How a Wireless Alarm System Can Secure Your Vacant Property

It’s well known that a vacant property is a vulnerable property and one of the most popularly recognised ways to improve the security of an empty property is to fit it with an alarm system. However, although traditional systems remain popular, as communication technology advances wireless alarm systems are now coming to the fore as the stalwarts of vacant home protection.

What features do wireless alarm systems offer?

Besides being one of the more sophisticated contemporary alarm systems, wireless systems also offer advanced design features to allow for customisation and bespoke security, ideal when a property is vacant either temporarily or longer term. Features of wireless alarm systems generally include, but may not be limited to:

• Multiple infra red movement sensors which can detect movement across a significant range, whether daylight or after dark.

• Remote arming, disarming and resetting for convenience and additional security.

• Options for user alerts which can be sent straight to the property owner as well as to the appointed security monitoring company. This feature includes system alerts, to notify when the batteries need checking, so that action can be taken to ensure the system is not left unexpectedly without power.

• Digital recording when alarm is activated so that all incidences of alarm can be investigated and causes identified quickly.

• Recordings can be immediately monitored and protocols followed for further action, such as alerting the police.

• Battery powered so that sensors and alarms are fully operational even without electricity serving the property.

• Wireless technology for home security offers a range of fully programmable options, allowing cover for self-contained and single properties as well as multi-environment systems.

With these considerable features, many of which allow for customisation and user-preference, a wireless alarm system can be a cost-effective alternative to CCTV, particularly as it’s one which can literally raise the alarm in real-time – a security essential for vacant properties.

Benefits of a wireless alarm system

 

 

This is mainly because the difficulty arising with security for a vacant property is that problems are not always detected quickly enough for the right kind of action to be taken promptly, and even then it’s still often hard to know whether a full-on security response is required or whether it’s ‘just’ a false alarm. Wireless alarm systems are fully responsive to facilitate prompt reaction – whether the alarm turns out to be warranted or not – by offering fast solutions to the following vitals of vacant property security:

• Detect & deter
  Wireless systems are easy to install and are mainly visible on the property’s exterior – where you want them to be seen in order to deter would-be intruders – but not inside, where the fabric and decoration of the building might be disturbed. As such, wireless systems mean less intrusive, unsightly wiring as part of the installation, particularly ideal for properties vacant between tenancies.Additional options include discreet consoles which remain hidden from intruders, so that the alarm console itself cannot be detected and disabled before a response is triggered.Detection is facilitated by advanced infra red movement sensors which are capable of detecting movement both in daylight and after dark. Even the most basic wireless alarm packages include multiple movement sensors, making it possible to secure the entire property. In conjunction with the wireless technology, these sensors offer excellent range, often twice that of basic wired alarm systems, so that the wider areas of the property such as garages and external buildings can also be protected by the system.

• Alarm & alert
  Because wireless alarm systems are powered by battery rather than mains electricity, the alarm system remains fully operational even when utilities are turned off at the property or if there is a power outage. Battery life of up to one year can be achieved and power-friendly cellular networks are used for the actual alarm alerts, so phone lines are also not required.Alarm alerts are raised with the appointed monitoring security service and to others as designated, such as property owner or key holder. For enhanced security and reduced neighbour nuisance, some wireless alarm systems also offer silent alarm modes.

• React & respond
  Other benefits of wireless alarm system are that they can be deployed remotely and used in conjunction with professional monitoring services so that all instances of alarm can be quickly checked. In this way responses to alarms can be swift, with problems being promptly addressed with police or key-holder attendance, or through remote response, such as false alarm resetting.Security monitoring means not only that the neighbour nuisance of an ongoing alarm is reduced, but also that no alarm is ever ignored, something which often happens with unmonitored alarm systems as neighbours or passers by assume that it’s a false alarm. The 24 hour benefit of security monitoring also ensures that response can be fast not only in instances when intrusion alarms are raised, but also when essential maintenance is required.

• Record, review & reset
  Wireless systems include sophisticated recording technology. Recording happens automatically when the alarm is triggered and allows evidence to be gathered for use in identification of intruders, for the purposes of prosecution and for insurance claims.Recording when the alarm is triggered also allows information to be gathered in the case of false alarms, for example if a nesting animal or bird is triggering false alarms, this nuisance problem can also be dealt with before the creatures cause extensive damage to the property.Similarly, if the problem is not intrusion but graffiti artists attempting to tag the property or fly-tippers attempting illegal rubbish dumping, both common types of vandalism to empty properties, these too can be recorded so that the culprits can be identified, prosecuted and any additional problems addressed.

  Once all relevant reviews of alarm alerts have taken place, wireless alarm systems make it easy for remote resetting from a distance, again reducing nuisance to neighbours and ensuring that alarms remain fully functional against real threats to the property’s security.

Minimising empty expenses

Wireless alarm systems also provide good security for vacant properties by being affordable, which could help to keep overall expenses for an empty property to a minimum. For example, whilst overall insurance may go up when a property becomes empty, the excess may not increase as effective security measures can be easily demonstrated through using wireless alarm systems. These cost much less overall than manned security, yet can still include 24/7 professional security monitoring.

One of the final benefits of going wireless is that whilst traditional wired-in alarm systems can become outdated relatively quickly, a wireless system can be easily updated through software. So, as wireless and communications technologies continue to develop and advance, so can the optimum security they provide for an empty property – throughout as prolonged a duration of vacancy, as necessary.