Window Break Alarms

[primlantah]

a few questions for thoes of you who have used them...

1) How sensitive are they? Would a bad thunderstorm set one off like it can a cars alarm? What about someone slamming a door that shares a wall with the window?

2) do they ever just go off like some smoke detectors do when their batteries are getting low?

3) just how loud are we talking about? I see decibel ratings but i dont know how loud that is. How far away can it be heard? If one goes off inside will your neighbors hear it in their homes or on their lawn in typical suburban neighborhood or apartment setting?

4) battery life?

 

[Mainsail]

I bet it would go off if a bullet fired by a rifle or handgun hit the window.

There, now it's firearms related.

 

[dewage83]

I also would like to know. I do not have the funds or space to install a proper security system (as I rent), and am looking for a viable security option for my saftey and my guns saftey

 

[News Shooter]

If I may make a personal recommendation. I have a studio condo and bought one of these a year ago www.lasershield.net

It cost less than $150. It's easier to set up than a flashlight and nobody is going anywhere in my house without it going off. Monitoring is optional.

I looked into ADT, Wells Fargo, etc. and most of them required multi-year contracts which I'll never do with any company again.

BTW, I think the topic IS firearms related. I'm protecting my firearms

 

[Ninja.of.Love]

As a base of comparison, primlantah, the average smoke alarm is between 85 and 90 dB. I don't have any experience with window break alarms but that should give you something to compare the ratings on the alarm to.

 

[Armed&Bitter]

BTW, I think the topic IS firearms related. I'm protecting my firearms.

It sounds like you are clinging to them. There is help for you.

 

[bondjames628]

When we moved into our home about 11 years ago, there was a pre-existing ADT system already here. I remember one day I dropped a plastic cup and it triggered the alarm. However, several months after we moved in a technician updated our system, and several weeks ago our house was pretty much directly hit with a lightning strike, shredding a pine tree and oak tree in our front yard, and the alarm system never bleeped. So I guess it depends on the system and the sensitivity levels that the system is set to operate at. Just my thought...

 

[sm]

Paging Professional Safe, Lock and Alarm folks...

Strategy & Tactics include Prevention measures and Avoiding one being targeted; so I feel this thread topic is appropriate for THR and this sub-forum.


Now I admit being out of the loop on some more current offerings.
Hence the reason I hope our Professional Locksmith, Safe, and Alarm members will chime in, along with members also sharing their experiences with pros and cons.


Yes, there is sensitivity setting on most window break alarms and other alarm settings for doors, or types such as pressure, noise, even temperature.

It depends on the systems design and capabilities and how the structure is built and where located.

i.e.
Old single pane windows "may" vary from newer double pane, or UV repelling (keeps UV rays down to keep carpet from fading for instance) , Energy Efficient and the like.

In a city, vibrations from heavy trucks can set off alarms for instance.
Being as some cities pose a fine for over so many calls an officer responds to that are false, these situations (false alarms) often result in the business/homeowner turning the sensitivity setting down.

Police go nuts during a bad T-Storm answering alarm calls.
This is also a prime time for criminals that have done their homework to hit.

Old trick still done by criminals-
They case an area, and by tossing a rock through glass (old days glass had alarm tape) or by tossing a rubber ball, child's toy, even a fast food sack with a child's meal "at" the glass" - they time response times of Police.

T-Storms hit, alarms going off over and these criminals choose an area with a greater response time.

Another trick is to have a rash of alarms going off on one side of town to distract, while the other part of the team does the actual breaking and entering in the other part of town.

This is real big signal, if this type of thing is going on in your area, your area has some criminals in town "casing" you.

Get with Police Depts and Alarm Companies and take prudent steps!
As after a rash of busted glass -or alarms calls in an area/areas, sometime later a real serious crime is done.

This is a proven ,historical criminal method - and it still works.

 

[steverjo]

I have glass break, motion, and door alarms at my office. The glass breaks never go off by accident, they have a low battery warning. Thunder does not affect them. They are only triggered by sharp sounds in the glass breaking sound range. They have only sounded two times. Once when someone brought a parrot into the office and it made a shrieking noise which set the alarm off, and once the mailman pushed mail through the slot and the little metal door on the mail slot slammed shut hard and set the alarm off. Other than that, no problems.

 

[Stirling XD]

A little over a week ago I talked to a guy from a security system company about a system for our new house. I asked him the same question.

He said the glass break sensor listens for particular sound patterns at particular frequencies. So not just any old loud noise will set it off. He did know of some instances where it was set off by a microwave door being slammed shut or a metal garage door going up or down. But he did say those cases were rare.

I'm sure different brands will render somewhat different results.

 

[scythefwd]

Most of the window break sensors are tuned to a frequency or many frequencies that are produced when glass brakes. A thunderstorm will not trigger them, but breaking the glass will. That is how the ones work in my car at least. Could one use a conductive film on the window and pass a trace charge through it? When the window breaks, the capacitance of the film would change as it changed size, and that change could also set of an alarm. I don't know if that is how the ones at my old job worked or not, but every window was tinted with a metallic tint.

 

[P95loser]

Pretty much all of the new quality panels and devices out there are designed to prevent false alarms. The chances of a window break going off because you drop the remote or slam a door are slim to none.

 

[brickeyee]

If you do not have pets the motion sensors fill the bill.
IR motion sensors work very well.
X-band motion sensors will sometimes penetrate through walls and go off from motion in the wrong area (probably why they are rarely used now).

Glass break sensors can be triggered by loose glass that rattles in the frame (more likely on older windows).

Glass break sensors are also not as effective on divided light windows (unless you want a sensor on every pane).

 

[FieroCDSP]

Our store has an older set, so they might have changed, but ours never go off accidently. We test them annually by jingling keys real close to the sensor.