Press Releases Posts

Verizon plans to shut down its CDMA (3G) network by December 31, 2022. If you have a Verizon CDMA communicator on your system, you need to upgrade by then, or your system may be unable to communicate in the event of an emergency. Alarm Grid is making the upgrade as painless as possible.

We've posted about the AT&T 3G and Verizon CDMA sunsets a lot! Verizon CDMA users have been fortunate in that they've had nearly a year longer to update than AT&T 3G users. However, the sunset is drawing near, so those who still have a system with a CDMA communicator should be giving serious consideration to upgrading. If you're not sure how to upgrade, this post provides great information.

If you're concerned about the cost of upgrading, we offer financing through Affirm. From this link, choose "Shop Now" and follow the prompts to apply at check out. If you have any questions, contact us at support@alarmgrid.com if we can be of assistance, we're more than happy to help.

You might wonder why we continue to talk about upgrading your system. It's because we know that cellular alarm communication is the most reliable method of communication available today. Internet, be it Ethernet or WIFI is great. It's fast, and when it's available it makes using services like Alarm.com or Total Connect 2.0 much more fluid. It's also very fast for reporting alarm signals when central station monitoring is in use.

But we all know that an internet connection can be unreliable. Sometimes WIFI just stops working and requires a reboot or other end-user intervention. For most folks, when the power goes out, internet equipment also goes down. This means that even a wired Ethernet connection to the internet can be vulnerable to downtime.

With cellular, those types of issues are much less likely to occur. Cellular providers have all sorts of redundancy built into their networks. So, a loss of power is countered by backup power sources for cellular towers. The spacing of the towers themselves means that in most cases, a cellular device will have a primary tower and at least one backup tower to keep it connected and communicating. Cellular alarm communicators either have their own backup battery or use the battery of the alarm panel they are connected to. So the loss of primary power won't take the communicator offline.

Finally, we'll wrap this up by reminding Alarm Grid customers that waiting until the last minute to upgrade your communicator is a bad idea. We have a finite number of activators, and the holiday season is coming up soon, which will further limit the time we have to get new communicators activated. Upgrading from an older communicator to a new one usually doesn't take quite as long as a new activation, but it does require manual input from one of our activators, so please be mindful of this and schedule your upgrade using our communicator replacement portal as soon as possible.

Alarm.com is offering a new feature called Perimeter Guard™ proactive defense for their compatible cameras. All that is required to use this feature is a video plan that includes video analytics, a compatible camera, and a video analytics recording rule applied to an appropriate camera.

This new feature is considered a proactive method of defense because when an analytics rule is activated on a compatible camera with the Perimeter Guard™ feature enabled, it causes the camera LED to flash, and a sound to be emitted from the camera's speaker, when supported. This is done to let the potential intruder know that they've been seen and to encourage them to move along to some other location.

The following cameras support the Perimeter Guard™ feature:

The Alarm.com Video Analytics feature must be enabled in order to use this feature. This allows the user to be as sure as possible that it is actually an intruder that is causing the disturbance, rather than a neighbor's pet running loose or some other source of a potential accidental activation. A compatible Alarm.com camera that has been properly calibrated for use with the analytics feature ensures that false activations are virtually eliminated. Once the camera has been calibrated simply create a Video Analytics Rule for the calibrated camera and choose to Activate Perimeter Guard.

In the "Activate Perimeter Guard" section of the recording rule, choose the option or options you want to enable. You can choose to set up a trip wire recording, or a ground zone recording. Refer to the full instructions on setting up video analytics rules that we've linked above for more information on these two (2) different options.

Basically, a trip wire recording allows you to draw a virtual line within the camera's field of view, and if anyone crosses that line while the rule is active, a clip recording is triggered, and the options selected for the Perimeter Guard feature are also triggered. When using a ground zone, the behavior is similar, but instead of an invisible trip wire, you're configuring an invisible space within the camera's viewing area. If someone enters that space and stays for a specified amount of time, a recording and the Perimeter Guard behavior are activated.

