Hey guys. I was wondering how I would reuse my old alarm systems siren and glass break sensor. I have no need to reuse the reed switches for the doors because I already have zwave ones on them. My alarm panel is the Vista 20P.
I’ve ready many forums that talk about using the Ecolink door sensor, but not a detailed how to guide for a noob like myself. Do I just take the wires from the sensors in my existing alarm panel and put them into an Ecolink? I’ve also seen people using the Mimolite but am a little confused about setup.
I think the best option is to get a konect.io. I think that us right. They basically allow you to connect legacy hardwired alarm components to smartthings. I have watched the video for instal and it is pretty straight forward.
Konnected looks great but am concerned about cyber security and just the complexity with the software needed to set things up (ESplorer looks Russian and the NodeMCU ESP8266 chip is manufactured by a Chinese company). It also uses wifi on the 2.4 ghz band and my area is pretty clogged as is with 2.4g devices and wifi signal in the basement isn’t that great. Also if internet goes out, no sensors? With smartthings hub and zwave, I understand that the smart home monitor will still work locally, although no control will be available.
Ideally, I would like everything to be z-wave plus.
glassbreak model#? If it’s a “GBD plus” you’ll need to maintain 9-16vdc to the glassbreak. You can leave your old alarm panel hooked up, maybe an eyesore, or provide a dedicated 12vdc supply to replace the power that was coming from the panel. So you’ve still got that thing on the wall or somewhere.
you would add “dry contact sensor Zwave module” for your normally-closed (NC) glassbreak contacts which has 27ohm inline. That end-of-line resistance might be a problem for the Zwave module so don’t buy a dozen sensors without testing one first - it might just work.
such as Mimolite or
If the inline resistance is a problem then I would try to eliminate the 27ohm which may be a jumper or DIP setting, or a solder hack.
Siren, I suggest do not connect it until you have been false-alarm-free for 6 months.
If you don’t want to be holding to the internet you need to make sure whatever components you get are standard smartthings items and run locally. I doubt that will happen with your existing gear.
You could get a dome siren and use a offical glass/break sensor and check for local processing. If that worked then you should be good to go.
Trying to use your existing stuff though no matter how you look at it will put you in the position to depend on atleast the Smartthings Cloud.
You could use a external siren with the ADT Smartthings Panel. Samsung/ADT do not have a glass break sensor for that system though. You could get a standard zwave or zigbee one but then that wouldn’t trigger the alarm or call ADT. You could use the ADT Tools smartapp with it though and trigger a secondary siren like dome through smartthings. Use of ADT Tools puts you back in the cloud though.
I haven’t actually use the external siren myself. My understanding is that with a RELAY you can attach one to the BELL Terminals on the back of the panel and trigger it. I would suggest doing some research on the panel it is based on by 2gig to fully understand how to do it