house alarm

Information and help in the IT field of computers, internet, ISP's, mobile and fixed line telephones plus satellite TV systems.
wollie
Resident
Posts: 1031
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:53 pm

house alarm

Postby wollie » Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:57 am

I wonder if it is possible to but a good quality home alarm system in Spain?
There are yale ones on Amazon but there is surely better quality ones out there.
I am thinking it is a kindof closed shop in UK as the alarm companies do not want people having access to good quality control boxes.

Any advice appreciated.

Beachcomber
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 11081
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:11 pm
Location: Guadalhorce Valley

Re: house alarm

Postby Beachcomber » Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:59 am

The alarm industry in Spain is even more strictly controlled than in the UK.

casita-bonita
Resident
Posts: 1202
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:32 pm
Location: Sayalonga,

Re: house alarm

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:39 pm

We have a monitored alarm system from securitas fitted to our home. Been in for a few years now so cant remember the exact cost. It was around 200euros, subsidised i guess by the fact that they have a monthly revenue of around 50 euros. Money well spent as far as I am concerned, especially when we ha a spate of burglaries in the area a while back.
Regards

Bob

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: house alarm

Postby El Cid » Thu Apr 25, 2019 7:44 pm

We have a Securitas alarm as well. Personally I think that stand alone alarms are pretty useless as no one takes much notice of them. The worst are those that send you photos of your house being robbed when you are not there. What is the point of that?

Even connected alarms are not infallible if the robbers are in and out in a couple of minutes which opportunist burglars often are.

A friend in the UK used to be the local Crime Prevention Officer. In his opinion a dummy alarm box on the wall was as much of a deterrent as a £1000 pound alarm system without a connection to a monitoring system.

The main reason we have an alarm is that without it we could not get decent insurance cover due to our location and lack of rejas. It also gives us instant contact in the case of medical emergencies etc.

Sid

User avatar
dxf
Resident
Posts: 573
Joined: Thu Jun 10, 2004 5:51 pm
Location: Chiclana Cadiz
Contact:

Re: house alarm

Postby dxf » Thu Apr 25, 2019 9:52 pm

Hola

I have two dogs as a deterrent and also a Maplin 8 camera system. I stress it is a deterrent as they can see the infrared lights of a night and therefore there has to be a system behind it.

Davexf

User avatar
fincalospinos
Resident
Posts: 1008
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:17 am
Location: Caleta de Velez

Re: house alarm

Postby fincalospinos » Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:51 am

Securitas Direct supply some excellent systems, and if you negotiate well enough, there is no installation charge providing to take out a contract with them. I paid 50 euros / month for the first 18 months, and 23 euros / month thereafter. First class service and response time.
Hardworking resident !!

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: house alarm

Postby El Cid » Fri Apr 26, 2019 11:08 am

So, they basically sold you a finance deal to cover the cost of the installation, which based on your figures amounted to just under €500, which sounds about right.

Sid

User avatar
gerryh
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 8046
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Cajiz, Malaga

Re: house alarm

Postby gerryh » Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:17 pm

fincalospinos wrote:Securitas Direct supply some excellent systems, and if you negotiate well enough, there is no installation charge providing to take out a contract with them. I paid 50 euros / month for the first 18 months, and 23 euros / month thereafter. First class service and response time.
I've been with Securitas Direct now for a few years and pay €44.14 a month.
Perhaps I need to contact them an negotiate a reduced monthly charge.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: house alarm

Postby El Cid » Fri Apr 26, 2019 2:51 pm

The monthly charge depends on how many devices you have. I have a lot and it costs €61/mth

Sid

User avatar
gerryh
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 8046
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Cajiz, Malaga

Re: house alarm

Postby gerryh » Fri Apr 26, 2019 3:32 pm

I think I have the most basic system, two motion detectors/ still cameras and one open door detector.
Be interesting to know what fincolospinos has.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

User avatar
fincalospinos
Resident
Posts: 1008
Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:17 am
Location: Caleta de Velez

Re: house alarm

Postby fincalospinos » Fri Apr 26, 2019 3:38 pm

Over 2 floors I have 3 x door detectors, 2 x motion detectors, 2 x still cameras, control box by the front door, and a mobile unit upstairs with all sorts of gadgets on it. Oh, and one of their reps was passing the other week when we were having the outside painted, and dropped off two new signs !!
Hardworking resident !!

