How do burglar alarms work?

Burglar alarms work by detecting movement in the property that is being protected by the alarm system. Motion detectors or sensors are located around the home, and are linked electronically to a control panel and siren as part of the basic home alarm system.

When the house owner goes out and the house is to be left empty, a predetermined password is fed into the keypad on the control unit, which activates the alarm system. All being well, the house owner will return home later and deactivate the alarm by feeding in the password again.

However, should anyone enter the property during the owners absence, either by breaking in or by the use of a key, the motion detectors will recognize movement. The system then emits a regular warning beep - as a prompt to re-enter the password and deactivate the system - then triggers a loud siren if the password is not entered on time. The noise will only be switched off when the correct password is entered into the control panel again.

The siren sounds both inside and outside the house. This has the advantage of warning the neighborhood that you have an intruder, as well as making it so uncomfortable for the intruder to continue violating your space, that they have to leave quickly.

Anyone caught indoors when the alarm goes off, will find the noise makes it very difficult to concentrate on anything but getting away.

Wireless security systems