Home Security Camera Systems: Taking Your DIY Home Security System to the Next Level
Back in the 80’s, visual, information and auto-detection technologies were very poorly understood by the average person. If you’d suggested building a DIY home security system in 1990, most people would probably have thought of Kevin McCallister’s maze of booby-traps in Home Alone.
Fast forward to present day - we’re in an age of powerful, user-friendly computer systems, capable of operating as the control centers for countless technologies. Recording and storing media no longer requires the use of countless VHS tapes, a fact that’s made the acts of detecting and recording intruders using a home security camera system far less logistically challenging than they once were. Quite aside from computing have conquered the problems of information storage, infrared security cameras have conquered the issue of lighting, making it possible to effectively cover gloomy parts of the exterior and interior of your home with stunning acuity. Indeed, you can build a fully working DIY home security system from cheap components, such as webcams, PIR detectors and contact sensors, which you can pick up at computer and hardware stores for relatively low prices.
You should keep in mind, before you get too caught up in building a DIY home security system that turns your home into a hi-tech fortress, that the most effective form of crime prevention is really simple common sense. More than half of all burglaries occur as the result of negligence - someone leaving a door or window open, or forgetting to put the alarm on. Make sure that your spouse, children, and any other residents of your home are set in the ritual of locking doors whenever they leave, even if it’s only to run a quick errand.
Your next move is to have those doors or windows set off the alarm if they are somehow opened when you’re not there. Your tool in this regard? Alarm contacts. These magnetic pads, one of which is secured to the door or window and the other to its frame, create a circuit that gets tripped when broken. When the circuit gets tripped, it will emit a signal to the central alarm system hub to which the contacts are tuned. Contacts are cheap - you can buy them for under ten dollars at just about any hardware store - making them ideal for creating a good DIY home security system.
If your DIY home security system effort is going to include the rigging of a full-blown home security camera system, it’s possible to have your contacts serve as the activators for the recording function of your cameras. Thus your cameras will be set to record as soon as the contact circuit is broken and the perimeter of your fortress is breached. Truly, if the lighting in the house is decent, and you’re generally at home at night, there’s no reason to construct your home security camera system using anything more snazzy than a few good webcams. Webcams start at under $20, and go right up to the point of being far more accurate as regards color and contrast discrimination than the human eye.
Infrared security cameras present an opportunity to take your DIY home security system to the next level, leaving it immune from changes in lighting conditions, and ensuring that you find out what happened in your home entirely regardless of whether a bulb blew. The flip side of this coin is the fact that buying one may leave you feeling like you’ve been robbed - while infrared security cameras have become a lot cheaper in recent years, decent ones are still priced in the $2000 area. The question is really one of need - if your home is adequately lit by streetlights from the outside, then your home security camera system probably won’t be much improve by the purchase. Keep in mind, however, when doing your cost-risk calculations, that infrared security cameras can double as fire detectors, eliminating the need to install smoke detectors.
To learn more about DIY Home Security Systems be sure to check out www.Home-Security-Pro.com.
- Jeffrey Parker
