Do Burglar Alarms Work?

Understanding Zones

• A burglar alarm is set up in zones. A zone is an area of the house which is protected. For instance, your front door will usually be set up as zone one. Your back door will be set to another zone. Your sliding glass doors set up in another zone. Some sensors will be grouped together; for instance, all of your windows may be grouped in one zone. Your other devices, such as motion detectors and smoke detectors, are assigned to other zones. The exception to this is wireless systems where every sensor is assigned to its own individual zone.

The Purpose of Zones

• Zones allow you to set the alarm to exclude a zone when using a particular entrance. Also, if you have a break-in, you can go to your keypad and see in which zone the break-in occurred. This is especially convenient if your keypad is installed in the master bedroom and a break-in occurs at night.

Off Mode

• Standard burglar alarms are designed for three basic modes. The off mode allows you no protection from intrusion and should be used only when you are entering and leaving your home frequently and do not want protection, like if you are having a party and using several entrances.

At Home Mode

• When you are at home and no one will be leaving or entering for a while, set your system to the At Home mode. If you are using one entry door (like if the kids are playing in the back yard), set your alarm to the At Home mode and set it to exclude the zone (door) you are using. This allows your kids to enter and leave freely without setting the alarm off, while protecting the other zones. When your system is set in the at home mode your motion detectors are not active; this is the main difference between the at home mode and the away mode.

The Away Mode

• Set your alarm system in the Away mode any time no one is home. The Away mode activates your sensors and motion detectors. However, if you have a dog, cat or other animal which moves around freely, you must have pet-immune motion detectors. Pet-immune detectors are designed with ratings. A 35-pound pet immune detector is designed for animals under 35 pounds.

Testing Your System

• Test your system monthly. Test every door and window; each should have an entry sensor. Test your smoke and motion sensors. Before performing this test, inform your monitoring facility so no action is taken. When you call the facility to let it know you are finished testing, make sure it received the alarms you set. For proper testing procedures, refer to your owner's manual.

Know Your System

• Read your owner's manual and familiarize yourself and your family with your system. Learn about the panic alarm and other functions. Call your monitoring facility and tell it to stop monitoring while you are learning how to use it; you don't want false alarms. Many police stations charge a fee for each false alarm.