A standby generator spends most of its life waiting. That makes it easy to assume that if it starts for its weekly exercise, everything must be fine. Unfortunately, hearing the engine run does not prove that the generator is ready to power your home. During an outage, the generator must start, produce stable electricity, transfer your home from utility power to generator power, carry the connected loads and then transfer everything back safely when utility power returns. Prop

Standby generator quotes in Florida can range from $11,000 to $22,000—but price alone rarely tells the whole story. Learn how sizing, fuel, installation scope and post-installation support affect the real cost.

A security alarm tells the monitoring station that something happened. A door opened. A window was broken. A motion detector activated. But the alarm signal alone usually can't answer the most important question: Why? That's where video verification changes the process. 1. The alarm happens Suppose your security system is armed and the back door opens. Your system immediately sends the alarm to the monitoring station. The operator can see which device triggered and where it i

Most security cameras work the same basic way: something happens, the camera records it, and you watch the video afterward. Alarm.com cameras can be set up to respond while the event is happening. Here's how it works. 1. Tell the camera what you want it to watch Alarm.com's Video Analytics can distinguish between people, vehicles and animals. More importantly, we can create specific areas and virtual tripwires in the camera's view and determine which activity matters. For exa

Your Alarm.com app from SmartShield Homes can do more than control the security system at your house. There are several features designed specifically around the safety of the people using it—including when they're away from home. Here are three worth knowing about. 1. Safety Button: Get help wherever you are Open Safety Button in the Alarm.com app and you'll see a button you can press and hold when you're in a situation where you don't feel safe. As long as you're holding th