Is automation a good addition to home security?
In the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera’s cartoon The Jetsons in primetime was a favorite in American homes. It enjoyed several years of new episodes followed by decades of syndication. In fact, it was so popular that Hanna-Barbera resurrected the show for a brief time in the 1980s.
How many of us dream of the space age gadgets that George Jetson and his lovely family made famous? A favorite thing for many of us was the large-scale automation that Jetsons enjoyed in their home. They could automate the lights, the window curtains, the door locks and even the kitchen appliances and the robot maid who cooked their meals and kept the place clean.
Well guess what? Much of that automation (except for the robot maid) is now a reality with 21st century home security systems.
Today, home security is more than just a couple of sensors on your doors and windows connected to an alarm company via phone lines. Now you can add indoor and outdoor security cameras, fire and carbon monoxide detectors, flood monitoring, medical monitoring, and more. And everything can be controlled remotely using your laptop or any mobile device. When you are going to be away for long periods, you can even automate the entire process with just a few mouse clicks.
A new dimension in home security
Automation adds a new dimension to home security that makes it even more valuable. If you don’t understand why, consider the fact that burglars rarely pick the houses they plan to attack randomly. They typically spend at least a couple of weeks looking at the neighborhoods they choose to find out which homes represent the easiest targets. With a standard alarm system that is not automated, it is easy for burglars to tell you that you are not home. But with automation you can confuse them enough to make them look elsewhere.
With an automated system, you can schedule different times for the lights to turn off. You can program a television to turn on during the big game, a garage door to open and close strategically, and many other things. And the fact that it is automated means that you can change the times of all these events so that they are never the same two days in a row. With a properly automated system, it is almost impossible for a burglar to know if you are home or not, unless they are camping outside your door 24 hours a day.
Adding automation to a home security system costs a bit more for both the equipment and the monthly service fee. But once you see all the benefits it offers, the price really becomes very affordable. If you currently have a standard home security system without automation, why not speak to an alarm company representative to find out if automation is available for your system? If so, ask about all the possibilities it offers. You may find that the additional investment is worth it.