Home Security Blog

Alarm Grid now offers the Altronix SMP3 auxiliary power supply which works great when adding multiple Tuxedo Touch or Tuxedo Touch WIFI keypads to a Honeywell VISTA Series alarm control panel. A Honeywell VISTA-20P alarm control panel has 600mA of auxiliary power supply. Each Tuxedo Touch draws up to 310mA and each Tuxedo Touch WIFI draws up to 350mA. Also, any alarm keypad, wireless receiver or AlarmNet alarm monitoring communicator connected to your VISTA-20P will also need power from the available 600mA auxiliary. That means that there is very little power left over for your Tuxedo Touch keypads. While the Honeywell AD12612 is an auxiliary power supply with 1.2A of power output, you will need a larger power supply like the SMP3 which puts out 2.5A if you have lots of devices drawing power or you have multiple Tuxedo Touch keypads.

Here at Alarm Grid, we recommend connecting all of your Tuxedo Touch and Tuxedo Touch WIFI keypads to an SMP3 power supply to make your alarm installation as easy as possible. You will need to hook up a Honeywell 1361 AC transformer to your SMP3 and you should also connect an Ultratech 1240 backup battery so that your Tuxedo Touch keypads will work even during a power outage. With a VISTA-20P alarm control panel, you should be able to fit the SMP3 and the extra backup battery inside the same alarm cabinet that houses the VISTA-20P. Powering your Tuxedo Touch keypads is easy with an SMP3 auxiliary power supply.

While we currently offer wired motion detectors that utilize passive infrared (PIR) technology, the DT7435 is the first Honeywell DUAL TEC® motion detector offered by Alarm Grid. Motion detectors that use PIR technology are the most common type of motion detector. PIR motion detectors are able to detect the ambient temperature within a protected room. If an intruder enters the room, the PIR motion detector senses that their body temperature is different than the normal environment and an alarm is triggered. However, motion detectors that rely on PIR technology only can be susceptible to false alarms. Therefore, Honeywell DUAL TEC motion detectors are valuable because they introduce microwave technology which is used in conjunction with PIR technology.

Motion detectors that use microwave technology emit microwave energy and detect the frequency of the energy reflected back to the motion detector. If an intruder enters the protected area, the frequency changes and the motion detector triggers an alarm. Unfortunately, microwaves go through walls and therefore motion detectors using microwave technology only would not be useful as they would detect movement outside of the protected are and cause false alarms.

Honeywell DUAL TEC motion detectors like the DT7435 combine both types of detection to make a motion detector that is extremely unlikely to trigger a false alarm. If you have experienced false alarm issues with your current wired motion detectors, you should consider swapping them out to the DT7435 DUAL TEC motion detector.

Alarm Grid is happy to announce that we now stock the Honeywell 719 self contained siren. As a self contained siren, you can wire the 719 directly to any VISTA Series alarm control panel without needing a separate power supply or siren driver. Another great feature of the 719 alarm siren is that it is made of highly durable weatherproof plastic so that you can install it inside or outside. Many people like to install a siren outside so that their neighbors can be alerted to any alarms that may occur when the family is not home. The Honeywell 719 is extremely loud with a sound output of 115dB at 10' so you can be sure that your neighbors hear your alarms.

We are proud to announce the addition of the Honeywell 702 and the Honeywell 5899 to Alarm Grid's product offering.

The Honeywell 702 is a self-contained alarm siren that can be used with any wired alarm control panel. Of course, as it is a Honeywell siren, it is recommended that you use it with a Honeywell wired alarm control panel such as any of the VISTA Series alarm control panels. The siren has dual channels so that it can sound a steady alarm and/or a warble alarm. It is also weatherproof which makes it ideal for anyone looking to install a siren outside their home.

The Honeywell 5899 is a replacement magnet designed for the Honeywell 5816 wireless contacts, however you can use the 5899 magnets with nearly any door or window sensor. If you have lost a magnet from your door and window sensor, the 5899 is a great option. Also, the 5899 are great for venting windows which require (2) magnets for each window sensor. To vent the window you simply mount one magnet at the bottom of the window and another magnet a few inches up the window. You then mount the window sensor on the frame across from the top magnet. When the window is closed, the top magnet and the window contact are aligned and when the window is open a few inches, the window contact is aligned with the bottom contact. Now you can have your security system armed and still get a nice breeze flowing throughout your home.

A Honeywell wireless security system can do so much more than simply protect against burglaries and intrusion. With 5802WXT and 5802WXT-2 wireless medical alert transmitters, you can use your Honeywell wireless security system as a medical alert system as well. The newly designed wireless panic buttons are ideal for elders living alone or for any family member with serious health risks. Each 5802WXT or 5802WXT-2 includes a lanyard, wristband, belt clip and keychain so that your sick or elderly family members will always be a button press away from receiving the emergency response they may need. The wireless medical alert devices are water resistant so they can even be used in the shower or bath tub where dangerous slip and fall situations are likely to occur!

When Alarm Grid's central station receives an alarm from a medical alert device, the operator can call you to notify you that your sick or elderly family member is in an emergency situation. If you are not available, or you request immediate medical response, the central station operator can also call the paramedics so that your loved ones get rapid medical response. 

Of course, you can use a 5802WXT or 5802WXT-2 as a normal panic button as well. When programmed as a panic button, the Honeywell 5802WXT/5802WXT-2 can trigger a silent or audible alarm and Alarm Grid's central station will call the police immediately upon receipt of the alarm. Make the most of your Honeywell wireless security system and your central station alarm monitoring service by adding wireless medical alert/panic buttons using the Honeywell 5802WXT or 5802WXT-2.

