Many parents use a wireless baby monitor to remotely monitor their babies while they are sleeping. This allows the parents to go elsewhere in the house and relax or tend to other household duties while being secure in the knowledge that their baby is sleeping safe and sound in the nursery.
Baby monitors are family-friendly surveillance systems that transmit sound and images between child units and parent units. While signals between units may be transmitted over cables or wirelessly, most baby monitors are wireless setups. A wireless baby monitor system uses radio frequencies to transmit sound and/or images between the baby unit and parent unit. Though not as common, baby monitoring systems can also be hard-wired. A wired baby monitor system uses wiring/cable to transmit sound and/or images between the baby unit and parent unit
Originally, wireless baby monitors were based on analog technology so were very susceptible to interference from devices like cordless phones and microwave ovens. These days this is a thing of the past as digital technology has brought us more reliable monitoring units which have improved considerably and are far more reliable – for an affordable cost.
Using a wireless baby monitor will present many benefits for parents.
- No hazardous wires: You don’t have to worry about annoying and unmanageable wires poking out every which way. Also, as your baby grows, wires can pose a problem since the little one is likely going to try to reach them and pull on them
- Portable : The first being that they are portable, you will be able to keep a close watch on baby no matter what you are doing. Some are small and ligh enough and come with belt clips to clip onto clothing. Also, with a baby monitor strapped to you most of the day check its battery life as it may need charging up after a few hours. Examine the range of monitors that are on the market to determine one which is small enough and light enough to be carried but doesn’t sacrifice battery life.
- Dual Power Sources: They are completely wireless and can run on both batteries or main power by being charged up first.
- Impressive Range: Some wireless baby monitors can work up to 300 feet! So you can be pretty sure that no matter where you are in the home, you will know how your baby is doing whether she is on the couch in the living room or her crib in the nursery.
Wired baby monitors are far less popular as they need to be properly installed and cables run around your house. They don’t offer a great deal of flexibility as they are fixed on location. You will need to always be in the same room as the receiver unit in order to hear the sounds from your baby. One advantage of wired baby monitors have over wireless systems is in the larger house. Wireless monitors may run out of range and not work at all in a very large house whereas a wired system will continue to work fine, regardless of the size of the house.
Applications Of Wireless Baby Monitors
- Audio Baby Monitors -While most can only transmit one-way, that is, only allowing you to listen to what is happening in the nursery through the parent’s unit, others allow you to maintain a two way communication system, like walkie talkies. You can hear your baby and your baby can hear your voice too.
- Video Baby Monitors – While a basic, audible type baby monitor will work fine for listening to sounds made by your baby but what if you would actually like to watch you baby whilst they are sleeping? Technology has advanced to the point where you can not only hear your baby but see your baby too. Most modern models will include a video monitoring option with a small LCD on the parent device, allowing you to watch whatever is going on.
- Use its special features -Many models come packed with useful extra functions that most people will never think to use or never consider to be important. Two of the most common are the mute and vibrate functions. If all you are interested in is knowing when the baby cries, you can simply mute the device and have it activate an alarm whenever the ambient sound exceeds a particular decibel level. Most wireless baby monitors even have a vibrate function that will alert you physically if you are unable to hear the device for any other
Radio Frequencies for Wireless Baby Monitors
When shopping for a wireless baby monitor, you will want to consider the radio frequency used by the system. Most baby monitoring systems operate on a 49 MHz, 900 MHz, or 2.4 GHz frequency. Some of the most advanced models use the newer 1.9 GHz frequency (DECT Technology). The various bandwidths can vary in performance and you will need to determine which radio frequency will work best for your situation.
The radio frequencies used by wireless baby monitors are not the same ones assigned to television and radio broadcast transmitters, but they are used by many other household items.
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