Home invasions occur every single day in the United States. Criminals break in to the homes of good natured citizens with the intentions of stealing valuables, money or expensive electronics. Sometimes a burglar may threaten you or family members and try to get personal information out of you, such as banking information, pin numbers, credit card numbers, and other such information. Criminals will stop at nothing to gain from your family and they will get information out of you by any means necessary. However, the reasons for home invasions are not limited to just theft. Break-ins occur every day for the purposes of harming, assaulting or even killing the inhabitants of a home. Did you know that 60% of all the reported rapes in the United States take place inside the home of the victim? Sometimes it may be somebody you know or even trust who invades your home, either because the are a jealousy-crazed ex-lover or a business colleague who has been struck by greed or revenge. You should always be careful who you let into your home, but having a cutting edge high tech home security system will go a long way towards making you feel safer and more secure in your home.

Protecting your family, your belongings and the well being of your home and loved ones starts with purchasing a high tech home security system. These systems are not difficult to install or set-up. In fact, many of the modern security systems available on the current market were designed specifically to be easily set up by non-professionals without prior experience in electronics or home security systems. There is no need for special training or spending a lot of money on professional installation. Complex security systems may not always be required depending on the type of home you live in and the area where your home is located. For instance, if you are living in a well lit, densely populated neighborhood, chances are you wont need to take additional measures such as having your security system remotely monitored. Some systems are monitored by call centers serving the manufacturer of the security system and the customers who have them installed. When the alarm is triggered a home security representative will immediately call to assess the situation. That means you will know your high tech home security system has been triggered even if you are not in the home. However, in more rural areas this may be a necessity as you wont have nearby neighbors who may hear your alarm if it is triggered. No matter where you are, the best way to protect your home is with a high tech home security system.

As technological advances continue to be made, the world around us becomes more and more inundated with options and features in electronics that makes buying an electronic component quite a task. And when it comes to security systems, it is no different unless, you know what the essential components are that make for a complete system. Security systems have evolved from the primitive key type systems, where all you would do to arm the system was turn a key and the light turned from green to red and your armed, to elaborate and sophisticated systems which use touch screen keypads and have the ability to not only control your security system but also gives you the ability to control such things as lights, curtains or even your Jacuzzi. And unless you know how to decipher what is essential and what is an option you don’t necessarily need, you might be geared towards unnecessary expenses on features or options you may not need. So with that in mind, we will take some time to try and create a better understanding of what are the essential components every security system should have and what are some not so essential items for your system.

Although it is important to keep in mind that each person has their own individual budget, and of course the more things you add on to your system, the more it will cost, one thing that should not be compromised in protecting your home is the installation of contacts on all entry points. A contact is a device which triggers your alarm whenever a door or window is opened while the system is armed. This layer of protection is definitely an essential item and should not be considered an option but rather a necessity. Contacts are considered a perimeter device, although they can also be used to protect interior doors.

The next alarm device to consider is what is known as a glass break detector or audio detector. A glass break detector is also considered as a perimeter protection device because its purpose is to create alarm activation immediately upon impact of breaking glass prior to the forced entry of an intruder. Although the installation of glass break detectors in every area where glass doors or windows are present is highly recommended, it is not considered an absolutely essential item for your security system.

A device which is truly essential in every security system is a motion detector. This security device serves as an interior device as it will detect motion once an intruder has made his way into the home and is actually walking about the house. This device is highly effective in that it covers a large area within the house and is very cost effective also. Although the motion detector has many great advantages, it should be noted that they are only effective when the system is armed and no one is home. The sensor can be used while people are home, but no one will have access to the area where the motion detector is located while the system is armed. It is recommended that every system have at least one motion detector even if the system is already equipped with contacts and glass break sensors throughout the house.

For those who want to go the extra mile with their security options, we suggest the use of a device called the photo-electric beam. This device has a transmitter and a receiver which actually face each other and shoot an invisible beam which when broken by anyone crossing it causes an instant alarm activation. The idea with this security device is to create a perimeter around the outside of your home so that the intruder does not even have a chance to approach the protected area. The drawbacks to this specific device are that it is extremely expensive to install and causes false alarms when severe weather conditions are present such as heavy rain. The photo-electric beam option is definitely a non essential security item and is not really recommended unless the customer feels the need to create a barrier around his home.

The last essential item which we will consider is a smoke detector. Although most homes are equipped with smoke detectors which will alert the homeowner of the   presence of smoke, they are limited to being effective only when you are home and totally non-effective when no one is home. However, a monitored smoke detector is effective at all times and is definitely considered an essential item for every security system.

Although there is an extensive list of security devices which have not been covered in this article, the ones that have been are considered industry wide to be the ones that make for a complete security system, and that was the purpose of this article. We encourage the readers of this article to further explore the vast array of security devices made to protect you and your loved ones.