Hey everyone. Newbie here. I have an old (OLD) Ademco wired system. I’m doing some remodeling and really don’t want to have to deal with drilling holes in doors and windows and such. Plus, it’s time for an upgrade on the system to. So, I figured I’d ask all of you for advice.
What I have now is simple: 1 crappy pad, 3 doors, 4 windows, horn in the basement, and control box hooked into the phone line. That it. Nothing special. Oh, did I mention I’m being taken advantage of by ADT currently for monitoring?
What I want is to get rid of the phone line (i.e. cell for the monitoring), not have to worry about drilling holes (i.e. wireless sensors for the doors and windows), a couple smoke/fire/CO sensors, and good monitoring. I don’t need cameras (although I might get one of the doorbell ones at some point) and I don’t need home automation.
So, what say you? I’m quite handy, so doing the work is no sweat. I just want to make sure I’m not getting screwed over.
What I want is to get rid of the phone line (i.e. cell for the monitoring), not have to worry about drilling holes (i.e. wireless sensors for the doors and windows), a couple smoke/fire/CO sensors, and good monitoring.
All of our service plans use and require cellular communication. We do not use landline services. Panels available through the suretyDIY store utilize wireless sensors, and Hardwired-to-wireless translators are available to reuse your existing wired sensors to save on equipment cost. Wireless smoke detectors are easy adds to any system and fire monitoring is included (not a separate feature of service plans). And lastly, monitoring is top notch, UL listed, Five Diamond CSAA certified.
If you are not going to be using automation devices, Basic Interactive is probably the way to go, but you can compare included features here.
Which model of panel are you looking to use? If 2GIG, the TAKE-345 would be used to monitor existing wired zones. If Qolsys, you’d use the Hardwire 16 instead.
Most of the wired stuff will be cut down, so I’m basically starting from scratch. So I guess consider this a new install.
As for which model, I’m clueless. My co-worker has a Qolsys system with all the home automation bits and is very happy with it. I don’t know enough about the various systems to know which is better for what.