Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you left the house but didn’t lock the door?  Instead of turning around and driving all the way back home, wouldn’t it be nice if you could lock that door remotely instead of running back home. Thanks to some new products from lock companies out there, you can do just that. These are called smart electronic locks. They are locks that can lock either while you are standing there or you can lock them remotely through an internet connection.

Let’s go through a couple of the features of some of the electronic locks and then discuss some of the pros and cons.

First, let’s look at locks from Schlage. Schlage is one of the best known lock companies. When I worked for a large university, they used Schlage locks which were easy for them manage. At that time though, all of the locks had to be cored. To core a lock is to remove the inner part of the lock mechanism and to replace it with a new core. The core contains the tumblers that control which key can unlock the lock.

How does the Schlage electronic lock work then if it is electronics. The lock itself will have an internet connection and you manage the lock through remote access software. The software used to manage the lock is called Z-Wave software. Z-Wave software can also be used to control lights and even thermostats as well.

Some obvious questions though are, what happens if the power goes out. Will all the doors open? The makers of the lock thought of this, so it has a backup 9 volt battery as well.

What if you wanted to use a key instead of the electronic lock part. The system comes with a key override so that you can use a key instead.

What is included in the lock kit?

*    No key to hide, lose, carry, or forget
* Ready to use out of the box. Installs quickly, usually in less than 30 minutes
* Powered by a 9-volt battery. If the Internet goes down or the power goes out, the lock still provides you secure access to your home
* Use the keys provided with the lock as a standard door lock
* Ability to program up to 19 unique user codes
* Add, change, or delete user codes in seconds

Then what about accessing the system. Do you need a full internet connection?  Yes you do, but the system is compatible with most cell phone web browsers, so you can access it from your cell phone. If then you don’t think that you can back to your house then, you can access the lock through your cell phone.

This is a review of the DWA-8 Driveway Observer alarm system.  Purchasing a quality driveway alarm can be an important part of your home security. Your home alarm system can provide protection if someone breaks into your house, but often it is nice to know that someone is approaching your house before a break in or alteration happens.  To alert you that someone is nearby, you can use a driveway alarm. Driveway alarms though like many other products come in at many different prices. Some are priced rather low in the $20 dollar range and then some are priced much higher.

This review is on the DAW-8 Driveway Observer alarm. You can purchase this alarm for approximately $145 dollars online.  The system comes with a sensor that will go beside your driveway and then a receiver that will go inside your house. The unit is wireless so you don’t have to mess with running any wires. However, you will need to check on your batteries ocassionaly.  Not often, since the unit is only transmitting data when it senses motion.  The unit’s sensor is a motion detector. This is important to note. Let’s compare this with a different type of sensor, the one commonly found associated with a garage door that will prevent it from closing when a car is parked partially in the garage.  A garage type of sensor works by transmitting an infared beam across to another sensor. This would be an ideal driveway sensor because it would only detect something breaking that beam. A motion detector on the other hand will detect motion and that could be around the general area of your driveway, but it may not necessarily be a car coming down your driveway. It could be a cat, dog, etc.  That’s why this unit can be set off by someone walking down your driveway, a cat, or dog, etc. I have motion detectors at my house that are ocassionaly set off by trees blowing in the wind.  If you are looking for something to mainly let you know when a car is coming down the driveway, then consider a product like the Dakota Driveway Wireless Probe. It only senses metal objects such as cars and won’t go off if a person or animal passes by it.

The range on the DAW-8 Driveway Observer alarm is far at approximately 1000 ft.  The manufacturer makes this note:

The outdoor weather proof transmitter that can be mounted either overhead or to the side . It is powered by a nine volt battery , installed for your convenience and lasting about one year. There are six dipswitches on the inside of the rear cover the will assign ID Codes by using the first four and the last two will notify you by one of four zones that have been activated by an audible tone. There is also an antennae that can rotate 360 ° for optimal transmission to the volume controlled receiver up to a realistic 1000 feet away ( the Driveway Observer ™  has been  tested at 1800 feet in laboratory conditions ; we feel that 1000 feet is a closer approximation to what will be realistically achieved). The beam projection will either 20 feet and 1 foot square or 50 feet and 2 feet square.

