I'm just looking for a bit of advice about cctv feed security. If I recall correctly, when I have set up a network system previously, that the feed would be sent to the manufacturers server before being sent back to myself. Does that sound correct. So what I'm asking is there anyway of mitigating the need to send the footage anywhere apart from myself. Bonus points if there is a way of remotely viewing that I.e an app but I understand that could pose more difficulty.

Thanks for any help

From your option and experience, what are the best protection for garage?

Recently my neighbour had a hole into the lock and found his garage opened, a simple drill for the job was enough.

Unfortunately I can't replace door, but I can add safety systems.

Which one can be useful?

I've found: Sound alarm (I've several apartments nearby) Smoke generators Light strobes

Though something DIY like an internal metallic net to dissuade thefts, but if they have time and tools to open a door, they would have also to remove the net.

Also quality is concern, doesn't work for years and must be operative the time something happens.

Hi everyone, I’m having an issue with my garage door it won’t close, and I can’t figure out why. I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I’m in Northborough and could really use some advice. Does anyone know what might cause this or recommend a good repair service nearby? Any tips or helpful sites would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’m writing this to warn anyone considering ADT for their security needs—DON’T. As a small business owner, I trusted ADT with the safety of my employees, my livelihood, and my peace of mind. Instead, I was met with outright fraud, lies, and total incompetence. Here’s what they did to us:

They Took $7,000 and Lied About It

In March 2024, we paid $7,136.40 via cashier’s checks for our security system. The checks were processed on-site during installation, and we were assured everything was paid in full. Despite this:

• ADT fraudulently charged my personal debit card $754.95 across four unauthorized transactions.
• Weeks later, they falsely accused me of non-payment and claimed the cashier’s checks were “bad” or bounced—an impossibility with bank-issued checks.

Internal Lies and Blame-Shifting

ADT didn’t even pretend to resolve this issue until I escalated the matter directly to their CEO. After that, I received an internal email that I’m sure was not meant for me to see, claiming we “stole their system” and were refusing to pay.

• The email was quickly recalled, but not before I took screenshots.
• After I threatened legal action, they miraculously “found” the $7,100 they claimed we never paid. Funny how that works.

Did I get an apology for the stress, accusations, and delays? Absolutely not. Instead, ADT blamed me, claiming I didn’t write my account number on the checks—even though I have photo proof that I did.

They Broke the Contract, Not Me

When I told their executive team that ADT had completely broken our trust by putting my business and employees in danger, their response was laughable. They informed me:

• I’m locked into a 36-month contract, and I would have to pay thousands to terminate early.
• They shut off our system because they claimed they didn’t receive payment for monitoring—despite the fact that we paid a year in advance for monitoring.

A Security Company That Doesn’t Care About Security

While our system was wrongfully shut off, we experienced a glass break alert in our building. Normally, ADT would have notified us immediately. Instead, because they had terminated our account, we didn’t find out until we physically arrived.

For a cannabis business in a high-risk area, this negligence could have been catastrophic. ADT had one job—to secure our business—and they failed spectacularly.

ADT Is a Scam

ADT has shown zero accountability and zero professionalism. They:

• Fraudulently took money from my personal account.
• Lied about payments and accused us of “stealing their system.”
• Endangered our business and employees by wrongfully shutting off our service.
• Blamed us for their mistakes and refused to acknowledge the stress and harm they caused.

I’m done. We’re preparing legal action, but I wanted to share this here to warn others. If you value your business, your security, and your sanity, stay far away from ADT.

If you’ve had similar experiences please share. We need to hold companies like this accountable.

Stay safe!

I have a PTZ dome security camera mounted under the eaves of the house that points north/east. Especially during the morning hours, its getting a lot of washed out and hazy footage because of the sun throughout the day - Its not direct sunlight, it just seems to be the way the sun hits the camera from the side.

Besides a hood installed on the wall (which wouldn't work with how my cameras mounted - and its already under the eaves) the only other solution I could find online is Lens Covers, but those are for regular DSLR camera lenses.

Are there solutions to this problem I'm missing? Even a DIY option? Thanks

Yo, reddit, brazilian here.

Just a curious thought came to my mind, if i were in the us, is it legal to have a remote controlled turret for home defense legal?

