Replacement for aging GE/Interlogix/Caddx NX-8E?

[JimS]

I have a 20 year old alarm system that has given me a few issues lately and thinking it might be time for a replacement. Several days ago I had trouble arming it but finally was able to. This morning I had trouble disarming it - the keypad beeped with each keypress but didn't change the "Armed" indicator. I also noticed that when the motion sensors were triggered the zone indicator on the keypad didn't show up as it normally does. I need to do some additional troubleshooting but wondering what would be a good replacement if it comes to that.

I have two partitions - the house and a detached garage. The garage has it's own keypad for that partition with an expander board there and I have about 240' of 4 conductor wire (think only 3 are used in this case) between buildings for the keypad bus. I have conduit so something else could be pulled if needed. All the sensors are wired - motions, doors, and smoke. Originally monitored through POTS but now has a box for cell monitoring (Alarm Relay).

I haven't used the serial interface but would be nice to have the capability to connect to Home Assistant or some automation.

 

[Mark S.]

It's been many years since I transitioned from the NX8E, so I've forgotten pretty much everything about it. But an alarm system is basically an I/O controller, and corruption of EEPROMs is possible. So if you prefer to stick with the NX8E, you might try save your configuration, and do a factory reset or wipe of the unit, and start over. I vaguely recall doing that once.

If you want something more modern, and with more capabilities than the NX8E, I would suggest the ELK M1 Gold. That is what I did, and like it much better. That said, even the M1 G is also getting old in the tooth - it has not seen any significant updates in many years. But I am not aware of any other current alarm system that is not proprietary and has as many automation possibilities. The ELK interfaces with Homeseer and Home Assistant. I especially appreciate the expandability and the digital outputs to operate things like garage doors, and I like that the ELK can independently run my basic home automation (like lights and motion sensing) with Homeseer adding more possibilities because the 2 systems communicate instantaneously.