Depending on the camera you are using, you have the option to illuminate the LED, and for how long, to have the camera produce sounds, if supported, and to set a delay between alerts. The LED duration options are 3, 5, 10, or 30 seconds. The "Delay between Alerts" options are 30 seconds, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or 15 minutes. The Audio Alert options are shown in the screenshot below. This feature can be configured using either the customer website or the Alarm.com app.

Once you've selected the options you want for the rule, be sure to Save and then be sure that the "Rule is Active" toggle is enabled at the very top of the rule creation screen. If you ever need to disable this rule, you can easily do so by toggling the rule off, rather than deleting it. Then, when you're ready to use it again, simply toggle it back on.

This is another example of how Alarm.com continues to innovate within the video surveillance space. Particularly when outdoor cameras are used, this feature can go a long way toward not just notifying of a break-in, but discouraging one. For Alarm Grid customers, you will need either our Platinum Plan (Full or Self) or a Stand-alone Video Plan.

If you're activating new video service with us, and you want to check out this feature, be sure to tell your activator that you want to enable Video Analytics. If you're already a video customer and you would like to have the Video Analytics feature enabled for your account so that you can check out this intriguing new feature, drop an email to support@alarmgrid.com and let us know, we'll gladly enable it for you. We pay more for the Video Analytics feature, but we don't charge more for it. This is why we don't simply enable Video Analytics for every video account automatically.

2GIG strongly recommends that all Edge panels be updated to the latest firmware version, 3.1.1.016. This firmware has a number of new features and bug fixes. New features include Z-Wave siren support and updated remote keypad features. For a full list of updates, read the release notes.

The 2GIG Edge supports a WIFI connection in addition to the AT&T or Verizon cellular communicator that comes built-in. For any Alarm.com panel that is connected to WIFI, OTA (Over the Air) firmware updates that are downloaded to the panel using WIFI are free. However, for those panels that don't have access to WIFI, a firmware update that is sent to the panel via cellular data usually incurs a small fee. Alarm Grid passes this fee on to our customers with no markup, when it is assessed.

But, for a limited time, Alarm.com is offering to update the 2GIG Edge panel automatically with no fees assessed, even when the firmware has to be downloaded via cellular data. That's how important 2GIG and Alarm.com feel this update is. Beginning on Monday, September 12, 2022, Alarm.com will push the latest firmware to all monitored 2GIG Edge panels.

These automatic updates will take place only during daylight hours, and only when the alarm panel is disarmed. When the firmware update is complete, the alarm panel will reboot. This is a normal part of the update process. Additionally, if there are any remote keypads associated with the panel, they will also be updated once the main panel has completed its update. Alarm.com expects the process of updating all 2GIG Edge panels to be completed by the end of October 2022.

If you'd like to go ahead and update your panel immediately, you can access the necessary files for the update on our 2GIG Edge Firmware Update Page. Instructions for updating the 2GIG Edge can be found in this helpful FAQ. Otherwise, do nothing and your panel will be automatically updated OTA by Alarm.com at no charge, in the near future.

Johnson Controls released a Technical Advisory Bulletin on Monday noting that some PowerSeries Neo, Pro LTE, and Internet Dual-Path Communicators have labeling errors. The serial number on the box appears to be incorrect. Comms built between August 15, 2021, and July 29, 2022, are affected.

The model numbers affected are the DSC TL880LECVZ, TL880LECAT, TL880LEBAT, TL880LEBTL, and TL880LECTL. This is a labeling error only and does not affect the signal transmitting, or Alarm.com remote control capabilities of these communicators in any way. The mixup seems to be with the name on the label on the product, and the serial number on the label on the box.

The model name listed on the label of the product is incorrect, while the serial number listed on this label is accurate. The model name listed on the sticker for the box is correct, but the serial number listed on the box is incorrect. So, be sure when registering one of these units that you use the serial number from the sticker for the product and not the one from the box.