Looking for a monitored home alarm system in Canada. I dont need cameras, just the alarm system with door sensors, keypad etc. We get a discount on our home insurance if monitored. Is their anything in Canada other than Ring thats better?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to install a single wired camera that can record 24/7 (none of that subscription based crap, please).

I am aware of NVR systems, but it seems like overkill for just a single camera.

Is there a better solution? If so, any recommendations of brands etc. please?

Thank you in advance!

Looking for suggestions -See pic this perimeter gate is shared between cooperative neighbours - hoping to make secure with remote latch system or new gate.

Howdy. What might be an elegant way to prevent a propane tank from being promoted? The tank and grill are sitting on a wooden deck so using large bolts to screw it down in some way would be the preferred solution, as opposed to using a cable lock.

Since I'm looking to prevent mostly crimes of opportunity it doesn't need to be bomb proof.

I have my own ideas but I'd like to hear yours!

My door has a deadbolt and a knob lock. I would like to install a 2nd deadbolt and a pull handle to open and close the door instead of one deadbolt and knob lock. I am trying to avoid drilling a 3rd hole for a 2nd deadbolt. For the door to stay closed without being locked the knob clocks in place and keeps the door from opening on its own.

Is there another way to keep the door closed with a knob? Does something else exist to keep a door closed?

I'm not looking for a device that closes the door like on a commercial door. Something that will click when the door is closed to keep it closed. Thanks.

I'm looking to upgrade these cameras, is my only shot to upgrade it is to run Cat 6E using the old wires and pray that it doesn't slip through? It runs through a wall, a beam, and metal conduits outside. Feels like a magic trick to pull it off. Looks like these are the current wire runs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P8X65S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I’m 20 and live alone in an apartment and was looking to get something practical and useful to use worst case. I have two families both with small children that live below me and I’m the only man in the house. Pls let me know . I also just get really anxious as my step dad would be strapped heavily and now don’t have that with me anymore. I’d rather have it and not need it then need it and don’t have it, I just feel as if it’s time. I have another year I believe until I can have ccw so a rifle or shotgun of some sort. And I live in Kennesaw Ga, the only county in Ga that requires every head of household MUST have a gun. They don’t enforce it heavily but I’ve been told by multiple COPS to be strapped. I’m all ears! This is quite important.

I'm looking for an indoor cam that automatically follows motion and sends alerts to my phone. The goal is to monitor my dog while I'm not home because she's recovering from a medical crisis. I bought the Wyze Cam Pan v3 and it was great, until it wasn't. It keeps going offline every few days. So I can't depend on it when, for instance, I won't be home for 4 hours and don't know if my pup is scratching her wounds.

I troubleshooted to no avail; the issue seems relatively common for this model. With Black Friday sales are still on, can anyone suggest similar indoor cameras that track motion and start recording when there's movement? I'd prefer a camera that works without a monthly subscription, if possible. I noticed that Ring has a pan & tilt indoor camera, but I'm not clear on whether it follows motion and it's also $50 on sale whereas the Wyze v3 was $30 not on sale. That said, I don't mind paying more if you can point me in the direction of what's a step up from Wyze.

Thanks so much for any guidance!

Example from California penal code:

"boobytrap" means any concealed

or camouflaged device designed to cause great bodily injury when triggered by an action of any unsuspecting person coming across the device. Boobytraps may include, but are not limited to, guns, ammunition, or explosive devices attached to trip wires or other triggering mechanisms, sharpened stakes, and lines or wire with hooks attached.

That means it needs all of the following to be called a boobytrap in CA:

• Concealed or camouflaged device
• Triggered by unsuspecting person
• Designed to cause great bodily injury

I've now seen electric fences protecting campaign signs and remote human-controlled rubber bullet guns called boobytraps, and countless other things in the past. Those examples clearly do not meet all the criteria. I consider that to be pushing disinformation. This is easily verified stuff, at least in any US state. Maybe there are states with looser definitions, but California has pretty strong laws against deadly weapons and a giant population, so it seems like the obvious state to check.

That doesn't mean you can't be sued and held liable. But if it doesn't have all three of those criteria, it is not a boobytrap.

[There was a lawsuit long ago (Katko vs Briney 1971) when a burglar got his ankles blown out with a boobytrap. That case decided that the homeowner was liable, but only when they weren't home, and is the basis of virtually all the boobytrap laws. Link goes to LegalEagle explaining it.]

