How Do I Connect a VISTA-20p to Wireless Internet?

[SOUND EFFECTS] Hi, DIYers. This is Michael from AlarmGrid. And today, I'm going to answer the question of whether or not you can use wireless internet with a Honeywell VISTA security system. And the answer is you can, but you're going to need to use an ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge to make it possible, and the panel is going to have to be set up with an IP Communicator-- an AlarmNet IP Communicator. So Honeywell VISTA system, they're a series of hardwired security systems. Some of the newer ones and a lot of the VISTA P-Series, if you will, can support Total Connect 2.0, depending on if they're on the correct firmware version or not-- the high enough firmware version. And when you use an IP Communicator with the system, it typically uses a hardwired ethernet connection. It always uses a hardwired ethernet connection. So I'll go over the ones that focus on-- that can use Total Connect. Today, I'll focus on those mostly. So the VISTA 15P and the VISTA 20P, they need to be running firmware version 9.12 or higher to use Total Connect. VISTA 21iP needs firmware version 3.13 to use Total Connect. And VISTA 21iP LTE-- that's the new VISTA 21iP system. The VISTA 21iP LTE, it can use Total Connect on any firmware version. It's that new. You wouldn't need to make an upgrade. And as far as making a firmware upgrade on a VISTA system, that would be by replacing the PROM chip. You power the system completely down and remove the PROM chip from the center board and put a new one in. We sell PROM chip replacements on our website, if you were needing one. Now, of course, you also need a communicator to get started with the system. And some examples of communicators-- there's a Honeywell 7847i. That's the 7847i. That's an IP only communicator. It's just going to give you internet access through the AlarmNet servers. Other two options are the Honeywell LTE-IA and Honeywell LTE-IV. The LTE-IA and the LTE-IV are dual-path communicators. They use cellular communication, but they also use the hardwired ethernet connection. So 7847i, the LTE-IA, and the LTE-IV all use that hardwired ethernet connection. Now the reason it's important to get your panel connected to the AlarmNet servers, that's how monitoring service is facilitated. The panel goes into alarm if there's a trouble condition. It forwards the signal to the AlarmNet servers and then that can be passed on to Total Connect 2.0. It can be passed on to the central station so you can get alerts. You can have automatic emergency dispatch if you have central monitoring station service. So getting your panel connected to the network is very important. And IP represents one of the most popular ways to do it. Like I said, these systems, they use hardwired ethernet connections. The VISTA 21iP already has an IP Communicator built in. We have a 21iP right here. And that's the ethernet port actually. So that's where you'll be connecting ethernet cable. If you have a VISTA 15P, or a VISTA 20P, or even if you had a VISTA 10P that's not using a Total Connect but you're just using for monitoring service, you would have to add an IP Communicator if you wanted to get it connected to the servers for IP communication. And like I said, those are the-- I mentioned three communicators earlier and they all use a hardwired ethernet connection. So what you would have to do is you would have to run an ethernet cable from your IP router to the panel. And depending on the location of your IP router, that might be difficult. So you might need to affix some wires through the wall. It might not be very DIY-friendly. So that can be a turnoff for some users. Fortunately, there is a way to overcome this issue, by using an ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge. Now what this will do, you will take the ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge-- I actually have an example of one right here, and I'll talk more about in a minute. But it has an ethernet port right on it. And so you would connect-- using the ethernet cable, connect this to the ethernet port on the panel's communicator, or in the case of the 21iP or the 21iP LTE, right to the panel itself, right into the ethernet port or to the ethernet port on the communicator-- whatever you're using with your system. And so what this is going to do, the ethernet cable is going to go from the panel to the ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge. And this is going to connect with your local Wi-Fi network through a WPI setup-- Wi-Fi protected setup. And then your panel will essentially be on wireless internet. It will still have the hardwired connection between the panel and the ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge, but it's going to be on to your Wi-Fi network and it will be able to connect with the AlarmNet servers just by using something like this. Now the one I have here, I also have the box for it. So you can see it a little bit. This is the Alarm.com ADC-W110. It was built for Alarm.com cameras that use Power over Ethernet. But actually, it's quite versatile and it has some pretty good applications. You can use this with really any device that uses a hardwired ethernet connection for connecting to the network and have it connect wirelessly. So you'd be using Wi-Fi instead of having to run a wire all the way back to the panel. I mean, you can just imagine, it's a lot easier if your IP router is in a completely different location than your panel. Then you can just have your panel connect to this. And then this will take care of the rest. It will connect wirelessly to your IP router and your panel will be connected to Wi-Fi, essentially, through this ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge. In this case, the ADC-W110. Now I do want to mention one last thing. If you intend on getting your system monitored and connected with the AlarmNet servers and connect it with Total Connect, you will need an alarm monitoring plan. Now since you are using IP service, if you're not using cellular communication, then any of the AlarmGrid plans will do it. You don't need a plan that includes cellular. That can save you some money if you're not trying to go cellular. Cellular is more reliable and we do always recommend it in case of an outage, but that is an option. And one thing I do want to mention, you might want to consider getting backup power for your ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge. Because you see, this plugs in. If it loses electricity, and this is the only way that your system is connected, that will take your system offline and you could run into problems. So you really might strongly consider getting some battery backup for this, just like you have battery backup for your system. So battery backup for your ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge. And probably battery backup for your IP router as well. If your router goes offline and you're relying on IP connectivity, especially if you don't have that cellular backup, you need that-- We're not going to say need, but you really should have that battery backup to keep your system running in the event of an electrical outage. So that's an ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge. That's how you can connect your VISTA system to wireless internet instead of having to run an ethernet cable all the way from the IP router to the panel, which could be difficult. So this is a great option. It works really well. It's easy to use. This the one we recommend. There are other ethernet to Wi-Fi bridges out there. So if you want to do your research and find one, feel free to. But the ADC-W110, great one to use with a VISTA system that's using an AlarmNet IP Communicator. So if you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs up below to like the video. You can subscribe to our channel to get future updates on any videos we will do later. And if you have any questions, be sure to send us an email at support@alarmgrid.com. We're happy to answer questions about our monitoring plans or any of the products on our site. And check out our website, of course, AlarmGrid.com. We hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you.