Honeywell Panels Compatible With the SEM

Hey, DIYers. I'm Jorge from Alarm Grid. Today we're going to be going over what Honeywell systems are compatible with the SEM, which is a system enhancement module for Alarm.com. Now, just so you guys understand here, this is the SEM. It actually has a little QR code on the back that, when you guys buy it, if you need help with installation, if you just scan the little QR code it's going to give you the install instructions. All right? It also comes with the installation instructions on the inside. It's a little booklet. But this is the SEM. This is the cellular communicator that's going to allow your VISTA systems to communicate to Alarm.com. Now, this is different, because typically Honeywell systems only work with AlarmNet's Total Connect 2.0. So this is actually pretty neat for those users that are looking to do Alarm.com and Alarm.com integrations. It's pretty neat, especially if you can add this. Now, how do you tell if your VISTA system is compatible with this SEM? Well, any VISTA P-series system is compatible. So the VISTA-10P, the VISTA-15P, the 20P, and the 21iP are both compatible. Today we're actually working with a 21iP. And I'm just going to show you a couple of ways on how to find the information you need to see if your panel will work with it. So, first things first. The panel, in order to be compatible with the SEM, does need to be a revision 3.0 or above. All right? So if it's a VISTA-20P, it needs to be revision 3.0 or above. If you have a VISTA-20P that's 2.0 or below, it cannot be PROM-upgraded. And if you have a VISTA-P that's revision 1.0 or below, that panel must be replaced entirely. There's really not much you can do with that VISTA-20P if it's below PROM revision 1.0. And to find the PROM, they look a little bit different on every panel. So for instance, on my VISTA-21iP, the PROM chip is usually always going to be in the center of the board. It's a little black chip right here, with a white sticker. Now, this one's sideways, but basically, when you guys look at your VISTA PROM chip, it's going to start with the letters W-A, as in whiskey-alpha. And since I have a 21iP, it's actually letting me know that it's a WA21iP-4.23. That is actually the latest revision for the VISTA-21iP. For the 20Ps and the VISTA-15Ps, you have a revision of 10.23, which is the latest one as of right now. That can obviously change in the future. Now, what I was saying about the manufacturing date, as well-- not only does it have to have an up-to-date PROM chip, or a pretty decent PROM chip, the manufacturing date also has to be after 2005. If it's before 2005, the SEM will not work with it. And again, that manufacturer, the manufacturing year, can be found on the PROM chip as well. This one's actually in a lot smaller writing than the whiskey-alpha 21iP. It will actually show you right underneath where it says Honeywell. It'll say-- this one's a 2014. It's really, really small. So if you guys are looking at the PROM chip, make sure you're looking at it with your lights on. If you can, take a picture of it, so you can try to zoom in. Because the lettering on that is very small. All right? So you want to make sure you look at the year it was manufactured as well. Now, the SEM also works with the SIA series. So if you have a VISTA-15P SIA or 20P SIA, also something to keep in mind. Now, if you guys do decide to use the 21iP with the SEM, you guys, the 21iP is weird because it has a built-in communicator. So it has an internal IP communicator. So we have to actually turn, or move the jumper from the on position to the off position so that we turn the internal communicator off, which allows us to use an external communicator. Now, when moving the jumper, which is up here in the upper-left corner-- this little white jumper plastic piece-- it's connected to the two upper prongs right now. Before we remove that piece, we need to power the system down completely. So we would move-- we'd power the system down by unplugging it from the backup battery and unplugging the transformer. And after we've powered it down, this little piece here, instead of having it connected to the top two prongs, you just unplug it and you move it down to the bottom two prongs. All right? That's going to turn off the internal communication, allowing you to use the external communicator here. Now, this, just so you know, is going to go wired into the same terminals that your keypads are wired into. This is treated like, basically, an extra keypad for the system. It also has Z-wave compatibility. So if you guys have a VAM or a Tuxedo on your existing VISTA system, if you guys want to use automation with the Alarm.com service, you're going to have to get rid of that Z-wave controller that you have existing, and you're going to need to use this as your new Z-wave controller. Because this has Z-wave compatibility built in. So this will allow you to add Z-wave devices to your Honeywell VISTA-15P, 20P, 21iP, even the VISTA-10P. Now, that brings me to another thing. The VISTA-10P-- that usually is not a system that works with Total Connect 2.0. Before this, if you had a VISTA-10P and you wanted to do interactive services through an app, that was not capable of doing with that system, because Total Connect only works with VISTA-15Ps and above. All right? So before this, the VISTA-10P you could only do basic monitoring with. But now that the SEM has come out, you can actually add this to your VISTA-10P, and you can make your VISTA-10P work with interactive services with the Alarm.com app. There is also a DSC SEM that works with the DSC PowerSeries systems. So make sure that if you guys are buying the SEM, you buy the correct one. If you get the DSC one, it will not work with the Honeywell VISTA system. So something to keep in mind there. Also, if you go to our FAQ that's basically tied in with this video, there is a list at the bottom that shows you every single panel that this SEM is compatible with. It'll show you all the VISTA panels. And it's also compatible with most First Alert panels. So take a look. If you have a First Alert system and you guys are looking to do interactive services, take a look at the list that we have. See if one of those models of the First Alert systems is what you have. And maybe you may want to add this to your system and get monitored. That is pretty much it for the VISTA systems. Again, just take a look at the PROM chip and the year that it was manufactured. From there we'll be able to tell if you can use the SEM. If you guys do have any questions about it and compatibility, feel free to email us at support@alarmgrid.com. You can also go ahead and hit Like on the video if you've found it helpful. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and enable notifications, so whenever we upload new content you guys do get notified. I'm Jorge. I'll see you guys next time.