Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#318478 21-Jan-2025 20:15
Send private message

Having now set up the Konnected, I've found there's a much cheaper alternative for people who don't mind a bit of DIY-ing.  The Konnected isn't a standard alarm but just an I/O board with an ESP32 to control it, the same as the Koncony A16 I/O board which is available for under $40 from Aliexpress (the Kincony is actually more capable, more I/O, analogue I/O for things with EOL resistors, and a bunch of other things).

 

Beyond that all you need is the ESP32 alarm panel component and some YAML duct tape to hold it all together.

 

Just thought I'd mentioned it for anyone who's been looking at a Konnected but was a bit put off by the price.


Create new topic
mentalinc
3226 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #3334330 21-Jan-2025 22:04
Send private message

Not sure what the $40 option is I can't see anything except the 4G relay module at $USD40.. are you able to link to the version that's under $40?





CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB:  Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

 

Quic: https://account.quic.nz/refer/473833 R473833EQKIBX 




neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3334332 21-Jan-2025 22:14
Send private message

The generic name to search under is KC868, e.g. this one, $38 + free ship.  The hardware and software are open source so there's lots of clones out there.  This store for example sells only Kincony products so may be marginally more legit.


neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3334465 22-Jan-2025 14:51
Send private message

Just ordered one based on the docs, this has local IFTTT-style functionality so you can say "IF motion_sensor_input goes high THEN trigger siren_output for 30s", you can run it as a standalone alarm even if HA is unavailable.  This thing is significantly better than a Konnected at a tenth of the price.  Run an Aliexpress keypad with RFID and fingerprint reader into it (some are as cheap as $20) and you've got a complete, HA-integrated, actually genuinely smart alarm that you control locally for under $100.




speshnz
83 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

  #3340914 10-Feb-2025 10:01
Send private message

neb:

 

Just ordered one based on the docs, this has local IFTTT-style functionality so you can say "IF motion_sensor_input goes high THEN trigger siren_output for 30s", you can run it as a standalone alarm even if HA is unavailable.  This thing is significantly better than a Konnected at a tenth of the price.  Run an Aliexpress keypad with RFID and fingerprint reader into it (some are as cheap as $20) and you've got a complete, HA-integrated, actually genuinely smart alarm that you control locally for under $100.

 

 

Apparently that's coming in the new release of Konnected, i vaguely remember reading about it recently 


mentalinc
3226 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #3340916 10-Feb-2025 10:05
Send private message

@neb has it arrived and any initial thoughts?





CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB:  Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

 

Quic: https://account.quic.nz/refer/473833 R473833EQKIBX 


neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3341094 10-Feb-2025 14:25
Send private message

All wired up, just waiting for a right-angle Cat5 connector so I can fit it into the existing alarm case so at the moment it's sort of spilling onto a shelf.  Pretty happy with it, does what it says on the box and integrates directly into Alarmo via MQTT.  The IFTTT almost manages the functioning natively, the only missing bit is chaining from one ladder-logic rule to the next which I have a request in for but ATM am looking at patching via external relays, so feed the wet-contact output from one rule into the dry-contact input for the next one.

 

However that's only if you want to run all the intelligence on the alarm, if you're happy to let Alarmo handle it it's just a case of hooking everything up.

 

On a related note, I'll have three new Konnected's to sell shortly.


neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3341096 10-Feb-2025 14:28
Send private message

 

It's all just propped into place ATM to test things, it'll be a lot neater when I can mount it properly inside the case.


 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
jaydubnz
2 posts

Wannabe Geek


  #3353766 13-Mar-2025 23:26
Send private message

You inspired me to buy one of these boards a couple weeks back and finally received it. I have it working with their native firmware, and tried connecting my existing alarm PIR in parallel with input 1 and ground, and in the web interface it shows a green light for input 1.

 

 

 

The trouble is, it's always on. Even when the PIR isn't activated.

 

 

 

Any ideas? Cheers!


neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3353768 14-Mar-2025 00:06
Send private message

The sensor is probably a NC rather than NO, so you need to go to the input for that sensor and click on "reverse level".  Smoke alarms are usually NC, motion sensors are usually NO.

 

If anyone wants to buy a Konnected Pro board, PM me, since I'm now using the Kinconies to do the job.


jaydubnz
2 posts

Wannabe Geek


  #3354712 18-Mar-2025 00:27
Send private message

Thanks for your reply! 

 

Tried swapping NO and NC and didn't fix it. What's weird is that when the PIR is only connected to the paradox board, the voltage is around 3, but when connected in parallel with the KC868 it jumps up to 4.5+, which is why both systems think the PIR has sensed motion. Similar voltage changes are happening with the outputs too. Maybe this board likes being the boss, instead of connected in parallel with other boards :(


neb

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #3354713 18-Mar-2025 00:32
Send private message

Do you have EOL resistors on the sensors?  Sounds like that could be the problem since there shouldn't be any voltage at all on a NO circuit.


Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.