The following products, built during the listed date range, are affected:

Beginning July 29, 2022, new, updated and correct labels should be placed on these products. Remember, the performance of communicators that were manufactured during this timeframe is not compromised. This is only a labeling error, so as long as the serial number taken from the sticker affixed to the product itself, or the IMEI number from the printed circuit board is used everything should work as intended. DSC offers a handy Date Code Lookup tool at this site. You can find information on looking up a date code for any DSC product on that page.

The fact that this issue wasn't discovered sooner seems to indicate that this is a very minor issue. What do you think about this announcement? Do you often use these communicators? Have you run across this issue? Leave us a comment below and tell us what you think. We always enjoy hearing from our readers. That's all for today, until we meet again, stay safe!

Resideo announced last week that due to a required component becoming obsolete, they are forced to discontinue the popular 5800FLOOD sensor. There is still some available stock, so Alarm Grid has not yet discontinued it, but once all stock has been exhausted, the 5800FLOOD is gone for good.

The 5800FLOOD is popular because unlike the 5821, it doesn't require that a water probe be added to the sensor. Water detection is built-in, and configuration is easy. Another benefit of the 5800FLOOD is that it will alert for flooding more quickly than the 5821. The prongs of the 5800FLOOD need only be in contact with water for about 25 seconds before a signal is sent to the alarm panel. The 5821 flood probe must be in contact with water for about three (3) minutes before sending a signal.

In addition to flood sensing, the 5800FLOOD also monitors for extreme cold and/or hot temperatures locally. This is done using a temperature sensor that is built into the 5800FLOOD. For cold temperature sensing, if the ambient temperature drops below 45℉ (7.2℃) for more than 15 minutes, an alert is sent using Loop 1. For high-temperature sensing, if the temperature rises above 95℉ (35℃) for more than 15 minutes, then an alert is sent using Loop 2. The flood sensor transmits using Loop 3.

Now that the 5800FLOOD is being discontinued, the Resideo and Honeywell Home 5821 is the recommended replacement. One drawback to the 5821 is that it requires a remote probe be added for flood sensing, and for freeze sensing. However, only one (1) remote probe can be used per transmitter, so if you need to monitor for both flood and freeze, two (2) 5821s are required.

The 5821 supports the following functions:

For flood sensing, we recommend using the FP280 as it includes wiring, and the required resistor is already in place. With the 470PB, the user is responsible for providing their own wire and must add the 2.2 MΩ resistor themselves. In all cases, wiring between the 5821 and whichever remote probe is used should be made as short as possible, and should not exceed 96" (243cm). Be sure to read the full Install Guide for the 5821 for all of its various quirks.

Supply chain shortages claim another victim in the 5800FLOOD. It seems like only yesterday that we were excitedly telling you about it. What are your thoughts on the demise of this "New and Improved" environmental sensor? Leave us a note in the comments, as we always love hearing from our readers.

Today is Alarm Grid's birthday! We're ten years old today. Wow, how time flies. We've weathered lots of things in our ten years. Hurricanes and pandemics just to name a few. To celebrate our special day, we will be closing early today. Our phones are off as of 12:00 pm Eastern Time.

As is always the case, our central station partners are available around the clock, every day. All signals sent by your Alarm Grid monitored alarm system will be handled in the usual manner. If you need to contact the central monitoring station, either to cancel a false alarm or to verify a signal, customers in the United States can contact Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS) by dialing (888) 818-7728 and choosing Option [9].

Canadian customers can contact Rapid Response at (800) 932-3822. Remember any time you contact either monitoring station, you will need to provide your name, your address, and your false alarm password or phrase. If you provide incorrect information when asked it will result in the dispatch of authorities.

If you have a support question about your alarm system or need to make changes to your account, you need to speak with one of our technicians. For those types of requests, send an email to support@alarmgrid.com with as many details as possible about what type of assistance you need. Remember that when we return tomorrow, there may be a tiny support backlog. Please be patient and we will work through all requests as quickly as possible.

I hope you'll join me in wishing a Happy Tenth Birthday to Alarm Grid. We set out to disrupt the traditional alarm equipment and monitoring model, and I think we've accomplished that. It is our strong belief that everyone should have access to professional quality alarm equipment and that you shouldn't have to pay someone else to do what you can do yourself. We've been working toward that end for a decade now. Happy Birthday to Alarm Grid, and many more!!

