Security - Alarm System

No, you don't need to be in the Ring camp. I just have the Ring Alarm. No other Ring devices.

Sure, but the OP never asked it. :wink:

Didn't say you had to be. I'll rephrase it to be more clear..

Hmmm

Can you please expand upon how you do this?? And how it works? If you don't respond, does Noon light dispatch 911? Is it for fire, smoke, CO and intrusion , or only one of them?

Geoarm is very DYI friendly and pretty good pricing. https://www.geoarm.com/

We've used their service with Hubitat for over 3 years now and have been very happy with them. They respond within seconds of Hubitat (HSM) triggering with a phone call and text messages. They only call one phone number but will text with multiple numbers at the same time so if you miss the call or are unavailable someone else can cancel false alarms etc. I don't believe they can determine what is triggering the alarm (police, fire, flood etc. although there are options for these in the driver/app) but they do contact the police shortly after if you don't cancel in time. We had this happen last year where we were in a no cell coverage area but we added our neighbor to the account for text. They sent the police and communicated with our neighbor. (turned out to be a bad contact sensor of course :wink: .
I just followed the instructions here:

If you need a certificate for your homeowners insurance they can provide that as well. After the discount on our premium I think we only pay about $3/mon.

I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have. It may sound like I'm promoting them, but I am in no way affiliated with them. Just a happy customer and glad that they integrate with my beloved Hubitat.

P.S. I believe they are affiliated with Konnected who wrote the integration for Hubitat for their Konnected Device, however I don't own one and am instead using the amazing Hubduino integration to monitor all my contact sensors. Neither is need to use this though.

I suppose you could plug it into a UPS for backup power.
Is there any cost effective way to get a backup cell signal with this system?

Correct, everything is on a UPS backup, including Hubduino.

Haven't done a cell backup yet...but its been in the back of my mind. Not too worried about internet going down or burglar cutting cable internet line (not easily accessible for my home).

I also have a camera system with AI object detection...so I know as soon as anyone steps foot on the property well before they get to anything they could potentially sabotage.

Blue iris and several cheap cams, linked into HE.

Nodemcu's / konnected everywhere hooked up to motion sensors, cheap contact sensors, and an rfid panel for ease.

Android phone with tasker and a payg sim to cover alerts.

Minimal cost, total reliability as far as I'm concerned.

Hardwired alarm systems are relics of the past. Modern professional wireless alarm systems are highly reliable.

Security and home automation are two entirely different things. Many alarm panels also include some level of home automation, and many home automation systems also include some level of security. That doesn't mean an all-in-one solution is optimal.

You have to decide what is important to you. For me the security and safety of my family and pets is paramount, and I won't trust that to anything but a professional-grade alarm system that is monitored 24/7, and uses cellular as its primary communication path.

Nothing against Hubitat (or any other HA system) but I would never trust it to monitor smoke detectors or intrusion sensors. Not that it can't, it's simply not designed to do so with the same reliability as a dedicated alarm system. If something goes wrong and a light doesn't go on when I want it to, it's a minor annoyance. If a smoke detector trips and nothing happens, someone could die or my house could burn down.

Dedicated alarm systems are closed systems that don't allow themselves to be compromised by user-supplied apps and device drivers or misconfiguration (for the most part). A home automation system that doesn't allow that kind of flexibility wouldn't be terribly useful. These two things are at odds with each other.

1 Like

While I agree completely with the rest of your post, I think this is a probably a bit of a harsh assessment :wink:, no battery changes required and pretty much bulletproof (unless the sensor fails of course or mice chew on the cables.)

1 Like

I suppose there might be cases where hardwired sensors still make sense, but in a typical residential system?

Wireless sensors are just as bulletproof as wired ones, if not more so. All you have to do is short out the wire going to a hardwired sensor to disable it (or use a properly sized resistor). Modern wireless devices have unique ids and encrypted communications between the panel and each sensor. A sensor cannot easily be spoofed and even if you jammed the frequencies, the panel would report a trouble condition at the very least.

