Shed security - alarms, cameras, roller door locks? Best way to protect your investments?

[EYY]

With theft becoming more common by the day around here, security has been something that has been in the forefront of my mind.

After wading through the cheaper CCTV systems online, I've found that there are thousands upon thousands of options available, which has left me wondering how to decide on the most suitable system. How many cameras should I have, where should I place them, are the WIFI systems better or worse?

What about physical barriers - additional roller door locks etc?

Alarms, trackers?

I know there's no substitute for adequate insurance - but at the end of the day, insurance only protects your financial interest. Nobody wants to find an empty spot where their pride and joy was sitting the previous night.

All input welcomed, I'm sure many members have similar questions!

 

[dgp]

The problem with most sheds is, all you need is a battery drill and you start undoing sheets from the outside. It's a good idea to line the shed so if the sheets are removed, there is an additional barrier.
I like sensor lights that face toward the house too, alerting you to their state.
Sorry, don't know anything about the security cameras but would also be interested in others input.

 

[Bigfella237]

Having insurance isn't really the point, if I wanted someone to pay me for my car then I'd sell it, but I don't want to sell it, I want to drive it.

CCTV cameras, much like insurance, do absolutely nothing to stop your car being stolen, you're basically spending your money to help the cops do their job, and even then, the most they will probably see is some oxygen thief wearing a baseball cap with a hoodie pulled over their head.

What's worse, even if you do get clear footage and can identify them, and assuming the cops can find and arrest them, they get up in front of the judge and get off with a slap on the wrist anyway, meanwhile your car is lying somewhere stripped and burnt and you're left arguing with the insurance company because they've just discovered you didn't meet some condition in the fine print!

My point is, spend your money on something that will stop the bastards stealing it in the first place!

How you secure the car depends a lot on how often you drive it, I've seen people put cars up on stands and remove the wheels, I've seen guys bolt anchor points to the floor and chain their car to the concrete, but stuff like that takes a lot of time and effort so you're not likely to drive it every week if you do that.

You could remove some other essential parts of the car and store them securely elsewhere, say pull the battery out, or remove the steering wheel and keep them in the house? And of course there is always the old hidden kill switches!

One big deterrent is sinking a couple of removable bollards into the driveway right in front of the roller door(s), not too hard to remove when you want to go for a drive, but they will make a thief think twice if it's obvious they can't get the car out of the shed. Have the locks positioned so they're easy to undo with the roller door open, but impossible to get at from the front with it closed.

As dgp said above, you can do a lot to make the shed itself more secure for not much money too, like weld or bolt sheets of wire mesh to the frame of the shed (under the outer sheets), and replacing the tech screws holding the wall sheets on with pop rivets (they can still be drilled of course but it's a lot more difficult than screws).

In the end, if somebody REALLY wants your particular car then there's no stopping them, but 95% of the time if you make life hard enough they will move on to easier pickings.

Andrew

 

[Bigfella237]

 

[Tonner Matt]

As others have said.....Bollards in front of the garage doors are a great deterrent, Sensor lights or a savage dog also work well to a point.
There is another type of system similar to a buzzer on the local corner shops door.....You mount the sensor in your shed, garage or wherever you like and if the beam is broken it sets of a remote buzzer/alarm that you keep in your house somewhere.... Like your bedroom of a night time. This system is obviously only useful if you're at home and some scumbag gets into your garage/shed.
From memory it was made by a company called Swan.

On a humorous note you could always get yourself a Trunk Monkey:

One of these would be ideal for security of your vehicle.

 

[gtrboyy]

Bollards,bollards & more bollards...some noisey mean guard dogs + other little tricks to stop car starting/rolling.

Alarms,kill switches & gps trackers more suited if car gets driven to work & parked out of sight.

Insurance is good last resort to have but I still rather know my ride is still in the garage where I left it.

The harder you make it the better so they'll either give up or get caught.

 

[stockies]

Current setup:

Electric front gate - on remote (connected to home alarm system)
Sensor lights in eves (10 LED downlights)
Roller door on remote (again connected to home alarm)
IP cameras in front yard, driveway and in garage (also one in backyard incase they jump neighbors fence - fence is 6 foot)
(cameras are hooked into monitor in house so I can see all around my property and can also be veiwed through TV in living room using output from camera NVR device - can also access from app on phone)
Garage is separate from house (less than 4 meters) but is brick not metal. power and comms is underground (very costly)
Sensor light in garage that turns on overhead lights for better camera images
Alarm sensor in garage (connected to home alarm)
GPS tracking installed in both vehicles that are in garage
GPS tracker will kill power to fuel pump via phone app
House has roller shutters on all windows and crimsafe mesh/bars on toilet window and front/rear doors.

Even then, most of it is a visible deterrent and I'm hoping that the opportunistic thief will rob another house, because as stated above - unless the police want to help, the offender will most likely get a slap on the wrist and I'll be left with a melted car or a burnt down house.


Spent a fair bit setting all this up - but I'll be damned if some self entitled prick who thinks he/she can help themselves to my pride and joys is going to get half a chance to do so. There's also nothing worse the then feeling violated knowing that someones been in your home.

Cannot stress CCTV enough to look after your cars/house 24x7, 365
Don't care if its a cheap system or expensive one - or if you need a security license to install - I feel it needs to be installed if you want to watch over your home/family/cars/dogs/whatever is in your property

 

[strgas]

end of the day if they want it that bad they will steal it maybe not from your home but next time you take the car out for a cruise or at a car show , cameras are only good if they arnt wearing a mask , house alarms if someone is within ear shot and even brother to ring the cops if it goes off. example from years ago , Brand new BMW parked in under ground carpark secure front gate , theif uses an airilfe to set off car alarm again and again over afew weeks , after many false alarms and trips back to the installer and complaints from other residents he decides to turn off the alarm theif comes round shoots the airifle no alarm sounds and in he goes and steals the car .

 

[Sandman]

Just make sure they're loud. My HQ vibrates the house from the shed when its idling. No way it goes anywhere without the whole suburb knowing

 

[Bigfella237]

~ example from years ago ~

Do we really need to give the low-lives another way to steal cars? This is a public forum after all.

I'm not a big fan of alarms for that reason, they're too unreliable and nobody pays any attention to them anyway.

Immobilizers, yes, GPS trackers, by all means, but the only effective alarm I ever saw was in a mates car where he fitted the alarm siren/speaker (that normally goes in the engine bay) up under the glove box inside the car, you just couldn't stay in there with it going off, it physically hurt, even with the windows down!

Andrew