^(I linked to an earlier law, but the most recent definition is the )^same, ^(but harder to read. If anyone's a lawyer here, please feel free to correct me.)

Im in Canada and looking to buy a security camera for my home. Im looking for -3 cameras -wireless and good battery life -hd video atleast, nightvision perhaps? -cloud storage(no subscriptions please lol) -Around or under $350 Canadian?

About three months ago my video doorbell caught a vehicle come up my driveway at 3:30am. The driver rolled down the window and shined a flashlight from the car at my front door/video doorbell. This raised my concerns because it’s unlikely that it’s a food delivery or uber at this hour. I thought maybe the person has a flashlight looking for a lost pet, but why shine it at the front door/camera. I ended up forgetting about it.

Three months have gone by and it just happened again, this time 5:50am. The same car drove up the driveway and shined a flashlight at the front door. And instead of backing up, the driver continued and drove through the front yard. It’s most definitely the same vehicle. A police report has been made with an officer and they will be patrolling the area and on the lookout for this suspicious vehicle.

What are you guys thoughts and what is the best practices moving forward to protect my home?

What is the best outdoor camera or trail camera to use that is very subtle/easy to hide? It can't be obvious, so the red night vision lights can't be too bright, and it has to use an SD or Sim card (no WiFi, must be battery powered/wireless). Context below!

I have a stalker who has come into my home TWICE, but police cannot do anything without proof he is harassing me. I have cameras inside my house, but this most recent incident is making me think I need new ones.

Camera #1 (which is facing my front door) went offline for around two minutes, no error message provided. When I opened the feed for Camera #2 in the next room over, it was still active and I could faintly hear my front door open, then a prolonged beeping noise lasting about 4 seconds (no idea what it was, if you have any ideas or could listen to it and tell me what you think it is, that would be great), then silence for the remainder of the 2 minutes, and finally the sound of my porch door closing. Now, my cameras will shut off for short periods of time, and come back on without giving me any kind of error message. They are the Google Nest cameras, and they use WiFi so I assume the person doing this is shutting off my WiFi by getting into my breaker box (it has a lock) and turning off the power, so the modem/router/whatever it is called is forced to restart. That is my best guess at least, I honestly have no clue how he is doing it. There are no unknown devices on my Google account, iPhone, etc. Any and all ideas welcome regarding anything written here!

Hey guys, I’m building a home defense system and looking to add some security cameras during the Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals. I’m considering Arlo, Ring, or Nest Cam for indoor and outdoor coverage. Which system is the most reliable for home defense, and where can I find the best deals on these during the sales? Does anyone have experience with systems that work well in low light or have motion detection? Thanks! 🔍🔐

Update: Thanks for all your suggestions and insights! I also did my own little research and made a list of the best security camera black friday and cyber monday deals this year:

Best security camera Black Friday deals:

• 43% off Reolink cameras, video doorbells & more (Reolink.com)
• 30% off Nest Cams (BestBuy.com)
• 43% off Wyze, eufy, Roku, more security cameras (Walmart.com)
• 50% off Ring indoor, outdoor cameras (BestBuy.com)
• 25% off Arlo Essential, Pro, Ultra, more cameras (Arlo.com)

I have a crazy neighbor who’s sabotaging all my security efforts. He shines his floodlights right into my cameras. He’s put up lots of flags and banners to set my motion alerts s non-stop.

Most recently he’s added a motion light that is set off by his banners that goes on and off every few minutes with the wind. The light shines right into my window. I’m looking for mirrored window film that is meant to be applied to the outside of a window. The inside of the glass is textures, so that’s not an option.

Any ideas? I can’t seem to find a product that’s meant for outside the home.

UPDATE: We figured out they were getting in through our milk door that’s located by the back door.

