Cheap alternative to the Konnected

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neb

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#318478 21-Jan-2025 20:15

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.

mentalinc

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#3334330 21-Jan-2025 22:04

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?

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neb

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#3334332 21-Jan-2025 22:14

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

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#3334465 22-Jan-2025 14:51

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

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#3340914 10-Feb-2025 10:01

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

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#3340916 10-Feb-2025 10:05

@neb has it arrived and any initial thoughts?

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

neb

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#3341094 10-Feb-2025 14:25

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

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#3341096 10-Feb-2025 14:28

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.

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jaydubnz

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#3353766 13-Mar-2025 23:26

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

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#3353768 14-Mar-2025 00:06

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

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#3354712 18-Mar-2025 00:27

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

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#3354713 18-Mar-2025 00:32

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.