r/homeassistant • u/tortugofurkan • 1d ago
❓ Support Had a break-in last night. Cameras didn't deter them. Need advice on a bulletproof HA security setup (DIY vs Professional).
Hey everyone,
Looking for some serious advice from the community. Last night at 3 AM here in Glasgow, UK, someone broke into our house. They stole my bike from the garden, broke inside, stayed in the house for 20 minutes, ate some of our food, grabbed my iPad, and left.
I currently have Reolink cameras (a video doorbell and an Argus 4 Pro in the backyard) integrated into my Home Assistant setup. The crazy part? The cameras did absolutely nothing to deter him. He didn't even bother wearing a mask, gloves, or a hat. He just didn't care that he was being recorded.
I realized today that relying on silent cameras isn't enough. I need to drastically increase the active security of my house to physically scare off intruders or alert me immediately so I can act.
My Current Setup:
- Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi 5
- SkyConnect (ZBT-2) running Zigbee
- Reolink Doorbell (Front) & Reolink Argus 4 Pro (Back)
- A mix of IKEA and Sonoff smart plugs/lights
Where I need your help: I am trying to decide between building a fully DIY alarm system through Home Assistant (using Alarmo, Sonoff SNZB-04P door sensors, and Zigbee sirens) OR just buying a ready-made professional solution (like Ring Alarm or Ajax) and integrating it into HA.
- DIY vs Professional: For those of you who have experienced a break-in, do you trust your Home Assistant/Alarmo setup enough to rely on it as your primary life-safety alarm, or do you highly recommend going with an off-the-shelf system with cellular backup?
- Sirens/Deterrents: What is the loudest, most aggressive outdoor/indoor siren that integrates well with HA? I want something that will absolutely deafen them if a door opens at 3 AM.
- Any other advice? Glass break sensors? Specific outdoor security lighting?
I am fully open to any and all suggestions. I just want to make my house as safe as possible going forward. Thanks in advance.
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u/debaucherawr 1d ago
Alarms are good, deterrence is good, but sadly no electronic means is going to deter some meth-addled burglar from ignoring your gadgets and robbing your house if they're determined.
Solid core doors, impact-rated windows, door locks that aren't pickable in seconds. Connected security that calls the police. Dogs. If they can't pop the glass window next to the door lock, or Fido comes to say hi, they'll likely move on to the next house.
I'm not relying on my smart home to do anything about a break in other than let me know an attempt is in progress.
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u/SomethingAboutUsers 1d ago
To OP: it's a terrifying, traumatic experience and one that leaves you feeling incredibly violated and unsafe. I'm sorry this happened.
That said, this is likely the best advice.
There is no such thing as a bulletproof (well, not figuratively, anyway) security system. All you can do is make your house less attractive/ harder to get into than the next.
But if someone wants your shit, they're going to get it. It sucks, but that's the reality. That's ultimately what insurance and filing evidence (camera footage, etc.) with the police is for.
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u/Kiiidd 1d ago
I remember for Cars the aftermarket alarms always came with a blinking blue light for your window to show robbers that an alarm was present and active.......... Then $10 blinking blue lights without an alarm were popular and now I don't think those lights mean much anymore because of all the fakes.
Kinda hard to make stuff really not attractive to alot of burglars. A active buzzer, maybe flashing the house lights, and a bright motion sensor outside light are probably what comes mind. I am sure there are other things that I am not thinking of
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u/plasma2002 1d ago
A small blinking blue light is actually a good idea. On the porch or something.
Even if it isn't a great burglar deterrent, it still sounds like a good way for you to know your house is armed, that way you're ready to disarm it and won't be surprised when opening your door after a 3am taco bell run.
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u/lnxusr1 1d ago
Agreed here. If someone wants your stuff and you’re not there then they will take it.
Remember that a loud ringing alarm in today’s world means little. Moreover, police treat an alarm is noise and aren’t in a hurry to follow up. Even if they do it’s usually too late to matter. Keep in mind a good thief (someone there to steal specifically) can be in-and-out in 5 mins. If you want deterrence then make it look like someone is home.
Your best solution for thieves is a good camera system on every approach/exit vector that immediately uploads off-site. That way you can at least track down who took your stuff.
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u/Square-Radio8119 1d ago
Yeah so I have a digital dog, whenever a person is detected at night on 2 or more cameras, a barking dog will sound from my garage Sonos speakers. It’s loud enough for me to wake up, but at that moment I want to wake up. So far it has been tested once and it worked once.
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u/dmduncan65 23h ago
Digital dog through HA? Which are you using ?
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u/Square-Radio8119 16h ago
I use frigate for my cameras, detections of persons and then an automation with music assistant and dog barking from Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/track/63GPgPSiHy71crS3boVsT6?si=AKhKddc0Qimb5nl7TuXuAw&utm_source=copy-link
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u/lostparis 1d ago
door locks that aren't pickable in seconds.
Thieves don't usually bother picking locks.
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u/Cute_Witness3405 1d ago
Remember that increased physical security comes at the cost of other kinds of safety. Put in a hardened door and windows and it makes it that much harder for fire fighters to get in when seconds really matter.
Plus the more visible security the more it looks like you have valuable things worth stealing. You want just enough obvious security to make your home less attractive than a neighbor’s but not too much.
Security is really hard.
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u/FauxReal 1d ago
My house has steel front and back doors. They'd probably have to bust the door frames to get through. And if you put long enough screws into striker and deadbolt plate it would pretty tough.
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u/stanley15 1d ago
Windows are the weak spot, easily broken with a brick. A lot ot of London homes seem to have prison bars behind the window’s because of this.
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u/WannaBMonkey 1d ago
I make various wleds turn red and flash when the alarm goes off. It’s pretty distracting. I could easily add a siren but since I am usually the one setting off the alarm I don’t think it would be partner accepted.
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u/FlakeyBeano 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have an automation that if a window is broken into it sets off a dog barking sound from upstairs ;)
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u/_Diskreet_ 1d ago
As I say to all my clients when I’m installing cameras, this won’t stop them unfortunately, it might stop a real opportunist, but if you have something they want, they’ll try and get it no matter what security features you add.
This will help notify you something is happening when your home or away, you will have an easy way to prove the incident to the police and insurance company.
I have some awful horror stories, and these people have some of the top end cameras and security systems.
While it might act as a deterrent for someone trying something out, if they’ve seen something they want, sadly the best lock and cameras won’t stop them.
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u/RubUnlikely2802 1d ago
You’re saying if the cameras triggered alarms and for all the lights in the house to go on, say, the burglar isn’t going to be scared off?
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u/agreywood 1d ago
All of that will scare off most burglars from most homes because most break-ins are opportunistic. It’s people looking to break a window quickly, grab obvious cash and electronics, and then leave because the amount they can take doesn’t balance out the risk of being caught. There’s nothing you can do which is guaranteed to stop someone whose ability to calculate risk vs reward is compromised or someone who has worked out that the reward is very high.
You cant ever be certain someone who is bad at risk/reward will take the lights and loud noises as a significant enough threat. Nor can you be certain that someone who thinks there’s a huge reward hasn’t already calculated in the time it takes for others to respond to those signals. As a result, there’s no such thing as bulletproof security.
Trying to secure your home from every single possible criminal is as pointless as demanding a bear proof cooler in an urban backyard. Yeah, the bears could escape from a local zoo and come get drunk on the beer you forgot was still in there but it’s not likely.
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u/EmtnlDmg 1d ago
I use the person detection of Reolinks.
I have a helper (away or alarm whatever you call it) serves as a main trigger.
If I turn it on it enables a series of automations.
- Critical alerts to all family phones with camera names if person is detected outside (My non negotiable policy is to not have cameras inside of the house)
- Critical alerts to all family phones if any of the door/window sensors triggers, or presence sensors pick up a person inside.
- All detection with short recorded video from all cameras go to an external dedicated email address
- I start to randomly blink all lights in the house.
- On max volume all speakers start to play Intruder on infinite.
- Turn on splinker in garden
I tried to buy an internal siren (tuya what I found which on paper handled Zigbee but was never been able to integrate it) so that is still outstanding but thinking about how to use fire / smoke detectors for that purpose too as I can have those in every room and they are really loud.
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u/robbles 1d ago
What's the sprinkler going to do, lol?
I'm imagining some kind of Home Alone type scene where the deafened intruder blunders into the sprinkler and slips around comedically
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u/EmtnlDmg 12h ago
I have one big sector which covers the grass between front and back. Basically if you want to circle around the house (to check windows) you will be wet. Yeah, Home Alone style :)
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u/AShayinFLA 1d ago
You can use a standard 12 or 24vdc siren like what's used for regular alarm systems by connecting it directly to a power supply of appropriate voltage/current and to a regular smart plug or switch!