So here are some points that make this product very attractive. You can setup multiple units of these around key points on your property to cover your perimeter. Sounds scary huh, but you may seriously want to know of someone is coming up from one side of your house or not.  Setup multiple units and then change the unit’s dipswitches so that you know which unit is alerting you to someone.

I found the unit to work very well. The battery will last a long time since it is only transmitting information when the alarm is tripped. It will use some battery power for the sensor, but just low battery power. It is powered by a 9 volt battery.  It did go off when animals would pass by but I did help the unit some by raising it up higher. Dogs are rather short and if you raise this up to about 5 feet high you will get both cars and people that will walk through the beam.

I recommend as well disguising where you place this sensor so that it is not easily seen by people coming down your driveway. You need to maintain as much as possible the uppper hand and the element of surprise. All in all, I would recommend this product and I feel it is priced at a good price point for what you get and how usable it is.

How many customers does ADT have? ADT is one of the largest home alarm system companies in the world. It has more than 5 million residential customers and over 2 million commercial customers throughout the world. ADT is a division Tyco International and has locations throughout the world. ADT is also purchasing Broadview security company as well.

Do you want to be a customer for ADT though?  I’ll give you my first hand experience with them. I have been with ADT for over 10 years now and have been fairly satisfied. Do you have other options, of course you do. You can do self monitoring systems. You can go with cheaper monitoring companies like Monitronics which will only run you around $10 / month vs. the $30 per month you would pay for ADT.   At the end of the day, you have to decide how much you want to spend.

Security camera text message sending isn’t that difficult if you have the right camera. Wouldn’t it be great if you had eyes in the back of your head?  You can have that with a security camera if you have it watching your property. You can’t be at your house or your business all of the time, but you can have a camera there 24/7.

Security Camera Text Message Basics

Security cameras today can send you an SMS text message when they detect motion. This works through software that monitors the image coming from the security camera.  The security camera sometimes has this software built into it so that you don’t need special software. These all in one security systems are basically autonomous. They can act on their own and email you or send an SMS text message to you when they detect motion.  They do this by analyzing the change in the image from its past state to its current state. If the pixels have changed significantly enough, then it detects the change in the pixels and registers that as a change in motion.

Next, the camera sends the SMS text message through the internet. It does this through whatever internet connection the camera has at the time. An important and yet obvious note here that unless you have a good internet connection, you won’t get the text message.  That’s why it’s important not to rely on only one security method when securing your property. Someone can cut your cable or dsl line and thus render your system inoperable.

Let’s now get down to the nitty gritty. What address do you send the email to from your security camera.  Sometimes this is difficult to find out. It’s not the same for every cell phone carrier. Here is how you can send emails to cell phones on all the major carriers:

Security Camera Text Message Carrier Specific Settings

Alltel
[10-digit phone number]@message.alltel.com
Example: 1234567891@message.alltel.com

AT&T
[10-digit phone number]@txt.att.net
Example: 1234567891@txt.att.net

For multimedia messages, use [10-digit-number]@mms.att.net
Example: 1234567891@mms.att.net

Boost Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@myboostmobile.com
Example: 1234567891@myboostmobile.com

Cricket Wireless
[10-digit phone number]@sms.mycricket.com
Example: 1234567890@sms.mycricket.com

For multimedia messages: [10-digit phone number]@mms.mycricket.com
Example: 1234567890@mms.mycricket.com

Nextel (now part of Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit telephone number]@messaging.nextel.com
Example: 2005897532@messaging.nextel.com

Sprint (now Sprint Nextel)
[10-digit phone number]@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Example: 2005897532@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile
[10-digit phone number]@tmomail.net
Example: 2005897532@tmomail.net

Verizon
[10-digit phone number]@vtext.com
Example: 2005897532@vtext.com

Virgin Mobile USA
[10-digit phone number]@vmobl.com
Example: 5571234567@vmobl.com

Other U.S. and Canadian carriers:

Centennial Wireless: [10-digit-phone-number]@cwemail.com

Cellular South: [10-digit-phone-number]@csouth1.com

Cincinnati Bell: [10-digit-phone-number]@gocbw.com

Qwest: [10-digit-phone-number]@qwestmp.com

Bell Canada: [10-digit-phone-number]@txt.bellmobility.ca

Telus: [10-digit-phone-number]@msg.telus.com

Rogers: [10-digit-phone-number]@pcs.rogers.com