I live with my two sisters we rent a home. We have two big dogs. I went out with my friends and one of my sisters lives downstairs and was home getting ready for bed. I left at 8. My other sister came home around 11 and texted me asking me who was home. She said when she got home someone was in the bathroom and had turned on the shower. When I left my house my bedroom fire was closed and the door leading to the bathroom in my room was also closed. My sister said she got home and my door was cracked open so she peeked inside and saw no one and that the bathroom door was closed. The dogs seemed weird and especially my dog would not go into my room even with the door open. She is a pillow princes and loves my bed. She said she went downstairs and woke my other sister up and asked who was home and she replied no one that me and friends went out. She assumed it was one of my friends even tho i didn’t text her letting her know anyone was home which I would have. She said she waited for an hour for them to leave the bathroom and thought about asking them if they needed a towel or anything just being hospitable but she never did. She felt kind of weird because they were being super quiet and turned on the bathroom fan as well after they turned the shower off . She never heard the bathroom door open and she ended up falling asleep. I came home around 2 am and my door was open but the bathroom door was still closed I opened it and realized the fan was still on as well as the light and I thought it was weird that my sister would fall asleep with all that on. I also saw that the door leading to my room from the bathroom was also open. Which my friend said the closed and I know they did. I went to sleep and did not talk to my sister until this morning and realized someone was in the house. Some key points- I let my friend park their car in the driveway so in total there were four cars in the drive way making it very clear people were home to outsiders. - my dog would not go into my room and wanted to sleep in my sisters room and seemed scared trying to curl up on her chair and sleeping in front of her door all together avoiding my room. They did not bark and they bark at everyone even my friends but after they bark and smell they love and will be in your face especially guests.- since we moved in random things have gone missing like a bra, a pair of shoes, face masks and money and we were blaming it on eachother but we have realized we aren’t stealing each others things. I also found an earring in the house on the floor in front of the back door that didn’t belong to any of us.- the back door has a code to get in so we are wondering if they know the code. They have to know our schedule to know only one person would be home in the basement when the drive is full of cars! People are saying it could be someone we know because the dogs didn’t bark but we have a Very small friend group and hardly let people over let alone give out codes. If you have any ideas pls let me know. We have changed the locks and disabled the code and will buy cameras. I asked the neighbors for footage but both of their cameras were off.

I have finally finished my home defense "plan". I am using home assistant for everything.

I have unifi cameras with IR lights for night time. If a person or car are detected then my outside lights turn on, both my bed side lamps come on and my TV comes on with my cameras on the screen. My locks lock automatically when I turn the alarm on.

When I am gone, I get notifications for person/car detected, outside light come on, inside lights come on. If a door is opened or motion inside the house then I have an inside alarm that sounds.

Still trying to figure out for during the day and alerts though.

So, I have less lethal launchers from Umarex (a HDR 68 and a HDB 68) and a Byrna LE. The Umarex launchers are all tuned. The first thing I did when I got them is try to find the best kinetic projectile to get the most out of them. I bought a chronograph and built my own penetration tester. I bought 3g, 4.5g, 7.3g, 7.7g, 9.9g, 12g, and 20g projectiles/riot balls. I bought solid rounds and shaped projectiles. Using regression analysis I came up with a formula for optimal penetration based on ammo mass. It turns out a weight of 8.4g solid round gave the deepest penetration plus still work in the widest range of launchers. I had some made and tested them not in the math world but in the real world. They are the BOMB! I get the most out of my launchers with these 8.4gram projectiles. I had many manufactured, made a company and I call them “the Smasher from Less Lethal Ballistics”. Hopefully there is interest. This really is a better mousetrap. Please give me as much feedback as possible. I will use it to refine my message and overcome objections. Thank you.

I moved into a house that has an older Vista-10SE security system. Can anybody give me a recommendation to upgrade it or connect it with Home Assistant?

I probably don't need a subscription to an alarm service but I just want to monitor the door/window/presence sensors. (I guess it would be nice to always have the flexibility to connect an alarm service though?)

Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/security-system-ewXZYqw

Can anybody give me any advice?

I am building a house. I am having the window factory build in and conceal open/close sensors. Is there something similar with glass break sensors? I can only seem to find vibration ones that stick on the glass or sounds ones that you mount somewhere. I'd like to avoid having anything visible, so ideally something that the window manufacturer can build into the window frame. Thanks!

Hello, I am currently on the market for a new NVR (Prefrence is Dahua or Amcrest NVR)

Current Cameras ~ 4x Amcrest IP5M-B1186E ~ 5MP 20fps 1x Amcrest IP5M-VB1286EW-AI AI ~ 5MP 20fps 1x Amcrest IP2M-866W ~ 2MP 30fps 1x Vivotek IT9380-H ~ 4MP 15fps

What would be a good NVR that would support these cameras at the resolution & fps listed above. Looking for 2-4tb of storage (have a nas that i upload footage too so 2-4tb should be sufficent. Appreciate any help given, Cheers!