Alarm Grid now offers the Honeywell VISTA-21iP and the Honeywell VISTA-128BPTSIA alarm control panels. We feel it is every alarm company's responsibility to focus on false alarm reduction to avoid unnecessary false alarm fines for the customer and more importantly, to ensure that local authorities will continue to respond to central station alarm dispatches. The Security Industry Association (SIA) recognizes that if police departments continue to respond to a high number of false alarms, they may eventually refuse to respond to any alarm dispatched by a central station. If this were to happen, the entire alarm monitoring industry would be at risk as alarm monitoring relies on the quick and effective response by the local authorities. Just like the story of the boy who cried wolf, police officers that continually respond to false alarms begin to assume all central station dispatched alarms are false alarms and therefore, response time goes way up and apprehensions go way down.

If local agencies feel they are wasting too much time and resources responding to false alarms, they may refuse to respond at all. Customers would then be required to hire expensive private guard services to respond to their alarms. Alarm monitoring is expensive enough already. Without the important partnership with local authorities, customers would be left with a very difficult decision. Do you save your money and have your security system just make a loud noise, or do you shell out the high cost for a guard service to respond to all alarms? At Alarm Grid, we feel everyone should be able to afford to protect their family and their property and therefore, we recommend SIA CP-01 compliant alarm control panels for every new security system installation. All SIA CP-01 compliant alarm control panels were manufactured to comply with the ANSI/SIA CP-01 standards document which details the features required to prevent false alarms. The VISTA-21iPSIA is a great residential option for a SIA CP-01 alarm control panel, while the VISTA-128BPTSIA is ideal for commercial applications. Both systems will ensure that you minimize your chance of activating false alarms. Since, the VISTA-21iPSIA and VISTA-128BPTSIA are the same price as the standard VISTA-21iP and VISTA-128BPTSIA, you do not have to pay extra to avoid the high cost of false alarm fines and you will be doing your part to ensure that alarm companies will be able to continue to offer low cost alarm monitoring services.

Alarm Grid is the first to offer the brand new Honeywell GSMX4G and GSMV4G cellular alarm communicators. With the release of these advanced 4G cellular alarm communicators, you now have a 4G cellular option for a VISTA Series alarm control panel. AT&T has formally announced that December 31st, 2016 will be the last day they provide support for the older 2G cellular networks. Even before this date, certain areas of the country may see a degradation in the 2G network which could prevent an existing GSMX or GSMV cellular alarm communicator from reliability communicating with AlarmNet and your central station. Therefore, we highly recommend that everyone swap out all existing GSMX and GSMV communicators with the new GSMX4G or GSMV4G 4G cellular alarm communicators.

Alarm Grid now offers YRD210 and YRD220  Yale Real Living™ deadbolt locks which you can use with a Honeywell L5100-ZWAVE enabled L5100 LYNX Touch wireless security system to remotely lock or unlock your door's deadbolt. With a Total Connect 2.0 interactive account, you can provide or deny access to your home with the tap of a finger. Use your iPhone® to unlock your doors to let in a cleaning person, receive a text message every time your son or daughter keys in their code, or pair with other Z-Wave home automation devices to create a scene triggered by locking or unlocking the Yale Z-Wave enabled deadbolt.

If you love the advanced look of the touchscreen version, you will want the YD220 version, but if you prefer the more traditional push button style, look at the YRD210. You can even choose your finish:

Here at Alarm Grid, we strive to be different than your average alarm company. We find it interesting that most alarm companies hide their prices and don't provide any real information to a prospective buyer. Maybe they assume that the average consumer can't understand anything more than how to arm and disarm a security system; or perhaps they just like to get people in high pressure sales situations to push security systems and expensive long-term alarm monitoring contracts. Whatever their real intentions are, it's clear they do not have the consumer's best interests in mind. It's a shame that the business practices of these companies have hurt the reputation of the overall alarm industry. Instead of getting excited about the amazing new technologies available today, most people are so fed up with their current alarm company that they don't even bother to arm or disarm their system.

As the founder and president of Alarm Grid, I believe that security systems are not as mysterious as your alarm company would have you think and it is my goal to explain the way a system works in a clear and user friendly way. Instead of forcing you to sign a long term contract that has tons of language protecting ourselves, we invite you to sign up for monitoring services knowing that if we ever fail to live up to your expectations, you are free to choose a different company. Of course, if we can save you some money in the process, you'll love us even more! I don't expect everyone to be as excited about alarms as I am, but I do think that if you take the time to browse the products we offer, you'll be very suprised to find out what today's security systems can do. Imagine for a minute that you've left for a nice long weekend but you can't remember if you locked your front door. Instead of driving an hour back to the house to be sure, you can pull out your iPhone (not while you are driving of course!) and with the touch of a button, lock every door of your house. Or maybe you have teenagers that are supposed to come home at 4PM every day after school. Instead of wondering if they are out getting into trouble, you can get a quick video clip of them coming home followed by a text message that they've armed the system behind them and now you have the peace of mind that they are safe. Sorry, we still can't make them do their homework! Today's security systems do so much more than protect your family and property. They make our lives easier and more efficient! 

Welcome to Alarm Grid and be happy knowing that you have finally found an alarm company that works for you. If you allow us the chance, we promise we will change the way you think about security systems and the alarm industry forever!

Sincerely,

Sterling Donnelly