Saturday, 26 November 2016

Home Security

I am at last moving into the home security market, I get clients asking what to do, so I thought its time to experiment and look for products that I can fit to my own home.

First it's the usual alarm, We had one fitted some 20 years ago, and its still as good as the day it was fitted, ok we have it services regularly, and the battery has been changed a couple of times. Its a same guard, I like to set the thing when we go out, most of my neighbours have the same unit, and we all check when it goes off. I have thought of getting a better, internet connected unit, but I thought about it and decided to invest in something a little up market.

Enter stage right, out new web-cam we purchased from Y-Cam, its a simple little device that is wifi connected, has sensors to detect movement and works in the light and dark of the evening.
The output is good, and its viewable on their web site vis their iPhone App, and on my Mac. I can down load the video feed, and best of all, once you purchase the unit, the web site is free. the video I attach is an example of the quality, its not bad.

We use this for two reasons, one to watch our dog, when he is home alone, and then we move it to a upper window to view the front drive, the sensor is good enough to pick up anyone walking to the front door. Although we quite like watching our dog, its surprising what he gets up to.

Next, a front alarm bell, I Have my eye on a Ring unit, but at £120 the same price as the Y-Cam, I think it will wait, as the cam in the window does what I want at present, although the idea of answering the door from the ring unit and telling the post man to leave the parcel is tempting.

As always, for us its a matter of adding the correct items to support all of this to the drawing, for both units it down to a simple power supply, the Y-Cam is 240v so a plug in a convenient place is all thats required, the Ring needs its own power via a transformer, Specifying that the house is connected to the WiFi is interesting, as thats down to the house owner, but as long as its mentioned in the specification.

Conclusion, I like the Y-Cam it does most of what I want, I can check on the house whilst away, and I get advice on my phone when its activated. I can easily phone my neighbours to check on anything, and adding another unit to say the back of the house is easy.


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