Alarm Systems near you

Door contacts and motion detectors often outlast the panel they report to. Wired sensors that still test well can usually stay where they are when a technician installs a new control panel, and many current panels accept the existing wired zones alongside new wireless devices. Replacing the panel makes sense when it no longer receives updates, can't work with a modern communicator, has no room for the devices you want to add, or keeps losing its programming after a power failure.

Adding zones is the other common upgrade. A zone is a sensor, or a group of sensors, that the panel reports by name, so the monitoring centre knows whether it was the patio door or a basement window. Splitting one large wired zone into several, or adding wireless zones for an addition, a garage or a basement walkout, makes each alarm easier to verify and each false alarm easier to trace. Ask for an updated zone list with a plain label for every device.

Older panels were built to call the monitoring centre over a traditional telephone line. Many households have since cancelled that line or moved to phone service delivered over the Internet, which doesn't always carry alarm signals reliably, so the siren can still work at home while nothing reaches the monitoring centre. A cellular communicator sends signals over a mobile network instead, and it keeps reporting if someone cuts the phone line outside the house.

An Internet communicator uses your home network. It reports quickly but goes silent when the modem loses power or your provider has an outage. A dual-path setup, with cellular and Internet backing each other up, is worth discussing, along with supervision that warns the monitoring centre when the panel stops checking in. Carriers also retire older cellular networks over time, so ask which network a communicator relies on. After any change, a test signal confirms the new path works.

Buying a house with an alarm doesn't mean you have to keep the seller's monitoring service. That contract is between the seller and their provider, so ask early which company monitors the house, whether the service has been cancelled and whether the equipment was owned or leased. Leased equipment may belong to the provider, and a panel locked with a previous company's installer code can be hard to reprogram, sometimes making a new panel the simpler route.

Before you rely on the system, have a technician change the master code, delete old user codes, confirm each sensor reports on the right zone and clear the previous owner's call list. Read any new monitoring contract first. In Quebec, the Office de la protection du consommateur explains that essential elements of a fixed-term contract, such as the price or the length, cannot be changed, and that one longer than 60 days cannot renew automatically for another fixed term. A contract signed with a door-to-door salesperson can be cancelled in writing within 10 days of receiving your copy in Quebec, and Ontario gives a 10-day cooling-off period for contracts signed at home.

The control panel runs on household power through a plug-in transformer and switches to a rechargeable backup battery when the power fails. That battery keeps the system armed and reporting for a limited time, and it loses capacity as it ages, so a panel that warns of a low battery after a short outage is telling you the battery is due. A technician can test it under load and replace it with the type the manufacturer specifies.

Wireless sensors, keypads and sirens carry their own batteries, and devices in an unheated garage, porch or cottage drain faster in the cold. Replace batteries when the panel reports them and keep spares of the right type. An Internet communicator stops when the modem loses power, so a cellular path or backup power for the network equipment keeps signals flowing during a storm. A new outlet or circuit for the panel is work for a licensed electrician: a Licensed Electrical Contractor in Ontario, or a master electrician who is a CMEQ member in Quebec.

Most intrusion panels can take smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detectors that report to the monitoring centre, a valuable upgrade for a house that sits empty during the day. The technician confirms the panel supports them, that the monitoring centre treats each one as a fire or CO zone, and that detectors sit away from the kitchen and bathrooms, where cooking and steam can set them off.

Monitored detectors add to the smoke and CO alarms your home already needs; they don't take their place. Health Canada recommends smoke alarms in every bedroom, in the hallway outside the bedrooms and on every level including the basement, testing them monthly and replacing any smoke alarm more than ten years old. For carbon monoxide, it considers the hallway outside sleeping areas the most important location.

New sensors, codes and habits make the weeks after an upgrade a common time for false alarms. In Montreal, the fire department states that the building owner is responsible for the fire alarm system and pays the fees after a false fire alarm, and other municipalities set their own rules, so set the system up to verify before it dispatches.