Give Your Home an Occupied Look
If your home appears occupied, the burglar will usually look for
other, more inviting sites.
- City of Sugarland, Texas Crime Prevention Tips
Why You Need More than a Light on a Timer
A light on a timer is a great idea, and we still recommend that you use one. It can be seen from the street, and gives a good first impression. But timers are commonplace, and burglars know this, so a timer is not enough. Worse, lights are static. But the light from a television is something entirely different. It is constantly changing, and gives the impression of "alive." FakeTV recreates that light, and recreates that impression.
So why not just put a television on a timer? It will not work! Modern televisions turn on with push-buttons, so they will not turn on from an external timer. So why not just leave a television on whenever you are away? Well, aside from consuming a lot of power needlessly, televisions get gradually dimmer with time. Does it make sense to use up the life of an expensive TV when nobody is watching it?
As seen on NBC's TechNow! |
|
|
Click here to see the video by NBC's Scott McGrew |
|
The Solution is FakeTV
|
Using FakeTV could not be simpler. Place FakeTV where it will light up a room, but you cannot see the FakeTV unit itself. A second floor room is ideal, but a first floor room with translucent shades or blinds works fine, too. Then, each evening at dusk FakeTV's built-in light sensor will turn the unit on. FakeTV turns off automatically after a switch-selectable time. Burglars will almost always circle a home once before entering. They are looking for the easiest way in, and looking for signs of life. FakeTV gives them just those signs! Few burglars will enter a home that they think is occupied. |
Click here to see a video clip of FakeTV in action
This gives you an idea of what the FakeTV itself looks like, but not really the effect. To see that, you want to look at the room that FakeTV is illuminating. To know what that looks like, just turn on your television in a dark room, and look at the wall opposite the TV. To get an idea of the impression that FakeTV gives, step outside your home at night with the television on. The very characteristic light from the TV triggers mental cues that you associate with "people home". See this for yourself-- the psychological effect is far more powerful than we can can describe here.
For this clip, we chose a short time when the FakeTV unit happened to be very active. Other times, and just like a real television, FakeTV is relatively static. We allowed no telltale signs that would permit the bad guy tell whether or not this was the real thing, even if he was looking for it.
Quality in Every Detail
|
|
FakeTV is extraordinarily simple to use and well thought-out. The highest quality components are assembled to produce a quality product that you will enjoy for years to come. Our core business as a company is automotive sensors and controls-- we are familiar with needing to produce high reliability at a low cost.
FakeTV becomes part of your home, and we have designed it as such. Yes, it is highly functional, but it is also attractive. The opalescent diffuser lens gives a pretty glow, and the optical illusion formed by the LEDs on the screen is frankly fascinating to watch. (Although we discourage you from doing so-- it is never healthy to look at any bright light source for an extended period of time.)
Outstanding Value
Superbright LEDs are a new technology, and real LED lighting is real expensive. Sure, battery-operated, landfill-ready LED lighting is really cheap, but essentially useless. FakeTV costs only about double the cost of a plug-in LED lamp of equivalent light output. For such a modest cost difference you get not just a lamp, but a computer-controlled television simulator, and all of the peace of mind that comes with knowing it looks like someone is at home.
How did we deliver this much value? FakeTV is manufactured by Xenso, a leading Malaysian automotive industry supplier, in an ISO/TS16949 certified factory. Xenso is used to making high volume, low cost products that need to meet exacting quality standards. And, frankly we get a great price on the Superbright LED's, through a special arrangement with Kodenshi, a leading Korean opto-electronics supplier. These factors make FakeTV remarkably affordable. How many ways can you make your home a bit safer for less than $50?
What if I Already Have a Burglar Alarm System?
You have an alarm system-- great! You reduce your odds of a break-in by roughly 2/3. What about the remaining 1/3? Thieves can still cause you much misery in a "smash and grab" robbery. You still want to make your home look occupied, and FakeTV goes a long way to creating the "somebody is home" impression.
Neither FakeTV nor even an elaborate
and expensive occupation simulation system (such things exist!) can
guarantee you will not have a break in. We do want to give the
impression that you should ever slack off your security precautions. But, you can make your
home look occupied, and thus improve your odds, for a remarkably
modest price, and with no hassle at all. 
Improve Peace of Mind When You are Away
FakeTV Video Demonstration
|
||||||||||||||
The FakeTV® brand of television light simulator is custom manufactured in Malaysia by Xenso Sdn. Bhd.