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Security Cameras for the Home
The use of security cameras in Kansas City has grown dramatically in the past few years as the price of camera systems continues to fall and the quality continues to increase. Security Cameras have an important role in a comprehensive security solution, but are not a substitute for an alarm system. Security Cameras around the home provide a number of potential benefits:
- They are an effective deterrent against crime as criminals do not want to be identified and they signal a home owner that takes security seriously, that would probably have other counter measures inside. They can give you peace of mind by allowing you to look in on your home remotely to make sure that everything is OK. They can also alert you of motion detected at the home. Most commonly these cameras would detect a car in the driveway or a person at the from door and then notify you and send you a video clip.
There are three common types of camera systems being deployed in homes today. The first is the video intercom/doorbell. It notifies you when there is motion at your door or when your doorbell rings and then gives you the ability to answer the door with a smart phone app from anywhere. The second is a cloud based camera that has the ability to be placed about anywhere that has Wi-Fi access and can notify you when motion is detected or allows you to view it live at any time. Finally is the full DVR/NVR based system that usually consists of 3 or more cameras and a recorder that can store weeks or months worth of video for viewing later.
From a price perspective, the doorbell cameras cost around $250 installed and the cloud based camera costs around $200 installed, while the DVR based systems are usually over $1000 installed. In later discussions, I will talk about the various formats and technologies of today’s mega-pixel camera systems.
How Shield differs from ADT Kansas City
One of our favorite questions is “How are you different from ADT Kansas City?” It is a good question and the answers to the question are important. To start with, ADT Home Security Systems is a dealer program which makes it difficult to answer the question precisely, because there are a multitude of “authorized Kansas City ADT Dealers” in the Kansas City area. They are all competing with one another with a non differentiated product, so offers may vary between them.
The main product of ADT Kansas City is usually a security system that they tell you is worth over $800 that they are giving away for free. You will often have door knockers disturb you from multiple dealers, especially if you recently moved. You will also receive annoying phone calls attempting to lure you with “free ADT security systems”. In most cases, the offer is to give you the equipment for free with only a $99 installation fee. the catch is the 3 year contract that usually is required. Essentially, your monitoring rate is raised by enough to pay for the ADT equipment in those three years, but after the equipment is paid for, you continue to pay the inflated monitoring rate.
At Shield, we can usually monitor your existing land-line security system for just $21.95 per month, and if you want to upgrade to tamper resistant cellular monitoring it is only $11 more. If you don’t have an existing system, we will sell you one at a very competitive price and then monitor your security system without requiring the expensive multi year agreement.
Everyone’s security system needs are different, but we would recommend checking reviews and ratings on Google, Angie’s List, and the Kansas City Better Business Bureau, before making your final decision.
Security Company Imposters
We have gotten reports of groups of door to door security sales people operating out of Blue Springs, MO that are claiming to work for Shield. It is our understanding that every summer these people drive in from out of state and choose a few companies to pretend they work for. The latest report we received was today when someone wearing a blue shirt that said GE Security on one side and Shield Protection on the other, knocked on a door in Blue Springs. The were even so bold as to send them to our website to check out our authenticity. We are very appreciative that this was brought to our attention.
We are anxious for the summer door knocking season to come to an end and for these imposters to drive back to where ever they call home. We remain steadfast in our belief that your security company shouldn’t find you, but rather that you choose your security system company. Just remember, if it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t and if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn’t.
How to Bypass a Zone on a Honeywell LYNX Touch
Bypassing a Zone
Arm your Security System from Ready State
In order to arm your Honeywell LYNX Security System, it will need to be in the “READY” state. That means that all zones should be in their closed position. This
isn’t always possible. If the main display says “not ready”, it means the system believes that one of the zones is in a faulted/open position. Pressing the zone icon will bring up a list of zones that are open.
- Door or Window left open
- Door was replaced
- Sensor malfunction
- Magnet fell off door
- Wire got cut
- Trouble or Alarm condition not cleared.
