I want this home-made system since the increase in crime in my town. My family and many people in our neighbourhood have recently experienced a sky-rocket of vandalism, break-ins, and people stealing from cars.
My parents have an overwhelmingly large false sense of security. I'm not sure we even own a key to our house.
We live in a huge rural/suburban town. Our crime rate used to be next to nothing, but all good things come to an end, I guess.
I make sure everything is locked up at night and feel a slight bit safer when I'm home. But now since my parents are naturally getting older, I have a younger brother, and I'm going to be going off to college, I want them to be safer.


My next new DIY project is a household security system.

The major components I would like to add are:
-sensors on the doors and windows
-possibly a camera over my driveway area where all the cars are parked with a motion activated sensor
-maybe a driveway sensor

The possibilities are endless.


Does anyone have suggestions on how I even start planning this? Anyone have suggestions for cool features I can add? Should I just have a generic siren? Computer controlled?

I know you guy's will do me well. Any input is appreciated.

You will probably need a PC as the base.

Hidden CCTV camera looking at front porch. Have a small TV screen at inside the house, close to the door. Make the camera controlable from the inside. Sweep, zoom, all that shit.

Same setup on backyard.

Most locks can be picked but you can install one of those locks that require a key & have a keypad for a code on them.

A cane sword near the main door.

Metal grills on windows. Make them casual looking.

Rocks in tin can hanging on door handle.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure:

You want to discourage crime at your house. That should be your main goal. It's hard to stop a determined criminal, but, as a quick scan of BI will show, most criminals are dumb, lazy, and most of all are pussies.

Light it up! You want motion-sensitive lights galore. it takes a good amount of work do disable them, especially if you're not prepared, and most criminals are too afraid to do their dirty work while being completely illuminated. Do you park your car in the driveway? If so, you want a motion-activated light pointing at it. You also want one at all doors. You will probably want to modify a store-bought one by placing a grill over the bulb so it is difficult to remove the bulb without special tools. Look into using hard-to find bolts, like Torx screws.

I'm not sure how to go about protecting windows. I'll think it over

I'm not sure how to go about protecting windows. I'll think it over

Grills.

Or, lay out some cement where you'd expect the person to land after he/she jumps in through the window and plant some broken glass sticking up on it. If nothing else, you'll get some DNA. Do this on the plywood and put the plywood in place when the house is going to be empty for a while.

I want this system to be top notch and would love for it to be computer controlled.
I'm thinking of more of a "preventative" type system. Something with loud alarms and motion lights. In my area, bars on the windows are not necessary/wanted.
I want to secure the two sliding glass doors on the back of my house as well. The front door of my house is pretty thick and rugged and has a deadbolt. I need to either find the key or change the lock though.

My updated list:

-I want a motion light and/or camera on the driveway area where all the cars are parked. This spot is pretty vital to me.

-motion lights by all the doors (3)

-window sensors (I don't know if I should get glass break sensors or what I should do for these) There are 19 windows in total. (I think.)

- we have about a 2 acre yard with a fenced in, in ground pool. I want to put a motion sensor out there with a light

-fix the two sliding glass doors


I wanted to design and install and control this myself. I'm not sure if this is going to impractical though. They sell customizable kits on the net.


Thanks for the replies so far.

Most locks can be picked but you can install one of those locks that require a key & have a keypad for a code on them.

Deadbolts FTW.

And 12 gauges :p

yeah get those motion lights..

also make your house look like a house a redneck with lots of guns might live.

you mentioned you live in a rural/suburban place.


so put up a confederate flag, etc.

or just get a big dog that barks whenever someone comes near.

I forgot about dogs. Dogs are great. They're a pain in the ass if you're sneaking around at night (I'd know).

Charlie bars for windows and sliding doors.

-N-

If you don't want bars on windows and want to keep sliding glass doors safe, you might want to look into laminated glass, like they use in the show "It Takes a Thief." It's expensive, but it would take so long to break through it that by the time they're through, you could be waiting with the 12 gauge.

outdoor motion sensors also work indoors.

If someone breeches your outer senosrs, you can have a new batch for them to deal with indoors.
The electrical triggers can probably be made to dial the police phone number (not sure how) , or at least activate an audible tape player that sounds like the police are being alerted.

Audible alarms throughout the rooms of the house would be easy to hook up.
The bells or buzzers could be placed both inside and outside.

if you already have a pc running 24/7, get a load of webcams and long usb extension cables, and set up some of the software that can do motion sensing and image upload via ftp.

set up camera one at front, one at back, and the other two in places a burglar would almost certainly go down (if possible giving you a nice face shot). set it to upload all the images to a secured ftp somewhere else.

Get IR Illuminators for the webcams (nightvision of sorts), and the best quality webcams you can justify.

motion sensing lights are also a very good idea, or continuous low level lights (a single floodlight or whatever casts a lot of shadows that are easy to hide in)

Set up a cellphone to call you when the alarms tripped,
better to have a silent alarm & know whats going on than to know somethings happened & thats it.

I'd second the webcam idea, but instead get either Wi-Fi streaming or network attachable cameras because USB will crap-out after about 15 ft of cable.

Maybe consider non-lethal weaponry: mace, bean-bag shotgun, rubber pellets, etc...

RDP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0FTzUhdg3w

GET

A

DOG

and

GET

A

SHOTGUN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0FTzUhdg3w

Retarded.

As a general rule, never trust any DIY project you find on youtube. This one will actually work, but it is dumb as hell. Real security systems use IR LEDS (just like those garage safety things). You CAN see a red laser. Also, LEDs are cheap as hell.

I know of a crazy tweeker who used to rig mousetraps with shotgun shells pointing upwards,around his basement entrances. :eek:

Just get a dog and a bunch of sensor lights and a fence.

Think about it from the perspective of the guy breaking in. He has to climb over a big fence. Then some lots of lights turn on and a dog starts barking loudly or running at him. He is going to shit himself and climb right back over that fence and find an easier house.