Our offices will be closed on Monday, July 4, 2022 in observance of Independence Day. On this day in 1776, our founders declared our independence from England by formally adopting the Declaration of Independence. Since then, July 4 has become a day to celebrate family and freedom in America.

Our central station partners are available around the clock, every day. All signals sent by your Alarm Grid monitored alarm system will be handled in the usual manner during the holiday unless you've made previous arrangements with us. If you need to contact the central monitoring station, to cancel a false alarm or to verify a signal, customers in the US can contact Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS) by dialing (888) 818-7728 and choosing Option [9].

Canadian customers can contact Rapid Response at (800) 932-3822. Remember any time you contact either monitoring station, you will need to provide your name, address, and your false alarm password or phrase. If you provide incorrect information when asked it will result in the dispatch of authorities.

If you have a support question about your alarm system or need to make changes to your account, the monitoring station cannot assist you with that. For those types of requests, send an email to support@alarmgrid.com with as many details as possible about what type of assistance you need. Remember that when we return after the holiday, there may be a bit of a support backlog. Please be patient and we will work through all requests as quickly as possible.

If you plan to enjoy fireworks as part of your July 4th celebration, be sure to use caution and follow any provided instructions for safety. We'll see you back here after the holiday, hopefully with all our phalanges and eyebrows intact! Thank you for trusting us with your safety, and the safety of your family. We very much appreciate you being a part of the Alarm Grid family.

Resideo and Honeywell Home, formerly Honeywell, released an announcement last week that they will change their date code format from a YDDD (Year, Day of the year) format, to use YYWW (Year, Week of the year). This is being done, ostensibly, to simplify the decoding of date codes for users.

Product date codes are important for determining whether a product is still under warranty, as well as whether it may be affected by a particular anomaly that may have occurred because of an issue in the manufacturing process. For Carbon Monoxide detectors, which always have a finite useful life, the manufacturing date code is important to help determine when a CO detector needs to be replaced, particularly if the detector doesn't include a feature to warn a user when its useful life is coming to an end. For all these reasons, it's important to be able to decode a date code.

Going all the way back to the Ademco days, Resideo products have used a date code where a letter signified the Year of manufacture, and a 3-digit number signified the day of manufacture. For example, 2022 has been signified by the letter F, so a date code of F159 would indicate a product was manufactured on the 159th day of 2022, or June 8. Calendars can be downloaded from the internet with all the days of the year enumerated.

Of course, this date code scheme has advantages and disadvantages. The letter used to signify each year can seem somewhat arbitrary, and at some point, letters must begin to be repeated. So, with a very long-lived product line, there could be some confusion as to whether a particular letter indicates the older or newer iteration of that letter for that product. The advantage of this format is that you know exactly which day a product was manufactured, and exactly which day it was packaged (packaging has its own date code, which follows the same format). This information can be helpful when determining a manufacturing issue.

Starting this month, June 2022, Resideo will standardize on a new Date Code format. In this format, containing four (4) digits, the first two (2) digits will indicate the year of manufacture, and the last two (2) digits will indicate the week of that year (YYWW). This will simplify things, as no one will have to look up or figure out which year goes with which letter, but it also doesn't supply quite as detailed an accounting of when a product was manufactured or packaged as the old format did. Packaging date codes will also be making the switch.

Below are some examples of the new Date Code, in these examples, the Date Codes are all 2223, indicating they were manufactured the 23rd week of 2022:

Effective in August of 2022, Alarm.com is ending sales of Alarm.Com Image Sensors (ADC-IS-220-GC and ADC-IS-300-LP). Alarm Grid has already discontinued these sensors due to the fact that they are in short supply, and no more of them will be produced. Only the Honeywell Home PROINDMV remains.

