You don't have to be a DIY superstar
to install your own home security system.
And to show you how easy it is, I'm going to go through
a typical DIY setup process.
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If you thought DIY home security might be
out of your league, by the end of this video,
you'll see how simple it can be.
And even I can do it, and I mess it up a lot.
But first, let's do a quick overview
of what you can expect from a typical DIY system.
Usually, they're gonna be fairly simple
with minimal equipment included.
So you'll have a base station or control panel
that's sort of the brains of the system.
You're gonna have a siren so that people can be alerted
that something's going on that needs to have attention paid.
You're gonna have a motion detector
that will, usually it'll just have one for the main entry
of your home where the most action happens,
so you'll know who's coming and going.
And then you'll have a few door and window sensors
that you'll wanna use on your first floor doors and windows
so you'll know if someone's trying to get in.
A really important thing to keep in mind, though,
is that most DIY systems use WiFi
or cellular coverage in order to have a connection
to the monitoring center.
Landlines are usually not even an option
for a system like this that just comes to you in a box.
So keep that in mind.
If you don't have strong coverage where you are,
before you click buy in your online cart,
make sure that you're picking the right system.
Some cool things that we really like about DIY systems
is it is peel and stick installation.
All of your equipment is gonna come
with a pre-installed adhesive sticky on there.
You're just gonna peel it off and stick it
where you need protection.
And you're gonna spend a lot less money overall
for a DIY system because you're not gonna be in a contract
and you're buying minimal equipment, typically.
However, you're gonna shell out more cash upfront
because you're buying the equipment outright,
rather than leasing it over time in a three-year contract,
which you would do in a more traditional
professional installed system situation.
And one of my favorite things is that you don't have
to let someone you don't know, an install person,
into your house.
And you don't have to take time off work
to make that happen.
But I still recommend taking some time off work
to have it installed.
Just do it yourself and then go get a massage.
That's what I would do.
Okay, let's see what one looks like.
You'll open it up.
You've got a user manual.
We've got a guide.
It tells you what to do, step-by-step.
Oh let me get to the right page.
It's super easy.
That's all the instructions that you need
to make this happen.
It's way easier than putting together something from IKEA,
which is very challenging, depending on who you are.
When you open your box, number one,
the first thing that you're going to wanna do
is get power to this control panel or base station,
whichever you've got,
and get it fired up.
And then you're going to wanna download the app.
And between your control panel and your app,
it's gonna tell you exactly what to do, step-by-step.
And the thing I love about this is called guided setup,
and the thing that I love about it
is that it will not let you do the next step
unless you completed the previous step correctly.
So it's foolproof in a lot of ways,
which is really cool.
Then, when you open up box number two
is where you're gonna have all the goodies.
All right, so this is a motion detector.
And almost every single system that you get
is gonna have one of these,
because motion is what's gonna trigger activity
so that you can find out,
is it just my kid coming in late,
is it the dog going crazy,
or is it somebody that I need to get out of my house?
And like we mentioned, you've got full pre-stuck
adhesive on there, so you're just gonna peel and stick.
And what I kind of like is it says "top."
So a motion detector has to detect the motion,
and it tends to detect it downwards.
So there's a sensor on the bottom.
And for some reason, when I look at these,
this is the way I feel like they should be installed.
So if I didn't have a handy dandy top sticker,
I would do it wrong and I would get no motion alerts.
So pay attention for that.
Don't use your gut instincts.
We do not make the equipment.
We just make it work when we install it properly.
And then the next thing that you are going to be installing
are door and window sensors.
And these, again, have the sticky on the back.
And they go together.
I like to say that they need to be kissing
in order to work.
And so they will almost always have some kind
of a guide on there.
This has the circle and the line that's gonna give you
an idea if they're lined up properly
to talk to each other.
And so you typically will install one on one side
of the window and one on the other side,
or part of the doorjamb and the other.
And then when you slide the door open,
the alarm will go off because they're not kissing
and you'll know that something is happening.
This is a panic button.
So typically, if something happens,
if someone comes into the house
and you need help immediately,
or even if it's just like a medical emergency,
your control panel will have a way for you to contact
the monitoring center in an emergency.
That's sort of a panic thing.
But this might be downstairs in the main hallway
and my bedroom is upstairs,
and this is where a panic button will come in handy.
Because it gives you that direct link to help
without having to run down the stairs
and get to the control panel, which is cool.
This is a remote.
It's like a key fob.
And I think fobs, fobs are the way of the future, man.
My whole life is getting taken over by fobs.
My car is opened by a fob, my front door is opened by a fob.
I get into the gym with a fob.
Why not arm and disarm my security system with a fob?
I love it.
But you do need, you need a little pouch or something
to carry all your fobs in,
because if you don't have 'em with you,
they're not gonna work.
But this is cool because you don't need to go
into the app and you don't need to run into the house
and punch in your code so that the alarm doesn't go off.
If your hands are full of groceries or other stuff
that you need to get into the house,
you can simply disarm it before you get out of the car
and load up your arms.
So foolproof.
And finally, this doesn't come in all systems,
but a lot of 'em have it and we strongly recommend it.
This is a monitored smoke detector.
So that it's gonna be connected to your security system
so that if smoke or heat is detected,
the alarm is gonna go out to you on the app,
and it's gonna go out to the monitoring center,
and you'll be able to figure out if there's a fire starting
or happening before it's too late,
which is really handy.
I actually had a fire in my home several years ago,
and neighbors called me because they saw smoke
coming out of my house.
And I got there from my office before the fire trucks.
Something like this would alleviate that situation.
So whether it's a smoke detector
that's monitored as part of your system,
or just something that listens for your smoke detector
to send off the alarm,
it's something that we really recommend.
And that's all there is to it.
You get your sensors, you figure out where you need
to put them, peel and stick,
and your system's set up.
But not all DIY systems are like this one.
You can have a more extensive, robust, traditional system
from a company like Frontpoint,
where it's still DIY installation,
but you're going to have a much more extensive selection
of equipment and things like cameras,
indoor and outdoor cameras, and that are gonna be
much more readily integrated into the system.
So if you have a larger property,
a bigger home, multiple floors that you want to protect,
you might wanna look into
one of those more traditional systems,
but you can still go ahead and do it with DIY installation,
which is awesome.
And those do guided installation as well.
And so an app will take you through everything,
even if you're doing it on four floors of your home.
All right, so now that you're hopefully feeling
pretty confident about your ability
to DIY the heck out of a security system,
find the right one for your home at safewise.com.