Smart Home Alarm System

Devices
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1

Hey all
I’m looking to create a home alarm system and wondering if anyone has dabbled. I don’t necessarily want to create one from scratch and will happily buy one off the shelf but what I want from and alarm is:
1: create zones (e.g. arm garage and front door overnight but nothing else)
2: integrate with something smart like Homey So I can use buttons to do something (e.g. have a button by the door from house to garage that arms / disarms as I want to go in out of garage from the house, plus anything else I think of :slight_smile: )
3: audible alert (siren)
4: backup battery
5: SIM card
I have a Pyronix alarm at the moment which does the zones, the SIM card, the backup battery, etc, but it just doesn’t integrate with smart home. It has an app, but so does my e-bike!.. doesn’t make it integrate with everything else.
Options I have seen so far are Ring and Simplisafe but they either don’t do zones and in both cases don’t offer a good smart home integration.
My Pyronix system would be ok if it integrated so that’s really what I want.
What do people have, has anyone done what I’m looking for?
Many thanks!

2

Search the forum on alarm, you will find a lot of info.
Like the heimdall app

3

Is there any specific reason why not to use Homey itself for this purpose? It can do everything you mentioned beside internet connectivity backup with SIM. This can be solved with router with SIM.
Homey in combination with above mentioned Heimdall app work for me great for almost 2 years.

4

Hi
Thanks for the replies both. I have no reason not to use Homey for this. Just looking for what people do and see if it suits me to migrate to smart rather than traditional alarm.
Many thanks

5

My point of view on pros and cons on Smart/Homey alarm system:

Pros:

  • you can set rules for arming disarming any way it suits you

  • definition of zones pretty flexible

  • action to alarm can be flexible as well and much wider options to notify user as well

  • no need of additional device/system

  • very convenient remote control

  • arming/disarming activation linked to user presence

  • No additional costs once you have basic components for smarthome such as motion/door sensor.

Cons:

  • once Homey is down, house is fully unprotected

  • correct setup may need some time, especially when alarm logic is more complex (same would be with regular alarm system)

  • wireless system can be “disabled” by signal jammers (same for wireless alarm systems)

For me, using Homey is much better compared to regular alarm systems. In my neighbourhood of 1á houses, most of them do have regular alarm system, but due to the inconvenient usage of those system (control trough the regular keypad, no simple remote management, no link to smart presence…), almost no one is arming those systems unless going for longer vacation.