Following on from my projects thread here regarding my new house build in Germany, i’m currently trying to figure out exactly which alarm sensors I should get for our electrician to wire in and need some advice.
I am planning to use Konnected to interface the alarm sensors with Smartthings but obviously rather than the way Konnected is designed to be used, to replace the alarm control panel of an existing alarm system, I intend to build a new install based around the Konnected board and purchase all the alarm sensors that I need to connect to it. I have already checked the documentation on the Konnected website but unfortunately this refers to alarm systems available in the US. Living in Germany, what I really need to know is which alarm sensors I should get that will work with Konnected and are for the EU market.
So far I have the following:
Door / Window contact sensors - These came ready fitted to all our new doors and windows and are designed to be connected to an alarm system so in theory they should work with Konnected. However as I understood it, these sensors don’t require power so should only have 2 wires but ours have 4 and in some cases 6 which I am confused about.
Motion Sensors - Would like a couple of interior 360 deg sensors for automatic light control in a few rooms in the house, and exterior sensors for activating lights at night for security purposes. Should I be looking for 12V DC sensors or 230V ones? Or should I not bother at all connecting motion sensors to Konnected just for light control and instead use occupancy sensors that can directly switch the power to the lights with a relay for Smartthings?
Smoke Detectors - As far as I understand it these need to be both hard wired and also have their own backup batteries. They should also have their own built in siren and have the option that when one is activated, it activates all the other detectors in the house. Are there any like this that are designed to work with a wired alarm system for the EU market? All I can find are smart smoke detectors that come with their own app. Also should they be 12V DC or 230V?
Alarm Siren - As I understand it I need a 12V DC alarm siren that doesn’t exceed 1.4A or 15W. Any recommendations on a good one to use?
For any suggestions pointing me the right direction or what to look for I would be very grateful!
Konnected works great for new builds, and you never have to worry about batteries!
Standard alarm sensors are pretty much standard worldwide, with some minor differences. In general, the door/window sensors don’t require power and will have 2 wires. If you want to send a pic of your sensors I’m happy to take a look.
Motion sensors are always 12V DC and always have a NC contact. In Europe and AU they often also have a tamper circuit, which is not necessary for Konnected.
I don’t know specifically about the smoke detector market in Europe. The best way to use smoke detectors with Konnected is to use household AC powered (230V in your case) interconnected smoke detectors that have an available relay module. this should exist for most brands. These relay modules are used typically to release an emergency exit door or signal a strobe light, but also can be used for signaling a Konnected board. See: https://help.konnected.io/support/solutions/articles/32000022629-wiring-smoke-co-detectors
My favorite siren for best value is the one we sell in the Konnected store:
Sorry Nate I forgot to tag you in my original post but thankfully JDRoberts did! Regarding the open/close contact sensors, I was on site yesterday so took a few photos of the sensors we have in our doors and windows:
I’ve just been doing some more digging online and found the following site in English which has the technical specs of the sensors here. From what I understand, the door sensors are also able to report tilt status which is the reason for the extra wires. There are also diagrams on there which show the functions of the different wires but it’s beyond my level of understanding. If you could have a look and see how these wires could be hooked up to Konnected it would be much appreciated!
Regarding the motion sensors, would something like this be ok to trigger inside lighting? Or do I need to find something specifically for use with an alarm system for Konnected? Also how does it work with Konnected to trigger a lighting circuit? Presumably I need to install a smart relay on the lighting circuit and then setup smartthings to trigger the relay when movement is detected on the sensor correct? Is it then possible to set a time delay to trigger the relay again when movement stops to turn off the light?
Regarding the smoke detectors, not really getting anywhere with this so i’m hoping somebody else might jump in with a recommendation for alarm system compatible smoke detectors for the EU market!
The siren looks good, will make sure to add that in when I place my order.
How did you get on with your setup Nick ?
I’m looking to do similar but in the UK.
I think I need to do more research I thought konnected attached to a existing alarm not a alarm panel itself.
So if it’s a alarm did you have to buy the casing and a keypad.
Thanks.
@Steveuk23
Konnected is effectively a replacement logic board that would be fitted internally in to an existing alarm system. The existing alarm system needs to use only wired sensors as Konnected does not support wireless sensors.