Yes, you have to replace batteries but I've had a system in my house for almost four years now and I'm just starting to have to replace batteries. Then you have the cost of wiring, and no matter how careful you are, you can't completely hide the wiring.

I wasn't trying to get into a philosophical debate (again I agree with your comments about reliability of modern systems) about which is better.

Many residential systems predate wireless and are still running just fine decades later. Upgrading the control unit to any other brand is also fairly simple especially if you don't need to replace the sensors with more modern ones.

Cable terminations into a PIR aren't exposed on the outside and you have to either cut the cable or open the case to do this. Either way the sensor tamper or the NC connection will trip. In any case if you can reach the sensor without tripping it then I'd say it's a poorly installed system anyway.

Just to be clear I was only taking umbrage at this part "relics of the past", nothing more. :slightly_smiling_face: I'm sure there are plenty of hybrid wired/wireless installs everywhere.

I have a preset hatred of any device I need to worry about with regards to batteries. Especially outdoor/low temps.

I'm not checking on a billion battery powered door, window (etc) devices spread around the home and shed, only finding out by chance one day that one of them actually died 2 weeks ago.

Perhaps if there were a solid solution for battery reporting I'd be more 'trusting'. There isn't. I lost track of how many times I'd lost the use of a Samsung button due to a dead battery, despite reporting 100= the day before.

Wired all the way. Horses / courses.

2 Likes

The Smart app "Device Activity Check" can do a pretty good job of letting you know if something is no longer reporting. It will can also be setup in groups so you can get faster updates if some devices provide heartbeats more frequently then others.

The hard part is to make sure your devices sent out a heartbeat of sorts. This is why I only use Ring Gen 2 contact sensors for all my doors and windows. They do a good job with that and send out that heartbeat fairly consistently so regardless of battery reporting i will know if they stop sending out status updates.

1 Like

Appreciate that. Not possible with my device choices :slight_smile:

Sure there is. No wireless alarm system with any self-respect would not report a low battery in a sensor, well before it stopped working.

Yes, Samsung buttons suck when it comes to battery reporting, it's a joke, They're not security devices however, they're cheap consumer grade electronics.

In general, I prefer hard wired things to battery powered as well. I used to install alarm systems as far back as 40 years ago when nothing else but wired existed, so I was extremely skeptical of wireless systems. But having used them for probably close to 15 years now, I'm a convert. I don't have a giant house, but between this house and a vacation rental I probably have at least 40 battery powered sensors of various types. Changing batteries is a pretty infrequent occurrence.

I'm referring to general wireless reporting, for general devices as opposed to a dedicated wireless alarm system.

I've used a variety of zigbee etc sensors over the years and have been less than impressed.

Moving onto my current 12v sensors?

Perfection.

As I said, horses // courses.

I avoid standard edition wireless sensors at all costs. I'm glad you're happy with your choices. I'm certainly happy with mine.

I know this is an old comment, but i wanted to add this. We have a Vivint system. In the last 90 days, one glass break sensor has been activated 3 times. 1st, by an ailing senior dog howling and crying in the same room (we foster and he was a Fospice dog), 2nd time, in the same room, same sensor, I was holding a tower fan tugging the cord to unplug it, and I dropped the fan. Triggered the glass break sensor. 3rd time, last week, our Kittens knocked the glass canister their food was in off the counter in the kitchen, and it broke. Again, set off the same glass break sensor in the office, granted this is not hard wired. I always wondered if glass break sensors really worked, i got m y answer Tuesday morning.

At the end of the day, no security system, whether hard wired or wireless will make a difference if someone really wants to break in.

I agree.

Which is why I thoroughly believe a smart alarm, dictated by various logical rules, is the best way forward.

But best = custom.

I love mine - can't fault it. But couldn't market it.

2 Likes