Plan your alarm system before you call an installer
Answer six quick questions. You get a plain-language list of the devices a typical system for your property would start with, and a checklist of questions to put to any installer.
Your alarm plan from alarmsystemscapetown.co.za. A typical starting point, not a quote.
Tell us about your property
Six questions. Your plan below updates as you answer.
Your plan
A typical starting point for:
Home
3 outside doors
4 ground-floor windows
No pets inside
Two levels
Power cuts up to 4 hours
Devices in your plan
Alarm control panel
1
The brain of the system. Every sensor reports to it, and it decides when to sound the sirens and send the alert.
Ask which brand and model it is, and whether more sensors can be added later.
Keypads
2
One by the main entrance and one on the upper level, so you can arm or disarm without crossing the property.
Door contacts
3
A magnetic contact on each outside door tells the panel the moment it opens. Count garage, sliding and back doors too.
Motion detectors
About 3
Cover the passages and rooms someone would walk through. A typical starting point is one per level, plus one for every four ground-floor windows.
Window contacts or glass-break detectors
Up to 4
A contact on each window that opens reports when it is opened. A glass-break detector listens for breaking glass and can cover several windows in one room, so you may need fewer of them.
Ask which one the installer recommends for your windows, and why.
Sirens
1 inside, 1 outside
The inside siren wakes you and unsettles an intruder. The outside siren with a strobe tells neighbours and passers-by that this property is alarming.
Remote fobs with panic button
2
Arm and disarm from the car or the gate, and call for help from anywhere in the house. A panic signal helps most when a monitoring company is there to act on it.
GSM or internet communicator
1
Sends alerts to your phone and to a monitoring company. A cellular (GSM) link keeps working when a power cut takes your router or fibre line down.
Ask whether it works on the cellular network as well as your internet line.
Standby battery
1
Keeps the system running when mains power fails. Size it for the longest power cut you usually have, which you said is up to 4 hours.
Ask for a stated runtime that comfortably covers 4 hours with every device connected.
Features to ask for
Stay mode
Arms the doors, windows and ground-floor detectors while you sleep upstairs, so you can move about the upper level without setting it off.
Power-failure and low-battery alerts
The system tells you when mains power fails or the battery is low, so you know before the siren stops working.
Monitoring options
Three common ways an alarm can be answered. None is right for everyone, and each has different costs and contract terms, so ask for them in writing.
Siren only
The alarm sounds on site. Nobody is notified unless you or a neighbour hears it and acts.
No monitoring contract.
Phone alerts
You are alerted by call or app notification and decide what to do. Needs a communicator and a reliable cellular signal.
Ask whether the app or alerts cost extra.
Control-room monitoring with armed response
A control room is notified and sends a responder. This is usually a monthly contract.
Ask who responds, the response time in writing, the contract term and how to cancel.
This is a planning guide, not a quote, a security survey or professional advice. The quantities are a typical starting point. A site visit by a registered installer will change them.
Questions to ask any installer
Tick them off as you go, or print this page and take it with you. The list changes with your answers.
Print this plan
Keep a copy of your plan to take with you when you speak to an installer.
Promoted by WP Security, the publisher of this site
Happy with your plan?
If it looks right, WP Security, the Cape Town installer that publishes this site, offers a free on-site assessment. We send them your plan with your details, so you do not have to explain it again.
