Very old house needs modernising. What would you do with £2000?

Bl4ckGryph0n

I'm normally the one disagreeing on that point; 10 years ago yes definitely. But with Wifi and other wireless protocols being so good I see no point in cabling up an old property like that. It is way too intrusive for very little gained benefits. If wireless isn't good at the moment I'd put in a very good wifi mesh system. Depending on the size of your property and walls you can get a very good Mesh system with five nodes for just £126. Heck even if you need 10 with super thick walls the total cost is only £252.

Doorbell
If your friend has a bulky ring doorbell I would hazard a guess it is entry-level, I wouldn't have that one either yuk. The pro version isn't bulky at all but does require wiring in, if you already have bell wire at the door that is so easy to swap. See here for the collection Collections

An alternative could perhaps be the NetAtmo doorbell; although personally I think that is nice when you have a modern house with a very large door. Perhaps not for an old Georgian house.

Alarm system
I would probably recommend the Ring Alarm system Security System. Easy to install, and the sensors, keypad etc aren't looking like they were made in the 1970s. It would also nicely integrate with the Ring Pro doorbell.

As an alternative, I think Visonic Powermaxx has the nicest remote control panel to be visible in your hallway. Integration with other devices isn't that great though. Although there is a school of thought that you shouldn't mix security with other devices.

I wouldn't worry about the battery, many last 3 years or more. But recommended to just swap them over yearly. No big deal.

My vote would be the Ring Alarm.

As an external bell box you could use the Ring one but I think it looks a bit horrid; You could use an Z-Wave external bell box and integrate that with the Ring Alarm. But before you decide, wait until the CCTV section

Smart Door Locks
Personally I'm not keen on those. I much prefer a key and something that integrates with the deadbolts in a door. Also, the style are often too modern for a Georgian property in my opinion.

But if you want something that you can use, and potentially even link to something like the Ring Alarm system you could look at like Z-Wave locks, here are some examples Smart Locks

CCTV System
Considering the doorbell and the alarm system I would go with Ring again. There are many options; from external stick up cameras that are battery powered (can extend them with solar power to avoid having to swap the batter annual if they are in an awkward position), to multi flood light types with a built-in camera.

So both types not only come with a camera, but also with floodlights, and also include a very loud siren. So perhaps no need for a bell box? You know if the alarm goes off the siren will go internally and at the two external cameras; you can also make it so the flood lights go on!

It all integrates with your phone app, together with the doorbell and the alarm system. You can also provide limited access to your neighbours such that say they can unset the alarm but can't watch the videos etc.

So that is the Spotlight Cam Battery and the Floodlight Cam.

Total Cost

List prices:

Ring Alarm - £249
Additional Motion Detector - each £39
Ring Video Doorbell Pro - £149
Ring Spotlight Cam Battery with Solar - £229
Ring Floodlight Cam - £249

Total cost - £915

Leaves lots leftover than for smart door locks


Hope that helps...

xxGBHxx

Thats why he's the pro and I play at it. I stand corrected.

G

xxGBHxx

All well and good for data but you're still stuck getting power to your cameras. Wiring the cameras in gets you PoE as well as completely rock solid data which solves that. Of course you can get battery cameras (the Ring ones you mention for example) but personally battery cameras that rely on Wifi are just not for me. WiFi just isn't reliable enough even when it's rock solid and stable (as my own system is) so I still wouldn't rely on it for security.

That said every location and house is different of course but I managed to cable my cameras in to my Victorian house without too many issues and the cables are invisible.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Ring is great but being both a luddite and a security specialist I still don't trust them (or any other residential grade cloud reliant service provider for that matter) with my security. That may well be irrational and unfair but I think this over reliance on all things cloud, especially for critical things, is going to end really really badly. It only takes Ring to pull the service for "old and obsolete products" for your complete invesptment and raliance on it to be worthless and it certainly wouldn't be the first one to do that. Can anyone REALLY say that Ring is still going to be providing the service for current generation devices in 10, 15, 20 years time?

