A country house has a problem that a city house does not: when something happens, no one hears it. There are no neighbors for the siren to alert, there is often no internet, and in some areas, the power goes out for hours. A burglar alarm designed for an apartment works poorly there.
There are three things that need to be solved, and they are all resolved through choices made from the start.
1. How it calls out
If there is no fixed connection, the control panel must have a SIM. Modern professional control panels accept two, from different carriers, precisely because in the country one operator might have coverage while another does not, or vice versa depending on the conditions. With a dual SIM, if one network goes down, the control panel switches to the other and continues sending notifications.
If, however, a connection does exist, even if it is slow, keep it as the primary channel and use the SIM as a backup: it is the most robust configuration possible, because two independent channels very rarely go down at the same time.
Check the signal strength before installing, at the exact spot where you will place the control panel, not from the courtyard. The stone walls of country houses eat up the signal more than you would think.
2. How long it lasts without power
A serious control panel has an internal battery and can last for several hours. But in the country, "several hours" is sometimes not enough, and battery-powered detectors—which last for years—do not solve the problem of the control panel and siren. If the area experiences long blackouts, there are supplementary batteries available that extend battery life to months: this is a component that can be added later, but it is better to plan for the space immediately.
The same logic applies to the router if you use a fixed connection: an alarm system that is powered but a router that is turned off equals a silent alarm. Either connect the router to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or rely on the SIM.
3. Stop them outside, not inside
This is the part that changes the most compared to an apartment. In the country, reaction time is long—nobody arrives in five minutes—so the alarm must sound before they enter, not after.
This is done with outdoor detectors: dual-technology sensors that cover the garden perimeter and the areas in front of access points, and infrared barriers along the fence or between gate pillars. Good models have pet immunity up to a certain weight, which in the country is not a detail to be overlooked: with dogs, cats, and wildlife passing through at night, a detector that cannot distinguish a wild boar from a person will generate false alarms until the client turns off the system. And a turned-off system is a system that isn't there.
For doors and windows, magnetic contacts remain useful, as do internal detectors in rooms: they are the second line of defense, the one that triggers if the first is bypassed.
The siren: two, not one
A clearly visible external siren serves to deter, and it should be placed high up and be difficult to reach. But in the country, no one is calling: the real work is done by the notification on your phone and, if the value justifies it, the connection to a security monitoring agency. Also, install an internal siren: inside the house, it is unbearable, and whoever has entered will leave before looking around.
Smoke, water, and the rest
Take advantage of the fact that the control panel is there. In a house that sits empty for weeks, a smoke detector and a flood detector connected to the same system are worth as much as the burglar alarm: a pipe that bursts in January, in a house where no one enters until March, causes more damage than a theft. They cost little and use the same app.
What to put in the quote
Control panel with dual SIM, outdoor detectors on access points, barriers on the perimeter if the fence allows, contacts on doors and windows, internal detectors in connecting rooms, two sirens, smoke and flood detectors, and a supplementary battery. It is a system, not a box: but it is the system that does the work in the country.
In the catalog, you will find control panels, detectors, kits, and sirens, as well as wired solutions in the intruder alarm section. Tell us how the house is built and how long it stays empty: we will prepare the right list for you. info@elettricity.com, 351 969 5157.