Tales from a nervous newbie

Smart Home Integrations SmartThings
1

I thought I would start this thread for anyone who, like me, was nervous about replacing their existing alarm panel with a Konnected.io board.

I purchased the v1 Konnected.io board back in 2018. I have been using SmartThings for about four years, and was very excited that someone devised a way to convert the traditional wired alarm I had install 15 years prior into a smart alarm. I promptly ordered one from the US (I’m in the UK) and a Kindle Fire to use as a replacement keypad. This is where the project stalled.

The reason behind my reluctance to take the plunge was because, other than the fact that I wasn’t able to control my alarm whilst away from home, it works flawlessly. I have taken multiple photos of the existing alarm panel so if all didn’t work out with the Konnected.io board, I could revert back to the old system. This is great in theory, but it would take weeks of tinkering to get to this stage, and as anyone with a technically challenged partner who “just wants things to work” would attest to – it would be a frustrating and painful time.

For this to be seen as a success, the new alarm has to at a bare minimum operate in exactly the same way as the existing alarm, but with the addition of the smart features. This includes:

  • Physical keypad near front door.
  • Tamper protection.
  • Delayed exit and entry.

For over two years now this has been rattling around inside my head, and what I finally realised (and wish I had two years earlier) was that there was no reason why I couldn’t wire Konnected.io independently of my existing alarm to buy myself some time. If you take a look at the attached photos, you can see how I am using some plain old electrical wiring with crimped connectors to simulate the sensors (terminal blocks would work just as well), and the supplied piezo buzzer as the alarm.

Now I have as much time as I need to configure the keypad using ActionTiles, SHM Delay for delayed entry, and seeing just what happens when I lose power or internet, enter the front door, etc. If I am unable to get this working just how I would like, then I can just sell the board on eBay and continue using my existing alarm. There is zero risk at this point.