Security

Security on the small-office menu meant sensors and a control box of that era: door contacts, motion detectors, a siren, and cameras that recorded to a DVR in a closet. It was not a subscription listed as a phone plan.

A magnetic contact is two parts. The gap between them has to stay inside the spec, often well under an inch, or the zone shows open with the door shut. Motion sensors see heat moving across their pattern. A sensor aimed at a sunny window false-alarms. Cameras of this catalog needed a cable for video and power, unless the kit was an early wireless set with a short range and a hungry battery. The recorder's drive is the piece that dies. A camera with a black image and a live power light is often the cable or the input on the recorder, which you can test by moving that cable to a known-good input.