stillwater Posted February 12, 2022 Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) This isn't completely on topic but perhaps you ELK experts will help anyway. I know very little about alarm systems. Homeowner X is required by the insurance company to have an alarm system with central station reporting. X has a Concord4/Alarm.com system that was installed in 2015 to fill this requirement. It has no wireless sensors -- just wired door open/shut , wired smoke and heat alarms, and wired motion sensors. Interlogix has gone out of business. X has the module that uses 3G to communicate to alarm.com. 3G is going away at the end of 2022. X has reserved the LTE module for installation by a local alarm company (They had a few in stock -- not enough for all their customers, they say). This isn't a permanent solution, though probably I can help X fix any electronics that die for some time. There are no ionization detectors so I think none of the components has a fixed life. The local alarm company proposed converting to Qolsys with some sort of wireless bridge. This seems overly complex. They do install ELK but the what they quoted for a conversion seemed like what a whole system might cost, including sensors. ( I think $4600 -- this is not a huge house). Would ELK or another brand of alarm panel that reports to a central station be compatible with the existing sensors? X really doesn't want to have people going through the house replacing sensors. Replacing the Concord4 control interfaces at each of two entry doors would be fine if the new ones fit in the same size box. Connection to ISY would be nice but not necessary. So: Should X spend $500+ now for the new communicator and hope the system lasts for some time, or convert to another system now, hopefully one that can use the existing sensors? If so which one? Thanks! Edited February 12, 2022 by stillwater clarify 3G is going away
lilyoyo1 Posted February 12, 2022 Posted February 12, 2022 1 hour ago, stillwater said: This isn't completely on topic but perhaps you ELK experts will help anyway. I know very little about alarm systems. Homeowner X is required by the insurance company to have an alarm system with central station reporting. X has a Concord4/Alarm.com system that was installed in 2015 to fill this requirement. It has no wireless sensors -- just wired door open/shut , wired smoke and heat alarms, and wired motion sensors. Interlogix has gone out of business. X has the module that uses 3G to communicate to alarm.com. 3G is going away at the end of 2022. X has reserved the LTE module for installation by a local alarm company (They had a few in stock -- not enough for all their customers, they say). This isn't a permanent solution, though probably I can help X fix any electronics that die for some time. There are no ionization detectors so I think none of the components has a fixed life. The local alarm company proposed converting to Qolsys with some sort of wireless bridge. This seems overly complex. They do install ELK but the what they quoted for a conversion seemed like what a whole system might cost, including sensors. ( I think $4600 -- this is not a huge house). Would ELK or another brand of alarm panel that reports to a central station be compatible with the existing sensors? X really doesn't want to have people going through the house replacing sensors. Replacing the Concord4 control interfaces at each of two entry doors would be fine if the new ones fit in the same size box. Connection to ISY would be nice but not necessary. So: Should X spend $500+ now for the new communicator and hope the system lasts for some time, or convert to another system now, hopefully one that can use the existing sensors? If so which one? Thanks! Using the Qolsys IQ panel with the hardwired translator is not complex at all. In fact, it's 10x easier than elk ever could be. Technically he could do it himself if he wanted to. That's how easy it is.
stillwater Posted February 13, 2022 Author Posted February 13, 2022 Thanks. I looked a little further and it looks like the wired CO sensors would have to be replaced with wireless ones. I was looking for a conversion that would not entail adding any wireless elements. (Current RF is limited to the cellular network link) Probably just best to stick with Concord 4 (with LTE communicator) until it dies.
Recommended Posts