New home, new system, best practices

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1

I have installed two previous Alarm.com based systems monitored by Surety in the past. It’s been about 4 years since the last install and I’m sure some things have changed. Is there any sort of best practices guide or list of equipment that works better than others beyond just digging through forum posts and other info online? I know from past experience that Alarm.com supports a lot of equipment but some of it just seems to work better and have smoother integration.

For the new home I’ll need:

  • 1 main keypad and 3-4 remote keypads (in the past I used IQ2 panel and IQ remotes)
  • 4 deadbolts (I’ve had good luck with Kwikset and battled with August)
  • Lots of wireless window and door sensors (is PowerG still the best bet?)
  • Smoke and CO detectors (previously used the Firefighter monitors for existing detectors, is there something better now?)
  • Doorbell camera (I’m sure these have come a long way since the slimline model)
  • Outdoor cameras (Are the floodlight options good now?)
  • Thermostats (I’ve used the T2000, T3000, and T40K in the past. The house has baseboard hot water heat with no central cooling. 8 total zones so I’ll need 8 individual thermostats, is this number supported by Alarm.com? What’s the best bang for the buck model considering I need so many)
  • Light switches (is z-wave still the preferred integration?)
  • Blind control (this is a new one for me, looks like Somfy is recommended but everything is out of stock?)
  • I’ll also need a sprinkle of other things like leak detectors, z wave repeaters, etc.

So I guess what I’m asking, what’s the latest and greatest as far as reliability and integration. I’m sure a fair bit of my knowledge is out of date considering how many new products Alarm.com has brought online in the past few years.

Thanks!

2

Happy to help! A good reference for compatible products is this page.

Alarm.com keeps that up to date with compatible automation devices.

1 main keypad and 3-4 remote keypads (in the past I used IQ2 panel and IQ remotes)

We recommend and sell the panels found here.

The IQ Panel 4 is very similar to the IQ Panel 2, with the ability to use a chosen legacy RF sensor frequency as well as PowerG.

For a large location PowerG sensors would be recommended for their range benefit.

4 deadbolts (I’ve had good luck with Kwikset and battled with August)

See the compatible hardware page link at the top for a good list of options. In addition to Z-wave locks Alarm.com also supports Schlage Encode wifi locks, for example. Z-wave locks have more limited effective range than other Z-wave devices, so be sure to have repeating devices between the locks and the panel.

Smoke and CO detectors (previously used the Firefighter monitors for existing detectors, is there something better now?)

Do you have existing AC powered smoke detectors you will be monitoring? The firefighter is still the recommended option for that. If you want to monitor both Smoke and CO consider a 345Mhz version of the panel. The 319.5Mhz Firefighter does not support CO.

Doorbell camera (I’m sure these have come a long way since the slimline model)

Outdoor cameras (Are the floodlight options good now?)

A filtered link to our store showing the cameras we sell is below. The ADCV729 here is a new floodlight video camera from Alarm.com with three power options, DC, AC, POE.

Are you looking for wired or wifi cameras?

Thermostats (I’ve used the T2000, T3000, and T40K in the past. The house has baseboard hot water heat with no central cooling. 8 total zones so I’ll need 8 individual thermostats, is this number supported by Alarm.com? What’s the best bang for the buck model considering I need so many)

Do you need a line voltage 2 wire application for the baseboard heating? If so, look at the STZW402 Stelpro thermostat.

Light switches (is z-wave still the preferred integration?)

Alarm.com supports Z-wave, Lutron, and some wifi lighting options. See the hardware page for a list of options. Z-wave has the most to choose from and offers more immediate locally processed automation rules overall. If you have a Z-wave light triggered by a sensor for example, that rule runs at the panel and can be immediate.

Wifi and Lutron lights require the rule processing in the cloud and are subject to some delay from sensor activity monitoring. If you plan to use sensor activity to automate lights I would go Z-wave.

Blind control (this is a new one for me, looks like Somfy is recommended but everything is out of stock?)

iBlinds and Somfy Tahoma are supported, however we do not sell either of these. They can be sourced from any other vendor and linked to a Home or Complete plan with blinds enabled.

3

Thanks for all the info! A few follow-up questions/answers…

Is there any downside to getting the 345Mhz version of the panel so I can monitor both fire and CO? Any other 319.5Mhz products worth noting that I won’t be able to use?

AC powered wifi cameras would be ideal for my setup. I think the floodlight cameras look promising for my application.

For the baseboard hot water heating, all zones are typical 24VDC control so I’ll need one of the regular thermostats. Can the panel support 8 T-3000s?

It looks like Lutron blinds are also an option for ADC integration? Iblinds are just limited to tilting existing blinds and Somfy seem to be a dealer only option which I’m not really interested in.

4

The down side to getting the 345 MHz version is that you can’t use encrypted sensors, whereas with the 319.5 MHz panel you can use S-Line encrypted sensors. But with the 345 MHz panel you can use PowerG for sensors you want to be encrypted and get additional benefits as well. There does seems to be a wider variety of 345 MHz sensors available overall, thanks to Honeywell.

The IQ Panel 4 can handle up to 40 thermostats.

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Yes, Lutron blinds (shades) work with the Alarm.com integration.

5

Pleasant suprise, the new home has hardwired sensors on most of the doors and windows. They haven’t been used since they were installed 25 years ago but I’m going to give them a whirl. I bought the 345mHz panel so it seems like the powerG hardwire unit you sell is my best option? If so, can I add two expansion cards to the unit to give me a total of 24 hardwired sensors?

Thanks!

6

I bought the 345mHz panel so it seems like the powerG hardwire unit you sell is my best option? If so, can I add two expansion cards to the unit to give me a total of 24 hardwired sensors?

Yes, you could use the PowerG Hardwire translator or the 2GIG TAKE-345, but I would definitely recommend PowerG.

You could use two expanders with the PowerG Hardwire translator.

If you went with the 2GIG TAKE-345 you would need 3 of them, and they do not have a battery housing, charging circuit, or power supply included, have less range and no encryption.

7

In regards to the thermostats, I’ve discovered they are all just two wire with no common available. It seems 2GIG-STZ-1 would support this application, are there any other battery powered options?
I guess alternatively I could install all 8 thermostats next to the boiler where wiring would be easy and just use remote temperature sensors. This would limit local room control without using a phone or keypad for adjustments so perhaps not the ideal solution.