DIY Home Security Installation
I’ve probably said it a thousand times, but I’ll say it again: wired home security installation is a pain in the rear to install. Professional security system installers don’t even relish the thought of wrestling with these monsters, which is why they try to push wireless security systems or charge a high price for home security installation.
And while I get challenged on it all the time, I stick by my belief that wireless home security systems are very close in quality and reliability to their wired brethren, even though they do have some limitations and drawbacks. For 99% of the DIY home security tutorial population, wireless systems will be more than adequate. It’s just like high-end home audio/video systems: you can spend $5000 on an amp and speaker setup that will get you 97% of the way to excellent audiophile quality sound. To get the last 3% you’ll spend another $10,000 on top of your initial investment.
With home security, you can get an acceptible solution with some middle-of-the-road wireless components, or you can spend 10x that much and get a few more corner cases covered.
I was just speaking with a client about this exact problem the other day. This was a couple with more money than time, and they wanted me to install a security system centered around intruder-detection. Motion sensors around the perimeter of their house to light the yard at night, glass break sensors, window and door sensors, and the whole bit. And they were just agonizing over wired or wireless components.
I ended up going with a compromise solution that would initially cost them quite a bit less, and ensure that all their components could still be used in the event that they felt a wired security system was needed in the future. They’re called dual-connect sensors, and they can be used wirelessly or hardwired into your system. They tend to cost a little bit more than either single use wired or wireless sensors, but they can be installed as a wireless system initially which saves a phenomenal amount of time and associated cost.
If, at some point in the future, these clients decide they’re not comfortable with their wireless home security system and they want to change to a wired home securty installation, we don’t have to start from square one.
Problem solved.