Fake TV Burglar Deterrent Review
Home security and burglar deterrence should be thought of as ‘layers’, layers of security that you apply to achieve a more impenetrable home. Not only are there many ‘hardening’ aspects to home security, but there are others such as ‘illusional’. In addition to external deterrents such as motion lights, security stickers, and a host of others, consider what the INSIDE of your home looks like from the OUTSIDE to a potential burglar. If you are away on a trip, or even simply out for the evening, what are the things that you can do to make it appear as though someone is at home, inside.
In addition to things like a 24-hour timer hooked up to a light that will turn on as you programmed it, what is it that most everyone does for awhile in the evening? They watch TV! I know if I were a burglar casing out a home in the evening, if I simply saw a few lights on inside and NO TV, I may assume that the chances are high that no one is home. Well I’ve found a solution for that, and have been using it myself for awhile now when we are away on trips. That thing is a Fake TV! More accurately, it is a device that simulates a TV by producing a realistic flickering light.
The light it emits is realistic in that it is sourced from multicolored LED’s behind prism lenses that diffuse the light into the room, reflecting off the walls, ceiling, and windows. The randomness of the flickering is extraordinarily similar that of a real TV. The intensity changes, the color and hue changes, and the speed at which the flickering happens is identical to scene changes on TV… some rapid, some slower.
(image above is only a simulation of the Fake-TV, which itself is indistinguishable from real TV)
The image above shows the prism lenses as well as the rows of colored LED’s behind them.
The Fake TV has several settings that work with a switch and/or light sensor that knows when it is getting dark in the room. It can be set to run for 4-hours or 7-hours after dusk. You may choose to connect the Fake TV to a 24-hour timer so that you can adjust the same time of night when you would normally be watching TV.
The following video illustrates some of the features of the Fake TV.
I believe this is a unique burglar deterrent, and an effective one. Consider adding this to an additional layer of your home security…
Check it out here…
FakeTV FTV-10 Burglar Deterrent
If what you are showing here is that device, the light flickering must be a random pattern, mimicing a tv program. if it’s an even light change, someone will be able to tell it’s not a real tv. That’s just my opinion.
If you watch the video, I show a bit of it in action. I’ve had this device for about 6 months, and the reflection that it creates on the walls, shades, windows, etc, definitely creates an illusion just like a real TV. The image that I inserted in the article is just an animated GIF of several snapshots that I took and stitched together, for effect. Since you have confused the particular image with what you believe to be the actual pattern behavior of the device, I should probably remove the image so as not to confuse others. It does not represent the actual device random pattern in any way.
Most likely uses a random number generator so no 2 patterns are alike. Nice touch. If you’d like to take a level of deterrence to the outside of your home, Information Unlimited has ultrasonic devices, one of which uses transducers mounted under the eves around your home and is pointed towards entrances of the home. It can be activated by motion sensor or remote control. It runs at frequencies above audible levels at very high db pressures giving anyone approaching your home bad feelings, headache and nausea. The closer they get, the worse their bad vibes get. It’s a bit spendy at $400 but a great way to make any one or any thing think twice about getting anywhere near your home. Added benefit, no more neighbors dog poop in the yard..LOL!
Thanks, Ken. It seems my tracking protection didn’t allow me to see any videos. Up to now, I’ve had to leave my tv on when we went out. I’ll definitely look into this!
Hello Spook89
You really cannot tell the difference between the light from FakeTV and real TV even with a lab full of expensive optical test equipment, which I have. It’s not just randomized, but it statistically weights the output to change what kind of programming it is producing. For awhile it might have a greenish cast (outdoor scene) or bluish (sky), might be static (news) or dynamic.
Cordially,
Rein Teder
Engineer, designer of FakeTV
(and Patriot!)
@Rein, That’s quite a coincidence that you happen to find us and this article of your product on our blog! I must say, your explanation is right on. It’s changing light mimics the overall TV programing in several ways which all work together to produce an extremely realistic simulation. Nice product! (Maybe you should consider to advertise with us
)
So this thing sounds interesting but there is only one reason I would buy it instead of a timer for my regular TV, and that would be power consumption (I already have a tv, I don’t need something to pretend to be one, I just need a timer for it). What is the power consumption of the FakeTV vs. a regular TV?
A timer will NOT work (turn ON the TV) with most TV’s today. Applying power to the plug of typical TV’s do NOT turn them on. Turning on a TV requires pressing another button on the TV or remote control while the TV is already plugged in. I’m sure that some TV’s have a setting to enable power-on when the power plug is activated, but I believe that most do not.
I haven’t measured it, by the Fake TV only draws ‘milliamps’ since LED’s hardly use any power. Miniscule.
Do you know if this will set off seizures in seizure patients? Just curious. Might wanna turn it on and look away. Flashing lights can set off seizures in some people or set off migraines.
I would speculate (opinion) that if a person is prone to seizures by watching regular TV, then this device may be the same.
I completely agree with your thoughts about security as being layers. There really is no one solution. You can, for example, have enough firepower to stave off an army, but it does not help you if you do not happen to be home when the bad guy comes! Thus, the usefulness of illusions such as FakeTV.
On the other hand, the burglar could think you’re home, but decide to break in anyway. At the very least you need good locks.
Security is a mindset. Be vigilant, and you never need to rise to the level of “worried.”
We purchased two “fake tv’s” — one for the bedroom, one for the living room. Set them on timers. We live on the 2nd floor so it does look like the tv is on in each room. We also leave a radio playing to a talk-radio show. And our lamps are on timers set to go off and on at different times. We also have two loud dogs. Some real and some fake security cameras.