We agree, at first glance they do appear to be alike but that's from a very superficial viewpoint.  Try and think about it, as in, "it's what's under the hood that counts."  For instance, The Lyric can test itself monthly, where most systems demand a physical endeavor from you, the installer and the central station, in order to ascertain that the system is still alive and well.  That's why you always see those labels that tell you to test your alarm monthly.  You can test your system at anytime you like but we think it's comforting to know that central station will advise us, if for whatever reason, the test report fails to show up.

This is actually only the tip of the iceberg. All wireless sensors are in constant contact with the main control and a number of things are monitored that help keep you safe.  Batteries now last approximately 3 to 5 years but if one goes low, you will receive a call from central, which is also true for the control.  If someone attempts to open a sensor, which is called a tamper, this too will call in.  Even if a sensor suddenly dies for any reason, you will quickly be notified by central.  Other systems may perform some of these features but most fall very short of doing it all.

Some people are intimidated by the control panel screen because it can change to a variety of options that can be utilized and I suppose they wonder if this is too much for them to handle.  In essence, you can scroll though these screens in order to access functions to, the usual looking keypad, a programming area for automation and another for cameras and much more.  But the bottom line is really that everyone can start with the keypad screen for On, Off, Stay, and if that's all that you are comfortable with, then stop right there.  You see, we can either set most anything up for you, or assist you to set it up and from that point on, your system becomes virtually automated and knows what to do all by itself. A perfect example of this is a feature called Auto-Stay Arming.  Every night at a pre-designated time, your alarm can arm itself in the stay mode and you don't have to do anything but feel safe and secure when you hit the sack.

Stay tuned and next time I'll get into more specifics about the new features of door/window contacts, motion detectors, smoke detectors and other sensors.

All door/window contacts of old were set up to operate in one specific manner. If the alarm were set, then they activated a warning, an alarm. Next came wireless, followed by beeping annunciation and finally, voice to tell you specifically the area that was opened. Tamper features though rarely used in days of old were somewhat available but now they are a familiar option, or even a necessity. Without it, your protection may be non existent.

Needless to say, a dead battery in a wireless system constitutes a partially dead system. Take that a step further and imagine a hammer hitting the contact and for sure, it will be dead. The good news is that if a contact is not in constant contact with the control, then a report is instantly sent to central. This is what creates a truly top notch security system. Remember that this blog covers the Lyric Control and that other systems may or may not have all of these features.

Now for something completely new and innovative. It's that old garage door problem. I leave the house and I get this haunting feeling that I may have forgotten to close it. Did I or didn't I? Well there is a brand new setting on this control that makes my garage operate differently than my other doors, such as delay or instant, or entry and exit.

It now works like this: I have a contact on the overhead door. I arm the system with my key fob from within the house, enter the garage via a kitchen door, open the overhead door, but I'm a bit slow to gather my things before I leave and by now the system has armed. However, since the garage overhead door is still open, it will now wait a pre-determined amount of time in order to allow me time to back out of the garage and depart. Now I'm heading away from home and if I left the door open I will get an annunciation on my phone. No annunciation, no worries. That works for me. Of course, if I wanted to take it a step further, I could add a complete package so that I could open or close the door from anywhere, but I'll cover that in another blog on automation functions and features.

Just read the blogs. Excellent content. Appropriate detail for ‘average’ target buyer/user. And great writing style-down to earth,genuine, no hard sell.

Nice job. I think the biggest asset you provide is personal service in setup, adding new components and troubleshooting. You include that in the blogs but I’m not sure the average user will realize the benefit of such service unless they have made a bad choice first with a different provider.

The “simple” approach of the big advertisers being plug in and you’re done is misleading, as you know. It might be a nice blog to identify what a basic system from Ring or Nest,etc. really provides, versus what you provide. That will help people get the most bang for their investment.

(Definitely will be included ASAP.)

Great service and commitment to getting it right in today's world is hard to find. Keep it up.

Dave's Response: Thanks Hugh. It's always a pleasure to serve such great customers.

In carrying on with our theme, "an unbiased blog consisting of the good, the bad and the ugly of security systems and accessories," this blog was dated 2/13/19. Part 2 was continued as a follow up on 2/23/19. The subject was essentially, IP cams.

You know that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it," well that's often where I find myself. Unfortunately for me, few people believe that I will provide superb service, just because I say I will. As stated above, it's almost like you have to get burned first in order to have a proper comparison. My belief is that if someone is so kind as to pay you for something, then it is your duty to only provide the very best in return, which is what I do.

What I sell or provide is that which is good enough for me and I'm as picky as they get. I still believe that your word is your bond, so that's how I live. Personal service today, tomorrow and forever.

When you watch those adds on TV, alarms, cameras and automation seem so simple, and they can do so much with almost no effort. However, I know the facts, the reality of those purchases, and it's not until you try to install them that they wind up coming up short and you are very disappointed because they don't do everything that you expected.

I'm not saying that all of those products are horrible, but I don't stretch the truth just to make a sale. In order to prove that, I'm also going to tell you about the shortcomings of the products that I sell, as well.

