Home Security systems....

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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So I have been having packages stolen from my front porch the last couple of weeks. I've been thinking of trying to get some sort of camera put up, but really have no clue on this type of thing.

Anyone have any experience on this stuff? Really just want one camera that can record a couple of days at a time.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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So, uh, what's to stop them from unlocking the door after they go through the window?
A key only deadbolt. You have to look around a little. I think in recent years they have become more difficult to find because they are afriad people locking them and not being able to quickly unlock them to get out in case of fire. It's only used when I'm gone, normally for extended periods. But anyway a deadbolt with a key on both sides to lock/unlcok and not the little handle you turn to lock it from inside.

I bought mine from a company that does security installations suggested by my sister. It has a longer bolt to it so that it goes thru the jamb and angle steel frame behind the jamb.

There are lots of other options. A good friend of mine put a larger safe than would fit thru the door and built the house around it. Gun safes that large aren't terribly expensive, Less than $5k and that's a very large gun safe. You can buy doors that are basically the same as a gun safe door that you can put on a closet or build in a safe if you are building a new house etc, but that does't protect anything you put inside from a fire like a regular gun safe.

To me the best and cheapest option was to reinforce the door jamb.

dcdeadboolt.jpg
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,540
31,815
So I have been having packages stolen from my front porch the last couple of weeks. I've been thinking of trying to get some sort of camera put up, but really have no clue on this type of thing.

Anyone have any experience on this stuff? Really just want one camera that can record a couple of days at a time.
Let us know what turns up after you get it up and going. Any ideas? Delivery person or neighbor?
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
60,514
132,415
A key only deadbolt. You have to look around a little. I think in recent years they have become more difficult to find because they are afriad people locking them and not being able to quickly unlock them to get out in case of fire. It's only used when I'm gone, normally for extended periods. But anyway a deadbolt with a key on both sides to lock/unlcok and not the little handle you turn to lock it from inside.

I bought mine from a company that does security installations suggested by my sister. It has a longer bolt to it so that it goes thru the jamb and angle steel frame behind the jamb.

There are lots of other options. A good friend of mine put a larger safe than would fit thru the door and built the house around it. Gun safes that large aren't terribly expensive, Less than $5k and that's a very large gun safe. You can buy doors that are basically the same as a gun safe door that you can put on a closet or build in a safe if you are building a new house etc, but that does't protect anything you put inside from a fire like a regular gun safe.

To me the best and cheapest option was to reinforce the door jamb.

dcdeadboolt.jpg
I don't want to be a debbie downer, but anyone that has come in and wants to remove your door only to be stopped by a keyed deadbolt could just remove the pins on your door hinges. All it takes is a flat head (you don't even need a hammer), and wham, wham, wham door comes off.

My apt has a side entry door that opens out, so they could just pop the pins, i got these
Door Hinge Security Pins | eBay

quick install so even if they pop the pins out, it's not going anywhere, unless they saw through it.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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I put a lot of research into it. I don't own a lot of fancy stuff that would really walk off if someone broke into my house. I don't even own a TV and my computer is probably $1,000 including monitor, no jewlery and stuff like that.

The hinges are a special security hinge. I'll have to take a pic next time I go home. The entire door came from the same place I bought the locks. The locks are hardened and require a special took to take the backside off unlike most deadbolts that have a regular screw on the inside. The actual bolt was suggested to be longer than the thickness of the door so that if they managed to get it off the hinge it would be difficult to open the door with the lock still engaged. Thus the reason for the special door that had an internal opening large enough to retract the bolt.

I'm sure if someone wants it they will get it, but I didn't want to make it super easy. They would have to break in (no biggy), come equipped with some way to move the safe (golf balls are the best way on the floor), have something to pick it up into a truck, and disable the hinges/lock, have the ability to cut the anchors bolted thru the inside of the safe into the slab and have enough people to mess with it. It took a crew of 4 guys to get it in here a few hours and they did it for a living and the door was off. If they are that well prepared I guess they can have them. It's insured. Hopefully they get tired of it and look elsewhere.

I've seen some odd stuff in articles posted thru various sites, including a few where the theif knew what they were after and came thru the wall to get it. Literally cut out part of the wall. I spent about $2k on the door and the lock but you can't prepare for shit like that.

I have a sizable firearm collection and if someone wanted to take them they would sell pretty well and some are not replacable like custom guns my great grandfather made and passed down.

I it was a busy neighborhood I wouldn't mess with it, but it's in a very rural area and you can't see the house from the road and neighbors and I'm not there for weeks at a time. But just walking into the door (unless you look at the lock extended while the door is open) most people aren't going to notice the hinges and the back of the lock. I do know people with collections and they have security systems but I've never asked much about it. Even if I had one and it went off I'm afraid to ask how long the response time would be. A house burned down a couple of years ago when I lived there full time. Town (about 2,500 people) is 5 miles away, the town in the next county 45 miles away was actually the first fire department to respond.

But back to talking about security systems, my sister who works at a company that installs and monitors them she said that a large percentage of alarms they get on their residential stuff is a false alarm. I'm curious after so many times the cops either don't respond or are slow to.

