Yep, old-fashioned wired burglar alarm (2001 vintage) goes off every so often. Once a year, but even that is too frequent. Practiced clearing house with Benelli SuperNova Tactical. Need forend light. No question. Podcast soothed me back to sleep. I can tell I'm not rested, though. Floaters in field of vision, back pain. Think I will switch to modern alarm system.

Love my SuperNova.

I feel your pain on false alarms in the middle of the night.

About 10 years ago, I woke up on a Saturday morning, opened the shades in my 2nd story MBR, and was surprised to see my ss grill sitting in the grass next to the fence. There was about 25' of grass between my grill and the normal location so somebody moved it. Turns out they stole my weedwacker but since my gate was locked they weren't strong enough to lift my ss grill over the fence.

Off to home depot I go to buy motion sensor lighting. I found this system where one motion sensor could turn on multiple lights and there was a module you could plug a lamp into plus it beeped. I installed it, I had the motion sensors on the house and shed triangulated, plugged a lamp into the module in my mbr, and activated the light modules alarm.

I head to bed confident nobody is stealing my ss grill. At 3AM, the MBR light and alarm go off, I grab my P229, open my 2nd story MBR window (it's Texas so force and deadly force statutes at night are GTG), and find the backyard is nicely lit. However, I don't see who/what set off the motion sensor. I head downstairs with my trusty 229 to find my grill where it belongs. I stayed up another hour, and finally head to bed.

The next night, I go to bed early because I'm tired as all get out. At 2AM, the MBR light and alarm go off, I grab my P229, open my 2nd story MBR window, and find the backyard is nicely lit. However, I don't see who/what set off the motion sensor. I head downstairs with my trusty 229 to find my grill where it belongs. I stayed up another ten minutes, and finally head to bed.

The 3rd night, I go to bed early because I'm beyond tired from two nights of poor sleep. At 2AM, the MBR light and alarm go off, I grab my P229, open my 2nd story MBR window, and find the backyard is nicely lit. This time, I see a possum walking on my fence. I closed the window, unplugged the mbr module, and threw the mbr module in the trash because I can relace a ss grill but I can't replace sleep.

I have an "old fashioned, i.e. "wired" alarm system with door and window sensors, movement sensors and "glass break" sensors. It has never gone off unless provoked...by me. About two time a year I will get up in the middle of the night to let a dog out and forget to disarm the system. Then just a friendly call to the alarm monitoring lady with a sheepish "never mind" and all is well. I have never heard of one going off "unprovoked". I have had one go off when bugs walked in front of a motion sensor.

Ugh.. it always seems like alarms and smoke alarms go off between 01:45 to 03:00.

quote:

Originally posted by ARMT Guy:
Ugh.. it always seems like alarms and smoke alarms go off between 01:45 to 03:00.

And the suction cupped rack that holds all the wife's shampoo bottles.

Our German Shepherd roams the 1st floor night & day.

She'll be two years old May 6th. We plan a few treats for her.

We never have to worry about a surprise intruder.

Try being the guy who has to respond to all those false alarms. At least I'm already awake, lol! In my experience, it's about 40-50 false trips for every good one....but you never know till you get there.

I feel bad for the hose draggers (ours are all volunteers...not the "get paid to sleep" type). We have a small private college in town, and at least every other week or so during the school year some mensa candidate tries to microwave instant mac-and-cheese without adding water, or popcorn for 10 minutes, or some other such stupidity. I don't know how those guys aren't walking around like zombies all the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Gutpile Charlie:
I have an "old fashioned, i.e. "wired" alarm system with door and window sensors, movement sensors and "glass break" sensors. It has never gone off unless provoked...by me. About two time a year I will get up in the middle of the night to let a dog out and forget to disarm the system. Then just a friendly call to the alarm monitoring lady with a sheepish "never mind" and all is well. I have never heard of one going off "unprovoked". I have had one go off when bugs walked in front of a motion sensor.

I work at an alarm monitoring center and can confirm that alarms go off "randomly" all the time. Of course I am talking to the customers over the phone who may or may not be clueless as to how the system works, but some people swear up and down that their system triggers for no reason at all.

Motion sensors can be quite finicky and can get set off simply because the shadow from the blinds on a window move, or even start to malfunction when they have a low battery (wireless system). Door/window contacts can be problematic too if it gets windy and the contact moves ever so slightly.

When I have my own house in a few years, I would rather have a couple big barking dogs than an alarm system. Depending on the city you live in, the police and fire departments can charge you for false alarms, require that you pay for a permit before they will dispatch a unit for an alarm call, or worse, some will not even respond at all.

If anybody is in the market for an alarm system, check with your police department for their policies on alarm response and any requirements before getting a system as you may be wasting lots of money.

Well, it is 2325 and I just cleared the house again. No signs, spoke to no one, undetermined. So an officer might say after responding. I have heard this radio call time and time again while volunteering. I wonder what is going on with our system?

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Well, it is 2325 and I just cleared the house again. No signs, spoke to no one, undetermined. So an officer might say after responding. I have heard this radio call time and time again while volunteering. I wonder what is going on with our system?

Might help to know what is going off/tripping.
Door contact or motion. Both can go bad.
Also had critters eating wire under a house before.
Type of system you have also.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Well, it is 2325 and I just cleared the house again. No signs, spoke to no one, undetermined. So an officer might say after responding. I have heard this radio call time and time again while volunteering. I wonder what is going on with our system?

Did that SD card Karma have anything to do with it?