Since you would therefore logically have an existing panel with existing wired sensors the question becomes irrelevant.
However if you currently have a panel which does support wired sensors and currently is using wireless sensors you would have have to replace the wireless sensors with wired equivalents and yes this means running new cabling. Similarly if you don’t have a panel at all you will need an entire alarm system with wired sensors installing. If you have an existing alarm system and it only supports wireless sensors then it will not work with the Konnected product.
I do not claim to be an expert in this area but as far as I can see all wired sensors work on the same principles and therefore any brand should work. They basically act as switches and when on this equates to an alarm trigger.
Thanks John.
We’ve not been in our house long and it hasn’t got any alarm at all right now so that’s why I’ve been looking into it.
I’ve initially been looking at getting a Honeywell mini and wiring in the sensors to it and the keypad and then attaching konnected to it so I can use it through SmartThings and still use the standard keypad to arm/disarm.
But then I got a little confused by all my reading thinking that konnected can actually be a alarm control panel and all I then do is wire the sensors to that but from what I understand I cannot use a old style keypad with that and would have to use a tablet with action tiles or similar.
I think I much prefer the older style keypad to having a tablet mounted.
Thanks for the info
@Steveuk23
The original Konnected product is designed to take over from the original logic board in an alarm panel. They have however more recently launched another alternative product which can work alongside the alarm panel. This second product can therefore allow you to still use the original keypad and even have it professionally monitored whilst still enabling it to be linked to Smartthings. See the following for details on this new product.
The following page is for the older version of the above product, the older version was effectively the Konnected panel board plus the in parallel module in one, the new product is an addon to the new Konnected panel board. This older page better explains the differences between them. If you get the in parallel option you would be able to use a standard keypad and potentially also control the alarm system via Smartthings.
As we are still in the process of building our house I haven’t got around to ordering any of the Konnected kit so I can’t comment on how well it works yet. I have however run all the low voltage cabling to everywhere I intend to attach alarm sensors as we are currently doing all the wall and ceiling covering so this will soon no longer be accessable. Once our interior is finished I will get all the smarthings kit properly set up and order the Konnected boards and all the wired alarm sensors I need. Our electrician has also run a power cable to a deep in wall power socket on the wall in our entrance hallway which I will be covering with an Amazon Fire tablet running Action Tiles. This should all be finished within the next 6 months so I can give more feedback then.
I believe Nates original concept was that Konnected was designed to replace an alarm system that was already in place but possibly no longer being used. The Konnected board basically acts as an interface between the wired sensors and the smarthings hub which can detect when sensors are being triggered to do things like send notifications or trigger certain actions. It was designed to replace the original alarm panel and circuitry but in my case I am essentially doing things in reverse and specifically installing all sensors that I want first and then connecting them to the Konnected board later. The main advantage for me is that everything is wired so there will be no signal or reliability issues and simple wired alarm sensors are much cheaper than wireless z-wave or zigbee smart sensors. As jelockwood says the wired sensors are basically just switches with either an NO or NC contact which send a signal to the Konnected board when their state changes. Wireless sensors therefore won’t work and you will need to run low voltage cabling to everywhere you want to put a sensor.
As also stated, due to many people like yourself who wanted to also keep their original Alarm system in place but have the added advantage of being able to detect sensor state changes in Smarthings I believe Nate also developed the Konnected interface board for this purpose. For my case this obviously isn’t required but for your situation this would be the way you would want to set it up.
Hi thanks for the explanation @Nick_Halliwell & @jelockwood.
I will be doing similar to you by fitting wired sensors hopefully in spring as I’m having work done in the kitchen where I would want the alarm panel fitted.
I’m not 100% sure I want konnected but now I know how it works I know I can decide afterwards.
I’ve been looking at some Honeywell alarms that can have gsm modules fitted allowing me remote access which would do for now.
Hi I have an alarm system that has a faulty circuit for the PIR’s so they no longer operate, could I replace my alarm board with Konnected?
Or even interface with it and attach the PIR’s directly to Konnected so that if movement is detected it could then sound the alarm on my current alarm system?
