The home security devices known as motion detector alarms, although previously somewhat clunky and inconvenient, is now rising in popularity with new advances in its technology. Having become very affordable and accurate, motion detector alarms are now considered a crucial part of any home security system and are used by everyone from high-end businesses to apartment-dwellers.
But perhaps you’ll feel better about such an investment if you know exactly what you’re investing in first. Motion detector alarms have three different methods of operation. They can utilize active ultrasonic, active microwave, or passive infrared methods of detecting movement. The latter is by far the most common, and in fact ultrasonic, while a viable choice in the best, has since become entirely outdated. Quite simply, infrared is used to detect differences in temperature, such as body heat. Motion is discerned by a motion alarm detector when something mobile within the area has a drastically different heat signature from the surrounding atmosphere.
What if you leave home with your pet dog or cat still inside? Won’t that render the motion detector burglar alarm useless, without taking the animal everywhere you go? In previous times, that would have been true. But some of the best advances in these kinds of alarms have been made in the area of detecting weight differences. A good motion-based alarm system will only go off when something of human weight is detected, ignoring all smaller pet-based heat signals.
The average motion detector sensor will cost only a few dollars more than a low-end smoke alarm, putting them in a similar range for indispensable home safety that anyone can afford. Of course, for people with more disposable cash and stronger security concerns, the range of available motion-based alarms does go up to very high-end models priced in hundreds of dollars. But for most people who just want to keep their houses and apartments safe, a standard twenty to thirty dollar unit will do the job quite nicely.
Motion-based alarms typically function through codes typed into an indoor keypad, making them easy to turn on and off by the owner, while also being difficult for criminals to crack before an alert is sounded. There is generally about a one minute activation or deactivation period for these alarms, allowing the owner ample time to type in the appropriate code or exit the building. Some alarms will allow you to alter this grace period by making it shorter or longer according to your preferences and needs, however. Another mechanism that varies by model and brand is exactly what happens when the alarm goes off. Some may emit a local siren sound or spotlight, to scare burglars off. More advanced sorts may silently contact the authorities instead. There is no one right thing for an alarm to do; it’s up to the owner to settle on an alarm that performs what he needs of it during a break-in. Since home security needs vary by the individual, the individual is responsible for insuring his satisfaction by getting an alarm best suited to those needs.
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