For this blog, I'm going to tell you about cameras and other items will be covered at another time.

When you intend to buy one or more cameras, you should first decide it's precise purpose. On that note, I am going to discuss the typical home or small business owner, who is looking for a reasonably priced unit. Enter, the IP camera selling in the $100 to $200 range.

The majority are stand alone, they come in varying picture quality, all the way to HD, some have audio and even two way audio, which has garnered attention recently, when a hacker actually was heard speaking to those inside. The issue goes back further than you might realize. In days of old, I had gotten a headset for bike to bike communication and there were times when I could clearly hear people in a house nearby, speaking to one another. All I could think was, "wow, these people with baby monitors are idiots." After all, if I were a bad guy, they practically have a sign out saying, "please rob me."

So there you have the first and most important issue, your cameras may actually work in reverse and instead of you looking in, someone else may be watching and listening, to you. So what do you do? Is there a safe camera? Well, a little too much to cover right now. See you next blog for more facts on cams.

2/23/19

In case you haven't yet, got the gist of this, Ip cams, under certain circumstances, can be hacked. Understanding and knowing which circumstances is extremely important. Virtually all IP cams operate via your home Wi-Fi in order to transmit your signal to the internet, where you can then view your cams. Nowadays, the initial set up usually involves your router password and a bar code that must be seen and recognized by the camera. Some utilize the router password, while others allow for the ability to choose a secondary password for added protection. On some cams, once the set up is complete, you can actually skip using a password altogether. Although that sounds like the easy option, it is also an invitation to hackers that leaves the door wide open.

So, do Honeywell cams fair any better? Well, that depends on the manner of set up. You see, Honeywell also sells their cam as a stand alone, which is similar to all of those other cams. So, if you buy it that way, you will be directed to use a specific app and then you will also have the same level of protection, or lack thereof, as any other cams out there.

Therefore, provided that you use strong passwords, your chances of being hacked are less, but personally, I still wouldn't be comfortable enough to say, that it couldn't happen.

My preferred method of operation is to utilize Honeywell's cam in conjunction with, what Honeywell calls, Total Connect. In essence, this adds an additional layer of protection from hackers. The app is not the same as the stand alone type. In this case, you must have a Lyric compatible alarm system, whereby one app controls the alarm system, home automation and cameras.

The benefit is substantial. Total Connect is a password protected, private network. In addition to this, via the Lyric control, you can actually tell your cameras, when to be ON, or OFF. If you want to be more than sure that your indoor cams aren't watching you, then knowing that they are "OFF" and can not be turned "ON" is very important.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to use the contact link. In the next Blog I'll get into some specifics, such as audio, picture quality and what to expect, and of course, video recording.

IP picture quality is generally pretty good but if you're a bit picky as I am, always seek out the best and you will never regret it. Honeywell has a cam that is priced a bit lower with still a pretty acceptable picture for average use. But for just a few bucks more you can go top of the line and get exceptionally crisp, bright and superb color, which to me is well worth it. The reason is that if your cam is used for security purposes, and most are these days, then the detail may one day be of great importance.

I've seen professional offices set up with cams that look impressive at first glance, but when you stop and view the picture, you can immediately see that they tried to save money by buying the cheap stuff. I don't understand why anyone would do this when it cost so little more, for the best.

Aside from the fuzzy picture aspect, there is another item that few people stop to consider.  It's the lens angle, or size, which is usually defined in millimeters, width of lens view, or the view may be defined in degrees, wide.  To make this easier for everyone to follow, I'll break this down into three basic sizes: wide angle, normal view, and telephoto.

Most cams for home use come in the normal view range. There is no wide angle and no telephoto, so it's pretty much just as the eye would see it in real life. The eye, however, can move and follow movement, whereas this lens is fixed to see one area, only. On average, this works fairly well.

Personally, I've waited for years for someone to provide a reasonably priced, slightly wide angle camera. Alas, Honeywell has done this with a 138 degree field of view, which is great.  So far however, no outdoor version.  Also, no ability to choose the width of the angle, which I would really like to do.  You see, when the angle is too wide, the picture attains a curvature, or a fish eye appearance, which is unnatural.

At the moment, they also have an outdoor cam with a 117 degree field of view, but again, no ability to choose greater, or lesser, magnification and as of yet, no audio for this cam.

The next item of importance is day or night operation. In daylight, the Honeywell cams give excellent color, great clarity and sharpness, which I believe is all that anyone can ask for.

Night operation is where the cheap are separated from the great. When the infra-red lights take over, all of these sorts of cams, switch to black and white.  Without color it can be very difficult to accurately define objects or people. For instance, telling the color of a car may be completely impossible.  Due to this, you at least want to have a very crisp and clear picture and a lot of cams fall short.

