A Glass Break sensor does exactly what it sounds like it does—detect the breaking of glass. It's a device that will set off your security alarm in case an intruder smashes a window or sliding door to enter your house. That kind of aggressive break-in is the worst-case scenario for your home. Fortunately, it isn't actually all that common. Most burglaries happen through an unlocked front door, but if it is locked, a glass viewing pane or decorative piece in the door is an easy target to break for access to the lock from inside. A Glass Break sensor is a secondary piece of security hardware. It can help prevent and protect against these kinds of possible crimes if locks, cameras, and door or window sensors fail to deter the burglar. A Glass Break sensor is part of a multi-layered home protection system. It can be a backup for your other sensors and give you extra peace of mind knowing you have all your bases covered.

Glass Break sensors are most effective for windows that don't open from outside but are easily accessible from the ground—the kind an intruder might like to force their way in through. These are also the types of windows you most likely wouldn't need to put window contact sensors on either, although you can certainly use a Glass Break detector as a backup for windows that already have magnetic open and close detectors installed.

There are two main types of Glass Break detectors: Shock Sensor and Acoustic Sensor. Acoustic Glass Break sensors are tuned to an audio frequency that is produced by large panes of glass shattering or breaking. A microphone inside the sensor can pick up on the unique auditory signature of glass breaking within 15 feet from any angle. Because of their range, they can be mounted on the wall or ceiling of a room and monitor more than one window at a time. However, they could be accidentally set off by the sounds of other glass breaking nearby, such as a drinking glass being dropped, so a kitchen might not be the best place for them. The acoustic Glass Break detector is a small, square device that looks a little like a smoke detector, and when mounted on the ceiling, becomes just as unnoticeable and dependable.

Shock-style Glass Break detectors, on the other hand, work by detecting the physical vibrations of the window pane. The device attaches directly to the surface of the glass and sets off an alarm if it senses vibrations that match that of glass shattering. These types of detectors are older than acoustic sensors, and are usually wired instead of wireless. They're quite noticeable on the glass, which could show a potential burglar that the home is protected, but a simple sticker could do as much. They're also a little more prone to false alarms than their acoustic counterparts. A kid's soccer ball bouncing off of the window could potentially trigger the shock sensor, even if the glass doesn't break. More commonly, a nearby door slamming too loudly triggers false alarms in a shock or vibration sensor.

A Glass Break sensor isn’t much security on its own, but as a part of a complete home security system, it provides that extra layer of protection and redundancy for your other devices. It's that extra piece of mind that gives you confidence in the reliability of your system.

One of the best benefits to having a Glass Break sensor is the ability to cover multiple windows at once. The microphone inside the detector is capable of picking up the sound of breaking glass from 15 feet away, so if it's placed strategically in the room, it can hear an intruder breaking in from more than one possible location.

Glass Break sensors can be used in conjunction with motion sensors and door and window sensors to more accurately and dependably monitor your home for any security threats. If a burglar wanted to sneak past door and window alarms, they wouldn't be able to smash through the glass in order to disable the contact sensors and get away with it.

In order to know which Glass Break sensor will work best in your home, you'll need an understanding of what vulnerabilities need to be covered in your home or apartment. Obviously you'll want to keep the house locked up and the porch light on, but you'll also need door sensors and window sensors for common or easy entry points. Then you'll need to account for which windows or glass panes in doors will need to be covered by motion detectors and Glass Break sensors. Once you've got an idea of which areas of your home will need these devices, you can start looking for the security provider that will work best for you.

Ideally, the best Glass Break sensors will be acoustic instead of shock sensing, and wireless instead of hard wired. You'll want to choose one that syncs with the rest of your interior protection devices and hardware so that you can rely on the devices properly connecting and communicating with the central interface. Home security systems that are put together with a jumble of different brands and signals end up being unreliable and more costly than a single unified system.

Cove's complete Life Safety System provides your home with a reliable, wireless, acoustic Glass Break detector to support your other devices like door sensors, window sensors, and motion sensors. The Glass Break sensor is easy to pair with and name in the Cove Touch Panel to identify the room or area of the house it will be installed in. After pairing, installation is simply peel and stick.

The Cove Life Safety System can also provide disaster detection like smoke and fire detection, flood sensing, carbon monoxide monitoring, and even fall detection for those at risk. You can also get a remote control to arm or disarm your system from outside the house. However you decide to customize your DIY home security package, you'll still get 24/7 live monitoring of the system in case any security event happens at your home.