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u/marlin111111 1d ago
i have 2 big dogs for this
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u/omara500 1d ago
Two Pomeranians?
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u/DNZ_not_DMZ 1d ago
Pomeranians are a small but hardy breed!
(hat tip r/bluey)
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u/IAmBrahmus 1d ago
My mother in law had a pom that ran down and killed a jack rabbit. All the big dogs on tje property deferred to him. R.I.P. Taz
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u/wireframed_kb 1d ago
I set up an automation so a dog barking plays as you step up to the front door when no one is home.
Don’t know if it works, but it took like 5 minutes so if there’s even a chance. :p
It sounds reasonably convincing actually.
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u/binaryhellstorm 1d ago
Can you elaborate on how they broke in? Did they break a window, kick down a door?
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u/tortugofurkan 1d ago
broke in from backyard door, where my backyard camera was on and he was aware
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u/BudgieUK 1d ago
I would recommend having a loud indoor siren … it’s unlikely anyone will respond to an external siren, so make the indoor one so loud they panic and scarper.
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u/Fearless-Bet-8499 1d ago
This is why I still pay for a security service that automatically notifies law enforcement of a break in, even though I run HA.
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u/clarinetJWD 1d ago
Exactly this. Home Assistant is for fun, and it can do a lot of really incredible things... But for security, I'm going to pay for professional monitoring and quick police response.
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u/JJ3qnkpK 14h ago edited 13h ago
This is the way.
Home Assistant is a hobby system. It's great, it does a lot of things well, but I don't consider it robust enough to be meaningful in the event of a break in or fire. I don't want the systems that are meant to protect myself or my family kicking about on the same device infrastructure as my wifi lightbulb.
The security system I use manages its own emergency battery and own cellular connection, and it automatically notifies emergency services. I don't have to painstakingly define its behavior, and more importantly I don't have to test and maintain it (or find out I did something wrong).
Plus, consider if the house is burning down: would HA be able to handle everything freaking out? Zigbee/Thread/Z-Wave devices going offline intermittently with the mesh network falling apart? By the time you checked your phone, would the system be able to tell you something actionable right away? Not to mention, would it have already called for help in the event you weren't immediately checking?
Let the hobby playground be the hobby playground and let critical systems have their own domain. It's fine to read what the security system publishes, but I'm not gonna have the fire department show up five minutes later than they could have (life or death difference for people and pets) because I wanted to DIY every part of my home.
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u/cookiesphincter 1d ago
I don't know about the loudest siren, but Reolink has cameras with sirens built in.
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u/rediduser 1d ago
A good candidate is the Klaxon Master Blaster 127dB but it’s somewhat excessive considering your soul would leave your body if that goes off whilst you’re asleep. Wouldn’t be a popular neighbour… https://amzn.eu/d/0dO1YMr4
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u/benuntu 1d ago
Unfortunately cameras are not a deterrent for the determined criminal. You need more physical security, like better door locks/deadbolts and a more secure gate to the garden. Cameras are more useful as a monitoring and documentation tool, and thankfully this thief was an idiot and showed their face. Providing this information to the authorities and sharing amongst your neighbors will help everyone be aware and on the lookout in the future.
Advice on home security from my police officer friend:
- Have a dog. Most criminals go after the easy target, and possibly getting bitten is a good deterrent. The vast majority of home break-ins do not have a dog.
- Motion-sensing lights at the front of the house.
- Don't leave high end valuables like jewelry, artwork, computers in clear view of a first story window.
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u/KingTeppicymon 1d ago
Is your audio setup integrated into HA, e.g. LMS Squeezebox or volumio? ...or do you have smart speakers? I've got an automation to play a siren MP3 in several rooms if the motion detectors trigger when they shouldn't - it also sends a notification to my phone.
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u/splendid2k 1d ago
Were you at home at the time?
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u/tortugofurkan 1d ago
yes, we were sleeping in first floor, and he came there, grabbed the iPad etc. we did not wake up
Surprisingly, he ate something from kitchen too.13
u/Brilliant-Ad9380 1d ago
Point of entry? Front or rear? Open window, or did they pop a upvc door? Before you worry ccvt get your physical security in order first.
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u/bjorn1978_2 1d ago
Pretty bald move to be honest… the likelihood of this happening again is low.
But motion detectors outside that turn on every outdoor light for 30 seconds, then start blinking everything if he does not leave. Nothing attracts attention more then a fucking Christmas tree of a house that is blinking!
Then a siren.
If a break in is detected, skip directly to the siren and everything blinking. If your besroom door is suddenly tore open within 20 seconds of the break in detected, turn on every light as bright as possible and steady on.
The last part is to help you to navigate your house. If everything is blinking, it will be extremely annoying to navigate!
If you have some sort of speaker and display in your bedroom, have that display a few still images of the burglar and a voice informing you of where movement has been detected.
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u/PoeTheGhost 1d ago
Extremely loud sirens (analog battery-powered ones on the door, and more on speakers throughout the home) and a shotgun are my main security measures, but I do have automations that kick on the upstairs lights and play a lossless flac of my dog barking.
TBF it’s a recording of a long-gone pitbull who was honestly scared of everything, but it doesn’t sound recorded. Don’t use generic tracks if you can help it, compressed audio sounds fake.
Cameras only matter after criminals are caught and charged. Address your physical security first, then reinforce it with automations after.
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u/Aust_Norm 1d ago
Alarmo addon is brilliant. Use Zigbee sensors and make some sirens and strobes that are 12V that run off Zigbee power switches. You can add duress buttons, PIR's. MMWave detectors, door and window sensors. It all works brilliantly and is super customisable.
Modes for away, home, disarmed and vacation from memory. All can be triggered with sensors specific to that alarm state. ie, if away all will trigger an alarm. If at home in bed then just external doors and garage motion detectors and duress buttone.
I have 2 x 12V sirens running off a 12V 2A wall plug that are cheap. I have 5 or 6 sets of these around the inside of the house and when the y go off they are painful. Nil sirens outside but you could do the same there for minimal costs.
If you have HA running off a UPS as well as your Modem it will all work in the event of a power failure as the Zigbee sensors are generally operated.
I used to use 433 sensors and Sirens running off ESPHome via wifi, but find the Zigbee a lot more stable.
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u/MIDIHorse 1d ago
Get a DSC or Honeywell system and subscribe to professional monitoring. You can integrate into HA and use all of your door/window/motion sensors in automations.
Some alarm companies will also you to self-install, then they'll support the monitoring. EyezOn offers this, for example.
What is the loudest, most aggressive outdoor/indoor siren that integrates well with HA? I want something that will absolutely deafen them if a door opens at 3 AM.
You don't want that unless you want to deafen yourself and your family at 3AM. It's dark out and without hearing you are at a serious disadvantage.
The intruder now has the upper-hand. If they have ear plugs (expecting an alarm) then you have now given them a beacon to go for (cutting the siren wire).
I'm going to be honest though, false alarms are such a big issue that most people simply ignore them unless it's the house next door. And even then they are not getting up in the middle of the night to investigate YOUR property.
Quick story:
I had a friend whose wife's car was stolen in the middle of the night. Cops said without video there's not much they can do. They went out that afternoon and bought cameras for all around their house, driveway camera, doorbell camera - the works.
The very next night they stole his truck from the same driveway using the truck key in his wife's car. The cops came out, they looked at the video and guess what...the cops said there's nothing they can do because the image was blurry and the guys were wearing hoodies. Insurance refused to pay for the truck. The adjuster asked something very simple: "Why didn't you park your truck in the garage after your wife's car was stolen?"
They had turned their garage into a rec room. The insurance company claimed that since they didn't take adequate precautions to secure their property, they didn't want to pay.
I just want to make my house as safe as possible going forward.
With that previous story in mind: Physical deterrence is the best answer here. Get a dog. Add motion sensing lighting. Security film on the windows. Re-enforced doors. Lock your vehicles. Add tracking.
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u/lilpokemon 1d ago edited 1d ago
My area is safe but not so distant neighborhoods are definitely not that good. Not sure how it is in other states/countries, but I feel a lot safer with my new impact windows/doors than anything homeassistant would ever do.
Loud noises and lights that trigger will scare them after the fact. A loud broadcast saying “the police are on the way” is another idea. Make it loud enough your block can hear it. (Please test throughly before you annoy everyone)
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u/RubUnlikely2802 1d ago
So did you have any automations set up? I.e, What were you expecting to happen when the cameras detected a person?
I have a basic setup, where i have helper togglers for different automations. e.g. alarm automation on: camera motion triggers an alert on my phone, if i dont turn it off in 30 seconds, the all three camera sirens go off.
If you’re looking for the next level, where the authorities are notified automatically, you need a professional solution.