G

Bl4ckGryph0n

As I said, I normally disagree with you and @mushii on that point.

It is a home, it is not a list-x facility. A bit of perspective would be good in my opinion. There is nothing wrong with WiFi, heck it IS being utilised in list-x facilities as well, and in SECRET classified locations.

As I pointed out, you can use a Solar panel if you don't trust the battery and don't want to replace them. And if you really want you can mix and match and have wired POE versions if you so prefer. I don't like drilling through the insulated outside walls of my property unless absolutely necessary.

Sure they may not be around in 10, 15, 20 years time, or more likely the service not supporting the latest features of the cameras or cloud offering behind it. So what.

Look we all have our preferences. I just don't agree with running cables everywhere for something that wireless (a combination of WiFi and ZWave) can easily do without any of the disruption, dirt, or cost involved.

PS. I'm also a security specialist . We all are, but foremost a proud homeowner with wife, two children and a dog. And we have been burgled, if thieves want to get in they will. It doesn't matter what system you have, or what protocols its running etc.

mushii

I am quite conversant with all of the restricted facilities that you describe and ‘others’. I also know that many do not allow any form of wireless communications at all, other than on specific hardware, for various reasons. Wi-fi is currently getting more congested and unless you are looking at Mimo-mu or next Gen WiFi 6 it’s only going to get worse, IMHO. Hence I would recommend and use cable where possible.

Bl4ckGryph0n

I doubt a semi detached is a congested WiFi zone perhaps if one lives in a block of flats yes.

I “get” the WiFi of both neighbouring properties, easy to find an area for ourselves.

But as I said we disagree and that is fine.

mushii

One of the big problems with ‘domestic wireless’ is the garbage routers that ISPs provide. The Virgin Hub only has enough memory to hold a routing table for 50 connections. The BT hub is not much better. People still refuse to pay for decent Wi-fi infrastructure relying on the rubbish that ISPs provide. If people want to rely on Wi-fi over cabled infrastructure to hang a smart home off, then they need to look towards wired backhauls between router and Access Points and those APs need to be 3x3 or 4x4 mimo APs. Either way they need some cabled infrastructure even if they want to rely on Wi-fi.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Or have a decent mesh system as per my original post in the thread

mushii

I guess it all depends on what your expectation is. Most of the current mesh systems are at best 3x3 mimo and you lose one of those channels for the back haul. If the mesh system does not have a dedicated backhaul Chanel, then every hop on your ‘mesh’ network  halves the speed. So 2 hops, don’t expect to be streaming 4K reliably - this is typical with Google WiFi. Now your typical smart home is going to have IP cameras, doorbells, thermostats, TVs, streaming sticks, laptops, tablets, phones, smart assistants, games consoles, smart lights, smart alarms, smart locks etc all competing for those 2 available radios on your Mesh WiFi and then you are pushing all of that data over a single radio backhaul. Ever watched an XBox One download an update? It will saturate the entire WiFi bandwidth, starving every other device of any sort of data.
WiFi only might be great for my mum, but for a fully functioning smart home with teenage or big kids it really doesn’t cut the mustard, hence cabling really is the only viable solution. If you can’t cable it all then at least wire your Access Points back to your router.

hooblah

Thanks for all the great answers and discussion guys!

I'll look into a mesh system. I'm currently using the Virgin superhub 3, i've heard it's a bit pants but haven't tried anything else. I've got an Asus RT-N66U lying around. Worth a go?

I can't make my mind up between Ring Pro and Nest Home. Is anyone clued up?

The only suitable smart door locks are the ones i've mentioned; Yale Conexis L1, and Ultion. Is there anyone else who can provide any feedback?

The camera system can wait. I'll be going for a wired system when it comes to it. No way do I want to be up a ladder changing batteries every few months. I quite like the look of the Netatmo floodlight camera.