I have pets. Can I have an alarm system?
One of the most common questions I get asked about alarm systems is whether people can have an alarm system if they have pets. Now simple answer to that question is yes and the reason that it’s an issue in the first place is because of these little things.
This is a motion sensor, a movement sensor, correctly known as a passive infrared detector, or PI are for short. This works on the principle of the movement of heat. It divides its field of vision up into a grid. And as it sees, a cell triggering with heat, and then going off and moving to another cell, it says, that’s movement.
I’m triggering an alarm, obviously, we as humans, have body heat. It’s the same principle as when you’re watching a David Attenborough documentary and they use the night vision camera and it’s the body heat of the animals that get translated into the images you see on screen. Now, 20-30 years ago, detectors couldn’t easily tell the difference between a human being and a cat or a dog.
So the older systems, you’d often find false alarms because a cat would move past the detector, would see movement of heat and say, I’m triggering an alarm. These, um, days, obviously, detectors have moved on with their technology, and they’re much more able to detect or sense the difference between a large human being, ah, and a small cat or a small dog.
Typically what they do is just to kind of ignore, um, the distance from a metre or so up from the ground. But there are other, ways and other algorithms built into the sensor technology that stops false alarms or helps to stop false alarms being given off. Now, you do have to be careful where you place your detector.
You don’t want to have a detector looking, directly at the stairs because that will definitely see a cat coming down the stairs or a dog coming down the stairs and set off a false alarm. But with careful, placement of the sensors, there’s no reason you can’t have an, alarm system if you have cats or dogs.
And all of our systems come as standard with pet tolerant detectors. Hope that answers the question.
One of the most common questions I get asked about alarm systems is whether people can have an alarm system if they have pets. Now simple answer to that question is yes and the reason that it’s an issue in the first place is because of these little things.
This is a motion sensor, a movement sensor, correctly known as a passive infrared detector, or PI are for short. This works on the principle of the movement of heat. It divides its field of vision up into a grid. And as it sees, a cell triggering with heat, and then going off and moving to another cell, it says, that’s movement.
I’m triggering an alarm, obviously, we as humans, have body heat. It’s the same principle as when you’re watching a David Attenborough documentary and they use the night vision camera and it’s the body heat of the animals that get translated into the images you see on screen. Now, 20-30 years ago, detectors couldn’t easily tell the difference between a human being and a cat or a dog.
So the older systems, you’d often find false alarms because a cat would move past the detector, would see movement of heat and say, I’m triggering an alarm. These, um, days, obviously, detectors have moved on with their technology, and they’re much more able to detect or sense the difference between a large human being, ah, and a small cat or a small dog.
Typically what they do is just to kind of ignore, um, the distance from a metre or so up from the ground. But there are other, ways and other algorithms built into the sensor technology that stops false alarms or helps to stop false alarms being given off. Now, you do have to be careful where you place your detector.
You don’t want to have a detector looking, directly at the stairs because that will definitely see a cat coming down the stairs or a dog coming down the stairs and set off a false alarm. But with careful, placement of the sensors, there’s no reason you can’t have an, alarm system if you have cats or dogs.
And all of our systems come as standard with pet tolerant detectors. Hope that answers the question.
