Submission + - Ask Slashdot: A cheap, DIY home security and surveillance system? 1
scubamage writes: "Approximately 6 weeks ago, my home was broken into while my fiance and I were at work. Our neighborhood is essentially empty during the day because it's an upper middle class neighborhood. Two laptops were stolen, an iPad, a power brick, a safe (complete with several years worth of taxes, my birth certificate, and old copies of my driver's license), a digital SLR, several pieces of heirloom jewelry, a guitar, and a custom built saxophone. In total, we lost around $20-30,000 dollars that day. We are now dealing with an attorney because the homeowner's insurance is fighting us on a number of items and we're not backing down. It has been a nightmare. Now as we were hoping things were starting to calm down, we've noticed that someone has been visiting our house during the day. There has been garbage left sitting on our back porch table, so its unlikely to have blown there. We've also seen footprints in our garden that are not there in the morning. We want to know who is on our property while we're not, and maybe if we're really lucky reporting it to the police could recover some of our property. My fiance has asked me to assemble a home security system that is motion activated, and both notifies us of an entry, as well as records video or rapid HD stillframes when sensing motion. The goal is to do this cheaply and more effectively than going with a private security company like ADT (who, consequently, our police department told us to ignore due to the incredibly high rate of false alarms). Also, we already have gotten the dog and the gun, so we have those bases covered now. What suggestions do you have on setting up home security systems, and what have you done to build one in the past? Help me slashdot posters, I need your brain juices!"
