Home Hacking Projects for Geeks

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Monitoring and Alerting

Part III: Home Security

to the Off position sends an X10 Off signal. Of course, it would still be pos-

sible for a clever, knowledgeable intruder to connect an X10 transmitter to

a power receptacle on the outside of your house to disarm your system, but

again, they would have to know how you implemented your security sys-

tem, and I’m assuming that you’re not babbling on about such things while

standing in line at your local coffee shop.

To install a lock switch, you’ll need to drill a hole from the outside of your

house, and then run the wires through the wall to a Powerflash Interface

inside your home. If you’re just building your house, it’s easiest to install

a lock switch after the outside walls have gone up, but before the drywall

inside your house has been installed. It’s certainly possible to retrofit it to

an existing house, but you’ll have to drill through the drywall to pull the

wires through.

If you have an old laptop or PDA lying around, you could place it near the

entry (or perhaps even build it directly into the wall). Then, you could use

the computer to arm and disarm the alarm system. If you have a touch-

screen, you could even tap out a PIN with your fingertips. The computer

could then send a signed, encrypted message to your alarm system across a

wired or wireless network. Certainly, it’s more secure than X10 messages.

Monitoring ...