Monitored house alarm: how to choose Verisure vs Pyronix, Texecom, Risco etc? How are they different? (not DIY)

Bl4ckGryph0n

LOL You brought it up...

Ultimately if you want the full certified service with a certified control room and the associated response I would suggest you speak to an NSI Gold approved company and let them do the work.

For us the criteria were;
- NSI Gold approved and installation certified
- Control room would be optional but not mandatory as we already discussed
- Devices need to look decent in our home and not industrial
- Fully supported and maintained

But based on the experience of running it several years on;
- The first point makes no difference in our insurance quotes just increased our costs
- The second point is not an issue for us, we have good neighbours, but also as highlighted earlier and definitely in our experience a burglary is over before you know it, so even when having someone remotely monitoring then unless they are in the next street it won't make a difference.
- The fourth point - The maintenance seems to be just a case of replacing batteries. The systems are very stable. I was not getting any value out of the contract to have someone else change the batteries.
- The third point is still valid to us...

mushii

As I said to get a URN for Police response you   still have to have 2 key holders with 10 minute response times. Once the Police have attended it will be down to the key holder to secure the property which I personally would not entrust to the rentathugs that some of newer companies use. Police attendance provides little more, most of the time, than a crime reference number for your insurance. Even SOCO / CSI rarely attend and if they do it’s normally 24/48 hours later, during which time nothing can be touched. At the end of the day this is what the OP wants. That ask is easily doable. Integrating a monitored alarm with HA maybe trickier.
Would I pay for it? Depends on what I have to protect, it’s just another layer of security. It’s also the last one that I would consider or pay for. Personally I’d spend my money hardening other layers. Or buying a commercial or high end alarm. But if it buys peace of mind for the OP that is worth a lot.

ironically my alarm engineer was at a party here last night and this thread reminded me to ask him about some upgrades that I need completing. So thanks

Fabien

The alarm systems all have positives and negatives and it will usually be down to cost or a key feature that becomes the deciding factor.

Now we have the system sorted, what about the choice of sensors to minimise false alarms?

If you travel for long periods and use wireless you need to factor in battery’s failing whilst your away.

Will you use PIRs or dual tech? (PIR and Microwave). The latter are normally used in harsh environment such as garages but used indoors offer more protection against false alarms (PIR and Microwave need to be activated together for trigger)

Will your smoke detectors be linked into the fire circuit of the alarm?

Fabien

Fabien

Regarding your latest post.

I would have either :

1) Something connected to an output of the alarm to signal a smart plug of your choice to turn on or off (this could be zigbee / zwave / WiFi)
2) Have an alarm that can signal to an smart home hub (by API call) to turn on it’s associated smart plug.

Both ways still segment your security and HA

Regarding cameras, I would again look for ones that will only record when instructed (via API call) as opposed to turning them on and off. This is better for the hardware and any software glitches such as CCTV checking with vendor of software updates on bootup

As you are finding out, what initially was thought to be a simple choice does in fact required some technical thought about how things communicate

Fabien

VforViennetta

Do you know of any alarm systems, other than Cytech (which was mentioned before, but I haven't found installers in my area) which can do 1 or 2?
Any examples?
I know there are cameras which start recording when they detect movement, but that wouldn't work for a camera in the living room.

Also, if the camera is linked to the alarm monitoring centre, I don't know if it is possible to set it up so that they have access only when the alarm is armed. One installer I contacted said no - he said no one would look tough regulations privacy fines etc etc BUT technically a rogue employee could still sneak a peek.

VforViennetta

Fabien, as for your other points:

not sure about the benefits of dual (PIR and microwave) for indoor sensors with no pets -I guess the choice will depend on cost.

We'll be doing some slight refurbishment on the ground floor so it might be a good time to prepare wires for a wired alarm system; are these wires typically universal, eg can I still use them if after x years I were to change alarm system?

Yes, I was thinking of smoke detectors linked to the alarm.

In fact, for me that's one of the reasons for a keyholding service. I am under no illusion, I don't believe that monitored alarm   keyholding makes a burglary any less likely than with a self-monitored alarm. I just like the peace of mind of someone being able to attend when we're away, and basically tell us if whatever happened is a serious matter that requires us to come back at once or not. I don't mean just burglaries, but also fires. In our area, two properties suffered heavy damage from fire: in both cases the owners were away and some appliance caught fire. In one case it was during the holidays, half the street was away etc etc. To be clear: I fully realise it's a lot of money for a very low risk, I probably wouldn't do it if I had trusted neighbours or friends/relatives nearby who are rarely away, and I am most certainly not trying to convince anyone they should do it, too.

Fabien

The alarm / smart plug setup would be multivendor. eg
1) Texecom with analogue output connected to relay
2) Relay connected to dry input of Aeotec zwave sensor (Smallest Z-Wave door / window sensor with dry contact relay • Aeotec)
3) Use Smartthings Hub Receive zwave comms from Alarm and to control Aeotec smart plug (or similar)

Axis CCTV cameras have an open API to allow recording. Smart thing could issue this when it detects alarm armed via the above

External CCTV monitoring is your choice. Some systems can send you video clips of activity or you can VPN into your system and view the whole house CCTV as a matrix?

Fabien

Fabien

As for cabling. You can use cat5e for alarms as well as alarm cable. The latter I would use min 6core depending on if you go with EOL on the sensors?

Cat5e would give the option of more structured cabling later on

Fabien

mushii

I would not use Cat 5e for alarms. Alarm cable, even 6 core is much thinner. Alarm cable tends to be multi-strand where Cat 5e is solid core. This is important when terminating as Cat 5e is more prone to breaking when used in screw terminals. Additionally for an alarm system overall, to meet its Grade requirements, it’s cabling also needs to meet the necessary standards, which for alarm cabling is  BS 4737-3.30 2015. This is a necessary requirement if you need a monitored system. Finally both of these cables  have very different electrical characteristics. Alarm cable, typically has a resistance of less than 100 Ohms per km whereas Cat 5e has a resistance of 188 Ohms per km, almost double the resistance.