by Adam Fogal | Mar 12, 2018 | Home Security, Smart Home |
Expert Home and Business Security Installation
One of the best gifts you can give your entire family is peace of mind. Installation of an alarm system in your home can protect your loved ones and your belongings.
When you are getting an alarm in your home or business, you need to make certain that someone with experience installs it, so that it will work correctly. Otherwise, it isn’t giving you any type of protection. The best alarm installation companies in St. Louis are the companies that have been in business for many years with experienced professional installers. Choosing a local installer means that you are doing business—in essence—with your neighbors.
The best alarm companies sell a wide variety of different types of alarms and also service the items they sell in an efficient manner. Learn about some of the types of systems to make a decision on which will be best for you in your situation.
Renter’s Security
Not all apartments or homes that you rent have any type of security for your belongings. There may be a security gate to enter the complex or subdivision, but this isn’t securing your personal belongings. Renter’s security alarms are standalone equipment that doesn’t require a permanent installation and it has no wires running inside of the walls. One of the best points of this type of system is that when you move, it moves with you to another location. These innovative systems give you all the benefits of a fully interactive home. You get video monitoring with sound in a bright mega pixel HD video. You also get home automation as in a permanent installation of an alarm system. You can control your thermostat remotely as well as arm and disarm the system remotely from your smart phone or over the internet from a laptop or computer. You will receive real time notifications and alerts so you are kept in the know at all times. You can even control other things in your home such as lights, appliances, entertainment centers or locks as well as any other connected devices.
Cellular Home Alarms
When bad weather strikes and your power is out, a cellular alarm will still work to make your home safe. It doesn’t require the use of a landline, as the old alarm systems did. This saves you the monthly cost of having a landline in your home. You can control your home from your smart phone in a single app. The cellular alarm radio communicates to a professional monitoring station and you get 24/7 police response. Additional features include weather warnings and a crash and smash feature that contacts the monitoring station if it detects tampering to your unit. The control panel is in full color and user friendly with a touch screen for easy functions. You can also communicate with the monitoring station through a 2-way voice system in your home.
Smart Alarms
Smart alarms also operate from your smart phone or tablet to arm and disarm your system and set up alerts. You can get weather alerts, 24/7 monitoring of your home and instant text message alerts as well as email notifications that are triggered by anything that happens in your home. This system will notify you if you leave home and forget to arm the alarm system. It also includes the 2-way voice system for communications with the monitoring station. A great feature of this type of alarm is geo-fencing. You can set a radius around your home and anytime your smart phone enters or leaves that particular radius you will get a message to arm or disarm the system. Smart alarm systems are also wireless, include a color touch screen and include the crash and smash function to detect tampering.
Smarter Alarm Systems
These systems have the same features as the smart alarms, but also include a smart thermostat. With the geo-fencing control, you can program your thermostat to a cooler setting when you are close to home, or turn it warmer in the winter as you are approaching your home. You can also automatically adjust your lights to turn them on or off while on the go. This system can save you quite a bit of money on your monthly electricity bills. You can also add smart door locks with user codes for each family member. This enables locking and unlocking your doors from your smart phone and it will remind you to lock the doors if you leave the house and forget.
Smartest Alarm Systems
This system has all of the features of the smarter alarm systems with the addition of a video feed. You can actually see who is at the door on your smart phone when you are at work. You can see them through a video doorbell and if it is someone you are expecting, such as service personnel, you can unlock the door for them to go in your home and lock it again when they leave.
Business Alarm Systems
Smart business alarms allow you to set a time to lock and unlock the doors on your business. This is helpful so you don’t have to provide several employees with keys, which may be lost or not returned if they are no longer employed by you. It also doesn’t require that you, as a business owner, have to take the time to be at the shop at opening and closing time every day. This type of system can control your thermostats, shades, lights, provide access to a live video feed as well as capture images, and you get business management reports as well.
Video Verified Systems
When an alarm goes off and police are called, it could simply be a false alarm. Police will respond immediately to a video verified system because they have don’t have false alarms on these types of systems. You can see live streaming video of any workspace at any time you wish. It includes a smart clip capture for still video that is stored securely in the cloud to make it useful in prosecuting a burglar.
Choose an alarm company in St. Louis that offers you all of the different and new types of alarm systems to keep your home or business safe and protect all of your valuables. There is an alarm system to fit your situation with low monthly monitoring fees.
by Adam Fogal | Jun 24, 2017 | Smart Home |
You love your smartphone and can’t live without it. Imagine if you also had a smart home, too. Like your house. It’s not technology of the future, but it’s here today. Smart Home Security, appliances, lighting, and other gadgets are available to make your life easier and safer.