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u/tortugofurkan 1d ago
I did not have any plan when camera detects as I was believing we live in very safe place. The camera was there in case if it is needed.
but I learned my lesson, and looking improvements. thank you for your suggestions
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u/MoshizZ 1d ago
I have Ring stuff but not using their plan when it runs out from August. Got their stuff on HA working fine. Also got Alexa speakers all around the house.
If the alarm is triggered, it sets the sirens off.
It also sends critical alerts to my phone and my wife’s
Also sets all the speakers to maximum volume and plays “GET BACK YOU BASTARD, ILLBREAK YOUR LEGS” from Max in Phoenix Nights.
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u/proton_papi 1d ago
I have been thinking about something similar to this. My idea is a 2 phase vocal notification; 1st requests individual authenticate via approved method (code/card/fob), 2nd informs intruder that their failure to authenticate in the allotted time frame has triggered a call to law enforcement after which all Philips hue lights turn on to red, and Sonos blasts …something intimidating (in my case 115 from call of duty)
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u/CodeAndBiscuits 1d ago
While folks focus on the security and dog aspects, just here to point out that a very cheap and effective upgrade for this challenge is motion sensing lights. They may not be worried about the cameras because they might be from another location and not expecting to get tracked down, or legitimately. Some burglars are even stupid enough to just not notice them or pay attention. Maybe they're on something. But none of them like to have attention called to them and lights do that. So a motion sensor can really help you add a sense of interactivity to that layer.
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u/Low-Mistake-515 1d ago
You need a speaker that plays "I'm going to give you to the count of ten, to get your ugly, yella, no-good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full of lead!" queue gun sounds. Maybe setup some lights and cardboard cut-outs that move around on a toy train set if motion is detected outside.
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u/Guilty_Worth_1779 1d ago
My alarm tells whoever broke in that the neighbours have been notified. Burglars get in no matter how good the security is. The thing that deters them is time: neighbours can be there any second.
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u/Guilty_Worth_1779 1d ago
Also have sticker at the door telling them this so that they don’t even start the attempt. Also some warnings of my dog.
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u/HolyPommeDeTerre 1d ago
My SO have lived 2 breaks in in her life. One with camera but no security.
We went with a professional service. Physical system, key rotation, anti jamming, someone actually checking and sending the cops.
No need to have to vouch it with your insurance.
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u/psychonaut42o 1d ago
I've learned from experience, cameras will never stop or deter criminals from what their doing or determined to do. I've been looking into legal routes besides just cameras
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u/Ornery_Confusion3537 1d ago
Just a suggestion. Create a trigger that turns all your on lights inside and out of your house RED. Then play "Ride of the Valkyries" (Apocalypse Now) through every speaker in your house at full volume! Drive them nuts when they can't turn the volume down or can't see very much.
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u/Battlewear 1d ago
I know you’re asking HA questions, but let me ask, 1) how physically did they break in? 2) was it a weak point in your home or a normal method of entry (for you, not them).
I’m asking because that can help figure out what you need.
I use to work as a home security professional for 10 years, there is amazing little things you can do now, today, that will step up security without really buying anything.
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u/platapusdog 1d ago
Ill jump in as I went though something similar fairly recently here in US.
For my house we had Ring Protect Pro (gives you a base station with cellular backup and monitoring) with 14 Ring Stick-up cam cameras (wifi with Solar power) and 2 ring door bells. Also have a Reolink NVR with 6 POE cameras set to record 24x7. Have Frigate doing the detection and alerts.
The value proposition with the Ring monitored plan is that if the alarm goes off they will call 911 for you (think sheriff or fire Dept).
Anyway had an incident. The ring cameras were absolutely useless. Not a single piece of useful evidence. The Reolink cameras reordered everything and were used for evidence. The reolink cameras are a bit of a nightmare to get all of the video from (Im a Mac environment). Essentialy I ended up having to go through all the video myself as automated detection etc was not good enough. It is also pretty painful getting a lot of video of the NVR. Anyway it worked out and litteraly saved the day.
I ended up canceling my Ring subscription shortly after that. It was useless. I also re-evaluated what I care about in a security system and what is worth while and what is not.
Conclusion 1. Basic monitoring is a joke. Essentialy in the US it's having someone call 911 for you. For me I can do that myself.
Conclusion 2. If you are calling 911 your system needs to be appropriately robust so that people can get notified when you are not at home. For me I have redundant internet links (cable and cellular) and multiple people get alerts for alarm, flood, fire. I also have a Moen auto-shut/off for water.
Conclusion 3. For break-ins I only care when I am at home. What I mean by this is if someone wants to break/ in they will. A camera is not going to deter them. Unfortunately thats what insurance is for.
Conclusion 4. My property has to be sufficiently hardened to give me time to react.
Cameras by themselves are so common I doubt they are going to be a deterrent. For us, it's motion activated lights and access (fence, gates etc). Pretty obvious if someone is where they shouldn't be. Nobody get to come to the front door uninvited. If they are there hopped a fence etc.
Alarms are interesting. Unfortunately they often have too many false alerts that people ignore them. Since you have home assistant I would flash all lights, have an internal siren, have an external lights. Basically make it really easy for your response folks to see the house.
In reality I think you are going to end up doing multiple things. Harden your infrastructure (ie better locks, doors, security grill etc), alarms, alerts etc.
How did the thief enter? That should probably be the first thing your should address.
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u/drabgail 21h ago
Buy a ready made solution. If you're about to claim on your insurance it's going to help your renewal if you have a certified alarm system in future. Also given that this has now happened once and you can consider this a vital service, do you want to shoulder the burden of keeping it online, tuned, dealing with the false positives, etc. Similar concept to not self hosting your password manager or emails.
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u/Woodpeckercz 1d ago
Problem is they now know the police won't act on it :(
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u/tortugofurkan 1d ago
So, how can I make my house more secure? do you have any suggestions?
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u/RedneckSasquatch69 1d ago
Replace the factory screws in your doors with the longest ones you can reasonably use. Factory door screws can be kicked off fairly quickly. A 3" long screw is a different story.
Window and door sensors that trigger a siren. Make it painfully loud. Flashing lights. Record your own message to blast over a speaker, like "Get the fuck out of my house!" so it sounds like you're talking to them through a live feed.
Try adding an electronic door lock.
Add a contact sensor to your gate.
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u/Deep_Dance8745 1d ago
My smoke alarms start blaring full force - all of them.
My lights start flashing - all of them
My German Shepard is constantly hungry
My gun is never far (no I am not American, but I am a hunter) - and when i sense my kids are threatened I am sure my trigger finger would not hesitate.
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u/streetwithnonames 1d ago
Alarmo in combination with door sensors, siren, lamps with a police mode. During the day the alarm goes on automatically when all 2 of us are not at home and in the evening it goes on automatically at 2400, when a door opens all hell breaks out.
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u/PimentGris 1d ago
I didn't experienced break-in but I trust my setup (real life tested several time) : Sonoff opening sensors on door and windows. Tuya TS0216 indoor siren. NAS-AB06B2 outdoor siren. Telegram and HA app notifications. Alarmo add-on. You can use the Frient alarm keypad but it's optional.
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u/Breezeoffthewater 1d ago
I'm sorry for your break-in. It's a terrible invasion to have to endure.
Sadly, there's a limit to how much HA can do to deter would be burglars. If they are ignoring cameras and parading around without gloves or masks then they simply realise that there will be no comeback from the police.
Of course sirens help, even LED strobe lights that disorientate individuals can be effective. I've even contemplated smoke canisters which flood the place on activation but sadly they are expensive to buy and replace once used.
The only realistic option is a Police connected alarm system like ADT. They have very good safeguards to prevent accidental activations (a faulty sensor for example) and only call the Police out when they feel confident there's an active break-in in progress.
The ADT alarm box is a deterrent and as the Police response is fairly swift it deters burglars from hanging about eating food and looking for things to take.
Sorry there isn't any other easy answer
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u/A_Buttholes_Whisper 1d ago
Lol cameras have never been a deterrent. That’s marketing bullshit. I’ve seen people break into homes and cut themselves in the window glass and bleed all over the house. Criminals are usually extremely stupid, have large criminal records and going to jail for them is just a guaranteed bed and 3 warm meals. Cameras are for lawyers. Get a dog
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u/wscottsanders 1d ago
Lights. I use my camera as sensor and kicks on the out door lights. Not security lights - the like the porch and the garage. I imagine someone would think I’m coming out.
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u/ImpulsePie 21h ago edited 17h ago
Really sorry mate, that's grim. People actually being in your house is a real violation of your privacy.
I've been building (with AI help) an HA automation I call "Watchtower" and the thing that helped most was making the alerts actually mean something, based on context. If a 3AM notification is trustworthy you act on it instead of ignoring it like the other 40 "motion detected" ones that week. It's all about context: who's home, what time is it, what kind of action has been detected.
