The system doesn’t work properly

The most common version of this that I see when I visit homes or small businesses is that the motion detector is covered. When I ask I get a variety of answers from “we got a dog and he will set it off” to “oh we kept getting false alarms from that one, so we just covered it.” Motion detectors are typically used for high traffic or unavoidable areas. The foyer motion should always be working as it job its to cover activity coming in and heading up the stairs to your jewelry, cash, and more importantly your family.

I’ll begin with the dog. Motion detectors have come a long way in the last number of years. Now most have infra red sensors that allow for pet immunity up to 80lbs. If you have a larger dog that exceeds that, you may want to look at ensuring your existing system has ALL perimeter entry points covered. Other solutions to this may be keeping the dog in a portion of the house that isn’t near a motion detector.

Next to the broken motion detector. I’m going back to the car metaphor on this one. If you found out that your alternator was broken, you can ignore it for a while but eventually your cars battery will leave you stranded because the alternator wasn’t charging the battery properly. Likewise with your motion detector, yes you may avoid some false alarms but that motion serves a purpose in security system and when left in that state of disrepair, you leave yourself vulnerable. A service call will help address these issues quickly and keep your system running properly.

Similarly, if you have done renovations and replaced doors, make sure you have any contacts replaced by a properly trained service technician.