self monitored home alarm system

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#245342 30-Jan-2019 10:19

I am wanting to install a good home alarm with self monitoring over the mobile network (2degrees if possible) anyone recommend a good quality one?

Happy to spend more for a high quality one and if any Geekzone member happy to sell me one even better and install

Thanks

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#2170096 30-Jan-2019 11:19

I use arrowhead alarms with an ip module. Get notifications via their mobile app. Though nowadays, i use that less and depend on getting notifications via my camera surveillance system.

nzlogan

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#2170147 30-Jan-2019 13:21

I've installed a few Bosch Solution 3000s coupled with fixed wireless terminals (and use the domestic dial feature for monitoring). Figured this way would be more reliable than self IP monitoring - in the event that internet was disconnected.

Downside of doing this is that the domestic dial feature doesn't provide any information on which zones have been activated, but all sites have cameras with remote viewing anyway so not an issue for us.

I've used these fixed wireless terminals which work on the Spark network (the seller will have ones which work on 2 Degrees). Haven't had any issues so far, and some of them have been running for a few years - and they get tested regularly.

You can purchase more expensive units locally (which are probably more reliable) - e.g. this and this

Edit: clarification

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#2170152 30-Jan-2019 13:28

Thanks for the responses and Arrow head alarms look really good and should do the trick

John

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#2170241 30-Jan-2019 14:30

If you go for the Elite-S series, I have two keypads that are no use to me if you want them for postage

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premiumtouring

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#2170251 30-Jan-2019 15:03

If the house is prewired (there's an existing alarm, siren and sensors) you can actually modernise it by retrofitting the control unit with a Konnected Alarm. Link Konnected to Home Assistant and you've got yourself an alarm with endless possibilities.

I have my Konnected Board replacing a 2017 Bosch Alarm Panel, but utilising all of the excellent quality and pre-wired motion sensors and sirens.

I use Custom Alarm for Home Assistant, and have set up an automation that when all tracked devices (my phone and my partner's phone) are not at home for more than 5 minutes, to send a Rich Push Notification to our phones with [Instant Arm] [Delayed Arm]. This even pops up on my Apple Watch.

The best part is when it detects either of our phones on the network (literally as we pull up to the drive way) to automatically disarm the alarm.

When the alarm isn't active, you can use the sensors as part of your home automation. For example, I now use the motion sensors to turn lights off an on. Specifically movement on the stairs after 10PM automatically turns on a Koogeek LED strip to 20% brightness for 5 minutes so that you don't need to turn the lights off and on as you move around the house at night.

There was someone hanging around my fence the other week and I got a notification from my CCTV. I opened Home Assistant and remotely did a Siren burst for a few seconds. All while the alarm remained active. That spooked them and they disappeared pretty quickly.

Self monitoring today is definitely for the geek, but Home Assistant with Hass.io is getting better and better all the time and well worth a look if you want to have more control with very little coding (mainly just scripting).

Edit: Fixed links.

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#2170285 30-Jan-2019 16:09

@premiumtouring Pity the house is not pre-wired would be awesome if it was

John

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#2170287 30-Jan-2019 16:10

@danielfaulknor Thanks for the offer waiting for the installer to call me back and sort out time and date so will keep that in mind

John

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#2170347 30-Jan-2019 19:17

Satel its a polish panel, we use them for temporary site alarms and you can use their app on a prepay sim if you like as the gsm module is also built in to the panel, really easy to get going and good support here in nz

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#2170360 30-Jan-2019 19:31

Have to say I also have a Konnected solution - agree that it is awesome.

You might be able to just buy the sensors rather than the central unit, they seem pretty simple and run off 12/24V so easy to install.

This looks like a good selection $50-60 per sensor):

https://www.alarmwarehouse.co.nz/shop/show_products2.php?cat=34&sub_cat=21&sub_sub=7

Jon

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#2170363 30-Jan-2019 19:39

The Konnected website does a terrible job of saying what it does. Seems like the content was written by / for someone who understands what is does, rather than for someone who's curious about their product.

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#2170398 30-Jan-2019 20:09

timmmay:
The Konnected website does a terrible job of saying what it does. Seems like the content was written by / for someone who understands what is does, rather than for someone who's curious about their product.

Yeah agree, took me a while to figure it out. Essentially a home alarm has a central control unit, a series of wireless or wired sensors and a control pad. The Konnected board replaces the central control unit so you wire the sensors to it and you no longer need a keypad.

It then connects via WiFi to a raspberry pi or other home server that runs HomeAssistant (not sure that we can get the Samsung smart things option in NZ?). I have it communicating to HA using the MQTT protocol - i think it does an auto detection and config now.

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#2170404 30-Jan-2019 20:26

Sounds like a good thing for a tinkerer, but maybe a standard alarm system is better for most as it's simple, reliable, battery packed up, no reliance on WiFi which would also need battery backup, etc.

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#2170460 30-Jan-2019 20:57

timmmay:
Sounds like a good thing for a tinkerer, but maybe a standard alarm system is better for most as it's simple, reliable, battery packed up, no reliance on WiFi which would also need battery backup, etc.

Agree - definitely not an off the shelf solution :)

The thing I haven’t got to, but is mentioned above and I am most excited about is using the sensors for turning lights on and off.

Worth noting Home Assistant also has a reasonably good connection to HomeKit if that is of interest.

Jon

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#2170501 31-Jan-2019 00:20

So Konnected was explained best by its Kickstarter campaign.. The website could be better marketed but it seems to be mainly playing the post-kickstarter "support" role, and I don't think Nate from @konnected is struggling for business at the moment so it's probably not high on the priority list.

You're 100% correct that for some people an off the shelf solution would be better suited. I just figured I'd mention it in case there was a pre-existing alarm. That and the is the DIY section of Geekzone so I would anticipate sleeves being rolled up for potentially fun projects such as these.

There are plenty off the shelf solutions out there.

Most of them are about $400-800, DIY. First on that comes to my mind is the Chuango series of Alarms.. see here: https://securityalarmservices.co.nz/collections/3g/products/premium-260

These are closed loop systems so they only work with that brand's specific components. Things aren't interchangeable. But they accept NZ sim cards.

We had Smanos set up in one of our warehouses in the US and while it worked, some of the components such as the door sensors gave quite a few false-positives.

Personally I just detest the idea of changing batteries on these things, but in reality, going around the house once a year isn't the end of the world.

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#2170505 31-Jan-2019 00:40

@nzlogan:

I've used these fixed wireless terminals which work on the Spark network (the seller will have ones which work on 2 Degrees). Haven't had any issues so far, and some of them have been running for a few years - and they get tested regularly.

I'd be cautious here, that aliexpress device will stop working on spark as part of the U2100 refarming ongoing.

It does support U900 so 2d and Vodafone 3G support will be ok.

If you have the U850 model that should be ok on spark.

Both local links do have a U850/900 option so they should be good across the networks.

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