Retrofit kit showing empty zone as open

Products Ring Alarm
#1

I installed the kit easily enough, but I left Zone 1 open to parallel the prewired alarm panel zones in case I ever want to return to it or wire before a move.

Yet, zone 1 shows open/ready to test, 2-5 show closed/enabled (correctly) and 6-8 are grayed out (correctly). Note: I accidentally plugged my zone 2 into zone 1, then moved it to 2.

A) does this mean you can’t skip zones? Is it “the used zones and all before it must be active”? Like if I only used 1 and 3, would 2 show “open”?

B) Can I “clear” a zone or somehow remove it from my alarm?

C) if I arm the alarm, will it sound because zone 1 reads as open?

I haven’t found any options and resetting the kit seems to keep failing. Or am I fine because it’s only “ready to test” instead of “enabled”?

Thanks!

#2

Hi @Schnerf. This and more can be found through the links in our Community post (https://community.ring.com/t5/Ring-Alarm/Ring-RetroFit-Kit-Helpful-Tips/m-p/6722) about the Alarm Retrofit Kit. If you are unable to find the exact solution, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available here. They’ll be able to pull up your account and take a closer look. We’re taking additional steps to protect our team and help reduce the spread of COVID-19, so this has resulted in longer than normal wait times. If you are outside of the US, please read our response to COVID-19 here to see how to contact support.

#3

I had this question too, and it seems the answer is “you can remove the zone”

From the PDF:

Removing a zone. If you need to remove a wired zone from your Retrofit Alarm Kit, simply open the app tap on the Menu, tap Devices, tap Alarm Base Station, and tap Retrofit Alarm Kit. Tap the zone you wish to remove, and you’ll be prompted to Reset your device screen. After you complete the reset and confirm, your zone will read Ready to Test. Simply remove the wires from the Retrofit Alarm Kit, and the zone will be removed.

Otherwise, my assumption is that there’s a resistor which could be added that would convince the panel that zone was happy/closed.