Recent content by bkenobi

That relay board looks great! Won't work for this, but a lot of potential for other things. I was looking at the cheap 1-4 channel radio boards on ebay thinking that I could put the remote in a motion sensor and the relay board by the Raspi. Wifi/xbee/Bluetooth won't work since I'm not...

tl;dr- I was concerned that if I didn't give enough info, the post would be ignored. But yes, the OP was a bit wordy.

The Opt ex modules look really nice but MSRP is pretty steep. I did locate one that might work and is much more affordable via eBay. I'll keep that in mind for sure.

To start, I've been using X10 MS16A sensors in 3 locations outside my house for a few years.  They work ok in the summer when I don't need them all that much, but work terrible in the winter.  It seems that any time it rains, the sensors don't have the needed range.  When it gets cold, they also...

I hadn't looked at a budget, but it would certainly be much less than $10k. I opened the panel that contains the installed wiring and everything appears to be labelled, though I can't account for accuracy. I did find that I am even pre wired for at least 3 IR sensors. Is there a good way to...

Thanks, I'll review Elk M1, Omni Pro II, Honeywell/Ademco Vista series, GE/Interlogix NX series and the DSC Power Series systems.  I didn't look at them initially because the way it was posed (or perhaps how I read it) they were automation controllers.  A quick look at the Elk M1 manual looks...

Ironically (or perhapse not), the advice I'm hearing here has more or less led me to the same place I found several years ago after talking to the local security supplier/installer.  We were broken into back then and so I was gung ho to install a system right then.  I found that really there's...

All good points that I will have to consider.  But, as multiple people have posted, I can switch services or self monitor down the road.  What I need a primer on is what hardware to look at.  Obviously the consensus is that the Simon is junk (no surprise since it's typically a free system).  So...

I had a monitored system before and found that it was terrible.  My father-in-law entered the house with Simon turned on.  He said the alarm wasn't very loud and the call to me came after several minutes.  I have read that a criminal can be in and out in 5-10 minutes, so at that rate, monitored...

I haven't had a security system in 5 years or so.  The last system was a GE Simon which was a monitored variety and worked pretty good for us, but that was a different property with different needs.  Our house previously was in a tight neighborhood with soccer moms around at all times.  Our new...