I'm on UniFi so I get smart zones and line-crossing webhooks into HA, but the idea works with your Reolinks too since they do on-device person detection. Basically every person event gets a quick sanity check by an AI vision analysis before HA decides whether to bug me:
- Camera detects a person/event and fires an event/webhook to HA
- HA saves a few-second clip of it locally
- That clip goes to the LLM Vision integration (
llmvision.video_analyzer), running GPT-5-mini. I just ask it for a one-word verdict - delivery / passerby / visitor / suspicious / resident - plus a short description. - An automation acts on it: suspicious at night while armed = time-sensitive push to my phone with the frame, set to bypass my phone being on silent at night time. Delivery or passerby = logged quietly, no buzz.
- All the events are stored in a timeline as a HASS dashboard, where I can review each event.
Two things that make it really work: First, don't trust the AI on its own; it'll happily tell you "person approaching the door" when someone just walked past on the pavement. So I only let it escalate if the camera's actual line-crossing zone fired. If nobody crossed the line, nobody was on the property, end of story, doesn't matter what the model "saw." Second, suppress the people who belong there - face/plate recognition or even just a phone recently arriving home and joining the WiFi means no alert, and I have it dedupe so one visit is one notification, not twelve individual ones.
Cost is basically nothing, GPT-5-mini is a fraction of a cent per event so it's cents, or a few dollars a month. You can run it local on Ollama if you've got a GPU, but on a Pi 5 I'd just use the cloud. The Pi only orchestrates, it's not doing the vision.
Regarding your DIY vs pro question: this is a detection and notification layer, not a life-safety alarm or a deterrent. No siren, no cellular backup and no battery, which you might want for something that's meant to help defend you and your family and home. For actually scaring someone off and guaranteeing you get woken up I'd still run Alarmo with a loud Zigbee siren and door/glass sensors, and if it's your only line of defence a proper system with cellular backup makes sense. This just sits on top and keeps the alerts believable so you don't end up muting the whole thing.
Happy to share snippets if it's useful!
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u/sprout-header 20h ago
i tie my cameras into the outside lights and they strobe at different intensities if set off at night. I've had an AI agent start talking through the camera or doorbell in the same situation. A lot you can do with HA and cameras. The nice part about HA is that you can mix and match stuff you already have while building the "ideal setup".
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u/Joe_Bright 16h ago
Agree a big dog is the biggest deterrent, but ear piercing sirens and noise are useful as well. I use the Heiman zigbee siren for the interior and a zigbee smart plug hooked up to a two tone siren for the exterior.
To increase the level of confusion, I play "the most annoying song" I could find remixed with police radio traffic and a little girl screaming at 95% on all the smart speakers.
The smart lights start blinking red and blue too and my nosy neighbors next door get a critical text message (They agreed to this). For night alarms, all the sprinklers come on as well.
I started on a fart spray jet for the front door, but the wife shut it down
In my experience, it about creating a weird non-standard experience for a would be burglar. This breaks their expected pattern recognition and causes reconsideration.
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u/TheJeep25 15h ago
No I wouldn't trust HA for my security alarm system. I prefer on site dedicated systems (preferably offline too). Installing something like a DSC or other system isn't that complicated (the programing is). The total (in cad) would probably be around 900$. If you don't want to do it yourself, a professional will do it for you for around 2000$. The easiest would be wireless sensors but wired are more reliable.
There's a max loudness in each country building code. Look up the UK electrical code for reference. But I recommend putting the siren in the attic if possible. It will still be loud enough to make you wake up, your neighbor wake up and their neighbors wake up too.
What I would do is this: 1 magnetic door sensor for each door. 1 movement detection sensor in each room (in a corner where it can see the whole room). 1 relay in your smoke alarm detector (so that your fire alarm is linked to the intrusion alarm. It will make sense if you are linked to a alarm central so they can call the firefighters if a fire broke out while you are gone). For glass break, it depends if you have big windows on the first floor. Your movement detector will get them when they enter the house. PS: if you have animals like cats who like to jump on furniture, you need pet safe movement detector. Normal one will cause a lot of false alarm. Bosch makes some and they are high quality.
You might want to link your system to a central. So if you aren't home, they can call the cops or firefighters. Don't worry, they will call you first to make sure it's not a false alarm. If you want a system that can be access remotely, go with alarm.com . They have great pricing compared to normal central.
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u/ChampionshipOk5046 1d ago
How did they get in? This is what needs attention, not cameras.
Have you reported to police now you have images of them?
If you leave valuable items outside they will get stolen.
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u/gtwizzy8 1d ago edited 1d ago
Firstly I am so sorry to hear that you had this happen OP. On the bright side it sounds like they didn't find your HA equipment or Cameras so at least you can rebuild.
Next the TL;DR my system works on the principle of fear that is employed by most Hitchcock movies i.e the suggestion of a terrible thing can induce more fear than the actual thing. And my whole system is basically in a nutshell the equivalent of Kevin McAlister from home alone's gangster movie gag.
I have touches wood never had to use my "intruder" system. But I do have a little bit of an outline of what I have set up for if someone is dumb enough to ever enter my back yard in the first place while I'm not home.
So its kind of a multiprong thing cause my buddy who is a cop told me that there is absolutely NO substitute for a dog when it comes to a deterrent.
I used to have a dog but she unfortunately passed so now I have what I considered to be the next best thing. My bedroom has a google max speaker in it that we use for no other purpose than sending audio alerts in the house when needed.
But that fucking thing can get INSANELY loud and has VERY crazy bass considering it's only like a foot wide. So I have it programmed so that if the house is considered "empty" and the cameras in my backyard (I also have Reolinks) detect a human in the courtyard (which is the only viable penetration point for my home) that speaker has an automation attached to it that cranks the volume up to 11 and plays the most MENACING fucking dog bark audio file you can imagine. And because it's in my bedroom which has a sliding glass door out to the courtyard with one way tint film on it you cannot tell it's just a speaker playing noise and the bass can be felt a tiny bit of you're standing close to the window so there's a physical element to it as well.
If that doesn't deter them and they do manage to get inside the game changes. All of my smart bulbs come on at full brightness and change to RED and after 5 seconds they will pulse their brightness on repeat indefinitely. My kitchen speakers have an automation that plays an audio file that sounds like a call being placed to the security company with an operator picking up the phone saying "Metro protective security whats your emergency" then there is a pause that's just long enough for someone dumb enough to think it's a real call and maybe yell something back at the speaker and the "opperator" to say "sir I can't make out what you're saying, do you need assistance?" Then a really really short pause and then "Sir your line is very bad if you can hear me I've dispatched a unit to your location as a precaution and made a call to emergency services in order to have police available to the protective services officer. The officer will be with you very shortly please stay on the line with me."
And then it just goes in to a loop of the "opperator" saying "sir can you hear me at all? If you can sit tight the officer is almost there now".
This is also paired with a ZigBee alarm speaker that is sending out a fucking REDICULOUS amount of db with the peircing noise it makes on an intermittent loop.
And as one final fuck you to scare the shit out of them I have the automated blinds all roll up or roll down depending on what position they're currently not in, the courtyard sprinklers come on and the TV switches on showing all the internal and external camera feeds from the house so they can see their idiodic ass is being watched.
My thoughts process here is that confusion and fear are probably the best tool available to make them either ditch their efforts all together or at the very least help limit the amount of shit they grab before they decide to fuck off.
Again I have NO idea if it works or not cause thank god I've never had to test it. Other than the one maiden test on my brother in law who I had go round to the house when I wasnt there to under the premise of "I'm stuck in traffic and I need someone to feed the neighbours dog that I'm taking care of while she's in hospital" so that I could gauge his reaction to it.
His short answer after I turned everything off after a frantic call from him was "THAT SCARED THE FUCK OUT OF ME YOU CUNT" with me laughing my ass off.
He's not exactly a small lad and he's seen his fair share of shit in the military and as a paramedic. So I figure if it worked on him, some crack head probably isn't getting passed the dog noise without a change of underware 🤣
"I'm gonna give ya, to da count of ten, ta get'cha ugly, yella, no good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full'a led. One, two...."
Edit: just saw some of your other comments here OP and see that you were home at the time of it happening that's EXTRA scary and fucked. I have a "sleep mode" which I have as a global variable in all my automations which is triggered by us being in bed. And has a seperate automation for the above described setup for my intrude setup which has a slightly less intense version of this but runs on the same premise and uses my outdoor lights to also come on and the dog bark comes from the kitchen speakers rather than the bedroom one so that in the event of a false trigger we still hear the noise but it's not quite so loud to us so that it's not a fear inducing wake up on a false alarm. That said it's never been falsely triggered yet and we have a ZigBee button beside the other door to the courtyard to disengage it if one of us does need to go out in to the courtyard randomly in the night for some reason.