On that note, I've left the best for last, which is recording.  First, look for and understand, how long the camera will record and how that recording is stored. The standard recording time for a session may be as little as 10 seconds and requiring a full minute to reset and be able to record again. Newer Honeywell cams now record as 30 second intervals and reset instantly if the motion continues. Finally, how long is that recording going to be accessible to you on that cloud.  Note that I did say cloud, because IP cams do not use recorders and do not record continually. Expect approximately 7 days of back up, whereby after that the cycle starts over and replaces older data.

If that's not enough to be concerned with, I have some facts that few people will tell you about.  First, recordings occur via motion that is set up, hopefully by you, in the picture screen.  All in all, it's really hit or miss, as to whether, or not, the recording begins or, ends, where and when you would like it to.  It's simply not very precise and if you set the sensitivity really high, then you get all sorts of activations that you never wanted, like leaves moving, the shadow of a bird, or even a cloud.  Set it too low, and you may not see people approaching but you may catch them leaving, which obviously circumvents the point of having a cam recording in the first place. 

Motion detection under infra-red light is a total disaster.  Every moth and every insect flying anywhere in your field of view, activates your cam recording.   If you planned on using one of these to alert you about activity at your front door, forget about it, cause on a night filled with even a few insects, you could receive constant notifications because the infra-red light makes little flying critters look like eagles.  The sad fact is that all motion activated cams do not respond like those in the commercials on TV.   That's a complete, moth, I mean myth.

Most cams have audio these days but the fact is that TV misleads you here, as well.  Honeywell cams have two way audio on specific cams only, but after trying to talk over my Honeywell C2 cam with my wife, her response was, "I can't understand anything you're saying, so don't bother."  Imagine trying to talk with a burglar and expecting to scare him off and all he hears may be a scratchy static sound, if you're lucky. 

As always, if you have any questions about this, feel free to use the contact link.  Next time, we'll look into doorbell cams, locks & more

Let me begin this segment by making it abundantly clear that I'm in no way against cams, in fact, I love them. What I am against is information that misleads and misrepresents. Because I'm in the business, I have purchased and experimented with all sorts of cams, but that just isn't practical for the average consumer. My intent is therefore, merely to give you a heads up on some facts and you can take it from there.

The idea of putting a cam into a doorbell is really a superb thought. My gripe with Honeywell however, is that their unit essentially replaces the existing doorbell, while utilizing the power source from that doorbell. This may be fine if you have a doorbell but if you don't, then you'll have some pretty serious wiring to do because the cam/doorbell combo, requires power. So, that being the case, a lot of homes will not be installing this kind of system. Will Honeywell be offering a battery powered combo system anytime soon? Well, they do have one out but it's for a different system that is more like Alexa and even works with Alexa. I'm not fond of this new concept and I'll get into that in another blog.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any other manufacturers that produce a fully wireless system of this sort but please send me a link if you've come across something.

The visual and audio of the doorcam can be expected to be pretty much the same as any regular camera. Due to TV adds, you likely expect that someone rings the bell, then you instantly answer your phone, see who is there and then respond to the caller. Sounds about right.

Well sorry, but though that may sometimes happen, the real world may occasionally yield slightly different results. For instance, there may be a slight delay between pushing the doorbell, your phone ringing and you answering. The person ringing the bell may have little patience, so by the time you say hello, he may be a quarter mile down the road by then. All in all, it may be ok if you don't expect too much. The best part of it is that ringing the bell sends a photo, or video, to a cloud where you can view it later, if the need arises.

Automated door locks are another great idea and concept. Some can use a regular key, in case the battery is dead, a keypad, which not only unlocks the door but also disarms the alarm at the same time. Those last two functions can also work with a specific app, or Total Connect app, for added security to help against possible hacks.

Finally, there is another cam that few people have heard about. It's on the Lyric keypad and it has a function that may not suit home owners especially well, but it is a great feature for business owners.

This cam takes a single snap shot of the person disarming the system and logs the time. It can also send an alert to whomever you like, so you will never again have to ask who disarmed the system, or at what time.

If you have any other cam questions, please use the contact link and I will respond either directly, or in this thread.

Next time, I'll be telling you about how alarm systems have evolved in Communicating and what methods are safest to have and use, today.

1. Radio & Very Old Reverse Line Communication

We're talking old technology that is hopefully out of existence these days. It was a kind of constant connection that was able to announce when a connection no longer existed. Generally, you couldn't tell if you had a burglar at the front door, or if you had an AC outage, or a high water signal. In the event that you only needed to know one thing, then great, because that's all you got.

2. Standard Wired Home Phone Lines

For many years wired phone lines were the standard for alarm system communication. Everyone knew the main shortcoming, which was that, phone lines could be cut.

        

Worse yet, there was no way of knowing that communication had ceased, when or if, cut. Home owners had no choice but to accept this, since it seemed better than nothing. Sadly, some people are still using this today.

The new Lyric arrives with built in WI-FI. This method utilizes your existing Internet as a pathway to communicate with Central. For added safety, it should be combined with cell dialing. Beyond normal communication, it can perform other tasks, such as allow viewing of cameras and remote operation on cell phones, etc.

4. Cell Phone Dialers ( big step forward )

In short, cell dialers have essentially replaced wired phone dialers and at the same time, have added innumerable capabilities. The latest system works on LTE network, which is an advanced system.