User avatar
gerryh
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 8046
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Cajiz, Malaga

Re: house alarm

Postby gerryh » Fri Apr 26, 2019 3:59 pm

fincalospinos, thanks for the info.
You have more devices than me.
So a phone call to them is needed.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: house alarm

Postby El Cid » Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:16 pm

fincalospinos wrote:Over 2 floors I have 3 x door detectors, 2 x motion detectors, 2 x still cameras, control box by the front door, and a mobile unit upstairs with all sorts of gadgets on it. Oh, and one of their reps was passing the other week when we were having the outside painted, and dropped off two new signs !!
The motion detectors and cameras are normally in a single unit. They insist (for some reason) on one magnetic door detector. So you have a total of 4 detectors. I am pretty sure the door detectors are only 1€/mth.We have 2 indoor camera/motion detectors and 2 door detectors. We also have 3 perimeter camera/motion detectors and two key ring type remote controls plus a couple of other gizmos. We don't use the exit/entry box with the funny shaped keys as we use a remote after we have driven out and the same when we return.

They also have a good free app where you can set/cancel the alarm from your phone. We find that very useful. When our gardener left the house at lunchtime today, we were out and he sent us a text and I could then activate the system.

It's worth noting that their system uses a special mobile phone system for communication with the central monitoring system and cannot be jammed as it recognises the jamming signal and then connects through a separate national emergency system.

Sid

casita-bonita
Resident
Posts: 1202
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:32 pm
Location: Sayalonga,

Re: house alarm

Postby casita-bonita » Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:44 pm

Thing with Securitas is you can mix and match over and above the standard intro package. We ended up with 5 motion deyection cameras, 4 door/window sensors, 1 live video camera, which is also motion sensing and you can connect to via the app to watch recorded video or live. Nice when you are away somewhere to be able to have a quick look at how things are at home. We also have 6 keyfobs to disengage the alarm when we enter the house.

Might have to investigate the remote control widget.

Tjere are otjer devices you can add that integrate with the system such as smoke detectors, perimeter monitors etc.

All in all an excellent system, with some very useful additional features such as the ability to call emergency services via the control panel already mentioned by Sid.
Regards

Bob

User avatar
gerryh
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 8046
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Cajiz, Malaga

Re: house alarm

Postby gerryh » Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:55 pm

Have you noticed on the app you can activate "Guardian" on your mobile phone?
This creates a widget on your phone.
If you collapse or have an accident at home or anywhere else you just need to press the widget and they will contact you and arrange for the necessary emergency service to be dispatched to you.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: house alarm

Postby El Cid » Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:11 pm

You can do the same on the remote control. They also do a wrist/neck chain button that does the same. There is also a panic button that you can locate wherever you like, such as just close to your bed.

Best not to rely on access to the main control unit. That is best hidden out of the way with the internal alarm turned off as it tells an intruder where it is and they can then smash it to disable it.

Sid

El Cid
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 16058
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:42 pm
Location: La Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada

Re: house alarm

Postby El Cid » Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:11 pm

You can do the same on the remote control. They also do a wrist/neck chain button that does the same. There is also a panic button that you can locate wherever you like, such as just close to your bed.

Best not to rely on access to the main control unit. That is best hidden out of the way with the internal alarm turned off as it tells an intruder where it is and they can then smash it to disable it.

Sid

casita-bonita
Resident
Posts: 1202
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:32 pm
Location: Sayalonga,

Re: house alarm

Postby casita-bonita » Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:17 pm

gerryh wrote:Have you noticed on the app you can activate "Guardian" on your mobile phone?
This creates a widget on your phone.
If you collapse or have an accident at home or anywhere else you just need to press the widget and they will contact you and arrange for the necessary emergency service to be dispatched to you.
Cheers
Gerry
Can't get this to work on my phone. I set it up but the widget doesnt appear in the widget drawer (or whatever its called on android). Phone is running Android 7.0. However it does work on my tablet. Which isn't really very useful as it won't fit into my pocket.
Regards

Bob

User avatar
gerryh
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 8046
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Cajiz, Malaga

Re: house alarm

Postby gerryh » Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:54 pm

casita-bonita wrote:
Can't get this to work on my phone. I set it up but the widget doesnt appear in the widget drawer (or whatever its called on android). Phone is running Android 7.0. However it does work on my tablet. Which isn't really very useful as it won't fit into my pocket.
My phone also is running Android 7.
The widget doesn't appear in the "widget drawer" but was added directly to one of my home screens. Have a look through all your home screens and see if you can find it then move it to your preferred screen.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

User avatar
gerryh
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 8046
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Cajiz, Malaga

Re: house alarm

Postby gerryh » Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:58 pm

El Cid wrote:You can do the same on the remote control. They also do a wrist/neck chain button that does the same. There is also a panic button that you can locate wherever you like, such as just close to your bed.

Best not to rely on access to the main control unit. That is best hidden out of the way with the internal alarm turned off as it tells an intruder where it is and they can then smash it to disable it.

Sid
What remote control?
I don't think I have one, is it an optional extra?
Does the remote control or panic button work remote from your house?

Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests