Home Security Devices/Techniques

[PeteC]

I moved this here Chopsticks to try to give MOUNTAIN VILL folks their thread back. Mods, feel free to move non-MV content here.

Something no-one seems to mention or never seem install in HH is motion sensor flood lights, is it a gecko problem ? They set off our CCTV cameras.SJ

My problem which I think is common to many is too many bushes and trees. I don't have one spot, except straight down the driveway, where one wouldn't be set of continuously when the wind blows. As all this stuff grows what is a good spot now may not be in a few months. Pete

Pete, I don't think bushes and trees will set them off as they use body heat (passive infra-red detectors).

I think we're talking about two different type of devices. What I'm familiar with detects motion. Rectangular black colored light box with grey sensor at the bottom. Unit has a long, thin bulb that gets extremely hot when on. I forget the bulb type name? They do get set off by any motion within their range whether warm bodied or foliage.

Indeed there may be the kind you're referencing and I'd like to know more about them as would solve my problem. Pete

[chopsticks]

I think we are discussing the same thing - the very bright rectangular floodlights with 150 or 500 watt halogen bulbs but the same sensor (with a piece of white opaque plastic in front) is used in other motion sensing devices and outdoor lights including burglar alarm sensors.
They are supposed to be triggered by infra-red heat but there may be other types that are more discriminating and use other methods.

Basic security precautions should start with obvious things such as good locks and window and door burglar bars (allow a method for you to escape if trapped inside by fire though!!).
Good lighting is cheap and effective as are simple things like leaving a radio on when you go out and some random light timers for internal rooms when unoccupied.
Dogs are sometimes thrown poisoned meat and electric fences and wall spikes / broken glass cemented on top defeated by using polystyrene blocks or other means.
There is only so much you can do without having a house resembling fort knox and good observant neighbours are better than many other expensive methods.

[sandman67]

if you put broken glass along a wall (or any other hand slasher such as 4 inch clout nails or razor wire) its best placed along the inside edge of the wall cornicing facing in horizontally so it cant be seen from the outside of the wall. Same principle as a lobster trap or a prison wall. It also needs to be well above eye level, so most Thai walls are useless for that type of defence. You need a wall at 6 feet or so high.

Idiot takes a look, sees no spiky bits, jumps up and hooks his hands onto the cornice to climb up......directly onto the spikes on the inside edge. Nasty.....

Its hard to steal stuff when your hands dont work any more.

lights, a camera (even a dummy one), and a good alarm system are best. Good nieghbours are useful too....we have a soi full of them.

when I hear about an estate guard who actually stopped a burglary and caught the guys doing it then Ill change my mind about them. One lad who drinks with me has a house one house distant from his estate guard station and has been turned over three times in the last 2 years.

Presently that option is firmly in the "worse than useless" file.

[PeteC]

It's getting too dark now so I'll take some photos in the AM of what I have here (so far). No alarm systems yet. Pete

[Khundon1975]

If you do put up an electric fence, don't do what this guy did, came home pissed and decided to take a leak in the garden.

[ Image edited: It's a little graphic for some of our readers! ]

Crispy little critter ain't it.

Put me off pork scratchings for life.

[jayhawk874]

As like many of you on this topic, I have been robbed as well. I was quite sure it was the workers near by since they were the ones who built the house. I purchased electric wiring around the top of my fence which is about 6 feet high. The hook up is at the inside of the house so when I leave I just have to turn on the switch from the inside. Its a 3 strand wire that gives off a soft popping noise when turned on. I had to laugh but was concerned when the electrician used a wooden malet to test the wire and see if the current was flowing. Took about 4 minutes for his dead arm to come back to life. Its a small lot but the wire goes around completely for a cost of about 8000 baht. I am sure its cheaper since the builder of the house put it in, and I am sure he got his fair share.

[Super Joe]

What happens with the entrance gate jayhawk, do they have a seperate detection unit for that ?
Your typical gate used in Thailand with wheels on a runner can be easily lifted off the runner, even when padlocked.


This pic makes it look worse to be fair, usually the runner set in the concrete
protrudes higher out of the floor than this, but one person can still lift a gate off.

SJ

[jayhawk874]

I placed a fairly expensive smoke colored plastic sheet across the gate and is attached. It obviously allows light thru but cannot be seen thru. The gates rollers are set in a groove and not on a single rod as most are. If they can lift that gate to get in, then more power too them. It's a high arched metal spiked steel gate. It would take more then two men to even think about lifting it and I really don't think it can be done. The other protection would be the traffic going by that would prevent the long term project of thievery taking the gate down.

