how do I set up an exit zone

znelbok

Active Member
Hey all

This is all in relation to an M1

I am not sure how to configure the garage door reed switch.

The wife will put the kids in the car and back out of the garage, thus the garage door is open. While this is happening I am still inside locking up etc. On the way out to the garage I want to arm the alarm in away mode, the problem is that the way I have it now, the system reports a troubled zone (the garage door since it is open) and hence I cant arm the system.

The zone is set as a Burglar Entry/Exit 2, so I thought that should do it, but it does not work. I don't want to bypass it either.

Similar thing needs to be done with the front door.

Also what is a swinger shutdown (in NessRP)?

Thanks

Mick
 
Dunno what Elk will call it but many call the garage a "Vent zone" this way it can be open while arming but once it does close it is secured.

Swingers are zones that don't keep a constant resistence, they can cause false alarms. That I assume will detect them and attempt to prevent them from falsing.
 
Thanks

I tried the force armable, but I cant get that to work.

The ready light flashes green, but when I hit the exit button it complains that the garage door zone is violated because it is open. I must be missing something here.

Mick

Edit

I decided to do something unheard of - I read the manual!!!

I found how a force arm works and have it going now. Thanks
 
I am not a huge fan of alarming the main garage door. The force arming will work for leaving but what do you do for entry? You either have to have a remote disarm (which I do not like any of them that don't require a code) or you need to make sure you get inside and disarm before the timer expires. I know in my house that would never work. The door is opened from down the block a bit and by the time the wife pulls in, gets stuff together, gets kid out of the carseat, etc, the alarm would already be blaring. And what if she pulled in then went to retrieve the mail or put away the trash cans or something? For many of those reasons I only have my INSIDE garage door alarmed. I just don't think there is an elegant solution for the main garage door and there are too many variables. And there are WAY easier ways to get in the house, like glass sliding doors, etc, I just don't think the main garage door is worth it, unless you have some very expensive equipment or a workshop in there. Of course, YMMV. And I
 
I had the same issue about making the garage door an armable door. I used to have lots of goodies in the garage, but also parked my car in the garage.

The best I could do was purchase a key fob that tied into my alarm system & door opener. Thus as I approached I could push a button to disarm and then another to open the garage door. The issue I had was my receiver was in my basement, so the reception from the key fob was unreliable. I had a plan to fix this but I never got around to it...

Move the receiver to garage at the front and install a highly visible "armed" LED on the outside of the door. This way I could see if the system was armed or not from the outside and get better reliability. OR upgrade to a two-way key fob that actually tells you the status of your alarm system as soon as your house is in range.

Other than those two solutions... Like a few folks have said, it's a pain for exit/entry because you have to make a mad-dash to/from your car... Even if you set the exit/entry timers for 3 minutes... Which is plenty of time for someone to empty your garage.

Tim
 
Move the receiver to garage at the front and install a highly visible "armed" LED on the outside of the door. This way I could see if the system was armed or not from the outside and get better reliability. OR upgrade to a two-way key fob that actually tells you the status of your alarm system as soon as your house is in range.

So can everyone else. :(

You could have it flash once for armed and twice of disarmed.
 
Yeah your status light will be solid for on, flash for stay and off for disarmed.

Make sure you pull the antenna on the unit outside of the can. Optionally you can extend the keypad bus to the garage and mount the reciever there. then you'll have no troubles.
 
I know this has been talked about before, but I would NEVER use a portable keyfob type device to disarm the system, that defeats the whole point of a security system imho. If your keys (and fob) are lost or stolen, your entire house is now available for the taking. I would much rather risk losing a lawn mower and some tools than risk my whole house being available.
 
Search this forum for "Garage Door" and you'll find this topic covered in other postings; BraveSirRobin has an effective arrangement and it inspired me to develop the following plan (see the attached diagram).

A prox-card reader will allow me to conveniently disarm the alarm system without having to enter through the locked Laundry Room door (a reinforced, sheet-metal door). The Garage Door will be on Exit Delay 2 and set to provide more time to exit the car and swipe the card reader.

I'll probably follow BSR's lead and add some sort of audible, yet cryptic, announcement to disarm the alarm. This is handy in the event you forget the system is armed.
 