Bypassing a Zone
Bypassing the faulted zone will allow you to arm the security system while temporarily ignoring the fault. In order to bypass the zone, you simply select the zone you wish to by-pass from the zones screen and press the bypass button. It will ask you for your 4-digit user code. The zone will now be bypassed for one arming cycle
Arming the Security System
With the ready light green, you may now arm the security sytem as usual. It should be noted though, that once the system is disarmed, you will have to repeat the bypass process to arm the next time. This is to prevent you from forgetting about the faulted zone. It should also be noted that the bypassed zone is not protected while by-passed.
If you have any other questions about your honeywell security system, you can consult your Honeywell users manual, or call us at (913) 667-7500. If you don’t have a user’s manual, send an email to operations@shieldkc.com and we will send you an electronic copy.
How to Silence Security System Siren
How to Silence Security System Siren without Passcode
When your alarm system goes off there are recommended ways of silencing the siren and cancelling the alarm. There are situation though where the Siren won’t stop with normal means. Such causes include:
- Security System was powered off in alarm and when plugged back in the siren started
- A power surge damaged system
- System was armed accidentally and the user code is not known
Regardless of the cause, when that siren sounds, people are in a hurry to find a way to silence it. In most cases, the following steps will work:
- For a traditional security system, find the alarm control box (figure 1), which is often hidden out of sight in a closet or in the basement. It will usually be a large metal box with many wires running into it.
- Open the box with the key that should be nearby. Some boxes are held shut with a screw.
- Remove either the red or black wire from a terminal on the security system battery (figure 2). The battery will be a large rectangular object measuring roughly 4″ x 4″ x 3″
- Next Find the transformer (figure 3) that is plugged into the wall near the security system. It is usually a tan cube about 3″x3″x3″ with a wire leading to the security system control panel. Unplug the transformer. Sometimes it will be screwed to the outlet in which case you will need to remove the screw first.
Once you have removed all of the power from the system, the siren will be silenced.
Note! Very often, people will call us to silence an alarm only to find out that it was not the security system that was making the noise. It was often a smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector near by.
Important Note! If you are unsure of what you are doing, call your security system company to talk you through the steps to make sure that you have identified the correct components and are removing the correct wires, etc.
Figure 3: Security System Transformer
Figure 1: Security Panel
Figure 2: Security System Battery
How to Delete User on Honeywell Vista Security System
How to Delete User
From time to time there will come the need to delete a user from your security system. This might happen when an employee leaves, switch baby sitters, or any number of other circumstances.
To delete a user from a Honeywell Vista 10p/15p/20p/21ip, you do the following:
- Enter your 4-digit master code
- press the 8/code button
- press the 2-digit user number, example 03
- press #0
Should you have any other questions, you can consult your honeywell user’s guide or call our Kansas City office at (913) 667-7500
How to Bypass a Zone on HoneyWell Vista Security System
Bypassing a Zone
Arm your Security System from Ready State
In order to arm your Honeywell Security System, it will need to be in the “READY” state. That means that all zones should be in their closed position. This isn’t always possible. When you want to arm your system the green ready light should be illuminated. If it is not, you can press the ‘*’ / Ready key to be told which zones might be faulted. Armed with the zone number and the list of zones, you can investigate why the system believes that zone is faulted. Common causes include:
- Door or Window left open
- Magnet fell off door
- Wire got cut
- Door was replaced
- Sensor malfunction
- Trouble or Alarm condition not cleared.
Bypassing a Zone
Bypassing the faulted zone will allow you to arm the security system while temporarily ignoring the fault. In order to bypass a zone you first need to determine the 2-digit zone number for it as described above. In order to bypass the zone, you simply enter your 4-digit user code, followed by the ‘6’/bypass button, followed by the 2-digit zone number. After a few seconds the word bypass will appear and the ready light will illuminate, if that was the only faulted zone.
Arming the Security System
With the ready light green, you may now arm the security sytem as usual. It should be noted though, that once the system is disarmed, you will have to repeat the bypass process to arm the next time. This is to prevent you from forgetting about the faulted zone. It should also be noted that the bypassed zone is not protected while by-passed.
If you have any other questions about your honeywell security system, you can consult your Honeywell users manual, or call us at (913) 667-7500. If you don’t have a user’s manual, send an email to operations@shieldkc.com and we will send you an electronic copy.