Alarmed

In 2006, we put an alarm system on our house. While the system worked fine for several years, it was well overdue for an upgrade. Many of the sensors were battery-powered. As the sensors aged, they needed batteries replaced frequently. It was frustrating to hear the alarm panel start beeping every two minutes because one of the sensors’ batteries was low. One particular sensor started complaining every few weeks. Eventually, the battery backup for the panel began to die. It was time for a replacement.

After a bit of research, I went with SimpliSafe. I spent maybe thirty minutes installing the new sensors and keypad. My biggest challenge is that my primary Wi-Fi network has MAC address filtering enabled. Since it is easy to clone MAC addresses, I ended up disabling the filtering. The hassle of manually whitelisting each device was worse than the illusion of security it was providing.

I did have a challenge replacing the doorbell with a camera-enabled version. Or, instead, since our doorbell transformer is so old, the doorbell buzzed incessantly. Until I can replace the transformer, I had to disconnect the buzzer. I am pretty impressed with the picture it provided. It covers my entire porch and front yard.

Replacing the smoke detector was easy as well. I was fortunate in that I was able to use the existing screws from the old sensor. I was also pleasantly surprised at how quickly I received a call (less than 30 seconds) after pressing the test button on the detector.