Hi all, new to the forum. Looks like lots of great people here, and I'm excited to get into security and HA.
I'm going to be moving to a new house soon (new to me, about 4 years old). It appears that it was not wired at all for a security system, which I'm having trouble believing since it's so much easier to do when the house is being built (obviously) rather than after the fact.
I'm still formulating my general plan for after we move in, but it shaping up to be something like this: Install either an Elk M1G or HAI OmniPro (need help deciding on the panel, still have some research to do), and then get started with some wireless sensors at first just to get some basic security in place until I can figure out if we can wire for sensors or not. I counted the downstairs windows and there are a LOT - something like 19! (3400sf, 2 floors). So, maybe I will just sensor the 4 doors (incl. garage door) wirelessly at first?
What do you think of these admittedly sparse first steps - and if there is indeed no wire in the walls as I fear, is the expense to run wire going to be overwhelming? Unfortunately I'm not going to have a lot of $$ just after jumping into a bigger house, and I have lots of plans down the line including HA (have run X10 for many years and have bought a few Insteon products recently and am researching that and alternatives), cameras, thermostats, etc.
I like to do things myself but don't mind leaving the bigger jobs to the pros where it makes sense (possibly running wire, getting experienced input, etc) but I am really looking forward to the configuration and implementing computer controls since I have been tinkering with PCs for the last 20 years or so.
Thanks,
Tom
I'm going to be moving to a new house soon (new to me, about 4 years old). It appears that it was not wired at all for a security system, which I'm having trouble believing since it's so much easier to do when the house is being built (obviously) rather than after the fact.
I'm still formulating my general plan for after we move in, but it shaping up to be something like this: Install either an Elk M1G or HAI OmniPro (need help deciding on the panel, still have some research to do), and then get started with some wireless sensors at first just to get some basic security in place until I can figure out if we can wire for sensors or not. I counted the downstairs windows and there are a LOT - something like 19! (3400sf, 2 floors). So, maybe I will just sensor the 4 doors (incl. garage door) wirelessly at first?
What do you think of these admittedly sparse first steps - and if there is indeed no wire in the walls as I fear, is the expense to run wire going to be overwhelming? Unfortunately I'm not going to have a lot of $$ just after jumping into a bigger house, and I have lots of plans down the line including HA (have run X10 for many years and have bought a few Insteon products recently and am researching that and alternatives), cameras, thermostats, etc.
I like to do things myself but don't mind leaving the bigger jobs to the pros where it makes sense (possibly running wire, getting experienced input, etc) but I am really looking forward to the configuration and implementing computer controls since I have been tinkering with PCs for the last 20 years or so.
Thanks,
Tom