Home Security Systems

By Sylvia Rosen

Sometimes, basic home security systems are not enough to prevent a potential thief or unwanted visitor from entering your home or business: In this case, driveway alarms are a perfect solution since they can sense animals, people and automobiles once they come within a certain range. Thankfully, choosing a driveway alarm is very easy, and there are only a few things to consider during the buying process.

Wired vs. wireless

Before you can start choosing other features, it is important to decide whether you want a wired or wireless system. Wired systems are often the most reliable, and they are easy to install if you are in the process of building a new home or business. For current structures, however, installation becomes slightly more difficult. Not only must you bury the wire, but you will also need to insert it through a wall so that it can connect to an indoor monitor. This not only increases costs, but it can also be time consuming and unnecessarily complicated.

As a result, wireless systems are best for existing homes, businesses, and other structures. With some models being able to connect to sensors over a mile away, wireless driveway alarms provide an easy-to-install and reliable solution.

Wired driveway alarms can have the entire driveway alarm system hidden from view leaving your property looking as good as ever. A wired alarm has no batteries to change in the sensor units, so you can also relax knowing that your system is always fully powered and operating. You can buy a five-star rated model for around $300 from Home Depot or any other DIY provider.

Wireless driveway alarms do not depend on telephone lines or electricity for power. They operate on batteries. As long as you ensure your batteries are charged, you will have service. You can purchase a very basic wireless driveway alarm from Driveway Alert for $149.

Motion detection vs. metal detection

The type of motion detector on a driveway alarm will determine what it is able to detect. Although there may be more than a few varieties, the two main types of motion detectors found on driveway alarms are standard motion sensors and metal detectors.

As their name suggests, motion sensors detect motion. This means anything that moves in front of a sensor - be it a car, person, small animal, or rolling ball - will trip the alarm. Although there are many situations where this may be useful, it may be unnecessary if you only want to detect cars entering the driveway.

These sensors can also easily pick up wandering animals or other objects that pose no real security threat. Thankfully, some models have sensors that are higher off the ground so that only people and cars are detected.

Metal detectors, on the other hand, detect metallic objects such as automobiles. The only downside to metal detecting alarms, however, is that a probe or wire must be buried beneath the driveway.

Additional Features

Most additional features for driveway alarm systems are for the monitor itself. These features will greatly vary between different makes and models, but some of the most common include the following:

• Handheld monitoring
• Motion detection in more than one area (best for multiple driveways)
• Intercom surveillance
• Video surveillance