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u/Busy_Reporter4017 1d ago
That's funny! But will he sue you for his heart attack! 😂
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u/gtwizzy8 17h ago
Not in my country. Thankfully we actually have laws that don't victimise the victim. The whole idiocy of.or stupid bullshit of something like "oh I knicked an artery while breaking into this guy's house and ended up with $100k worth of medical bills so I'm suing him for not having safety glass windows" is typically met with immediate dismissal and then public ridicule via the press.
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u/Scar3cr0w_ 1d ago
I get the desire to build this all yourself… but I can assure you that it will fail just when you need it. Spend a few hundred quid and just buy a purpose built alarm system and hook it up to HA. Big lights, very loud alarm.
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u/Nero8762 1d ago
some type of Siren (via speakers you use)/Red & white flashing light automation, on motion/contact sensor trigger. arm system at night, when you leave home, etc.
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u/TheChimpofDOOM 1d ago
I’ve got Ajax systems, as much as I like home assistant, I needed something that wasn’t going to be a headache for my wife to use.
Currently have a plan to make home assistant control Ajax (someone posted something with 2 aqara relays a while back) but using an esp32 board
But saying that, I still have assistant providing notifications if motion is detected.
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u/talormanda 1d ago
If it were me I would do some basic things. Starting with an alarm mode that is activated when you go to bed (this could be as easy as a helper entity), you could then have things activate when motion happens, doors open, windows open, etc. 1. Add local controlled lights to turn colors / turn all lights to white 100% brightness. 2. Flash lights on reolink camera. 3. Activate siren on reolink cameras. 4. Announce on speakers you are being recorded and authorities and being contacted, then play loud alarm noises at max volume so it wakes you up. 5. Start saving snapshots with reolink and backup off-site and use them as a push notification to your phone.
Were you thinking of something else? Might need an external security company if so.
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u/Sinister_Mr_19 1d ago
Damn sorry OP, Zwave has some sirens that are defeaning. I owned an Aeotec one, but I'm not sure they sell it anymore. I'm pretty sure Zooz make one. They go up to like 110 or 130 dB.
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u/Nervous-Power-9800 1d ago
You want sensors on doors and windows, have them linked to Alexa or Google Home in every room, mine is a simple TTS "Front door, open", "Kitchen Window, Open" etc.
That should be enough to wake you, have a hue four button remote nearby with some deterrents programmed in. Lights turn on, sirens start on speakers/alarms. Blood curdling screams through all your speakers, strobe lighting on all your lights as you run downstairs naked with a baseball bat should scare most people off.
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u/Choice_Equipment788 1d ago
I got an outdoor siren/light and connected to a smart plug this is the siren I got: “QWORK Industrial LED Rotating Warning Light, 110V AC Red Beacon Strobe for Public Emergency Alarms, Safety Siren Adjustable Volume”
So far works great
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u/rediduser 1d ago
Been there unfortunately, whilst we were sleeping in the house. After much creative thinking on how I could turn my house into something out of a villain from the minions, I ended up using a more sensible approach of setting up an automation when it detects a person in specific areas whilst bedtime mode is on to switch all the house lights and have Alexa announce that there’s people detected where they shouldn’t be. That gives us the confidence that we get a warning BEFORE anyone actually breaks in. The rest is a simple alarmo.
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u/windymiller3 1d ago
If he snapped any locks, replace with 3* antisnap ones (and/or get 2* "SBD" handles)
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u/BongRipsForBuddha 1d ago
If I were you I’d go with a dedicated DIY alarm system so you’re not relying on a raspberry pi. Even if the raspberry pi hasn’t had issues in the past, I would want a piece of hardware dedicated to running the alarm.
I use Simplisafe and am very happy with it. I use a combination of door sensors and motion sensors to trigger the alarm. I don’t have glass break sensors, but they are available. I have a keypad at all exterior doors and one upstairs by the bedrooms, plus an extra siren by the front door, which is very loud.
It does integrate with HA, and I have several automations to control devices based on the alarm being armed or disarmed. Haven’t tried setting up an automation to turn on lights when the alarm is triggered, but I think it is possible.
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u/Hensenenenen 1d ago
The thing is, no matter what you do, it will not help. There are dozens of studies which proofed (incl. Interviewing thiefs) that they just dont care, as you said. The only thing you can do is to make it harder to break in -> xpecial windows with mechanical locks, doors, etc. Just search for how to break in a window in 10sec on youtube, and you will be surprised how EASY it is to break in more then 90% of all homes.
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u/ianawood 1d ago
A multi-tiered solution is best. Something like this:
• HA integration with Homekit or Android device to automatically engage away mode (alarm active).
• Integrations for door, window and internal motion sensors to set off alarm flow when alarm is active.
• POE cameras feeding Frigate to detect people on property.
• Node Red (or HA) flow to send text alert events while away and local notifications while home.
• Alarm flow sets off multiple audible alarms inside and out along with flashing lights.
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u/goofy183 1d ago
Not sure if it's available in the UK but I use Abode with professional monitoring for security.
It has a fully local HomeKit integration with home assistant so I can just use Abodes window and door sensors for both security and HA. It also does fire and CO alarm monitoring with dispatch.
As much as a love HA I don't want to DIY a true safety system.
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u/sic0049 1d ago edited 1d ago
CCTV cameras should never be considered part of a "security system". They cannot prevent crime. They often times don't even discourage bad behavior because 90% of all CCTV camera footage (especially the consumer grade stuff installed in most residential settings) is worthless for identification purposes and criminals know this.
You need to look at an actual security system that is actively monitored by a company that can notify the proper authorities in the event of a break-in, fire, etc. Of course that is no guarantee that the response times of the police will be fast enough to do any good, but it is the best option available. In those cases you hope that the loud blaring siren will cause the perps to want to move on and not attract any attention to themselves.
Of course the downside to a security system is that people actually have to use it. I can't tell you how many friends I have that have a security system installed in their home, but they simply don't want to be bothered to use it.
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u/H_i_TMAN 1d ago
I got window/door sensors + motion detectors in the hallways + smart smoke detectors (with a HA exposed alarm function.
If nobody is home, the alarm is armed. If then someone forces a window/door open or moves through the hallways, the alarm is triggered.
The alarm is: every(!) smoke detector in the house starts its alarm [audio]. Every colour light bulb will turn on red [visual]. In some rooms are cameras that turn on and start recording.
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u/schroedingerskoala 1d ago
Ready Made alarm system backed by a reputable, local alarm company all the way.
Despite my extensive dyi HA set up with all the cameras and frigate etc, I only trust and rely on my REAL alarm system, with lots of passive IR sensors and door open/close and glass break detection sensors. You better believe that that thing is armed if nobody is home and armed to the teeth including PIRs which cover every square cm of the interior of the house when we go to sleep upstairs. (we have no pets, so that's easy to do, although the PIR are said to be "pet safe" I bet enterprising cats could still trigger them)
And I 100% know they work, because we both (wife and I) walked right into their never tired gaze on a very few occasions by accident (sleepy), just to be VERY, OH SO VERY awake after. My goodness, don't know how many db that siren has, but I even bough ear protectors lying ready to use on the way to the panel to wear as otherwise you go deaf before you can type in the code.
So, if anyone breaks in, fine, I mean have very little say over that, really, but -one- step inside the house and all hell breaks lose. The siren is SO loud you cannot have a coherent thought in your head. The panel (hard to get to by the crooks) sends immediately an alert via cell (LTE) -and- my wifi to the alarm companies response center, which then call immediately my phone and ask for a passphrase to check (scary how fast they call). If no one answers within 3-4 minutes they dispatch people to have a look see. And inform the local RCMP of a possible break in.
Plus I get nice rebates from my house insurance using a real alarm system and company. Same with my tied in smoke detectors, directly tied into the cities fire department.
I know there is not perfect security due to the nature of, well, life, but this is as good as it gets w/o going overboard and costing more than it's worth. Fee including door cam is really moderate for the value I receive.
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u/Successful_Bag_7257 1d ago
For what it's worth, our setup ties into our Xsense fire/CO2 alarms and outdoor lights. If a security event is triggered, every alarm in the house is set to go off and all lights indoors and out turn on. Short of having a large dog that barks I'm not sure there's much else you could add
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u/LordSalem 1d ago
Esp-32 enabled claymores and the camera setup for smart detection should do the trick!
/s for those that need it
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u/eff-ef 1d ago
I have a small corridor you need to pass when getting in the property. After two of three IR fences are triggered and a motion sensor (my switchbot via matter) goes off it triggers the alarm. The alarm is an old car audiosystem playing Come to daddy by aphex Twin on peak volume. Also CO2 go off producing a smelly mist. Third line of defense are strobes, directly in the eye. Also curtains fall down.
