Are you are thinking about buying a burglar alarm for your home or business and are wondering which is the best alarm system to purchase a wireless alarm or a hard-wired alarm? In this article I will explain the major difference between the two types of alarm systems. Both types of systems do exactly the same job and the only difference is the way that they are fitted in your home or business.
Wireless alarms.
A wireless alarm is basically an alarm system that does not have cables connecting the control panel to the various sensors and exterior bell box. But with that said not all systems are totally wireless, depending on the manufacturer there could be some wiring involved when installing the system. Almost all of the wireless systems that I have installed have had a mains supply to the control panel and some have had a low voltage supply via a transformer to the outside bell box. So in reality they are not totally wireless.
The pros.
Wireless alarms have the main advantage over hard-wired alarms in the sense that they do not have unsightly wires between the various detectors. Many people don’t want visible alarm cables running around their home for all to see. From an installation point of view the wireless system is a lot easier and quicker to install than it hard-wired counterpart. Installation time is almost halved which is a definite plus for the alarm fitter.
The cons.
Wireless alarms do have their advantages but they do have some disadvantages as well. As I mentioned earlier they are not totally wireless and this is something that has to be taken into account before you purchase one of these systems. The other disadvantage is the price, a good wireless alarm system can cost almost double the price of its hard-wired equivalent. There are some cheaper models for sale but in my experience they are well avoided. Wireless systems also need batteries to power the various sensors and theses batteries need replacing on a regular basis.
Hard-wired alarms
As the name suggests hard-wired alarms have wires or cables connecting the control panel to the various sensors and external siren.
The pros
Hard-wired systems tend to be a lot more reliable than wireless systems due to the fact that they don’t need constant battery replacement due to the system being powered via a 12 volt DC transformer that is in-turn powered form the mains supply. The other big advantage that this type of system has is the cost, almost a third of a wireless system of the same specification.
The cons
There are only a couple of draw backs with this type of system and the main one is there is a need for cabling between the control panel and the external sensors. This involves running cable around your home to the various locations where the sensors are situated. The other downside is the installation time which is about double compared to a wireless system.