Cell dialers are in fact, radio communication of the next generation. They can identify and report individual zones for alarms, faults, operation, failure, etc. You need AC or continuous power for the main system but they can be used anywhere that has cell service. That includes boats, out buildings, motor homes, trailers, etc. Unlike a wired phone line, the Lyric also has the ability to notify in the event that the system is attacked and smashed. This is called, Advanced Protection Logic but we'll cover that later in another blog.

Can you imagine having a second home and discovering that your care taker decided without you permission, to just move in? It happened and I'll tell you all about it in the next blog.

The Following is a True Story

While visiting a friend on Marco Island one day, the following true story was related and it was a real eye opener. Fortunately, High Level Alarms has the answers to solve such problems.

My friend, Mike, stays in Marco part of the year and then he may be gone for weeks, or months at a time.  He owns a beautiful home on an inlet and when he departs, he has a variety of people handle a number of different concerns relating to his house that is vacant while he's up north.  Let me rephrase that, it's supposed to be vacant!

He has a man that comes over to check his boat, starts the engine and runs it for awhile and if it requires, he does maintenance to it. Next, he has a pool cleaning company that comes over to clean the pool and assures that it is also running properly. Naturally, he has a landscaper attend to the grass, shrubs, etc.

Finally, he has a man who comes into the house simply to verify that the AC is operating and to assure that everything indoors is as it should be. If you have more than one home and you come and go like Mike does, then you already know that all of this really adds up financially but you may also have assessed that it's worth it, just so that you can get to enjoy the Florida sunshine, when you want to.

The thing is, you put your trust into people to do the right thing but sometimes that doesn't always go as planned.

Invited Help Morphs Into Intruder

As I've stated before, this really happened. Mike got a call one day from a concerened neighbor, advising him that the man who checks his house was apparently, now living there. Mike had another person look into it and sure enough, the man had had problems with his wife and so, having a key to the property, he just decided to make himself at home. Worse yet, he'd already been there for well over a month. I suppose that simply because he had a key, you couldn't call him a burglar, but I'd sure call him an intruder. I mean really, no one has a right to just move into a home that they haven't bought, rented, or been given explicit permission to utilize.

As you could well imagine, this particular gentleman is no longer enlisted as a guardian of Mike's home. However, the issue here is even greater and more complex than it appears. In fact, we seem to have a situation that is fraught with flaws, that if not attended to, will leave lots of room for errors and problems that could come back again and again. In order to properly understand the situation, let's begin with the person who regularly checks the house.

(continued next blog)

Did Mike Have a Security System and Would It Have Helped

The simple answer is, yes, he did. The problem is that it was an older, very basic kind of system that was not capable of reporting the information that Mike really needed. One would think that the most important item that Mike would want to know, was who is entering and leaving, and at precisely what time. The new Lyric system does that with ease, plus it can also record a picture of the person disarming and it can then text that picture to you instantly. This kind of feature would have told Mike two things: If the man actually checked the house as he was supposed to, and also, just how long he remained in the house before he departed because the sytem would send a text for that, too. With this kind of information at hand, a problem can be solved before it grows into a nightmare.

 

This Requires Delving Deeper for Better Solutions

The next thing that we need to seriously consider, is should the man actually have had a key to the house in the first place? I know that you are thinking that he must have keys in order to get in. Well that my friends is no longer true because you can now lock and unlock your door from anywhere. Plus, via the Lyric alarm system, you can now automate almost anything and also have it remotely available to access on your smart phone or PC.  You can control lights, thermostats, garage doors and a slew of other things. When you think of the possiblities, maybe Mike could do without anyone ever going into and checking his home. In fact, he could attain virtually total control and have better safety without allowing a caretaker to become an intruder.      Bottom Line - This Owner Needs a High Level Alarm System

 

With a good alarm system, including automation and cameras, you will have the control that you should have.  Our cams will both alert you and record, so that you can see what's happening at all times.  No one goes into the house, unless you Ok it.  You'll even be able to converse with persons ringing your doorbell, even when you are miles away. The new Lyric is fully programmable to suit any requirement.  Cameras can see in total darkness and send you text alerts with video and audio, plus maintain the recordings for viewing later.

Have you ever wondered if a DIY alarm is really that easy to install? Is this really a project for the average home owner? Well, stay tuned because we'll get into that one, in the next upcoming blog.

 

A DIY project sounds like the money saving way to go but if you're asking yourself, "is it really as easy as the alarm companies say", then you are a cautious and wise, individual. Some people are very technically inclined, so they needn't worry about such incidentals. People who are used to handling electronics, or have no difficulty with diagrams and such, are however, the minority.

So, if you're not that kind of person, and we can actually conclude that most do not fit that category, the question then becomes ever more important. The average person has very little knowledge about what's really entailed to do a DIY alarm install. Most have no notion of how it actually operates, what makes it good, or bad, what the real life functions will be and most importantly, what it will be like to live with this system in the years to come, provided that it last for years.

