Alarm System Price in Kenya: Priced Parts Lists for a Flat and a House

A wired burglar alarm for a two-bedroom apartment, built around a Risco LightSYS 8-zone kit, comes to KSh 32,640 in parts from our shop. A four-bedroom house on the larger Risco LightSYS Plus panel comes to KSh 60,030, or KSh 43,530 if you use the 8-zone kit instead. Both lists are itemised below with every price, so you can add or drop detectors and see the effect.

Installation labour is not in these figures; it is quoted separately once we know the layout and how the cable will be run. For context, typical market ranges seen in 2026 for a basic installed alarm are around KSh 15,000 to KSh 30,000 on installer sites. The lists here cost more than that because they use a branded, expandable panel with an LCD keypad rather than a no-name kit.

What an alarm system is made of

• Control panel and keypad. The panel is the brain: it watches every zone, runs entry and exit delays, sounds the siren and holds the standby battery. You arm and disarm at the keypad.
• Motion detectors (PIRs). Infrared sensors that pick up a warm body moving across a room. Ours is a pet-immune model with a wide-angle pattern, designed to be mounted at about 2.4 m.
• Magnetic door contacts. A reed switch on the frame and a magnet on the door. Opening the door trips the zone.
• Vibration (shock) sensors. Fixed to window frames, grilles or a weak wall, they trip when someone forces or hammers at them, before the intruder is inside. Sensitivity is adjustable.
• Siren and strobe. The noise that drives intruders off and alerts neighbours, with a flashing light so responders can find the right house.
• Cable and fixings. Alarm cable from each device back to the panel, and glue to fix it neatly along cornices and skirting.

Two-bedroom apartment: parts list and price

This covers a typical flat with one main door, a balcony or kitchen door, a lounge, a kitchen and a corridor leading to the bedrooms. Intruders in apartments usually come through the main door or the balcony, so those are covered twice: a contact on the door and a motion detector in the room behind it.

Zone plan (6 of 8 zones used): zone 1 main door contact with entry delay; zone 2 balcony or kitchen door contact; zones 3 to 5 motion sensors in the lounge, kitchen and bedroom corridor; zone 6 the two vibration sensors on the balcony or window grilles, wired in series. That leaves two spare zones for, say, a motion sensor in a bedroom later.

Four-bedroom house: parts list and price

A standalone house has more ways in: front door, kitchen door, patio sliders, a garage or DSQ, and ground-floor windows. This list uses the LightSYS Plus panel, which has built-in Wi-Fi and IP communication and room to grow to wireless detectors and cameras later.

Swap the LightSYS Plus for the 8-zone kit and the same house comes to KSh 43,530 (KSh 16,500 less). Our listing for the 8-zone kit confirms a keypad in the box; for the Plus panel, confirm with us whether a keypad is included in the price, because if not it is an extra item.

Zone plan (8 zones): zone 1 front door with entry delay; zone 2 kitchen, patio and garage door contacts in series; zone 3 the six window vibration sensors in series; zones 4 to 8 motion sensors in the lounge, dining and kitchen area, entrance hall, upstairs landing and garage or DSQ. Grouping devices on one zone keeps the house on the panel's on-board zones. The trade-off is that the keypad shows "zone 3" rather than which window, so if you want each window or door reported separately, the panel needs a zone expander or wireless detectors; ask us for those prices.

The upstairs landing sensor is placed so the family can arm the ground floor at night while moving between bedrooms. Use the panel's stay or part-arm mode for that and leave the landing zone out of the night setting.

Wired or wireless

Everything priced above is wired. Wired detectors draw power from the panel, so there are no detector batteries to replace, and a cable is harder to jam than a radio signal. The cost is labour: cable has to be run neatly to every detector, which is easy during construction and slower in a finished, painted house.

Wireless detectors save that labour and suit rentals or finished homes where you do not want cable on the walls. They run on batteries that need replacing, and each one costs more than its wired equivalent. The LightSYS Plus listing gives up to 256 wireless zones, so a mixed system is common: wired detectors where cable is easy to hide, wireless ones in awkward rooms. Wireless detectors are not in our online catalogue at the moment, so ask us before you plan around them.

Cable, mounting and avoiding false alarms

• Use 6-core for detectors. A motion sensor needs two cores for power, two for the alarm contact and two for the tamper switch. Our 8-core cable (KSh 1,800 per 100 m) and 12-core cable (KSh 3,500 per 100 m) are for keypads and runs that serve more than one device. 4-core cable is also stocked but leaves no spare pair for tamper.
• Run every device back to the panel. Each detector gets its own cable to the panel, which makes faults easy to trace later.
• Place motion sensors with care. Mount at the height on the listing, in a corner looking across the room, not at a window, cooker, heater or ceiling fan. Pet immunity helps with dogs and cats on the floor, but a cat on a sofa near the sensor can still trigger it.
• Set vibration sensors low to start. Fixed to a grille or frame that rattles in the wind or when a matatu passes, a sensitive setting produces false alarms. Start low and raise it only as far as needed.
• Siren where it can be heard and not easily reached. High on an outside wall, under the eave if the kit is not rated for open weather.

Battery backup and power cuts

An alarm that dies when KPLC goes off leaves the house unprotected at the moment the compound is dark and the electric fence may be down too. The panel needs a sealed standby battery connected to its power supply, which then runs the panel, keypad, detectors and siren through the outage and recharges when mains returns. The battery is not included in the totals above; ask us for the current price. How long it lasts depends on the number of detectors and how often the siren sounds, so test the system with mains switched off after installation, and replace the battery every few years or sooner if it no longer holds a charge.

For alerts on your phone or a link to an armed-response company, the LightSYS Plus has Wi-Fi and IP communication built in. On the 8-zone kit, a communication module is usually added for that; confirm what your setup needs when ordering.

Next steps

A burglar alarm detects intruders, not smoke or fire. If you also need fire detection, especially in a business, read our fire alarm systems guide. For a wider comparison of wired, wireless and GSM alarms, see the home burglar alarm systems guide.

We supply and install alarms in Nairobi. Elsewhere in Kenya, the parts above are delivered for a flat KSh 300 with cash on delivery, and for installation in your town, call or WhatsApp us to discuss your site. Send your floor plan or a few photos on WhatsApp at +254 718 811 661 or through the contact page, and browse the full alarms and intrusion range.