Burglar alarms serve two basic purposes: to detect intrusions and inform others of the intrusion. There are three main types of burglar alarm systems. Local alarm systems only announce intrusions on site through audible or visual signals. Silent alarms secretly transmit alarm signals to a remote location like a central station. Combination alarms have both local sounders and the ability to notify central stations of alarms. Combination systems provide both deterrence of local alarms and security of remote monitoring.

1. Burglar Alarms – The BasicsBurglar Alarms – The Basics
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2. WHATAREBURGLARALARMS?
Throughout history, mankind has sought to protect his life, property, and
possessions in any way he could. We know that in primitive societies,
guard, watchdogs, noisemakers, and even moats were used to
accomplish this. Even the use of fire, although understood by man, was
used to keep while animals away from mans possessions.
As more human progress was made, more engaging and sophisticated
devices were developed, some rather intricate and even quite effective.
But until the discovery and harnessing of electricity, none could be
expected to perform sophisticated tasks. No matter what techniques
were used in its development, through, all electric alarms were basically
designed to do two basic things, detect and inform.
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3. In today’s market of no less than 20 manufacturers of alarm panels,
it is reassuring that one constant still remains: the alarm panel. Try
to think of an alarm as a person. If the alarm is the whole person,
then the alarm panel is the brain of that person. The alarm panel
functions much like a human brain. It collects information from its
sensor, processes that information and responds to the received
inputs. In the human body there are many more circuits (nerves)
delivering messages to the brain than in an alarm, but, the concept
is valid. The human has circuits for touch, sight, hearing, and taste.
The alarm panel can have circuits for touch, door and window
contacts, sight, photo electric beams and PIR’s, and hearing,
microwave and ultrasonic detectors. How the panel responds to this
received information depends upon what it has been programmed
to do.
BURGLARALARM
SYSTEMS

4. HOWBURGLAR
ALARMS ARE
CLASSIFIED
(by output)
The three basic configurations of alarms in today’s market are
classified as being one of the following: LOCAL ALARM,
SILENT ALARM, COMBINATION ALARM.
The local alarm, which uses an audible (and sometimes visual) to
announce the intrusion. The device(s) which do the
annunciation are mounted right at the premises, often in full
view of the public, so it may be heard (and/or seen) clearly once
the alarm has been activated, but also to act as a deterrent to
break-ins in the first place. Its major disadvantage, of course, is
the fact that the annunciation (its activation) whatever it is, may
go un-noticed or unheeded in today’s world. Local alarm
systems do not really attempt to get anyone’s attention as much
as they try to scare the intruder out of the premises. An
attempted break-in that has been interrupted and made to fail is
certainly an effective result, even if it wasn’t reported to the
police at the time it occurred.

5. SILENTALARMS
The next major classification of alarm system is
called either silent or remote. Here, for other very
important reasons, it is required that no local
annunciation occur, but the alarm signal be
transmitted “silently” to the central station. These
alarms are crucial when a holdup is in progress so
that the perpetrator not be agitated by a siren or
bell and become panicked. Such an event may
lead to the loss of life or injury, which may have
otherwise be avoided. This type of alarm is also
used for burglary when it’s desirable to catch the
intruder in the process of the burglary.

6. COMBINATION
ALARMS
These are the most common of all burglar alarms. The
combination alarm has both a local sounder (strobe) and
has the capability to notify a remote location such as a
central station of the alarm. This makes it possible to
maintain the deterrence afforded by the local system
along with the security provided by a monitoring facility
which has personnel on duty at all times who have a
direct link to the particular police department serving the
area. Most such links are over telephone links, lately
these include cellular phone service transmission of the
alarm. It is important to remember that these central
station monitoring stations monitor not only burglary but
hold-ups, fire alarms and many other types of signals.

7. COMBINATION
ALARMS
These are the most common of all burglar alarms. The
combination alarm has both a local sounder (strobe) and
has the capability to notify a remote location such as a
central station of the alarm. This makes it possible to
maintain the deterrence afforded by the local system
along with the security provided by a monitoring facility
which has personnel on duty at all times who have a
direct link to the particular police department serving the
area. Most such links are over telephone links, lately
these include cellular phone service transmission of the
alarm. It is important to remember that these central
station monitoring stations monitor not only burglary but
hold-ups, fire alarms and many other types of signals.