Below, find nine reasons why you should turn your regular house into an amazing, helpful, smart home.
1) Who Left The Stove On In Your Smart Home?
Have you ever set off the smoke detector when cooking? Those hardware store smoke detectors seem to be very finicky, particularly when you’re baking a cake… or boiling water. But what happens when you get a call and dash out the door forgetting the stove or oven are on.
Modern smoke detectors that work in conjunction with a “Smarter Alarm Panel” can warn you and the fire department that your smoke detector is going off. Another great feature is that it can also shut off your HVAC system automatically using companies like Alarm.com so that the smoke in the kitchen is not recirculated throughout your home. These loud alarms can also be disabled from your smart phone when you burn your biscuits, without climbing on a kitchen chair and you don’t have to disable the entire alarm.
$500 Extra Hint: You can also open your smart door lock remotely so the fire department does not kick your door in to see where smoke is coming from. This saves you $500 from not replacing that front door alone.
2) Know Your Family Is Home Safely
Video monitoring capabilities allows live-streaming from in or around your smart home to your smartphone, tablet, or desktop. You’ll receive an email or text alert if motion is detected and night vision ensures that you can even keep up with late night activities.
Summer months will no longer be a time of concern, because your smart home can help you monitor when your kids come and go during their daily routine over your smart phone.
3) You can get the help you need
Thanks to devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home, you won’t ever be on your own. These hands-free assistants respond to some complex commands and can order dinner, arrange for a ride or play your favorite mood music without jumping up from the couch. These devices can provide verbal answers to questions important such as, “Alexa what channel is the football game on and what time does it start?”
Basically, these products are voice activated Bluetooth speakers, but you’re able to do so much more than just play your favorite playlists. Capabilities extend across many functions and make controlling your smart home much easier. When you are running out the door to get the kids to school on time you merely say, “Alexa, tell Alarm.com to active the alarm”, and it will activate your alarm and lock the door behind you if you have electronic door locks.
4) Smart Phones as Remote Controls
While devices such as the Echo or Home allow you to provide verbal commands for your home, they aren’t helpful the instant you are out of audible range. Thankfully, most smart homes can be remotely controlled via your mobile device. Be it your security system, your thermostat, or even your TV, devices today can be monitored and changed with the touch of a finger. Remote control converters that plug into electronic devices enable just about any device to be smart.
Long night ahead? Use your phone to tell your appliances to begin heating water for some fresh coffee when you walk in the door to your smart home.
5) You can set the mood
It’s movie night and you and your significant other are already cuddling on the couch. The trailers are over and the feature presentation is just about to begin, but you forgot to dim the lights. With a smart home, it’s not a problem. Simply use your phone, tablet, or laptop to adjust the lighting and even close the shades.
Hate waking up to a dank room? Schedule your shades to open before your alarm goes off for natural sunlight and a cheerful morning.
On vacation? Remotely control or set a schedule for your lighting that mimics real usage, so not even those nosy neighbors will know you’re away.
6) You can vacuum your home (or swimming pool) without lifting a finger
Sweeping hardwood floors and vacuuming high-traffic carpeted areas can be a pain in the neck, figuratively and literally. However self-vacuuming devices, like the well-known Roomba, make cleaning a breeze. Roombas are long-running, wireless, vacuums that move seamlessly from carpet to linoleum and back again and are programmable from your favorite mobile device.
Roomba-style cleaning robots also exist for the swimming pool, making time for more fun in the sun.
7) Live independently as a senior
We’ve come a long way since the old “Help! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” commercials. Thanks to modern technology, senior citizens can feel completely secure in their own homes. Options include GPS tracking, two-way voice communication, and even fall detection capabilities. So relax at home and know that you are never alone when you have a medical security system for your smart home.
8) You can be rich (okay, maybe not, but you can save money)
Investing in a smart home can actually save you money through the following energy efficient products:
- LED light bulbs: Smart lighting uses LED bulbs, which use 80% less energy than an equivalent-wattage incandescent bulb, according to the US Department of Energy. Additionally, LED bulbs last an average of 24,000 hours more of lighting.
- Thermostats: Cost-efficient smart thermostats are programmable and offer recommendations on reducing heating and cooling times, thereby saving on utility bills.
- Remote notifications: Did you leave the light on in your bedroom? A connected home will alert you if you have and enable you to shut lights or devices off remotely.
9) A Smart Home Is A Smart Choice
A smart home saves you time and money, in addition to helping you learn the skills you want to learn, such as cooking. It will help you be more comfortable with the ability to turn up the heat before you climb out of bed or secure your house even if you aren’t there. In essence, a smart home can help make you smarter.
