Glass breaks, thunderstorms and HA (was Re: Help with 7 Circuit Project?)

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Frank Olson" <feolson@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>
> "Robert L Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:wKCdnSd3EsnGCkbfRVn-vQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> > ...When thunder triggers glass breaks it usually trips several of them.
>
> Don't know about you, but the glass breaks I use don't get tripped from
> thunder.  Edmonton (Alberta) is also the "thunder & lightning" capital of
> the Prairies.

So, which non-falsing glass breaks DO you use?  I'm sure I can give them a
pretty thorough test.  Unfortunately, as Marc H. and Bill K. have pointed
out, some HA solutions are very location specific.  I'll wager that another
issue with glass breaks is how large a glass surface you are protecting, how
well the glass is puttied into the frame, how much the windows resonate with
ground and air vibrations, etc.

> > Have the glass break zones start a timer.
>
> Zone "anding", timers...  Tsk!  This is a "poor tech's" method of covering
> up mistakes in placement, or the use of inferior equipment...  It also
very
> much enhances the perp's ability to defeat your system (accidentally or on
> purpose)...

I'll admit, the timer trick was not a solution I would endorse
whole-heartedly, although for a quick fix, it might cut down on falsing
during storms.  I really want something with the IQ to decide that it IS a
storm, and that during storms it's going to take more than a single glass
break to phone out to a central station.  Surely the marriage of HA and
security has matured to the point where that's not an impossible setup to
construct.  It may be as simple as monitoring the door intercoms at the
front, back and side doors.

A thunderstrike will generate what I assume will be a loud "pop" on all
intercoms simultaneously.  That will tell me that there's either a storm or
we're being carpet bombed.  If that intercom noise spike coincided with a
glass break signal, the system should disregard it.  I'm just not sure of
how to process those sound events into something I can feed into to HAI Omni
LT to tell it "take it easy, it's only a storm."  Reminds me of a black
labrador we once owned that became so fritzed during bad storms that he
would hide in the bathtub for hours.  The vet finally prescribed doggy
valium!  Maybe there's a valium made for glass breaks.  :-)

> > If any glass break zone is tripped wait 10 seconds before triggering an
> > alarm.  If a second glass break activates within that time frame, take
no
> > action.
>
> And I suppose these glass breaks are in different rooms with windows
facing
> in different directions...  Good plan...  But what if they're not??  What
if
> the room is large enough to require two glass breaks??  What if the perp
> smashes a window that's close to or actually in an area where the coverage
> patterns happen to overlap??  So he smashes the glass and continues to
break
> the broken bits out of the frame.  There's your "first" trip, followed by
a
> "second"...  All within ten seconds...  No problem...  let's "ignore"
> whatever happens...

Good point.  I don't really want to dumb down the alarm system, I want to
make it smarter.

<"zing" stuff snipped>

> recommend they read the manufacturer's instructions and
> suggested installation tips, ensure they obtain the proper
> tester so that the unit can be set up correctly (in accordance
> with the manufacturer's instructions).  Thieves will break
> in during lightning storms too, you  know...  ;-))

The problem with testers is that they really don't simulate the action they
are trying to test for.  But using them is certainly better than not testing
at all.

--
Bobby G.