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

["Robert L Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> So, which non-falsing glass breaks DO you use?

Robert,

He doesn't have any such glass breaks.  He only posted so he could argue.  A
quick Google will be informative.

> 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.

You are correct about the size of the pane.  The larger the glass the more
likely it will be to cause a false during thunder.  How tightly it's puttied
(or siliconed) isn't as much of a problem as one might suppose as long as
the pane isn't shifting around in the frame.  Room acoustices can be a
significant factor in glass break performance.  Small, tight spaces such as
the entryway between inner and outer sets of doors in a commercial space can
be very unfriendly to glass break detectors.  Rooms with deep carpet, heavy
drapes and upholstered furniture don't propagate sound as well as places
with wood or tile floors, bare walls, etc.

> 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.

Think it through a bit.  If you understand glass breaks well and if you
install them right this method can all but eliminate false alarms during
thunderstorms without significantly reducing catch performance.

> 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...

That would be nice but for the moment it's just not available at anything
approaching a reasonable cost.

> 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...

You can design and build a device to monitor microphones all around your own
home easily enough.  I have to deal with what is commercially available.

> 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."

If you build it I can easily show you how to integrate it with the
ELK-M1Gold.  You're on your own with the HAI product.  :^)

> Good point.

Not really.  The other gentleman doesn't understand glass breaks at all.
His "concerns" are based on fallacies about acoustic glass break sensors and
a basic misunderstanding of what I proposed mixed with his oft-demonstrated
personal animosity.

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

Smarter should include various means of reducing false alarms.  You can make
the system quite secure AND reasonably immune to false alarms.  It requires
thinking "outside the cabinet" at times.  One thing I like about the ELK
system is it does allow you tinker.  You're not locked into a limited set of
performance protocols based on a few zone types.  You can make the system do
what you need for each specific installation.  (Note: I might be just a tad
biased in this area since I'm an ELK dealer:))

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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