Most people buy on impulse, or they seek out, "the free alarm system". When you're talking something as important as this, impulse will surely lead you in the wrong direction, as will looking for something "FREE", that you already know is a scam, or it wouldn't be free. Therefore, the first hurtle is finding a company that you can trust. Alarm systems are one of those items where, prior to picking the alarm product, you really need to pick the right company. After all, when you really think about it, the alarm company chooses the product, not you. In the end, you're getting whatever they have opted to pass forward and for whatever reason. Normal business thinking is to make the most money for the least output and alarm systems are truly at the top of the heap. I don't mean to go off track here but it is important that you comprehend this because it has everything to do with ease of installation.

Have you ever heard the term, "User Friendly"? Well, as far as installation goes, that term will only apply if the company providing the product is there at all times, with total knowledge and is ready and willing to assist you. These modern day systems are becoming very sophisticated and are capable of more and more functions. The problem becomes that most new systems need to be programed in order for all of those features to operate, which means that your alarm company must know and understand proper programing, first and foremost. This is going to dictate whether or not your alarm system will, or will not, be easy to install.

One way of relating to this is to think of a lamp. You plug it in, push a switch and the function is revealed, which of course is light. If the alarm company does its job properly, your first step upon receiving your alarm, shouldn't be much more complicated than that. An alarm system however, may have a thousand different lights, aka functions, so what do you do when you figure out that a light is not working as expected? Once again, you expect assistance, but will you actually get it? Worse yet, will you then discover that the light color that you wanted, isn't available on that system?

Software may or may not be programmed in advance but if the people that you're dealing with don't know enough about their product, you will be coming up short, sooner, or later. For the first time ever, we have a Control Panel that is update-able, which means that the update is a true system upgrade. Your system can now be better tomorrow, than the day you received it. The functions and possibilities may actually increase as time passes.

As for the physical portion of doing an installation, we do believe that most anyone is capable. In most instances, you should be able to complete the job in about fifteen minutes. With High Level Alarms, you can't go wrong because we'll be on the phone with you, every step of the way. Even after it's installed, you may need changes, or you may want to add something new and whoever you deal with, must be there for you. As I've already stated, it's all about trust in your alarm company.

In the next blog, well cover some questions a customer asked about automated door locks. Stay tuned.

The question was, "what do you think about these, automated door locks?"

The answer is not as simple as one might think. I like automated locks and the idea of being able to lock or unlock a door from virtually anywhere, sounds pretty amazing. Not to mention, there are other little niceties, such as having the door lock itself, at specific times of day, or locking along with the arming of the alarm system. It can also be set up to unlock the door, while disarming, including with a keyfob, or with your phone, so that both the door and the alarm function together. This is accomplished by utilizing and setting up scenes in the Lyric control, which is accessed directly on the control panel, on a phone, or tablet, or on a computer. The interlinking of alarm system, automation and cameras, is a complete process taking place on one app or program known as, Total Connect. I'm sure that there may be far more functions possible than I've covered here and more will be invented as time passes.

The main criterea for creating automation is that the lock is a Z-Wave compatible product but once that's covered, there are loads of design and feature options by a number of different manufacturers. For that reason, most companies will narrow the choices they offer and what follows is that you are left with almost no choice, save for, perhaps, silver, or bronze, color. Since we prefer to allow you to select from a vast array that best suits your home and needs, we encourage you to shop anywhere you like for your devices and we will still assist you to install the required programming. Be advised, that in the event that the device is new and extraordinarily complex, you may still need to contact the manufacturer for additional product assistance and support.

As for which product is best, I'm not going to recommnend one over another but personally, I believe I'd go for a Yale product. Make your own decisions but look for the kind of functions that you prefer. Some have a normal key that can be utilized in the event that the device has a battery failure, while others go keyless by utilizing a temporary nine volt battery to give the device power for a few moments, so that you can get in and change the batteries. Manufacturers seem to be pushing the keyless locks as safer but in my many years in this business, I've never heard of a home door lock having been picked. I believe the greater consideration would be whether, or not, the lock can be hacked, but I feel fairly secure that sufficient safety now exist but you'll have to decide for yourself.

We keep up with the latest technology and only the very best is good enough for us and for our customers and though having you shop elsewhere, means no profit for us, we nevertheless believe that it's still the right thing to do, when the choices are this vast and the prices all over the place.

I have one last final warning. When you order an alarm package that includes diy of any sort, you should be 100% sure that you will receive assistance, over the phone, whenever you are ready to install. Alarm systems, home automation and cameras are sometimes finicky and often not as easy to install, as advertised, unless you have fast and courteous, guiding help, when you need it. However, you can rest easy because High Level Alarms is happy to go that "one step beyond."

So bottom line is that, in addition to a Lyric control as your hub, go for it and don't forget themostats, lamp modules, cameras and more.

See below "Installing the Yale YRD256"

This is a very valid question. First, let's look at how those old wired systmes handled this situation. The system was actually divided into two main portions: A keypad at the front door and a fairly large metal box that held a very minimally capable computer board, plus a large backup battery. The rather hefty box, generally located in a closet or in the basement, was screwed securely into wood studs or concrete and a transformer was plugged into a nearby available outlet.

