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Garage alarm systems

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BrandonV

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Jun 9, 2023
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I'd start by asking what your specific requirements are. "Alarm" is a fairly broad term and can mean many things. My experience comes from managing intrusion detection systems for large Fortune 500 companies so my idea might be different than yours. Asking for an alarm is like asking for a car. Hard to understand exactly what someone expects without additional context clues.

If this is for your main residence, most professional systems support partitioning. You could setup a second partition in the primary panel if the system supports wireless connectivity.

If you're using a DIY/residential system (e.g. Ring/etc.), it might be easiest to replicate what you've already set up for your main home.
 

P0234

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NoVA
If your main house already has an alarm, just extended that. No point in paying for monitoring of two systems.
 

isb cornbinder

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Pacific South West, BC, Canada
Wondering what's a good alarm system for a separated garage, its prob 20' from the mail house??? Thanks
My garage alarm system is monitored. I have all of the windows, doors covered and motion detection. If the alarm is triggered there is a deafening sound alarm. I have had 2 attempts in 35 years. One ****** jumped in a high window, he damaged when he pried it open. He landed on a heavy metal forming machine and broke a leg. The police arrived quickly. After a time one of us called for an ambulance, The ****** was arrested.
In 1978 my neighbour walked into the basement through an unlocked door. He was met by two Doberman guard dogs. The dogs blocked him from moving until I came down to see what all of the noise was about. He stood there with his pajamas torn to threads and Max the male Doberman was drinking his coffee. I left the dogs to hold him until his son arrived. I wanted the son to see the situation. I knew the neighbour would deny any involvement.
This ****** called the police to report the incident. He wanted to have me charged. The police suggested what he had told them was a confession and he is likely to be arrested for trespass, if I wanted to press charges. After and exchange of necessities the neighbour went home. He took a short-cut by going over our chain link fence. HIs BVDs caught in the top twisty thingies and he was stuck. This was before cell phones, I had to wait for the son to get to his home so I could ask him to return and get his dad off the fence. The ****** pleaded for me to help him. HIs son arrived and removed the jerk from the fence. It was less than a year later when the ****** died. None of the neighbours liked him. We drew for the short straw to see who would lose and represent all of us. Win, lose or draw, I was not going. Someone else got the short straw.
A little background,
This ****** walked the neighborhood and picked up dog poop. When his 5 gallon pail got nearly full he walked across the street and dumped on the 3 little girls playing in their sandbox. I will leave the rest to the worst of your imaginations.
 
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Jeffh110@

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Jun 19, 2021
Messages
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I went with a ring system from Costco. The best thing for me is the monitoring of the heat detectors and smoke alarm in the office portion. Without it I would never hear a smoke alarm going off 300 ft away and inside another building. I don't pay for the monitoring though.
 

Stuart in MN

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Sep 8, 2005
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Minneapolis
^ Fire monitoring is more important than security monitoring, in my opinion. Typically, smoke detectors aren't so great in a garage as they can be fooled by car exhaust or dust from sanding and grinding, so look at rate-of-rise temperature sensors instead.
 

P0234

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^ Fire monitoring is more important than security monitoring, in my opinion. Typically, smoke detectors aren't so great in a garage as they can be fooled by car exhaust or dust from sanding and grinding, so look at rate-of-rise temperature sensors instead.
Agree on fire monitoring being super important however I think the smoke detector in the garage thing is urban legend. At least in my house, there is way more smoke in my kitchen than garage. Though to be fair I do most sanding and grinding work outside.

The last house I wanted to put a smoke detector in the garage but didn't because of all the posts here against it. Well at the current house I said screw it, a false alarm is better than no alarm. Well, I'm at the one year mark or more. No false alarms yet.

By the time you have enough heat rise to make a heat rise detector go off, it's game over.
 
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jade97

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I have a Simplisafe motion sensor in my shed. Has about 30 ft of house plus another 20+ ft of yard & shed wall between the sensor and base unit.
 

BrandonV

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Agree on fire monitoring being super important however I think the smoke detector in the garage thing is urban legend. At least in my house, there is way more smoke in my kitchen than garage. Though to be fair I do most sanding and grinding work outside.

The last house I wanted to put a smoke detector in the garage but didn't because of all the posts here against it. Well at the current house I said screw it, a false alarm is better than no alarm. Well, I'm at the one year mark or more. No false alarms yet.

By the time you have enough heat rise to make a heat rise detector go off, it's game over.

I have two photoelectric smoke alarms in the garage. Never had a peep of a false positive from them. Mind you this is in a poorly sealed, dusty Arizona house. I have a unit in the laundry room and kitchen as well and as you can expect the kitchen one is the only one that ever goes off when there is a "mishap".

The heat alarms still work pretty well for their intended purpose which is for property preservation on large properties. That usually doesn't constitute a home.
 

Shadowdog500

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Down the shore
I have a Honeywell system that was professionally installed and is monitored. I like the system. The house and the shop each have their own independent system, but they are tied together so the shop alarm can be turned on and off from the house in addition to being turned on and off from the shop.

The installer also put a red led above the house keypad so I can see at a glance that the shop alarm is armed.

We also had a a camera system installed in the property and shop.

We have plenty of outside lights that deter thieves.
In addition, I usually have two dogs.

Before the security system I actually had nightmares of the shop being burglarized.

IMG-2424.jpg
 
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dcg9381

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Jun 20, 2018
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11,713
Location
Austin, TX
Wondering whats a good alarm system for a separated garage,its prob 20' from the mail house??? Thanks
A fence, doggie door, and one of these:
1726156475108.png

I leave the keys in the car. I figure if you can get to the car before the dog gets to you, you can win that prize.


Seriously though, it depends on what you want to "happen" with a security system. Around here alarms require an annual permit fee and "alarm triggered" isn't exactly high up on the PDs priority list response time.

I've installed cameras in the shop. Those cameras have a motion-sensitive alerting function (it texts me) and I can set the "window" for when those texts are sent.... Basically anyone in the shop when I don't expect someone to be in the shop, I'm going to get a text. Cameras are on a UPS, so even if you cut the power, they're still up.. It's all (including internet) POE.

Exterior of the shop has several "real" cameras and I have some "very obvious" cameras that are actually fakes, as deterrents. I've found this works well in prior homes. We've had people take out the "obvious" cameras but the cameras that are hidden in the trees, they walk right past.
 

Shadowdog500

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Down the shore
I also thought about getting something like this fog machine security system. But I’d add disorienting strobe lights, alarms, and a recording that repeats “Danger, Poison Gas” over and over again.

I chuckle thinking of the thieves diving out the window faster than the cowardly lion did when he was running from the Wizard of OZ.

 

ozyborn

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Apr 26, 2011
Messages
686
2 GSD with fenced in yard, doggie door and they love longing in the garage
 
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