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This seems to be a topic of interest/concern for many.

As for the key fob issue for arming/disarming remotely. Use a secured fob. I think the new wireless M1 fob is coded and I certainly have one that is used for the garage door that is the leader in the market that I can use with the alarm (ATA). 2 billion rolling codes or something like that. 4 button remote that does my gate, garage door, shed door and alarm or lights or anything else I want and all secured. Put the receiver unit that can be in the M1 enclosure and it is mighty secure. You can chirp the outdoor siren on an arm disarm - just like a car will chirp its horn or siren.

Loose the keys and fob - remove the fobs code from the system, just like you would change your locks - make the "key" no longer work. This is no different to the concept of a remote garage door opener. Just never leave your address on your keys - thats inviting someone to come and visit.

As for entry time, that what the entry/exit timer is for. Once again reading the manual (shock horror), the force arming works with the entry exit to allow re-entry back into the premise.

You all seem to forget, if you don't alarm your garage, I then break in and shut the door and have all the time in the world with your tools to get into the house. I am not in a rush because the door is shut and no one will see me.

Steve seems to have pointed out the only valid argument for not arming to door. The return home can be very erratic - especially when kids are involved. I think I will try a very long entry exit time for the garage door and a short one for the internal garage door - the keypad is behind that second door. Hopefully this will allow time to unbuckle the kids, start to get the stuff out of the car and get to the door. it may require a small modification tot he behavior of the return home. The disarming of the system may have to have its priority increased so that it happens after the kids are out.

Here is another thought. Has anyone put any effort into hardening the doors. I have a panel lift door with a motor. There is a roe that allows the door to be disengaged from the drive. This is fairly easy to get to from outside if you really want to. The down side to removing the rope is that the door cant be used in a power outage. I think I need to cover the spot where access can be gained to the rope so that it cant be used outside. Has anyone actually tried to break into their own house

Just some thoughts

Mick
 
You are correct in that it is very personal. I don't want my security system to make my family alter their habits or have to worry about it, causing false alarms, etc. My inner door is protected with a short entry delay and that works for me. But here's another idea - you have a contact on the door for HA anyway, make a rule so that when the system is armed and the garage door is opened, it starts a timer. If the timer expires and the system is not disarmed, send an email or something. If it were an actual break in, you would at least get a notice before a potential alarm. Not perfect either, but my be helpful in some circumstances. The problem with the fobs, etc is that someone can swipe your keys or you can 'lose' them in a public place and somebody can potentially still clean you out before you had time to take the code out of the system. Some will argue the chances of that happening just like I can argue the chances of my garage door being the first point of entry anyway :(
 
I know this has been talked about before, but I would NEVER use a portable keyfob type device to disarm the system, that defeats the whole point of a security system imho. If your keys (and fob) are lost or stolen, your entire house is now available for the taking. I would much rather risk losing a lawn mower and some tools than risk my whole house being available.

What about prox fobs? Can you set it so you need to swipe the fob and enter a code if you were worried about a fob being used by an unathorized user? (two-factor authentication, but may be annoying to legitimate users).

The other note about lost fobs: they can just be removed.

I'm trying to think through the scenario: someone has stolen your keys and knows you arm/disarm the system using the fob/key fob. Sounds like you are being targetted. If they are able to get your keys without you knowing (think about that for a second) and had an opportunity to use them, what would stop them from just rushing you and force you to enter your code (or in this case swipe your fob). Wouldn't the latter be better as less chance of someone getting hurt and in the other cases you reprogram the system as soon as a fob goes missing.

Am I missing a perspective? This probably wouldn't apply to a 'casual burglar'.
 
In the case of someone forcibly making you disarm the system, if you only had the keypad (no fob) you would enter the ambush code and hopefully the authorities would get there quickly and bail you out. Another strike imho against the fob (unless you had a secondary button programmed as disarm w/ambush), but with a prox card the system is simply disarmed and you are partying with the thief without anyone knowing (assuming your system is monitored of course). Bottom line is I don't think there is an ideal scenario that works for everyone, people need to balance the pros and cons and go with what they are comfortable with.
 
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