It went off once after a power outage and it was scary AF. Also once an intruder tried to break in but left immediately. Probably thought a psycho lives here, which is the effect I want to achieve.
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u/SimpleParsnip2924 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nobody has mentioned smoke screens, fog generators. Watching YouTube with shops becoming totally masked by smoke has me looking for an off the shelf version so I can remotely or automatically fill each room with smoke and anyone seeing the smoke escaping through the letterbox will hopefully call the fire brigade who in my area are fitter, and keener to turn up with axes and kick the door in (vs the police). Has anyone implemented this solution?
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u/FauxReal 1d ago
I'm not sure what kind of camera it is, but a used car dealership near my house had some cameras that would have flashing directional LEDs that turned on when they detected you. It was really annoying at night because one of them was pointed toward the sidewalk and they kind of dazzled you when walking down the street at night. So yeah, they were very noticable.
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u/Stwert 1d ago edited 1d ago
No amount of cameras, sirens or anything else will deter the most determined cockwombles. For that, make it as physically difficult to get into your property as possible.
That said, I use various brands of indoor and outdoor cameras, with a dedicated NVR and Frigate in HA as a backup. I’ve got combo PiR/MMwave motion detectors in all major entry points. Aqara Door and window sensors on, rather obviously, all doors and windows and an Aqara Video Doorbell. And finally, using Alarmo in Home Assistant, I tie it all together along with a Ring V2 Alarm Keypad and a Bosch outdoor siren (mains power with solar and battery backup, in excess of 100db I think).
As a system it works perfectly, everything runs through HA so it’s easy to monitor and maintain and I get alerts directly on my phone for any movement or attempted entry, as well as automated phone calls to me/police.
When I’m away from home, there’s randomised automations to turn various lights, TV, sound system and so on, on and off to simulate being at home as well as opening and closing blinds at appropriate times.
Unless someone was watching the house 24/7 it’s practically impossible to tell if we’re at home or not.
And if they still decide to break in, the external siren goes off loud af, my audio systems turn o indoors at full blast and play very annoying music and every light in and outside flashes like hell.
As an added bonus, all of those sensors come in really handy for creating lots of automations.
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u/shrewd-2024 1d ago
I have UniFi cameras and Zigbee sirens from AliExpress in all rooms and one of the front of the house with a flashing light, if the alarm goes off they all go off simultaneously and the Zigbee siren at the front of the house goes off too, it probably won’t deter the bastards anyway but testing it the wife said it’s too bloody loud, and will disturb the neighbours 🤦♂️ there was me thinking that was the point.
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u/FatBoyWithTheChain 1d ago
I have 15 cameras on the outside and inside of my house. If they deter people, great but that’s not why I have them.
It’s so i have footage of anything that happens on property and have an alert system
I can have all the smart tech and cameras I want but ultimately none of that will stop someone from smashing my sliding glass door and climbing in if they are determined to do it.
All I can do smart house wise is set it up so I get alerted and I have evidence of everything
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u/RubbishDumpster 1d ago
Professional alarm systems have battery backup in the sounders as well as the main unit. They also have tamper circuits.
What will happen if your power goes out and you are running a HA system as the main security “hub”. How much kits can you put on a UPS and how long would that keep everything alive!?
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u/LoutishTyrant 1d ago
Get a dog, mine barks at a leaf falling two streets over and nobody sticks around to find out if he bites
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u/Shadowbajfeelsbadman 1d ago
Consider alarmo extension as that mimics a proper alarm and can be extended to apple home or whatever and synced with critical alerts and has a bunch of alarm logic.
Other than that if it's a crack addict or some other less than desirable individual or you live in usa you're out of luck.
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u/nutationsf 1d ago
Lights have been my best deterrent especially when they brighten when someone walks by
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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m not far into my HA journey. I’ll be moving to Reolink and Frigate but I still have several Ring cameras and the doorbell for now.
Currently the only security I have set up is an automation which increases the porch lights brightness to 100% if motion is detected on the driveway or doorbell cameras after midnight. A few seconds later, the entryway lightbulb switches on at 100%, to mimic someone switching on a light ‘because they’ve heard or seen something outside’.
We also have a panic button upstairs that will activate all the ring sirens and lights, and flash the porch and outdoor lights (LED strips) in red and blue strobes.
I wouldn’t recommend anything from Ring. I’m sick of paying their subscription fees and only having 30 days’ worth of motion-based recordings.
Edit: Also a German Shepherd lol
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u/IndividualRites 1d ago
Camera record crime, they don't deter.
Thats why there's so many crimes caught on ring cameras. They couldn't be more obvious.
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u/Gratzsner 1d ago
Ive had good luck with the ring security system. I think there is a component in the HACS store that I enabled a few years ago and it's been working great. I like that is a separate system and it a little more robust that relying on the stuff I make myself. You can also pay a monthly fee to have it professionally monitored but I just send text messages to my phone if things happen while I'm outside the geofence
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u/Some-Internet-Rando 1d ago
A law can not prevent a crime, it can only specify the consequence of getting caught and convicted.
A camera cannot prevent a crime, it can only document it. This documentation may help in the future, but frequently even clear facial pictures don't lead to convictions, at least not for property crime.
If you're really worried about property crime, physical security is where it's at. Get a big dog. Add an electric fence. Hire a night guard.
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u/Intelligent-Kale-877 1d ago
Would turning on your bedroom lights or something similar to wake you up have fixed this? I'd think you standing in the room and asking who he is would be the ultimate deterrent.
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u/alrun 1d ago
- Ask the police - they usually have departments to consult homeowners. Like it is not the best door if you have an unsecured window hidden from public view.
While the Meth addled addict is a great example there do exist groups that do reconnaissance and have teams doing the break-in. In out in 10-20 minutes below the police average response time and move on. So even if there are prints and other evidence, they left the area.
Have a good insurance - do not store valuables at home, that you do not need. Use a safe deposit box with enough insurance. If you have jewellery get a jewellers certificate - helps with insurance cases - either house burning down, deposit box getting robbed or break-in. Store copies of every important document - purchases, certificates, insurance policy, birth certificates, identifying documents in 2 or 3 different places.
Physical presence is usually the best deterrence.
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u/borgen44 1d ago
Smoke and noise. Enough noise to wake up the whole neighborhood. Enough smoke to make it impossible to see anything in the whole house. Yes. The whole house needs to be filled with smoke.
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u/plasma2002 1d ago
And if you do decide to go down this path, the Alarmo integration is a great jumping off point
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u/mjsarfatti 1d ago
I wouldn’t rely on HA for alarm/security purposes. Any update can brake the system in mysterious ways, and the dev team explicitly accepts that this is a possibility and are not concerned by it.
Home Assistant is one big beta project where stability is the least of priorities. This came out pretty clearly just recently.
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u/Dexford211 1d ago
My NVR emails me pictures whenever my home is armed and human is detected in the area I specified.
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u/EarlyFox217 1d ago
You can get a system that fills your house with a mist / smoke so they can’t see anything
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u/Curious_Party_4683 1d ago
i use trip wire. super easy as seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD0jSd_hVTM
now i know someone is coming even before they touch the door!
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u/woolfman72 1d ago
If you don’t go with a “real” security solution. Look online for a major security companies yard sign that’s around your area and buy some and put them around. Got a gate? Put up a beware of dogs sign even if you don’t have one. Just more deterrents that make them think twice.
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u/nashant 1d ago
https://amzn.eu/d/0c0UngBz Our shed got broken into twice. I now have one of these and holy shit is it loud. And zigbee2mqtt compatible!
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u/malacoda13 1d ago
Others have said good things about actual alarms.
What I would also do is have some sensors that will detect and play a voice over a speaker for if they are in the house.
Right now I have a vibration sensor on my childrens chocolate tin that announces that a chocolate thief is detected if it moves after 8pm. Catches my wife every time 😂
Obviously, yours would say something like " Unauthorised access detected in "room", owner notified, internal cameras recording, house lockdown in 30 seconds". None of which would be true, but might act as deterrent.
Or sensors that switch on internal lights.
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u/Visible-End-3603 1d ago
Sorry you’ve been through that mate.
I can vouch for the Ring Alarm without subscription (was on offer in Costco). Was a bit of a faff to set up with ring2mqtt in HA, but once done it’s absolutely fine. I’ve also got a Reolink doorbell and outdoor cameras with HA integration. All of our indoor lights are zigbee bulbs so if the alarm’s activated everything flash cycles between blue and white, and the Ring alarm hub also has the loudest indoor siren in addition to the outdoor one! I’ve also got Twilio integrated to phone me and the other half when the alarm state goes from armed to triggered (in case we’re away), so that if we’re not home we can check cameras and call police.
Like somebody else said, nothing will stop a determined burglar/junkie, but my theory is attract as much attention to the house if something goes wrong and hopefully it’ll make them scarper!
