skilled.
    no current lock that i know of is bump proof, most being broken into in less than 5 seconds.

    #5 who wants your crap

    the average theif who is an opertunist, or the master thief who spent time planing? a loud alarm may scare off the opertunist, but the master knows what they want, and will get it. do you want them gone, or do you want them to stay a while thinking they beat the alarm. silent alarm, or loud noise... its a tough choice.

    #6 the one and only camera you need

    a camera on the door, that activates the moment it sees more than 15% movement, and records sound, with a hq mic. this way you get the face, and the voice of who went in your home
    Reply
  • mortsmi7
    alidan#4 prepare for the worst
    no matter the lock, no matter the security system, it can be broken in seconds by someone skilled. no current lock that i know of is bump proof, most being broken into in less than 5 seconds.You didn't visit the link on bump keying.
    Reply
  • wiyosaya
    In my opinion, marketing departments at security firms sell their product by promoting insecurity. Unless you are in a notoriously high crime area, odds are that you will never need the "service" that these devices provide. The benefit from these is quicker response should anything happen.

    There are means to make your home more secure that the monthly fee for these would pay for in no time:

    1. Buy steel doors as they are very difficult to knock down.
    2. Ensure that those doors have deadbolts.
    3. Ensure you have smoke and CO2 detectors.

    Over and above those three things, a security system only buys you faster response time - IF - you have the system armed. If you disarm the system while you are home, then even if someone breaks in or you have a fire, if I am not mistaken, then you lose the advantage of the response time.

    Making money on these systems means making potential customers feel insecure, or exploiting feelings of insecurity that already exist. They are, essentially, "insurance policies," where the provider of the insurance bets that you will never need the services.

    In my opinion, the question becomes what is it worth to you? Is it worth paying for services that may never be needed for that "sense" of security even if the sense garnered from these systems is false?
    Reply