She said they get very low false alarms on their retail, commercial and industrial business other than the ocassional someone comes in early and forgets to turn it off when entering.

Enough hijacking. Sorry.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
60,514
132,415
oh that's cool then, you probably have the security hinges that pinches both the top and bottom, either that or you have the thing i linked built into the hinge itself.
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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I'll have to look. I looked at it when I first got it but it's been in the house for 10 years now. Like I said it wasn't terribly expensive and I'm more worried about someone getting the safe out in the hopes of trashing it elsewhere than getting in and stealing misc. junk.
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
15,706
34,210
Let us know what turns up after you get it up and going. Any ideas? Delivery person or neighbor?
99% sure it is teenagers in the neighborhood. Has been 3 packages in the last week or two. One we never found (was minor things like a keychain and a pillow cover). Another was baby stuff that they opened, decided they didn't want, and tossed the box and everything in it in one of my neighbors back yard. The last one was Victoria's Secret stuff, haven't found anything on that
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
15,706
34,210
A key only deadbolt. You have to look around a little. I think in recent years they have become more difficult to find because they are afriad people locking them and not being able to quickly unlock them to get out in case of fire. It's only used when I'm gone, normally for extended periods. But anyway a deadbolt with a key on both sides to lock/unlcok and not the little handle you turn to lock it from inside.

I bought mine from a company that does security installations suggested by my sister. It has a longer bolt to it so that it goes thru the jamb and angle steel frame behind the jamb.

There are lots of other options. A good friend of mine put a larger safe than would fit thru the door and built the house around it. Gun safes that large aren't terribly expensive, Less than $5k and that's a very large gun safe. You can buy doors that are basically the same as a gun safe door that you can put on a closet or build in a safe if you are building a new house etc, but that does't protect anything you put inside from a fire like a regular gun safe.

To me the best and cheapest option was to reinforce the door jamb.

dcdeadboolt.jpg
That makes sense, but I'm pretty sure that is against fire codes pretty much anywhere
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Considering the county doesn't require a building permit unless it's a commercial building in the actual city but not the county, so basically no permits for houses. I'm pretty sure it's going to go without notice. The only fire department in the county is a volunteer only department, as mentioned above they were beat to a house fire that was 5 miles away by a department 45 miles away in another county.
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
606
99% sure it is teenagers in the neighborhood. Has been 3 packages in the last week or two. One we never found (was minor things like a keychain and a pillow cover). Another was baby stuff that they opened, decided they didn't want, and tossed the box and everything in it in one of my neighbors back yard. The last one was Victoria's Secret stuff, haven't found anything on that
Gotta be weird knowing some teens are jerking it into your wife's would-be panties
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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99% sure it is teenagers in the neighborhood. Has been 3 packages in the last week or two. One we never found (was minor things like a keychain and a pillow cover). Another was baby stuff that they opened, decided they didn't want, and tossed the box and everything in it in one of my neighbors back yard. The last one was Victoria's Secret stuff, haven't found anything on that
Get one of these:

Ring Video Doorbell for Your Smartphone | Ring

I had to replace my outdoor intercom/doorbell and got a Ring as a replacement. Allows me to answer the doorbell with video/audio from anywhere in the world, and it has an adjustable motion sensor that snaps video when it detects movement.
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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That looks pretty cool. My only issue is that it doesn't record the video anywhere (that I can tell from the quick check). Just having a video that I look at in real time doesn't really help with a police report or anything. I would like to have something that can capture evidence
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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Never mind, just checked and they do cloud recording. $30 per year is a bit much for what it is actually doing though
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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34,210
The more I look at it, that is exactly what I want. Price is a bit more than I would want, but I think I'm going to give it a shot.

My wife has been pretty upset about the whole thing, not so much about what was lost but more about the feeling of people intruding into our space with no recourse
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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It's worked great so far. Setup was easy and the app works well, allowing you to adjust the range of the motion sensor to your environment. Best use so far is being able to tell the UPS guy where to hide my packages when I'm not home and he rings the doorbell. Battery lasts me about three months and it slides off easy with a special screwdriver they give you for recharging. If you've got a doorbell wire already then no need for the battery.
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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34,210
Ordered it from Amazon, should be here tomorrow. Unless the fucking package gets stolen
 

Gnomedolf

<Silver Donator>
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It's worked great so far. Setup was easy and the app works well, allowing you to adjust the range of the motion sensor to your environment. Best use so far is being able to tell the UPS guy where to hide my packages when I'm not home and he rings the doorbell. Battery lasts me about three months and it slides off easy with a special screwdriver they give you for recharging. If you've got a doorbell wire already then no need for the battery.
UPS never rings the doorbell. NEVER. I have video proof from the camera I have on my front porch.
 

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
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31,802
UPS never rings the doorbell. NEVER. I have video proof from the camera I have on my front porch.
Weird, he does for me, but maybe he really likes my doorbell hah. The USPS guy on the other hand never even fucking tries and just leaves me a pickup notice.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
23,289
33,183
If they are opening them while you are at work, use an Amazon box, install a cheap camera in it that's connected to home Wi-Fi and have it stream and watch at work. I'd rather see those faces as they realize what's just happened.