Requiring an outlet for the keypad is a) horrible for retofits where keypads (at prime locations) are powered over in-wall connections that are located away from outlets and b) unsightly even if you have an outlet nearby (in-wall usb-c aren’t really a thing, and would still need to pop out at an outley nearby).
An option for basic DC input on the keypad along with something similar to your Retrofit station for hard-wired zones that can go where the old alarm panel was, or new central location, with low voltage output to power the keypads. Really your “Retrofit” alarm kit should have this built in already, along with handling the wired sensors.
I want the ability to have the sensors make the tones if a door or window is opened only when I schedule them too. Like if I want the base station to only make the sound between the hours of 11pm-7am. This way it makes the noise only at night so we won’t be so accustom to hearing the sound. We know if we hear it at night someone is definitely entering when we are in bed.
I want more options for tones with the door/window sensors. More aggressive alert tones instead of happy sounding tones. I have an egress window in my basement with a sensor on it. If someone breaks in through that’s window and my alarm isn’t active which sometimes it’s not set I want an attention grabbing tone to clue me in that the sensor was tripped.
I was recently broken into and the perpetrator casually ripped my outdoor camera off the wall and proceeded to go back well out of sight, get his truck and accomplices and come back to break the door glass. Then the interior motion sensor set the alarm off.
There was a 5-6 minute space between the camera being destroyed and the glass break (which there are no sensors for). Once the alarm went, Ring contacted me, I contacted the police and they were on scene within 5-7 minutes.
Had the alarm sounded when the device was tampered with they would likely be caught and much less likely to have actually broken in. I know the doorbell has a tamper feature that doesn’t actually do anything except alert you - these should be alarming conditions. OR it should be an option. I cannot think of a scenario where something is tampered with 12’ off the ground that isn’t very suspcious.
The keypad does make a sound telling you that you better enter a code. It plays on every keypad on the system. Check your settings. Plus I believe if the keypad is connected to power on the plug instead of just battery charge it will keep the lights on ask the time.
I do this everyday on through my app and it echoes throughout the house as the base station says “Disarmed” and then each keypad repeats it a second later…
Do you have the volume turned down all the way or what?
Agreed! They are downright absurd! SimpliSafe’s sensors are tiny and I actually purchased a system over the Ring for the size of the sensors and realized that you don’t receive any remote capabilities if you don’t pay them $25/month. I took the SimpliSafe back and purchased a Ring.
Back to the sensors, the main reason they are so big is that they use a much larger battery than other systems…potentially meaning few battery replacements through the years on “heavy use” doors. Every time you open a door the sensor wakes up and sends its status back to the base station. I have heard complaints on the batteries that are provided, I am new to the system so I can not attest to their longevity.
Being a hardware engineer, I wonder why they need such big batteries…the new Z-Waze chips are designed to draw virtually nothing until there is an event in which they wake and send the command and then they go back to sleep. I have read many negative reviews that spoke of battery usage. Whether this is the battery or shotty programming, IDK…
Overall, I am very impressed with the system and its compatibility but there are some things that need ironing. Hopefully since they are Amazon owned now, they will have some decent engineers around to tweak the system, but that may be a pipedream…
Yeah, I’d buy the battery argument expect a) even the non-battery side is 3 times the size of the non-battery side of the wireless sensors from traditional systems and b) the wireless sensors from my traditional system have been in place for 6+ years including on our most used doors w/o a battery swap and Ring is bragging about 3 years battery life with these.
I don’t think so. I press a button at night for home and press one in the morning to disarm. Then I press it again for away mode. Really simple stuff. I’d like it to just read my brain and know what I want, when I want.
I think that you could improve the Retrofit Alarm Kit. Currently it is just an adapter for wired contact sensors. It is to expensive and doesn’t have enough features to be considered a true retrofit kit. It is more of a wired contact sensor adapter kit.
It could be improved by adding the following features:
An option to power motion and glass break sensors.
Adding power (or at least a contact that could be used with external power) to drive existing external sireins.
Utilizing an external transformer for power with a larger internal backup battery. More like a wired alarm system.
The Installation guide states that this is an “advanced DIY” project. That said I don’t believe that you need to be as constrained by size or ease of installation.
P.S. I recently installed the Ring dorbell pro and ring alarm kit and am very impressed with both. I just wish that I could still utilize the glass break and motion sensors along with the sireins from my existing wired alarm system.
@Eagle328 wrote:
I don’t think so. I press a button at night for home and press one in the morning to disarm. Then I press it again for away mode. Really simple stuff. I’d like it to just read my brain and know what I want, when I want.
Or just tell Alexa, I’m leaving or Goodnight…
Ring is not for everyone for sure. But I wonder how many come in bashing the product just because.
An option to power motion and glass break sensors.
Adding power (or at least a contact that could be used with external power) to drive existing external sireins.
Utilizing an external transformer for power with a larger internal backup battery. More like a wired alarm system.
The Installation guide states that this is an “advanced DIY” project. That said I don’t believe that you need to be as constrained by size or ease of installation.
P.S. I recently installed the Ring dorbell pro and ring alarm kit and am very impressed with both. I just wish that I could still utilize the glass break and motion sensors along with the sireins from my existing wired alarm system.
Thanks,
Walt10
I guess it probably related to cost on the expansion kit. A motion sensor retails for $30. Most homes have no more than 2 or 3, so you’re better off with a 10 or 14 piece kit to start instead. This kit is best for those with 10+ contacts to cover (I think that’s the break even point, or if you want to use hidden contacts).
Glass sensors are needed for sure. Would not surprise me if the existing Alexa Guard feature is a beta for a specific device. But echo dots as low as $25 (or even given away) it’s a good stop-gag solution for now. Only issue is this only works in Away mode at this time.
About an external backup, simply add your own UPS. Even a $50 will give it plenty of extra time.