Welcome back to another entry on the Central Alarm blog. Here we like to spend our limited time together leveraging our considerable expertise in the security sector to make sure you, our readers, are informed on all the chatter in our field. The ins and outs of smart devices for the home, or security tips that are not necessarily reliant on our systems. Anything to ensure you have a safer home, regardless of whether or not you are using one of our systems.
In all that time, we have covered a huge range of topics and so we thought it important to touch in once again with the basics of security and alarm systems. To that end, this entry on the blog is going to detail how alarm systems work.
How Do Alarm Systems Work?
There are several kinds of alarm systems out there, each operates a little differently.
- Breaking the Circuit
- The most common and basic types of security systems operate of a closed-circuit system. These are the kind where you see two rectangular sensors on a door or window. When these two sensors are moved apart by the act of being opened, they will maneuver a circuit into either an open or closed and this signals the alarm. There a number of options for circuit systems, including simple buttons inside door frames and more.
- Motion Detecting
- Another of the more popular and basic types of alarms is the motion detecting. The radar variation of motion sensor sends out a blast of radio waves and anticipates a standard pattern. If it hits an unknown object the pattern will be disturbed from its usual pattern and thus trigger an alarm.
- The photo-sensor motion detector operates with a focused beam of light, often a laser, and a sensor. Whenever something moves through that beam the sensor will register a drop-in light and trigger the alarm.
- A further, more advanced form of motion sensor operates using passive infrared. Essentially, these sensors detect infrared energy and when an intruder is present, their body heat creates an increase in infrared and triggers the alarm.
Those are the two main kinds of sensors and then those are, usually wired to some form of alarm system. Sirens or loud speakers, flashing lights in or outdoors, as well as a telephone auto -dialer to a security company are all common systems that are triggered when the motion detectors, or circuits are broken. Some more hi-tech options will connect with the owner’s smart devices, allowing for homeowners to inspect whatever is triggering their alarm, allowing them control over whether to call the police or recognize it as a kid trying to sneak through a window.
Security systems, while the technology has gotten more and more complex, they all operate off the same basic principles. Circuits or sensors, both then connect to their alarm systems and once trigger alert the homeowners and often the intruder that the jig is up!
If you are looking for security, for either home or business, contact us and we can get to work securing you and yours.
