First priority was getting the alarm going. Rather and a guardian system I installed my own (Visonic Abbra system) with monitoring via NextAlarm. I have a grandfathered in price plan at $10/month, so it doesn't take many months of saving $30 off the guardian rate to offset the equipment purchase -- plus I got exactly the system I wanted. Normal door sensors, 2 motion sensors, 2 smoke detectors tied to the alarm and 2 water sensors in the utility room tied to the alarm. Any drain or sump pit issues and I will know ASAP.
My secondary and ongoing project has been the tech nerve center in the basement. There are a few different things going on there that might not be evident from the photo. First, the board on the wall is where all lines coming in are terminated. Time Warner's modem is mounted there, All of the DirecTV cables and power injectors, etc, and the alarm system. Then the rack has 1) Network switches (ebay purchases 2) Firewall to protect home network from outside network 3) Network Storage hard drives, and 4) AV equipment for the media room.
My goal for the media room is to have almost no visible equipment. TV will be a rear projector on the wall, Speakers are small, and all will be wall mounted. Remote control will have a small relay into the equipment in the rack (DirecTV receiver, audio receiver, etc). The TV mounted on the wall in the equipment room is a mirror of what will be on the projector (testing purposes) and also serves as a monitor for the firewall.
Lastly, I think I have given up the idea of putting my office in the basement unfinished space. The 1st floor study/living room is the same size, already finished, and a much better use of space. We really need that 200 sq ft of storage in the basement if I ever want to have the garage 100% reclaimed. All the upstairs needs is a set of french doors (to keep kids out) and it will be good to go.
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| Front door wireless sensor |
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| First floor Keypad, wireless arm/disarm |
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| The main panel |
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| My nerve center. |
Your study didn't come with French doors?
ReplyDeleteI could/would have, but we kept it as a living room. I didn't like their door option (1 option) so we are going to add it on this summer. Trying to get quotes on Crown molding and chair rail too for the DR and Study (chair rail for DR only)
DeletePart of me wishes we would have done the same. I love the French doors but I think they are totally unnecessary and will just get in the way. We don't have doors on our current study and I actually like it that way. Oh well, too late.
DeleteThat nerve center is intense! I wish I was good with electronics, that looks pretty sweet. I'm glad you found a cheaper option for the security system... validates my option to not get guardian's installation.
ReplyDeleteYea...and the reason I went ahead with Guardian is because we can't do THAT. :0) How cool! That's amazing that you can install that and figure it out-when I saw the "brains", my jaw dropped. Glad to hear you worked out your office dilemma...our storage space is very precious to us as well. To retain as much backyard as possible, we only opted for a 2 car garage. So I will need lots of basement storage. Thanks for an update!
ReplyDeleteIt's looking pretty boss there in the nerve center!
ReplyDeleteOkay, Mike, you did an excellent job! I wish you lived in the Maryland area. I would hire you to install our system. I want every room in the home to be streamlined. I can't stand the wires hanging everywhere. In the meantime, we had to hire Guardian to do the work since we are not technicians. YOU ROCK!
ReplyDeleteThese kind of things are fun when it's not your job to do them. I'd hate to be an alarm tech, or TV installer for a career, but in my own house or helping out friends it's actually fun to do.
DeleteHow easy/difficult is the self-install on that alarm system? We didn't want to pay for the Guardian monitoring, so we nixed their whole system. I love the price of the NextAlarm monitoring and want to purchase a fair amount of equipment, but also want to ensure we can easily install. I know they offer an installation service, but would rather put the $250 toward equipment.
ReplyDeleteDepends on how technical you are.
DeleteI would say it's a 6 out of 10. Everything you buy at once (from Home Technology Store) comes pre-enrolled, which is half the work. The physical installation is easy, just screw the sensors into wood, or use super sticky 3M 2sided tape (lasted for 5 years at old house). The main unit is best hidden in the basement or somewhere safe. It connected to the "ABN" which is really just a VoIP adapter, which connects directly to your internet connection. The manual is decent, and the support from HTS and Nextalarm are both good.
If you are willing to sit down, read the manuals, and invest a few hours of time then you can save a ton of money vs Guardian. Plus, I like that I can configure everything on the system to be exactly as I want it. For example, Smoke Detectors call Fire Dept, but water sensors call me on my cell phone. I have the arm away countdown last 90 seconds now because it takes longer to get out the door with a toddler, but the arm home countdown is 10 seconds because it's annoying and you aren't going to open a door anyway when you are arming for the night.