All of the zone wires returned into this box, sometimes quite a few of them, including a wire that led back to one or more keypads. More often than not, at least one key pad was located at, or near, the front door.

Getting back to the smashing scenario, what if we took a hammer and smashed the keypad at the door? What may or may not occur is a bit hard to assess because I can only go by that which, I've been told.

Chances are, that if someone came in via the front door, or any entry delay zone, it would allow the person fifteen to thirty seconds to move about prior to an alarm condition. I don't know of anyone ever having done actual keypad smashing testing but presumably, one of three things will happen. The keypad will simply be rendered useless, or wires may close a circuit causing an alarm, or positive and negative wires will short circuit, possibly causing main board failure. My best guess is a failed keypad but who knows?

Now to that formidable looking box, which was purposely installed in a somewhat hidden location, because as you'll see, protection of that sort was essential. In this case we use a sledge hammer, or at least a heavy hammer. In my estimation, one hard hit and it's game over, no circuit board, means no dialing, no response. Of course this would create a fairly loud noise that would be heard all through the house and though this may not be the best, or easiest, method to disable the control, there is no doubt it would be effective.

Now let's have a look at the Lyric control. No more separate metal box. Instead, just a one peice unit the size of an average house phone. No need to install it at the front door, because it announces zones in plain English, so an inner location, central in the house, is the best place for it. At anytime, should you decide another location is better, just unplug it and move it.

A completely new feature was designed into this control in the event of being smashed. It's called "Advanced Protection Logic" or "APL" for short. The way this works is pretty simple. The burglar likely knows that the only way to get a delay that creates time for him to enter, without an alarm being immediately sent, is to utilize the main entry door that is set to a delay zone. If he does that, he now has the same average thirty seconds, that the home owner has for disarming the system. He could now use the same tools as we mentioned previously, a hammer, attack the plastic housing and you would expect, game over, right? Well, not quite, because the instant the door was opened, the control sent in an APL signal to the central station. This triggers the central station computers to await a disarm. Naturally and not unexpectedly, that's not going to happen because the control has just experienced an ugly demise. The central station computer recognises that there was no disarm, which is then deemed an APL condition. Central will now respond in the same relative fashion as if they had received a burglar alarm condition.

This is just one of the little tricks that the Lyric has up its sleeve. Most wireless systems can not be updated, so what you start with, is what you live with. However, not only can the control be updated but so can the accessories. Whenever something new is invented, Lyric has the ability to move forward as well. More about that and encryption another time.

Complete garage door automation integration with your alarm system is now possible and the security factor is very much alive and well, at least it is, in the Lyric control.

To the average person, much of the basics of such systems remain a mystery, so I will now attempt to unravel the facts, versus the myths.

In a previous Blog above, dated 2/2/19, I spoke about the simplest method to protect you garage door with one simple door contact. The new garage door zone in the Lyric allows the zone to operate differently than other zones. Thereby, exiting a specified GEO location, sends you an instant alert, in the event that you forgot the door open, which is nice, but you will still have to turn around and go home again to close that door. As might be expected, your joy and freedom would be exacerbated, if only you could close that door, from anywhere.

Everyone reading this knows that this is possible but before you tackle this DIY, let's check out a few things, just so that you know where you stand. The first item to bear in mind is that some manufacturers of garage door operators are old style, non-encrypted, while most newer types, also likely priced higher, are encrypted.

In short, any non-encrypted opener, which emits its signal, while opening, or closing a garage door, can be copied and used later. You could still connect this to your alarm system but then you would be compromising the entire alarm system, as well.

A garage door system that is encrypted sends out a constantly changing code that can not be copied, which in my humble opinion is the only way to go. As for the DIY portion of this, extra parts are required to connect and make your system operate, so the installation can be a bit more complex but still attainable for anyone with minor skills.

Aside from the possibilities mentioned above, your Total Connect app not only gives you full function and automated control but it can also alert you whenever the door is opened or closed by other persons who may be authorized but have limited permissions. Beyond that, this automation can trigger other system behaviors, such as, lights on, temperature up or down, and lots more. Most importantly, you will gain knowledge and selective control of your home.

Next Blog we'll cover, "Proper set up situations for AirBNB or Rental properties".

Renting out a private residence and having security along with function for your guests, is now a huge responsibility that truly demands a lot of forethought. First and foremost, there are important privacy issues that must be observed, which have mostly to do with security cameras. Everyone is aware of stories where cameras were placed in seriously wrong locations. I'm therefore going to tackle this from as many angles as possible and hopefully, when all is said and done, you will get a perspective from both sides of the fence.

When you first make contact with a possible client, you want him to know that your location is safe, secure and that entry will be easy, even if you are not there to let them in.

Since that will be the first challenge, let's look at a simple process that anyone will be able to handle. In days of old, not so long ago, you had to leave a key to the residence for entry. The key could easily be copied, so maybe every so often, you needed to have the locks re-keyed. Well that my friends is no longer necesary.

