Ok, so I just ordered a mirror for my Z that was pulled from a Nissan Maxima, I think. It's the auto-dimming, built-in compass, blah-ditty-blah-blah which I don't care about, but it has the Homelink system in it. Meaning I can program it for my garage door and it'll look factory (it was an upgrade option on my Z). I currently have a ~$35 opener from Lowe's that doesn't work unless I'm sitting in the garage. Fat lotta good that does me... I can get out, but not back in. Since I have a wall-mounted button, I don't really need an opener for getting OUT.
So... I park the Z in the garage, and the wife parks her Escape in the garage.
My niece is in college and she has a Camry and uses the old opener to get in and out because she parks on the street. Well, she will when she comes back from Italy later this week anyways.
And since I have the Z, I park my Tahoe either in the drive behind my Z (which is inside) or on the side of the house in the grass. The Tahoe has a center console up top with 2 programmed door-remote buttons. I've never thought about it in the past, because the Tahoe was always parked in the garage... but now I realized that the garage door opener on the Tahoe is always powered, not ignition-powered. So if someone gets in my truck, they can open the garage door. Not good.
Now, I have a super whiz-bang alarm on the truck, with multiple sirens, inside and out, battery backup, etc. But... I still don't feel all that comfortable with it, and I am going to have my alarm guy rewire it so the garage-door remote controller built-in is switched power instead of constant power. So it won't work unless the key is in. It may be slightly less convenient at times, but it's the best option I can think of.
The niece will continue to park on the street, and I am considering doing the same for her car... buying one of these Homelink mirrors, having it installed and having it only switched power, not full-time. She also has a high-end 2-way paging alarm on her car (always one of my first investments in a vehicle).
Inside the garage, we have only a crappy hollow-core door leading into the house. One swift kick by a 9-y/o girl and it's shattered. I know I need to fix this... I am going to put in a solid-core door and move the existing keyed lock and deadbolt into it.
We do have an alarm system with an entry sensor on the interior door coming in from the garage, but no sensors on the garage itself or the single small window into the garage. I'm wondering if I should put entry sensors also on the garage doors? But this will complicate things significantly when coming or going, as you only have a 60-second window from arming to close all entry sensors, or when opening one to disarm the alarm. I believe we could change that to a couple of minutes, but I am a bit concerned that this substantially reduces the effectiveness of the alarm in a smash-and-grab situation. When unloading kids, groceries, etc, no way 60 seconds to get into the garage, out of the vehicle, into the house and disarm is feasible on a regular basis.
Open to ideas... do you guys have the in-car mounted garage-door openers and still park outside? Do you know how this affects your home security? And if so what have you done to improve things, or have you done anything? We don't always think through these things, sometimes, and this one stood out to me lately as something I really need to fix. Kinda like how people will lock all their doors and windows, but don't think about the window air conditioning unit hanging out a window in the back of the house...
Tell me what you think? Any better ideas? I really would like the garage doors (and that window in the garage, ultimately) tied in to the home alarm somehow, but I'm not sure if it's feasible, really.
So... I park the Z in the garage, and the wife parks her Escape in the garage.
My niece is in college and she has a Camry and uses the old opener to get in and out because she parks on the street. Well, she will when she comes back from Italy later this week anyways.
And since I have the Z, I park my Tahoe either in the drive behind my Z (which is inside) or on the side of the house in the grass. The Tahoe has a center console up top with 2 programmed door-remote buttons. I've never thought about it in the past, because the Tahoe was always parked in the garage... but now I realized that the garage door opener on the Tahoe is always powered, not ignition-powered. So if someone gets in my truck, they can open the garage door. Not good.
Now, I have a super whiz-bang alarm on the truck, with multiple sirens, inside and out, battery backup, etc. But... I still don't feel all that comfortable with it, and I am going to have my alarm guy rewire it so the garage-door remote controller built-in is switched power instead of constant power. So it won't work unless the key is in. It may be slightly less convenient at times, but it's the best option I can think of.
The niece will continue to park on the street, and I am considering doing the same for her car... buying one of these Homelink mirrors, having it installed and having it only switched power, not full-time. She also has a high-end 2-way paging alarm on her car (always one of my first investments in a vehicle).
Inside the garage, we have only a crappy hollow-core door leading into the house. One swift kick by a 9-y/o girl and it's shattered. I know I need to fix this... I am going to put in a solid-core door and move the existing keyed lock and deadbolt into it.
We do have an alarm system with an entry sensor on the interior door coming in from the garage, but no sensors on the garage itself or the single small window into the garage. I'm wondering if I should put entry sensors also on the garage doors? But this will complicate things significantly when coming or going, as you only have a 60-second window from arming to close all entry sensors, or when opening one to disarm the alarm. I believe we could change that to a couple of minutes, but I am a bit concerned that this substantially reduces the effectiveness of the alarm in a smash-and-grab situation. When unloading kids, groceries, etc, no way 60 seconds to get into the garage, out of the vehicle, into the house and disarm is feasible on a regular basis.
Open to ideas... do you guys have the in-car mounted garage-door openers and still park outside? Do you know how this affects your home security? And if so what have you done to improve things, or have you done anything? We don't always think through these things, sometimes, and this one stood out to me lately as something I really need to fix. Kinda like how people will lock all their doors and windows, but don't think about the window air conditioning unit hanging out a window in the back of the house...
Tell me what you think? Any better ideas? I really would like the garage doors (and that window in the garage, ultimately) tied in to the home alarm somehow, but I'm not sure if it's feasible, really.
