I recently purchased a new home and am planning to install a 2Gig system with SuretyDIY monitoring. I have a few questions regarding my design. Here are the components I think I need:
2Gig Quick Start Kit w/ AT&T Module
7 additional window/door sensors
Honeywell 5898
I am planning to use the included 2gig motion sensor in the basement which has 2 windows. I would like this sensor to be active in Stay mode as the basement has 2 ground accessible windows. I am planning to use the Honeywell 5898 in our main entry/stairway area. It is a split level so anyone entering through the exterior doors or first floor windows would need to pass through this space to access the bedrooms and living room.
My questions are:
We have a 70lb dog. Is the Honeywell 5898 an appropriate sensor to use with a larger dog? He has free roam of the house when we’re not home.
Is it possible to leave the 2gig motion sensor active at night? Our dog does not have access to this space so I am not concerned about false alarms.
What are the best sensors and placement for double hung windows? I was planning to use the resolution mighty mouse wherever possible but wasn’t sure if this is the best option for a double hung window.
Have you checked coverage for your service address? If AT&T is listed as having stronger coverage, obviously you’d want to choose it. If Verizon shows as good of coverage however, I’d recommend it over AT&T as a preference from my personal experience.
If you’d like to use select motion detectors while in “Stay” armed mode at night, instead of programming them as “Interior Follower”, program them as “Perimeter”.
My only personal experience with the Dual Tec 5898’s has been with cats (not full prove, but more likely to work than other motion detectors with felines). That being said, they claim optional animal immunity in degrees of 0/50/100 lbs., so it would seem likely to work with your 70 pound dog. Keep in mind more than pounds, the height the animal can reach is important. I have a large dog, but he’s way taller than he is thick, so he’d be more likely to set off motions more than other dogs his weight.
And while you are at it, add photo/heat fire protection to all levels of home to supplement the ion 120v local smoke alarms
Go infared Image Sensor PIR’s (you can get dual use out of these as both a camera and conventional PIR motion detector at no additional costs). What I like about these versus convential PIR motions, is that you can actually see what caused the motion activation/alarm event.
If say dog repeatedly activates PIR, simply reprogram it as a Aux (it’ll take snapshot images when it detects motion activation and send it to you without initiating an alarm event).
The panel currently only supports three Image Sensor PIR motion detectors, the downside is the IS’s are standard res.
Another option is to supplement with infared 720p HD IP cameras which will capture motion detection in away (and/or stay) modes. The best bang for the buck on indoor cams are the ADC-V520IR.
I finally pulled the trigger on my 2gig system and am setting it up this weekend. I have a few dumb questions:
Is there a standard or recommended height to mount the control panel or is it strictly personal preference?
I’m paranoid about my dog generating a ton of false alarms the first time we leave him home with the alarm active. We got 2 honeywell 5898 motion detectors. Can I configure these to just alert me of motion activity for the first week or so instead of triggering the alarm?
I know it’s good practice to purposely trigger an alarm to test connectivity with the central station but if I do a walk test of the system do I need to contact central monitoring or does it suppress alarms locally until my test is done?
I’m sure I’ll have more but that’s all I can think of for now.
Personal preference but if you're tall don't forget that not everyone is as tall as you. I usually mount them between 4 and 5 ft from the ground.
There are a couple options. You can leave them programmed as security sensors but disable central station reporting "sensor reports" for that sensor in 2GIG RF sensor programming. Or you can program them as "no response" type sensors and turn on Alarm.com sensor activity monitoring for those sensors to see if they've been triggered while you were away.
If you have the panel in walk test mode then it won't send a signal to the central station during walk test, it will just tell you how strong a wireless signal the panel received from each sensor.
I installed my main panel downstairs near the front door but now am wishing I had purchased a TS1 for downstairs and located the main panel upstairs outside our master bedroom. I ran the power cable for the main panel through the wall into the basement. Can I use this cable for the TS1 or do I need to re-snake the wire that comes with the TS1?
Thanks! Another question re: my motion detectors. I disabled sensor reports as Ryan suggested:
There are a couple options. You can leave them programmed as security sensors but disable central station reporting "sensor reports" for that sensor in 2GIG RF sensor programming. Or you can program them as "no response" type sensors and turn on Alarm.com sensor activity monitoring for those sensors to see if they've been triggered while you were away.
I’m a little unclear as to how often the motions will trigger. If I look at my alarm.com history they appear to be activating even when I’m home and the system is disarmed. They then change back to idle after a period of inactivity. If I arm the system in away will they still trigger even if they are in the activated state? I left my dog home for 45 minutes but I’m unsure if the motions didn’t trigger because they were already in the activated state or if they didn’t detect him.
Option 1: You can leave them programmed as security sensors but disable central station reporting “sensor reports” for that sensor in 2GIG RF sensor programming.
If you do this then your alarm will sound if the dogs set off the motion detectors but it won’t send a signal to the central station so the police won’t be dispatched. When you return home you would see on the panel that the alarm went off. It will, however, freak out your dogs for a few minutes while the alarm is sounding.
Option 2: You can program them as “no response” type sensors and turn on Alarm.com sensor activity monitoring for those sensors to see if they’ve been triggered while you were away.
If you do this then the alarm will not sound from those motion detectors. 2GIG will just report activity on those motion detectors to Alarm.com and you can view it in the event history. If you want, you can also set up a notification so that you will be notified on your phone if motion is detected. You would want to enable/disable this notification when you leave/return. If you left it enabled all the time you would get those notifications even when you’re home.
Yes, the event history will show activity even when you are home. The motion detectors always detect motion, even when you are home. The panel decides whether or not to raise an alarm based on whether it’s armed. Arming has no affect on the motion detectors themselves and whether they detect motion. So if they go idle after you leave and remain idle until you come home then the dogs haven’t tripped them.
Apologies for resurrecting this old thread, but I have a question on precisely the scenario described here:
Option 2: You can program them as “no response” type sensors and turn on Alarm.com sensor activity monitoring for those sensors to see if they’ve been triggered while you were away.
If you do this then the alarm will not sound from those motion detectors. 2GIG will just report activity on those motion detectors to Alarm.com and you can view it in the event history. If you want, you can also set up a notification so that you will be notified on your phone if motion is detected. You would want to enable/disable this notification when you leave/return. If you left it enabled all the time you would get those notifications even when you’re home.
I’ve done exactly this. I have some PIRs that occasionally false due to large pets, and so I’ve set them up as “no response” type sensors, and have notifications sent to my phone (I can then check out the situation with via a separate video cam).
Problem is I’m getting these notifications all the time, even when we’re home and the system is disarmed (exactly as Ryan describes above).
You would want to enable/disable this notification when you leave/return.
… is there a way to automate that?
I don’t want to have to manually do this every time we leave/return.
Something like:
Have push notifications turned off automatically when system disarmed (turn back on when system armed).
Have push notifications turned off in some automated way (e.g. using geo-fencing on phone).
Or any other way of disabling notifications when we’re at home that doesn’t require me to do it manually.
