Design A Perimeter Alarm System Basement

Designing A Perimeter Alarm System: Basement

The basement is where your alarm "control panel" will most likely be located, usually near your electrical and phone panels. The control panel holds circuit board and back up battery for your system. In the event of a power failure, most alarms will still operate normally for anywhere from 1-8 hours using your back up supply. If you have a hard wired system, the wiring for every device must end up at this point.

The condition and design of your basement's ceiling is very important in determining whether you need a hard wired or wireless system. If your basement's ceiling is completely open or is a "drop" ceiling (large tiles suspended by a steel framework) the installers can easily run wiring to any part of your basement or main floor. This means you can most likely go with a hard wired system. If the ceiling is completely finished with plaster, you will need to go with a wireless system.

Have a look at the diagram below. You can click on the green dots to see the view from that point:

As you can see from the above example, we have 5 slider windows we must protect. In our example, the ceiling is completely open. Therefore we would install hard wired window contacts on each window. As a fail safe, we would also install a motion sensor in a location that:

A. Protects the stairs leading up to the first floor;
B. Protects the alarm panel from any damage caused by an intruder.

But what if:

I have a finished basement?
5 wireless window contacts and 1 wireless motion sensor.

None of my windows are the type that open?
"Bug" glassbreak detectors, ceiling mounted glassbreak detector, and/or their wireless equivalents. (In this example, we would need 2 ceiling mounted units, as most glassbreak detectors of this type has a coverage limit of 25 feet).

Basement >First Floor >Second Floor

Now, let's move on to the first floor of our perimiter alarm system.

Half my basement ceiling is finished, and the other half isn't?
Simple. The areas in and above those with an open ceiling can use hard wired devices. Those areas in and above those with a finished basement need to use wireless devices. These are known as "hybrid" alarm systems.

I have a second floor, and all the ceilings on my first floor are finished?
See the second floor page of our example.

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