[f0xxee]

A couple of large dogs roaming the yard works wonder, but is hard to do if you have gardeners and maids... In my past experience they will associate best with those they see most: In Vietnam I was self contained so my dogs hated anyone not female or causcasian, simply because that is what they were exposed to.
Of course this is not an option if you are not here full time.
Bars on windows: colour me paranoid, I I couldn't sleep nights knowing that in a fire my exit was blocked. Lockable bars on the interior of windows? Now we are talking. I would install them certinainly on bedroom windows and external doors.
Electric wires: smack of Luft Stalag III to me and I couldn't stand the thought of someone or some animal innocently getting a shock. I still have a farm in Aus with electric fences and you touch them .... once. As stated above, it takes a while to get the feeling back.
I guess if you have guards in your Baan it wouldn't hurt to make some sort of friendship with them... Get to known them rather than driving past in the heavily tinted cocoon-mobile.
I made a comment before about for me it being about safety more than losing gear. I was burgled last exactly when I could afford it least as a student way back when in Sydney.
I learnt then (I shared the house with two girls) that what concerned us was not the lost property, but the fear factor of being asleep with night crawlers lurking. As such I go back to a statement made before: Make your bedroom secure. Keep your phone handy. Keep a very bright torch handy. Keep a can of fly spray or carburettor cleaner in the room and a cigarette lighter handy. if you hear intruders stay in your room, and raise the alarm. Fight as a last resort if your safety is breached, and strike first. Easier to say than do for the majority of us that really wouldn't hurt a fly.

[PeteC]

Ok finally, here are the things I have at my place. I'm not saying they're the best, but adequate for the threat level we have here.

Not a very good pic. We have these on the main living room doors and windows downstairs. Good quality, white aluminum. Strong and not unsightly. They're only made by a Bangkok company and I recall 1,500 Baht per square meter. They don't intrude into the room badly and are covered easily by your drapes. www.sdbrilliant.co.th



A close up of the lock. very strong, cannot be opened from the outside, round type key, extra hasps to put your own pad lock on the inside when away.



One of the windows.



The kitchen side of the house. Window grills have special fasteners and cannot be removed from the outside unless they're pulled out of the wall with a rope/truck etc.



Pool house the same thing. Also seconds as the neighborhood jail.



These are all along the perimeter jungle wall. These are the smaller 20cm size. Also come with 50cm shafts. 20cm better as impossible to get a foot up on the wall on either side of the spikes without getting snagged or stuck. Extremely sharp as I've found out unfortunately. Many neighbors have put 1/2 meter high wood slats up there and the thieves simply use a cut piece of garden hose to loop a slat or two and pull themselves up. To date, none have tried to get over my spikes.



As mentioned, probably not the best but along with the lighting a good enough deterrent so far to convince them to go elsewhere. I may supplement it all with an alarm system in the future. Pete

[Lung Per]

Where in Hua Hin can you buy razor wire??

[thaiorchid]

Lung Per wrote:
Where in Hua Hin can you buy razor wire ?

At Starbucks ofcourse !! Dont you guys never venture outside be walls of your ghettos ? Or are you to busy sitting home protecting your belongings ? Any bloody hardwarestore in HH sells razor wire !!!
thaiorchid

[lindosfan1]

The amount of security some of you want amazes me. My security was windos and doors barred.
The deterrent was a well trained big dog, cost about 90 baht a day.
Barks if he does not know you, growls if you get close, never seen what happens after that they back off. He sleeps in the house so poisoned meat cannot be fed to him. Best deterrent of all and he is good company.
Where I live at the moment he is a bit redundant as there is no crime.
But he still does hes barking if he does not know you. Once introduced he is friendly.
Interestingly he is a good judge of character there was one Thai he new always growled and frightened him, later that Thai was saught thieving not by me.
So get a puppy of a big dog 8 weeks old train him well and he will protect and be a mate at the same time.

[PeteC]

You're right Lindo, a good dog is one of the best deterrents and that's in the cards for us down the road a bit, as a pet first and a security device second.

Our daughter has just turned 4 and not quite ready for that yet, nor are our schedules to do it properly.

Up until the floor dropping out of the economy, I was traveling out of the country frequently and what we have makes the Mrs feel secure being alone here with a baby.

An interesting observation is that web site I reference above doesn't even have an English version. The salesman told us a house with a farang in it represents only about 5% of their business for those products. The Thai's seem to like them in a big way.

As we've been talking on here and other threads, there is no one perfect way to do it. Visual and physical deterrents, alarms, cameras, dogs all have their merits. Pete

[hhfarang]

Here's my home security device...