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    Help w/ Understanding

    Hi all,

    I'm designing a home automation / security system for my new house. I want to be able to use Z-Wave sensors and contacts. I think some of the new stuff is slick looking and I don't want to run wires everywhere. I would also prefer to may $10 to alarmrelay.com then some other monitoring company.

    If I am understanding it correctly HS3 will work with Honeywell Vista which has Z-Wave capabilities to see sensors Etc. IF I purchase the Honeywell Vista 21IP will I be able to use a service like alarmrelay, while still having the HS3 be my primary controller and seeing the sensors? (Smoke Detector, Door Contacts, Locks, etc) Thanks.

    #2
    Having just remodeled my house, if there is any way you can hardwire your security system I think you are better off doing that. While z wave is pretty reliable, for home security I think it is still too flakey. I have a 12 zone hardwired DSC system that is then integrated with HS (mainly just to automate activating and deactivating it and to use the motion/door sensors to trigger some events). If HS goes down which is not that often, the alarm system is still operational.

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      #3
      tbever,

      I like the slickness of the Z-Wave sensors. I feel the "standard" alarm system sensors are bulky and ugly. Comparing a standard window sensor to a Aeon Labs sensor is like night and day. Unless there are some crazy nice senors out there for hardwired systems that I just have not seen.

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        #4
        I went with a hybrid system. I used a DSC PC1864 with a RFK5564 keyboard. The system is capable of 64 zones, mixed wired and wireless. I have an Envisalink EVL4 interfacing with HomeSeer through Spud's plug-in.

        The security system is autonomous to HomeSeer, but communicates both ways with HomeSeer. I used wireless for all of the windows, the DSC window sensors are very small, inexpensive and are supposed to work for 3-5 years n a single CR2032 cell. They are supervised and have very good range. I currently have 26 wireless sensors. Doors in my shed, workshop and garage are wired. All of my motion sensors and glass break detectors are wired as well. All 64 zones are represented by devices in HomeSeer, so those devices can trigger events.

        I first started with Z-Wave door, window and motion sensors last year. I was tired of keeping an eye on batteries for all the motion sensors, the traffic on the Z-Wave network was substantial and I wanted as close to instant detection of motion and no motion in my motion sensors as possible. I bought my first DSC wired motion sensor last year, interfacing it with an Arduino. I was immediately hooked, the binary nature of the motion sensors opened up a whole new world for motion controlled event. Events could be made to trigger differently on a room that was actively occupied versus someone just passing through. For my driveway I was able to use microwave/PIR detectors and eliminated all false triggers.

        The more I thought about it the more sense it made to go with a dedicated security system. I switched all my Z-Wave door, window and motion sensors out, added glass-break detectors. I interfaced existing flood detectors, smoke and CO alerts into the DSC system. I have absolutely no regrets. I am able to use devices from the Envisalink plug-in to trigger events. HomeSeer can arm or disarm either partition through events and sends me Pushover notices. If needed Eyez-on provides free alerts or monitoring for $9 per month as well as a free smart phone app.

        It has been almost 6 months since i switched and I wish I had taken this path from the beginning.
        HS4 Pro, 4.2.19.0 Windows 10 pro, Supermicro LP Xeon

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          #5
          I like the idea of using the wireless window sensors. Are these the sensors you are talking about:

          http://www.dsc.com/index.php?n=products&o=view&id=88

          or these

          http://www.dsc.com/index.php?n=products&o=view&id=113

          The latter ones look pretty bulky (7 cm!) but the first ones look much better. By the description the smaller ones attach with double sided tape which makes me a bit nervous about long term reliability

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