Konnected - Sterling 10 Install

[Jonesy9]

Good afternoon all,

Hope you're all well.
I am looking into the possibility of installing a Konnected kit in place of my existing Sterling 10 alarm, and was wondering if anyone in the UK has had any experience with the Konnected kit, or the Sterling 10 alarm circuit board layout in general.

I will likely need to remove the backup battery from the siren, to ensure that it doesn't go off when i shut off power to exchange the circuit boards. Not sure if anyone has any pointers on removing the battery from the Sterling 10 siren?

Thanks,
Jack

 

[sparkymarka]

Never heard of Konnected ? Do you on about texecom connect ?

 

[Jonesy9]

Hey, it's a smart alarm panel, designed to replace the circuit board of existing hard-wired alarms, utilising the existing senors/zones to send alerts to SmartThings, and other smart hubs. So you can make a bit more use of the senors, like you would with other smart sensors.

https://konnected.io/

 

[sparkymarka]

Best of luck

 

[Jonesy9]

Thanks Sparkymarka! I am a complete novice when it comes to alarms, but i do not make use of my alarm as the control panel of the Sterling 10 isn't the most user friendly.
It seems a shame to have so many useful PIRs, window/door sensors and panic alarms going un-used, so this Konnected smart alarm circuit board looks like a good way to get a user friendly alarm control and make extra use of the sensors for other smart devices too.

I did put up a post on the MyBuilder website to see if any Security experts were interesting in a job to swap the existing circuit board out with this new one, but nobody seems to fancy it unfortunately.
But i think if i can somehow get rid of the siren's backup battery so that when i power the system down to swap it out, the siren doesn't annoy the neighbours, i'd be willing to give the job a go myself.

Thanks!

 

[Alarm Engineer]

I don’t think it’s gonna be as easy as your expecting. You’d be better off upgrading the Sterling panel for entirely new panel and reconnect all the wiring from the existing circuits. The latest panels are app compatable. Search Pyronix or Texecom Connect these are the two leading brands, in fact your existing sterling is made by Pyronix albeit an obsolete model. Don’t waste your time on a gimmick and a 15year old panel. Do it properly and upgrade the panel.

 

[Jonesy9]

Apologies for the confusion, the Konnected circuit board would replace the Sterling circuit board, and would actually make the requirement for a panel obsolete. The Konnected circuit board would be connected to the wiring from each PIR, Panic Alarm, siren, etc. and be wirelessly connected to a smart hub. The smart hub/smartthings app would then identify when a sensor is triggered/opened/closed, and trigger an action accordingly. Such as sounding the siren, or turning on other devices connected to the same smart hub.

 

[Alarm Engineer]

Apologies for the confusion, the Konnected circuit board would replace the Sterling circuit board, and would actually make the requirement for a panel obsolete. The Konnected circuit board would be connected to the wiring from each PIR, Panic Alarm, siren, etc. and be wirelessly connected to a smart hub. The smart hub/smartthings app would then identify when a sensor is triggered/opened/closed, and trigger an action accordingly. Such as sounding the siren, or turning on other devices connected to the same smart hub.

How about the keypad? To arm/disarm?

 

[Jonesy9]

The SmartThings hub would be installed on a tablet, mounted to the wall in place of the keypad, and the system is armed/disarmed via the app.

 

[Alarm Engineer]

Ok and what do you have in place as a failsafe when there’s a powercut and your router is down or the app is discontinued or unsupported?

I can see what you have in mind but I think your be better off with a proper control panel and hardwired keypad as mentioned previously, these have supporting apps too.

 

[sparkymarka]

Did anybody tell the Americans that wifi won't work reliably inside a metal box ? Lol

 

[sparkymarka]

Just out of interest what is this going to cost you ? Does it come with battery back up inc ? How much is the tablet ? Will it stay on the app ? Or go to screen saver ? What type of siren does it support as the Americans don't have external bells ? Is it a loudspeaker siren only ?

 

[Jonesy9]

Hey, it is $75 for a 12 zone panel with built in WiFi. Been tested in the UK successfully too. Comes with backup battery with automatic switch-over. Tablet i already have going spare, which is wired into the wall using the panel's existing wiring and a step-down adapter to USB. Tablet would be configured to light up when a hand is detected, similar to in-car tablet installs.
Supports powered sirens, but to be honest i would likely not make use of the siren. The main reason i am thinking of doing this is that i don't really make use of the alarm very much at the moment.

Thanks for all of the feedback. Just seems to make perfect sense to put the sensors to better use that solely for a stand-alone alarm system. Might aswell put them to good use whilst i'm in the house, controlling smart devices, and then triggering an alarm when i am away from the home.

For $75, i am sure i'd pay a hell of a lot more to upgrade to a more traditional alarm system but with app support.

 

[sparkymarka]

Best of luck with it

 

[Jonesy9]

Cheers guys. I hear what you're saying as words of caution though. I'll have a more thorough look at it and i think.