The 2GIG IMAGE3:

There was some overlap between the Alarm.com Image Sensor models, and the 2GIG and Qolsys Image Sensor models. I have confirmed with Alarm.com that the 2GIG and Qolsys models are also discontinued as of August, 2022. Currently, the only Image Sensors being offered by Alarm Grid are the DSC PowerG and Honeywell Home PROINDMV models which are discussed in more detail below.

Image sensors were a great idea that never really took off. The original image sensors, first offered by 2GIG and Alarm.com, did not have particularly good resolution or picture quality, which is probably one reason they weren't widely adopted by the DIY crowd. By the time the 2nd generation of these sensors came around, people were prepared to simply go with full-on video monitoring or to avoid capturing images altogether.

Both the second and third-generation image sensors that were offered by 2GIG, Qolsys, and Alarm.com had very good image quality. Combine that with Alarm Grid's policy of offering monitoring for image sensors without an additional price markup, and the image sensor was a viable alternative to the use of video cameras. An Alarm.com user could log into their account and perform a "peek-in", meaning they could request that a particular image sensor grab a picture of whatever it was able to see at that moment, and the image (actually two (2) images) would then be uploaded to the customer's alarm.com account for viewing. The sensor could also take images upon sensing motion after a particular period of inactivity, or upon an alarm. For full details on image sensor features and operation, check out this prior post.

DSC offers a couple of PowerG PIR Cameras that will work with the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 and IQ Panel 4 in addition to the DSC PowerSeries Neo panels with a PowerG Transceiver added. These are the DSC PG9934P, Indoor PIR Camera, and the DSC PG9944, Outdoor PIR Camera. These sensors work like any other PowerG Sensor with the Qolsys Panels. They can only capture images when the system is armed and the image sensor is active (not bypassed). They send their images to the panel, and then the first image is uploaded to Alarm.com. A total of ten (10) images are taken, and these images are stitched together by the panel into a sort of stop-motion video where each image can also be viewed individually. This is done via the panel screen itself. When used with the PowerSeries Neo panels, the DSC PIR Cameras can be used for Visual Verification only, they do NOT work like a regular image sensor with Alarm.com.

DSC PG9934P, Indoor Image Sensor:

DSC PG9944, Outdoor Image Sensor:

The Honeywell Home PROINDMV is a wireless PIR motion sensor with a camera built-in, just like the 2GIG, Qolsys, and Alarm.com image sensors were. The PROINDMV is currently only supported on the Resideo PROA7PLUSC, and Honeywell Home PROA7PLUS panels. There is no "peek-in" option for these image sensors. They can only capture images when they sense motion while the system is armed in Away mode. Images or videos are captured and uploaded to Total Connect 2.0 for viewing. The user can choose to receive either a still image or a 10-second video clip. You can read their full details of operation in our previous post.

Honeywell Home PROINDMV:

It seems like the era of the image sensor may be coming to a close, at least for now. Who knows, once we're through the global chip shortage, and the availability of components is back to normal, perhaps the humble image sensor will experience a revival. If so, DIYers may want to consider giving these sensors a try. They really are an excellent idea. They can be used for alarm verification in this age of increasing police resistance to alarm response, and they are cheaper, both initially and on an ongoing month-to-month basis, than video cameras.

An announcement on the AlarmNet360 page shows that they will send a remote reset command to some LTEM-PA, LTEM-PV, LTEM-PIA, and LTEM-PIV radios. This will occur today, Friday 04/15/22 between 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm ET. This may cause a trouble condition, and queued alarm reports could be sent.

It's unclear why this is being done. After a successful reset occurs, the radio will send an "E339-EXP. Module Power ON / Reset" message to the monitoring station. If the radio was in comm failure prior to the reset and any unsent alarm signals were queued, this reset may cause those alarm messages to be sent. These signals would show up immediately following the E339 signal at the central station. We assume this would also cause the same alarm messages to show up in Total Connect 2.0, and to be sent as notifications.

In addition, depending on how the panel is programmed, this event may cause the panel to display a bF or Check 103 message, and could also cause trouble beeping from the keypad. Disarming the system twice should clear the message and return the system to its normal state.