Using a WIFI Communicator with a Honeywell Alarm System

Hey, DIYers. I'm Jorge from Alarm Grid. Today we're going to be discussing how you can use a Wi-Fi communicator with a Honeywell alarm system. Now, we have different kinds of Honeywell systems. And each one is unique in its own. So I'm going to go over wireless systems first. And I'm going to go over wired systems at the end. But typically speaking, there are Wi-Fi communicators or internet IP communicators that you can buy for your system. So I first want to talk about the wireless systems. Now, most wireless systems, as long as they have a Wi-Fi card installed, will work through a Wi-Fi path, if that's what you're looking at using for your monitoring service. Obviously, cellular is always recommended as Wi-Fi. We're not strangers to having Wi-Fi issues. Wi-Fi can go down. The power can go out. The panels may just need to be relearned to the router. Whatever it is, we're not strangers to Wi-Fi issues. So it's always recommended to do cellular. But this video is solely about Wi-Fi. So yes, there are Wi-Fi cards that you can get. For instance, the Lyric alarm system, which I have right here, actually comes with Wi-Fi already built in. The new Honeywell Alarm Pro Series panels-- or now Honeywell is referred to as Resideo. The new Resideo panels that are coming out also are more than likely-- actually, for sure, are going to have the Wi-Fi card also built in, as well. Now, for my older Lynx panels that are out there-- the L7000, the L5210, the L5100-- these panels, they needed you to actually buy the Wi-Fi card separately, which was called the L5100 Wi-Fi. Now, there are some exceptions to the older Honeywell panels, such as the L3000 and the L5000. These didn't have Wi-Fi modules. They actually had hard-wired internet modules, which means you had to connect them with a CAT 5 or CAT 6 cable to the module, which was the ILP5, and then connect it back to your router. So there are some exceptions to wireless panels. But the wireless all-in-one systems, typically-- I'd say about 90% of them-- you can add Wi-Fi modules to them. Or some of them, like the Lyric and the newer ones that are coming out, will have Wi-Fi already installed. Now, for those of you out there who have the L7000, the L5210, or the L5100, you do have to be careful when you're buying the new L5100 Wi-Fi modules. Most of the new ones-- actually, all of the new ones that are being sold now, if they are brand-new, they will come with a MAC prefix of Bravo 82 Charlie Alpha 0. And they will have a yellow sticker on the actual cover or on the box that they come in. Now, this is very important for you guys to know, because if you guys do not have a panel that's on the correct firmware, the firmware version has to be 8. So if your L7000, your L5210, or your L5200 is not on firmware 8 and you get a new Wi-Fi module that starts with Bravo 82 Charlie Alpha 0, you will experience problems. And they will not be compatible. The first thing you have to do is update the firmware. So for the L5210 and the L7000, updating the firmware is very easy. There is a Lynx updater tool that we actually have on our site. Honeywell makes it. And you can buy that. And it'll actually bring your panel up to speed, which, as of right now, August 2019-- or I'm sorry, September 2019-- the firmware is up to firmware version 9. So all you have to do is have it on 8. But if you get the updater tool, it will put your panel on 9, which is perfectly fine as well. Now, for the L5200, updating the firmware is a little bit trickier. Right now the updater tool only works for the L5210 or the L7000. Honeywell has said that the firmware updater tool will work with the L5200 in the future. There's no ETA on it yet. But we're hoping it's coming out soon. That way, you can update your L5200, as well, if you have one. As of right now, the only way to update the firmware on the L5200 is if you already have it currently active, your company needs to send it down from alarm net servers. Now, what happens if you have an L5100 or if you just don't have the updater tool, you don't want to spend money on the updater tool, but you need to get a Wi-Fi module? Well, you need to get one of the older style Wi-Fi modules. Now, when you buy from a Honeywell certified dealer, you're going to get the newer Wi-Fi modules. So what you want to do is go ahead and go online, try to see if you can find an older style L5100 Wi-Fi module. And the MAC prefix, the easiest way to tell that it's old-- you can message the vendor or get into contact with them. But the MAC will start with 00 delta 02 delta. That is how you know it is an older style Wi-Fi module. And if it is, then you can actually use those on your L5100, L5210, L5200, L7000, no matter what the firmware version is. So if you can get your hands on an old Wi-Fi communicator, perfect. Now, let's go in and get ahead and get into the wired alarm systems. So the way I like to think about it, wireless alarm systems can do Wi-Fi, no cable needed. It's wireless. Wireless systems can do Wi-Fi, as long as they have a Wi-Fi card. Wired systems need to have wired internet, which means you're going to need a CAT 5 or CAT 6 cable to go from your internet module or your internet device that's wired into your system or that's integrated into the system, and it's going to need to go to the router. So for some people, that's very easy. Your router is right next to your alarm box, which is where the communicator goes. And all you have to do is just run it there. But for some people, you have the Wi-Fi router on the complete different end of the house and the alarm system on a complete other end. So what do you do in that case? I'm going to get into a couple of different options. But first, I want to talk about the VISTA systems. They do have internet communicators. Some of them are solely internet, like the 7847I. That will work for your VISTA 20P, VISTA 15P. And the VISTA 21IP has the internet communicator already built in. So if you have a VISTA 21IP, you just connect to ethernet cable to the port on the 21IP and then back to the router. And then if you have the VISTA 20P or VISTA 15P or a VISTA 128BPT, you need to get an internet communicator. They also have the dual path communicators that come in AT&T and internet or Verizon and internet. That's for those of you out there who want to have cellular as a backup on top of the internet. Now I'm just going to briefly touch over the what happens if you have the router on one end of the house and the system on the other end. For those, first, if you can get a handy man to run an internet cable from one end to the other end, that's perfect. If you cannot do that, one of the other options that we also recommend that you can do is just get a Wi-Fi to ethernet adapter. Now, what this is is simply, I'd say, like a Wi-Fi expander or extender, Wi-Fi adapter. You can plug in. You can pair it to your router via WPS button. And then on that bridge or on that adapter, on that extender, whatever it is you get-- you can find them online everywhere-- you'll see an ethernet out-- an ethernet out that you can go ahead and connect the cable to and then connect it to your panel. So that would be one way of not having to run wire all the way across the house. But we're actually going to be making a video on that pretty soon that's going to go more into depth. So if you guys have any other questions about using Wi-Fi or internet on your Honeywell or Resideo alarm systems, feel free to contact us at support@alarmgrid.com. If you guys have any questions, again, the email is support@alarmgrid.com. If you find the video helpful, make sure you hit Like underneath, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and hit the little bell icon. That way, you enable notifications. Whenever we upload new content, you guys get notified. I'm Jorge, and I'll see you guys next time.