Like most people now that my contract is up I am looking to leave ADT and figuring out the most I can do with existing equipment.
Current setup:
1x - ADT Command 7" Touchscreen (ADT7AIO)
1x - sixsmokeva (heat/smoke) - anything I can find online seems to point to ADT only
7x - Honeywell SiXCT window/door sensors - RF6CT
2x - alarm.com outdoor cameras - ADC-V724
I know I’ll probably need a new panel and maybe new heat/smoke. The cameras are the big thing I want to continue to use and monitor but hopefully for a fraction of the cost I’m currently paying.
Ideally I’m looking for about the cheapest panel to work with these parameters and I’m okay with just having the camera on my phone/computer. I’m also okay with going with a little bit better panel with the right argument, but I don’t really need any bells and whistles.
Pretty handy/diy but ease of linking all the sensors to the system would definitely be nice.
Hello! I’ll pause to let the Surety team reply to your exact questions.
But I will say I left ADT last year to come here to Surety with almost the exact same setup as you. My 2 cents of advice is to go into the ADT/Alarm.com web console and remove both of your cameras so they are unregistered with ADT’s instance of your alarm.com tenant. That will help ensure you can re-add them to Surety’s alarm.com instance when the time comes.
I found that the Command itself and the SIX flavors of sensors were not usable in my case, as they were a special version locked to ADT. So I replaced them all. (At least I fully believed they were.. I could have been wrong) [I did successfully sell it all on eBay as a lot and got a couple of dollars at least.]
There are a few panels to choose from, but I’m very happy with the IQ 4 - it is very much like the ADT Command on steroids - since you will have full access to the system and its capabilities managing it here as a “DIY” scenario. I have a ton more features and cameras now than I did with ADT, and pay less than 1/2 of what ADT was charging. All with no contract.
The Command panel and any Honeywell Six sensors would need to be replaced. The sensors are unfortunately not compatible with any other Alarm.com compatible system.
The cameras can be reused, they must be deleted from the current account or the current account must be deleted first before they can be registered to an Alarm.com account through another provider like Surety. Cameras can only be registered to one account at a time.
The lowest cost alternative would be the 319.5Mhz IQ Hub here and IQ 319.5Mhz Sensors.
If you go with the 319.5Mhz IQ Panel 4 instead you could use both IQ sensors and PowerG sensors. PowerG offers some significant benefits such as much farther range, adaptive battery usage, FHSS signaling.
If you want PowerG but the lowest cost panel, you could go with the PowerG version of the IQ Hub. It would only support PowerG sensors.
Could you run me through in more detail as to why the honeywell sensors would need to be replaced? I am running into mixed messages depending on who I talk with about this. I would think they are rather “dumb” sensors, but maybe I am totally missing something.
That makes sense in regards to only being registered to one account.
Thanks! I think I’ll end up with the IQ4 hub most likely, but still trying to look around and see what’s out there right now.
Thanks, I’ll definitely have to go in there and remove the cameras from their registration. Is that something you’re able to do once the ADT plan is cancelled or something I should be sure to do while still subscribed?
That is unfortunate, I was really hoping I could cobble something together, but it’s more sounding like I’m either gonna have to scrap my cameras and just have local diy sensors or if I want to keep my cameras I’ll need to get a new panel and find a company to monitor them.
I would think they are rather “dumb” sensors, but maybe I am totally missing something.
The Command panel is an ADT proprietary system we do not support. Honeywell Six sensors are a specific RF sensor protocol that only works with select systems. They are encrypted sensors running on the 2.4Ghz range.
Six sensors are not compatible with any system we monitor, so unfortunately those would need to be replaced. They aren’t like standard 5800 series Honeywell sensors which use 345Mhz. 5800 series Honeywell sensors could be used with a 345Mhz Qolsys panel. Honeywell Six sensors cannot. Six sensors only work with specific systems like the Command panel and Honeywell Lyric.
Is that something you’re able to do once the ADT plan is cancelled or something I should be sure to do while still subscribed?
There are two ways to clear the registration of the cameras:
Your dealer cancels your Alarm.com account. They would automatically be cleared at that point.
Or, you can delete them individually within your account while it is still active.
Thank you Jason! I really appreciate that response
Yeah I heard different answers from different people so I wanted to ask. But, after some additional research I unfortunately came to the same conclusion. I hate all of that basically proprietary crap lol, but sometimes it is what it is I guess.
If everything goes well with canceling, I think my plan is to use the ADT as the local system and then get new cameras for just video monitoring. But, my mind is not set yet so we’ll see what happens