Hi guys -- I'm sorry in advance, this is going to be a total newbie post, and it's a bit urgent so I haven't had time to do as much research as I'd normally like.
We've had a few breakins in my neighborhood this week. I'd been planning to install some X10 cameras but never got around to it. Now I think I should get something in as quickly as possible.
X10 has so many products and flashing lights on the site that it's sort of like information overload. I was hoping if I listed out my needs, someone would be kind enough to point me at something that would do the trick without being overkill.
In case some details are needed: My house is over 100 years old and is quite tall, as houses go. IIRC the guy working on the chimney when I bought it said it was 42 feet to the chimney top, and the topmost part of the roof was a good bit higher than that. (Most of that's the third floor/attic though, which is floored and somewhat wired but isn't really finished space.) Most of the windows in the house are either painted shut or just stuck from settling. Almost all of the windows are high enough off the ground that a crook would need a ladder to access them (but there's one mounted on my fence, so that's possible). I also have a 2 story brick carriage house which serves as a garage (insofar as it has garage doors, I don't park in it) and has a small apartment above it. Also, I don't have a land telephone line, just a cellular, so anything that dials out is probably not an option (though I could put on local-only phone service potentially).
I'd like some basic cameras at each of the four entrances to my home, as well as one for my garage and the apartment above it (I was thinking one of those flood lights + camera packages might be good there).
I want to be sent an MMS with a snapshot when motion is detected and have video logged to a computer that I'll probably have secured somewhere. If I can access the cameras and other controls via my iphone, all the better.
I'd also like the motion detection to set off some sort of short-duration alarm inside the house.
Going forward, but not initially, there are a few other options I might want to explore.
There is a narrow area between my house and my neighbor's (it's a 100 year old neighborhood, the houses are close enough for us to reach through the windows and shake hands). There are no doors on that side, but there are a couple of small basement windows and a kitchen window. A camera here would probably be helpful in case someone tries to break in that way.
The basement and third floor are both potential entries to the living space of the house. A motion detector at each staircase, and possibly a low-light capable camera would be good.
glass break sensors on all the windows big enough to climb through.(?)
Open window sensors on the half dozen windows that actually open.
Open door sensors on all the outside doors and the internal basement and attic doors.
Open door sensors on the garage doors and outside storage door
Is there some kind of intercom option so you can tell crooks to "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE" or something?
Would all of these X1 products integrate with something like an Insteon Elk MK1 gold?
Thanks so much for your time and assistance.