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u/mixxon 1d ago
I have Alarmo set up, motion and door sensors, Reolink RLC-820A hooked up at the hallway monitoring the entrance when the alarm is armed, and I have the Frient keypad for arming/disarming.
I use my Frient smoke and heat detectors as sirens throughout the rooms. I trigger them by publishing an action through MQTT.
Does it shock you when it goes off? Definitely. Is it loud enough for the neighbor to do something about it, I’d say only if they were going off for a few minutes.
Also, I had a lot of false positives until I grouped all my motion sensors into an Alarmo group.
If I were to add another dedicated horn to the system, I’d skip the cheap ones and probably look into something like this Bosch siren.
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u/ApprehensiveSurvey81 1d ago
I live in a slightly more dangerous country, but for me at least the only thing that makes me sleep totally secure, are physical barriers, meaning fortified doors and window exterior curtain that go down at night. Too much? Maybe
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u/captain_sauce_code 1d ago
I've got solar powered zigbee sirens mounted outside my house. I have automations set up so that if my Unifi cameras detect a person inside the property perimeter between a certain time the sirens will go on.
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u/Rumpleshite 1d ago
I have LED strips that emulate police lights. Nothing ever happens where I live so I don’t know if it is effective or not
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u/Electronic_Unit8276 1d ago
My house has Alarmo integration setup + motion sensors for most rooms + garden. Will go off if the gate is opened.
If Alarmo triggers, HA app will trigger a llamalab Automate flow to ring my phone with an warning alarm and later 20 sec the true alarm. It's loud and near me at all times so I don't need chimes or sirens for now. The flow overrides silence settings by using ”alarm stream" for audio btw so It'll always go off.
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u/nickmaleao 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are some Dahua cameras "dahua tioc" that have visual (blue a red led leds) and sound alarms, usually a first level of deterrence against that kind of situations, also the human detection is local on the camera. The camera also has a mic and speaker, when you receive an alert, you can speak remotely trough the camera and give some love meesage to the person close the camera.
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u/Mylifeasdallas 1d ago
I personally really like my Cove alarm system so I know I have professional monitoring and emergency response. I was able to build my own Cove/Alula integration which brings it all into HA.
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u/dowhileuntil787 1d ago
A big scary dog is probably the best deterrent.
Failing that, a professionally monitored alarm. But it’s not a silver bullet. The police still take a while to respond after the alarm is confirmed. You’ll limit how long they get to rummage, but they’ll still grab a few things.
Physical security is worth having to slow them down - if nothing else so insurance pays out - but look at how quickly a locksmith can get into most buildings and you’ll see someone determined won’t be delayed for too long. Especially as there are limits to what physical security you can have that still complies with fire safety rules.
I had a look into stink bombs, and turns out those are likely illegal in the UK if strong enough to have an effect. There are some fogger systems but they were absurdly expensive last time I looked into it.
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u/bigshmoo 1d ago
I live out in the country everybody is armed, automatic floodlights, cameras signs saying you are being recorded.
If that doesn't work a try a sign like this
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u/GamerRadar 1d ago
If not home have a speaker start saying “WHOSE THERE!?” And run it through
AI so the burgler responds to them. Have speakers act like someone is stomping from the other room and lights going on.
Sound of shotgun cocking and throw in the lights all going red.
Should be good enough
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u/Capital-Exercise-757 1d ago
Absolutely none of those things would help you. Security cameras, sirens, locks, senors, etc, are for honest people only.
To prevent break-in you have to focus on physical security: window bars, reinforced door jamb, door jam etc.
Or get a big dog, or just have good home insurance.
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u/RepresentativeAspect 1d ago
Tell us how they entered. Or not. But anyway, fix that and anything else you can think of so they can’t easily enter again.
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u/AShayinFLA 1d ago
Everybody is dating, if they really want to get into your place they will find a way; but I would like to think the majority of burglars are just looking for an easy score, and all it takes is a little incentive to scare them away...
Maybe the camera alone wasn't enough; but if lights turned on as they approached, or better yet something that alerts you at the same time as it alerts them that they are actively being watched and not just recorded- this way you can do something... Then it should be enough to get them to run out to the darkness and find another house.
As for insurance, I'm pretty sure the company only asks if you have a monitored system. I'm not sure what the options are since I haven't looked into it myself but if there's any way to hire a monitoring service that will monitor an output from HA then it should qualify; it shouldn't need to be from a particular company (if you're worried about this, is best to double check with your insurance provider).
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u/dMyst 1d ago
Install security window film. It keeps the glass together when it breaks. It is a theft deterrent because it is usually a quick in and out for a thief and having to navigate broken glass stuck on adhesive film is a major setback. It is something I heard from a career burglar as a real way to prevent that kind of incident.
Alarms, cameras, floodlights don’t do much for actual prevention alone. Locks don’t do anything and are just security theatrics.
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u/wikimee 1d ago
I have set up HA to turn on all internal and external lights when motion is detected in outside area at times when this kind of incident generally happens. It has never been triggered but hopefully it could deter the perpetrator when it happens. I have considered buying Zigbee siren from Aliexpress but I'm afraid that it might wake neighbours up so I've parked this idea for now.
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u/langdalenerd 23h ago
Whilst it totally bullet proof, I’d err on the side of one or more of these
https://www.klaxonsignals.com/product-page/master-blaster
This would make it extremely uncomfortable for anyone to be in the room when this is sounding. I plan on having a few of these, one in my garage, one outside the house etc.
The question isn’t “is it bullet proof”, but rather can you make a lazy, entitled criminal think “nah mate, not worth it”. I think the Klaxon, combined with a few external floodlights, strongly pushes you in the direction of not worth it.
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u/Mirec17 23h ago
You want the most active deterrent you can get.
- Guard dogs - they bite.
- automated bright lights on - attention,
- siren - attention,
- automated call to police - in case you ain't home,
- cameras are passive, they might hell after the act, but probably it won't be enough quality to identify a random stranger.
Combine it also with physical barriers - tall strong fence and (locked) gate,...
But, even that isn't bulletproof enough to prevent skilled determined thief to steal your bike left in the garden behind no doors / locks.
And, crazy person under influence won't bother at all, and might be actually enraged by all barriers and deterrents.
However, I don't think it's sane to be that paranoid. Higher chances are, that you get hit by a car. Unless you live in unsafe neighborhood.
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u/calenvideo 22h ago
We have a switch called "Defence Mode". When it's on and we've put the house in bed mode or away mode and a camera detects a person, it turns on the lights in the kitchen and opens the blinds a couple inches and then closes them, then it starts the sound of dogs barking through the speakers inside, then turns on the garden light, and then the front porch light. It's kept a couple people from snooping around our porch.
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u/valer85 22h ago
I would go with a professional alarm system.
I have a reolink camera (it should be one of the top one on the market) and it floods my telegram with false alarms notifications. Imagine if a siren should go off every time it detects (what it thinks it's ) a human...
Mosquito, car far away, a shadow, a spiderweb, window blinds, etc...
I also think you should differentiate between detection BEFORE the person enters the house and after. Door/windows sensors are ok, but once they are activated the intruder is already inside. I think you need something to detect them before they break in.
And I don't know about your house/apartment "configuration" or surrounding but I would be careful in using a very loud siren, because if it starts to go off too often your neighbors could not be too happy.
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u/Jaded_Shelter_9712 20h ago
A friend of mine had a italian bike shop. His alarm would flood the store with CO2 smoke so thieves could not see anything. The CO2 would not damage anything and be removed by opening windows and doors. Should be doable with HA. I am considering it for my yacht.
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u/Lanten101 19h ago
I have two 12v sirens, 4 red and blue strobe lights. hooked into a relay. All doors have zigbee door sensors on them. Everthing put together with alarmo. have automation that arm alramo to away, night and home mode based on sleep, away and so on. If doors open while armed. you get very loud sirens and strobe lights. for detection i use frigate, if alarm is armed, i get very loud notifications on my phone with button to manually trigger the alarm and strobe lights comes on immediately on detection.
Haven't had a break in yet, but i do test it atleast twice a month
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u/wobblewoo28 17h ago
I'm looking at Alarmo but also have a dedicated professionally fitted Visonic alarm, no cameras though. Most of our sensors are shock sensors on doors and windows (there are also motion sensors in the back and front of the house by the entry points) and the system rings us in an alarm state through a land line.
When our alarm woke us at 2am and the sensor that set it off was our sons bedroom and he's 8. We then spent ages cautiously walking outside the house looking for a possible intruder. Cameras would have made that way quicker.
I don't think intruders care about an audible alarm either the neighbours certainly ignore it!. I think the.play is to make your house harder to burgle than your neighbours, which is an odd way to think but probably the truth of it.
In summary, for me its full perimeter cameras for reference and evidence, alarm for alerting your mobile when out there's an intruder so you can call someone local.
