Can I Update the Firmware On a Honeywell L5200 Alarm System?

Yes, you can update the firmware on a Honeywell L5200 Alarm System. You must have a Honeywell LYNXTOUCH-MSD Firmware Updater Tool that was manufactured after October 2019 to do this. A compatible updater tool will have a sticker on the box that indicates that it will work with an L5200.

Resideo (formerly Honeywell) introduced the Honeywell LYNXTOUCH-MSD Firmware Updater Tool as a way to provide firmware updates to Honeywell L5210 and Honeywell L7000 Systems without having to push down updates through the AlarmNet Servers. This way, even a panel that isn't connected with AlarmNet360 can still receive an update. However, the original version of the LYNXTOUCH-MSD Firmware Updater Tool was only compatible with the L5210 and L7000 System. It wasn't until Resideo released an updated version of the Honeywell LYNXTOUCH-MSD in mid-October 2019 that it became possible to update a Honeywell L5200 in this manner as well. As a result, if you have a LYNXTOUCH-MSD Firmware Updater Tool produced in October 2019 or later, then you can use it with an L5200 System. More information on this subject is available here.

Something very interesting happens when you upgrade an L5200 System to the latest firmware version. AlarmNet will actually classify the newly-upgraded L5200 System as an L5210 System. This is because the update will result in the L5200 behaving no differently than an L5210. For AlarmNet, there is no difference between a fully updated L5200 and a fully updated 5210. As a result, it simply considers any L5200 on the latest firmware to be an L5210 System. Yes, it's true that the L5200 and L5210 have a slightly different appearance and a slightly different screen size. But as far as AlarmNet is concerned, an L5200 that has been updated using a compatible LYNXTOUCH-MSD Firmware Updater Tool is the same as an L5210.

The main reason to upgrade an L5200 is because you want to use a certain alarm monitoring communicator with the system. The Honeywell LTE-L57A (AT&T LTE) requires Firmware Version 9.00.209 or higher. The Honeywell LTE-L57V (Verizon LTE) requires Firmware Version 9.00201 or higher. And new versions of the Honeywell L5100-WIFI Module with an updated MAC Prefix require Firmware Version 8.00.183 or higher. More information on firmware requirements for L5100-WIFI modules can be found in this post. All of these firmware requirements represent reasons why you might want to update your L5200 System.