In the USA, over 4,000 people drown every year, making it the fourth leading cause of accidental death (American Institute for Preventive Medicine). 1/3 of the people who drown each year are children under the age of 14. Could something as simple as a Pool Alarm save thousands of lives each year?

The concept behind a pool alarm is pretty simple; it is an electronic device that will monitor pool water for movement. When movement is detected, it will sound an alarm to notify you something is in the water. A child can drown in the time it takes to go answer a phone call, so a pool alarm almost should be mandatory for every pool.

When you are considering which pool alarm is the best for you, you want to consider a smart pool alarm like the Pool Protector Pool Alarm, one that will analyze the surface of the water and alert you to minute movements, like when a child or dog falls into the water. A good pool alarm will usually have some type of motion or movement detection that uses internal electronics to control the activation of the alarm.

Choosing one that operates on batteries is important, because you don’t want to run an electrical cord out to the water & have it fall in during a story. A good pool alarm should have a low battery warning alarm, so you know when it’s time to change the batteries. The Pool Protector operates on one 9 volt battery; choose a lithium-ion b************atter for long life.

No pool alarm will do you any good if it goes off every time you go swimming. You want to look for an alarm that has some type of bypass key or switch like the Pool Protector that will allow the pool alarm to turn off while you swim. When you are finished, use the bypass key to reset the alarm back to guard mode.

The Pool Protector covers a pool of about 100 square feet (32 meters), which should be good for most home pools. If your pool is larger, it is suggested you add another alarm on the other side for proper coverage. The alarm rests on a metal pin on the side of the pool, so it can’t accidentally fall in. It has a throat, similar to an elephant’s trunk, that sticks into the water and will detect the motion, and it will work with pools that have in-wall skimmers. Because the pool alarm depends on making contact with the water, you need to check your water levels regularly so the alarm does not extend less than 4 inches into the water.

Also make sure you don’t set up the alarm near the return line from the filter, as the turbulence will trigger the alarm. Also make sure the return lines point down, instead of up.

The pool alarm has a remote that has a 100db alarm that sounds when movement is detected.

With our economy slowing down, burglaries are up and you run the risk of someone else wanting to take your stuff for their own. While burglary rates have been declining recently, they still number about 25 per 1,000 households. It makes sense to have some sort of motion detection camera set up in your home or your office to catch any intruders.

The definition of burglary is the unlawful or forcible entry or attempted entry of a residence. Burglary usually, though not always, involves theft. The punk is usually strung out on drugs and does not work, and needs money to support their habit. The use force to break into your home or office by breaking a window or slashing a screen. They can also enter through an unlocked window or door. Whatever way they use to gain entrance to the building, as long as they have no legal right to be there, a burglary has occurred.

Also, the building need not be your home or office for a burglary to take place. Illegal entry of any garage, shed, or any other structure on the premises also constitutes a burglary. Burglary can even occur at a hotel or when you are on vacation, it’s still classified as a burglary.

Unless you have a security guard inside to watch your property 24/7, the simplest thing you can do is to have some type of surveillance camera in place to protect your property. If you can’t afford a multi-camera video surveillance system, there are a couple choices for single unit motion detection cameras that are self contained and can record pictures to internal memory.

One of the most economical choices is the CyberEye Infrared Digital Surveillance Camera. The CyberEye is a Motion Detection Camera that takes black & white photos, is completely self-contained, and with motion detection, the camera that will take pictures of whatever is in front of its lens, whenever motion is detected, day or night with it’s built in Infrared lights. The CyberEye can be set to record images at any rate between one and sixty seconds, up to 680 images before the memory is full.

Because the CyberEye is a tiny, self contained camera, you can set up anywhere in your home, office, or vehicle. You can point it out a window and it won’t affect the image. One interesting use is to put the CyberEye in your car to catch vandals who might be damaging it, or spraying graffiti on your fence. Simply activate the CyberEye up with the included remote control, and you can leave knowing your CyberEye Surveillance Camera will record any movement. If you have children or pets, they will trigger the motion detection, so it’s best to use this where your children don’t play.

To see your images, just plug the CyberEye into a TV or VCR, and then use the remote to scroll through the images to find the ones you are looking for. Then, you can record the images to the VCR, or you can use a Camcorder to record the images to tape, and then dump that into your computer so you can make a CD or DVD. It won’t connect directly to your PC, as there is no USB port. The images are stored in non-volatile memory, so you can’t loose them if your battery dies or the power goes out.