The second issue was then realized when you had to give the occupant a code for the alarm system. This sometimes resulted in a wrong entry code being input, followed by a siren and a call to central station and maybe even a visit by the local police.

Some things have now changed, which can greatly facilitates the entire arrival process. This doesn't mean that you don't have to give thought to exactly how you have your system set up, because if you're not careful, things can still turn out to be troublesome.

What we really want is quick and simple easy entry for the guests, while letting you know that they have arrived and entered without any issues. One of the more important items is simply knowing their time of arrival and resting assured that they made it into the residence. The Lyric control sends a notification upon arming and disarming, which helps you keep tabs on what's going on, but in an unobtrusive way. I advise using an automated door lock but if you don't, there are some specifics about the Lyric that you should know. The first is that if a wrong entry code was entered, and the process is repeated a specific number of times, the Lyric will actually lock itself and refuse further attempts. Fortunately, after a period of time, it will automatically release the lock out code entry and will not allow any code to disarm it, until a specific number of minutes have elapsed, at which time it will go back to normal operation. This is theoretically a safety feature and it can not be removed, but it can also be very inconvenient to your guests and yourself. Therefore, if you want trouble free operation, you have to include advance solutions that should satisfy all possibilities, which means, a proper and thoughful set up for your residence.

In order to make this a simple situation for arriving guests, picture the following scenario. The customer arrives and sees a keypad on the door, which is actually a key less door lock, for which he has received a digital access code. He then enters the digits and the door unlocks, while at the same time, the control panel is automatically disarmed. You then instantly receive a text advising you that your guests have arrived, which is logged into your events log. There can never be an argument about the time of arrival because you receive a text for any occurrence that you like, including door lock, alarm system, temperature, cameras and any alerts that you've set up and everything is saved in a cloud data base.

The guests will only be granted a code for the alarm system, if they wish to arm it in the Stay mode while they sleep, or whenever they wish to leave the house at anytime and know that their possessions are protected while away. In this case, they may be instructed to use the Quick Arm feature on the Lyric in order to diminish wrong code errors. Whenever they are departing, simply touching the out side lock will lock the exit door. Upon returning again, the same process is repeated and entering the code on the door lock, also disarms the alarm system. I believe that in many instances, the guests may not want to be bothered with using the alarm but when they depart you will now have the ability to secure it from your cell phone.

You are able to quickly change codes on your Total Connect app, anytime you wish, so as soon as you get that final exit report, change the code and your previous guests can no longer gain access.

The placement of cameras, as previously mentioned, is a very sensitive issue. The customer should be advised that the Lyric will take one snap shot on arming, or disarming of the alarm control panel, but it will not take video or view at at other time. No cameras should be placed inside of the residence, simply because that could be interpreted as invasion of privacy. I do however recommend one camera that views the driveway area and one that views the entry area, which may in fact be a doorbell cam. These are motion cameras that can send text videos, but trust me when I say, just send the video to your event log. If there is a pool at this house, then for liability reasons, you may want a camera there as well. This is an item that should be discussed clearly with the occupants and perhaps signing a waiver might be an option to consider. Naturally, you don't want to lose business due to to any hint of invasion of privacy.

Automation, which we've already visited with the door lock, is also available for many additional features. The first would be for thermostat control. Again, whenever the guests are changing the temperature, you can be notified. You can also set up lights to go on and off in specific areas, via your existing motion detectors.

Recently, on the news, a rental house was turned into a massive party house. The house was trashed and all furniture and associated items were removed from the premises. You can protect from some of these things by utilizing something called, asset protectors. They're just a small unit that you stick to the back of something, or under it, and if it's moved, as in stolen, you get an alert. Think of it as a heads up to a looming possible disaster, that you may be able to avert. In fact you can set up specific areas to be 24 hour alert zones. Maybe you keep valuables in a locked closet for instance and if someone goes in there, yo want to know about it. No problem with a Lyric Control.

Protecting a rental property requires that you view your approach slightly differently than what you might do in a normal home environment. For instance, fire and c0 2 protection may be as important, or more important than burglary protection and there are now combination units that will do both at the same time. If you have guests who happen to be deaf, your sounding device may not be very useful, whereas flashing lights may be a great addition. The possibilities are nearly endless with the new Lyric. Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions.

Important info coming to the next blog about automated zwave door locks and DIY

Everything I'd heard to date got me to believe that installing an automated door lock was hardly more than a five minute job. How hard could it be? You remove your existing lock and you simply put in a replacement. Now, I'm no handy man, I'll admit that, but this sounds pretty easy to me.

I ordered the Yale YRD256 cause it is smaller than most, not gaudy, or obtrusive, and I prefer a no real key unit, plus it has Z-Wave, so it can operate with my Lyric control panel. I received it quickly and I was eager to install it. In my case, installing means, the physical aspect of putting it in the door, then programming in user codes and such, then finally, getting the Z-Wave to perform the specific functions that I wanted with my control. Should I tell you now? From beginning to end, this turned out to be a day and a half project.