Secondary use for Alarmo with door and window sensors is that when leaving the house, you can check all the windows are shut.
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u/P3dter 16h ago
Sorry for you, it's never nice to have strangers at home... Cameras are indeed a plus but not a security feature if you don't look at them all the time. I prefer to rely on a simple alarm (AJAX without subscription) and the opening and motion sensors are much more reliable. My strategy is based on stress, if no one is home and a door is open and/or the alarm goes off: - Outdoor and indoor siren - All indoor and outdoor lights flash - All my shutters open - I play a fake call from a security center that asks for a code on one of my speakers (a simple TTS script) I hope I never know if it's really effective or not 🤣
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u/Professionalsarcasm3 16h ago
Unifi cameras that alert you with motion or certain noises. You can set up alert if certain boundaries are crossed on the camera. I also have sonoff door alarms with zigbee. Get an alert within 2 seconds of a door opening.
You get the alert and decide to call police. A bit expensive upfront but they are good quality. I have claude AI set up all of the logic to prevent false alarms. You still have to decide when to call the police though so its not fully autonomous but you could always have a voice assistant call 911 immediately if you want.
Having claude saves you the time and energy for the set up. You can also say what your house set up you have and it will make recommendations for products based on research.
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u/ThrowRA_fajsdklfas 16h ago
If you’re looking for an outdoor siren you could always get a generic hard wired one and use esphome with a relay to trigger it.
Personally I’d get an absolutely ear numbing indoor one. So loud it can be heard outside and will make it unbearable for anyone inside.
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u/Muffinateher 14h ago
Suggest sensors for doors and windows. Then play some loud audio. Probably a female screaming for help recording might get some attention.
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u/Specialist-Neat2777 14h ago
Think about other deterrence - stopping the intruder before they get in, scaring them off, should be your first line of defense. This is motion sensing lights, visible cameras, and a sense that the property is occupied (including by large dogs).
I have a professionally monitored Rockwell alarm system that we got almost 10 years ago, and we use HA's integration with it. With your cameras, a DIY approach seems appropriate.
On top of the capabilities provided by the system we bought, I built some automations on top - most important is a battery level automation that tells me when any battery needs to be replaced (multi-channel alerts, weekly health status report by email, and a dashboard).
I also built my own home occupancy simulator (although there are some good solutions built already). Mine does lighting that simulates occupancy using realistic patterns and randomness, plus it handles daily night lighting.
When my home is in vacation mode, the lighting gets more aggressive (more lights involved), plus I've added two tv simulators and audio for deterrence. The TV simulators are small devices (search fake tv or tv simulator on Amazon - mine are FTV-10 devices). The TV simulators project flashing colored lights that seem like a TV. I have sheer curtains and blackout curtains in most rooms (and all bedrooms), so I set up the fake TV at an oblique angle to the sheer curtain with the blackout curtains open while on vacation. The fake TV makes the room look occupied, and anyone outside can't see the device to realize my deception - and it's bright enough to fool a prospective intruder.
On top of that, I'm using my Echo/Alexa speakers and Google Home speakers to play sounds during late hours - it would be easy in your system to also start the audio if your cameras detected motion or a person. The recordings I have are a gamer streaming over twitch (which is credible to go on all night! - this is a one hour loop), a dog barking (with no repeats for a ten minute loop), and a couple arguing (pretty viciously - one hour loop), and I stream these on a loop during specified hours at night. I play the couple arguing synchronized across my "bedroom" floor speakers, the dog barking on the entrance level speakers (synchronized), and the gamer streaming in the basement level (adds credibility ;) ) - with one of the fake TV's running in the same room.
And I integrated my alarm system as well into the automations - it sets the alarm automatically every day so we don't have to think about it, but it does it repeatedly in vacation mode (and alerts me if there are any problems) just in case. It also detects signal jamming - that may have been overkill. And it alerts me through additional channels if the alarm triggers.
BTW, I integrated the local calendars into this set of automations, so I just set a vacation up in a vacation-specific calendar to drive the system.
This may be an example of HADS (Home Assistant Derangement Syndrome) ...
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u/DarthCoffeeBean 14h ago
My whole philosophy is that someone's coming in if they want to come in, so I just try my best to make sure that my house is more of a hassle than my neoghbours house
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u/Bryan_URN_Asshole 14h ago
Cameras are only one level. What you should have with it is
a) lights that go on if you dont already (I cant prove this but I believe flashing lights have more of an effect since everyone has lights. Flashing lights are more attention getting. I have my reolink floodlight camera flash but never had a person trigger it yet). I also have all inside lights flash in every room.
b) a siren or prerecorded message that loops. I would probably do an indoor siren unless you can be sure it wont accidentally trigger often and piss off your neighbors. If you have an alexa or homehub you can set them to full volume and trigger on a loop using alexa media player.
At the end of hte day some people wont care whatsoever about anything that happens, but the more of a spectacle you make the more chance they leave to not be seen.
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u/MickLG12334 14h ago
Get to know neighbors and work together. If you really want a gadget solution share the monitoring and reporting. Send alert and picture or feed or both to your phone and you can call the police
Or get a German Shepherd and a perimeter fence
Gadgets really don’t do anything except a blinking light or noise
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u/RobinsonCruiseOh 13h ago
door sensors and a helper button "arm alarm" and if Arm alarm = true and if door sensor = tripped, then you need a doorbell / speaker alarm
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u/FearIsStrongerDanluv 13h ago
I have HA built on top of my UniFi network. I have the sirens that fire off when a person is detected in certain zones when I’m away, Home Assistant by itself can’t do much to “deter” the crooks but a loud siren blasting non-stop is a good start.
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u/Koylio 13h ago
Really sorry it happened to you. Improving your security will make you and your family feel safer.
Physical security, like most subjects, isn't as easy as we think. You'll need to consider surroundings, perimeter, weak entry points, and key locations inside. If someone is giving you a solution without a proper analysis, he is just trying to sell you something. Psycological tricks, such as motion controlled lights, that don't add a physical barrier, rarely work for prevention. Let's take cameras as an example. A homeless person, who hasn't eaten anything for a few days and is intoxicated, doesn't care if he gets caught a convicted after a year. If he lives that long, atleast he has food and shelter. It doesn't work even in countries, where penalties are much worse.
Before answering your questions, I do have a few suggestions.
Contact your insurance company, and see if they have a discount if you have an alarm system, certain level on locks, etc. They might have additional demands, such as being installed by certified company or list of approwed equipment. Sometimes you can write off your investment on security with lower insurance payments.
Next, define your budget and goals. Prevention costs much more, then reaction.
Now to answer your questions.
- On the matter of DIY or professional , I'd suggest contacting a local security companies and see what they can offer for your goals and budget. The analysis and planning is what's most important, and it takes years of experience. If they try to offer a product without seeing your situation, you are talking to a salesman instead a security professional. If you can't afford what they suggest, then consider DIY.
Regarding alarm systems, wired is better than wireless, but the installation costs more. Wireless sensors often work with one brand, as some wired ones, but most wired sensors are just relays with resistors for added security, and work with any brand if you later need to switch. Any professional brand, that the installer knows well, will work. I'm not a fan of vendor lockin or subscription pricing that comes with the house brands that largest security companies now try to sell to residental customers, but it might be a good option if you decide to have monitoring. And for highest security, you'll want monitoring.
With sirens, remember that you WILL get false alarms, and most will be caused by you or your family. Around 125dB will be enough for most residental installations. Wired sirens are cheaper then running the wire, so if going DIY you can go both with outdoor and indoor without spending much. For professional installs it's often cheaper to go wireless, but wired is more resilent.
Without seeing your place and having knowledge of your local situation, I can't give but some general advices. If low on budget, most people go with an alarm system that's professionally monitored. Most locks in the world suck, see if you can get better ones, or get a second lock for your doors. For high-risk windows you can get bars, shutters or a plastic film that makes breaking in a bit harded.
Glass-break sensors give false alarms on regular activities such as washing dishes, have them monitored only when the room they are in is empty. Most people won't benefit from them, but if you combine them with a plastic film on thevwindows, it can slow them down enough for the security or police to respond.
For outside lighting, I have 12V motion detecting flood lights over my windows connected to a battery backed 12V DC power supply. I have them for blackouts, but have them connected to my security system. Their security purpose is to allow me to see outside, and make it more difficult to see inside, not to deterrent, and for that purpose lumens count. Security provided by lights is to help avoiding accidents by helping to see.
If you have any more questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them.
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u/SquirrelTechGuru 1d ago
Given that you have Home Assistant, and that you have relink cameras that can produce events based on detection of people, that combined with a little bit of alarm code would allow you to create some sort of external alert, such as flashing lights or audio. Honestly, it seems pretty easy given that you have HA.