Burglar Alarm Systems for Homes | Falcon Security Systems

Designing home protection around how intruders actually behave

Most residential break-ins are opportunistic, quick and take the easiest available route. A useful alarm system is designed against that reality rather than against a determined professional, and that makes the design simpler than people expect.

The principle worth understanding is perimeter first, interior second. Detecting entry at the door or window means the alarm sounds as the intruder comes in, which is when noise is most likely to make them leave. Relying only on interior motion detectors means they are already inside before anything happens.

Detector placement is where home systems most often fail. A motion detector facing a window will trigger on sunlight and passing headlights; one above a radiator will trigger on rising warm air; one in a hallway with a cat will trigger constantly. Every one of these produces false alarms, and after a few weeks the system gets disarmed and stays that way.

Whatever you install, the sounder should be audible outside and the system should alert your phone. An alarm nobody hears and nobody is told about achieves nothing beyond startling the intruder briefly.

A sound residential layout

• Contacts on the entrance door and any accessible windows
• Motion detection covering the route between entry points and valuables
• Detectors positioned away from windows, heat sources and pet routes
• An external sounder plus mobile notification
• The control panel somewhere not immediately reachable on entry