Don't get me wrong, it shouldn't take you that long. You see, I've learned a lot along the way and I could probably complete all of this now, in under an hour.

So here is what I did, one step at a time. Tools required, one Phillips screw driver should be all that you need. Remove the old dead bolt lock. Unpack all parts and follow the directions provided, includes diagrams and even an App that can guide you. Once you have it partially in place, you realize that there are three sets of long screws and you need to select the set that fits the thickness of your door. This wasn't explained very clearly and when I got the lock tightened on the door, they tell you to turn the latch that moves the locking bolt in and out and assure that it moves smoothly. Well it didn't, so I had to take things apart again and again, changing the long screws over and over and try to figure out why the dead bolt was giving me trouble.

I'm telling you this in hopes of saving you going through this sort of aggravation. Initially, I thought that it had something to do with the thickness of the door. Eventually, I worked out that the holes in the door were never precisely aligned, which I should have known because the previous dead bolt always needed a slight extra turn to close properly. Getting everything to fit as it should was not easy but after approximately 8 hours of doing battle, I got it done.

OK, so if your dead bolt operates very smoothly right now, then you can probably get this portion done in fifteen minutes, or less. If it doesn't, then you'll need perseverance, or patience.

Now you must put a pin code into the unit and provide it with other instructions, such as do you want the door to lock itself once you close it. The instructions are tedious with small print but it takes a while to get the gist of the operation. The most important thing that they don't tell you is how to wake up the keypad. After all, this is a touch pad and not a push button pad. Once you learn that you need to place the palm of your hand over the face to wake it, life is a lot easier. Had to call tech support, spent over an hour but got it done.

The final part of this can be the most tricky, unless someone gives you a heads up. Begin by istalling the physical Z-Wave prior to putting in batteries, because otherwise you will not be able to mate it up with the Lyric. Adding or mating any Z-Wave to the Lyric control is done directly on the control screen. For the most part any Lyric owner can input his own information. However, depending on which features you require, you may need to contact me so that I can assist you to access a different level of programming. Some of the choices available include, arming or disarming the system and getting the door lock to respond accordingly. The reverse can also be accomplished such as unlocking the door and then, the alarm system disarming at the same time.

This site has a hidden section provided for Customers Only, which explains all of the details required for the above programming. Anyone having questions, please feel free to call.

Now that I have this lock in my own house, I really like it a lot, in fact I'm extremely happy that I went through the effort. If you have a Lyric, this is a great accessory and if you need assistance, I'm always here to help.

Well I can't speak for all alarm systems but I'm very knowledgeable when it comes to Honeywell, (now Resideo) alarm systems and accessories. Many years back when wireless was in its infancy, everyone expected battery operation to be one of the major negatives. Even the manufacturers had to go through a bit of a learning curve in order to provide a proper solution to wiring from A to B.

The first concern was battery life. After all, if you had to change batteries every month, or so, well that would indeed be a huge issue. That problem was solved with Lithium batteries. Manufacturers then had to work on the units themselves and make them consume as little energy as possible. For many years motion detectors and a few other transmitters, used dual 3 volt lithium batteries due to the need for constant usage. A motion detector would see every movement at all times and such activity drained the batteries a little bit at a time. Door contacs on the other hand, drained every time a door was opened, which you'd expect.

Anyway, the next thing that happened was that usage time reached a pretty acceptable level. Contacts lasted roughly three years, and the same for motion detectors, which now only utilize one battery. Smoke detectors made it to roughly five years as did many other stand alone units. One type of battery quickly became the norm for all units, making it easy to stock pile whatever you may need later.

All in all, even three years is basically long enough to forget that you're operating on battery power. This begs the question, "so how do I know when I need to change the batteries"? I could just say, "you'll know," and let it go at that, but I will elaborate. Not so long ago, when a battery ran low, the key pad would beep incessantly until you replaced it. Worse yet, they always seemed to die in the middle of the night. I would expect that many cheaper systems still operate like this. However, there is now a slightly better method of operation. When a battery reaches a specific low voltage point, it calls central station, who in turn, will advise you to replace the specific low battery. If its been more than a few years, it would be very wise not to wait for the next call, and simply replace all batteries, except for those that are expected to last five years. Warning, you may still get a beep in the middle of the night but you can push any key on the keypad for more hours of silence, until the next day, when you will install new batteries.

The good news is that more units are now operating on the one battery system. Another new feature is a sleep function, where when the unit is not being used, the battery is not being drained. This is very important in high traffic areas where a motion detector would drain rapidly, as it was always being activated.

Finally, there is a battery in the control panel, which is there strictly for when the power goes out. Depending on which battery you get, you will only have power for about three to twenty-four hours without AC power. Should the outage last longer than that, this battery will self recharge when the power returns. As the years pass, the ability for the battery to recharge will decrease. We therefore recommend replacing the system battery every five years, or less.

Should you have any questions on alarm batteries, or anything else alarm, feel free to reach out. I'll be happy to answer any questions.