Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Smart zone alarms

Options
124»

Comments

  • Options
    #92
    2011
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 12,533 Mod ✭✭✭✭2011


    bk wrote: »
    BTW, folks seem to be already working on HomeAssistant support for it:
    https://community.home-assistant.io/t/ajax-alarm-system/62853/36

    Yes some folk are (not the manufacturer), but this is not a feature the alarm system is sold with. According to the link you posted this can achieved by "stripping an Ajax SpaceControl remote and solder it to a remote controlled relay. For example a Sonoff or similar and then connect that to HA."

    I think it is unwise to arm and disarm an alarm in this way as it compromises the security of the system. The same poster on the above link concedes that this is the case: "But you need to understand the security implications of doing this".


  • Options
    #93
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,486 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    2011 wrote: »
    Yes some folk are (not the manufacturer), but this is not a feature the alarm system is sold with. According to the link you posted this can achieved by "stripping an Ajax SpaceControl remote and solder it to a remote controlled relay. For example a Sonoff or similar and then connect that to HA."

    I think it is unwise to arm and disarm an alarm in this way as it compromises the security of the system. The same poster on the above link concedes that this is the case: "But you need to understand the security implications of doing this".

    Errr... Here is the full quote:

    https://community.home-assistant.io/t/ajax-alarm-system/62853/35
    Yes, only one way. I use it purely for reading the status of the alarm and to automate things based on that.

    If you want two way for the possibility to arm and disarm the alarm there is no Ajax supported solution. You could achieve it by stripping an Ajax SpaceControl remote and solder it to a remote controlled relay. For example a Sonoff or similar and then connect that to HA. But you need to understand the security implications of doing this.

    Note the part I've highlighted in bold. So as the post points out, the normal HomeAutomation integration is one way only, it allows you to monitor the state of the alarm (disarmed, armed home, armed night, alarm triggered and smoke and leak sensors triggered), but it doesn't allow you to control the alarm.

    It is something that is handy to allow you to trigger home and away routines in HA via monitoring what you set the Ajax system to. A nice and completely safe integration.

    The person then goes on to speculate that you could set up two way control with some soldering of the remote, of course something you could do with almost any alarm system with a remote like this. But this isn't something most people are doing with their Ajax integration into HA and the poster points out the security implications of doing so.

    BTW The way that they are doing this one way monitoring of the Ajax system is quiet ingenious. They are basically faking being a remote monitoring service and using the protocols a remote monitoring company would use to monitor the system.


  • Options
    #94
    2011
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 12,533 Mod ✭✭✭✭2011


    bk wrote: »
    Note the part I've highlighted in bold. So as the post points out, the normal HomeAutomation integration is one way only, it allows you to monitor the state of the alarm (disarmed, armed home, armed night, alarm triggered and smoke and leak sensors triggered), but it doesn't allow you to control the alarm.

    Agreed. I like this feature.

    However, I was referring to the first part of the previous link you posted, note the part in bold:
    If you want two way for the possibility to arm and disarm the alarm there is no Ajax supported solution. You could achieve it by stripping an Ajax SpaceControl remote and solder it to a remote controlled relay. For example a Sonoff or similar and then connect that to HA.

    It is something that is handy to allow you to trigger home and away routines in HA via monitoring what you set the Ajax system to. A nice and completely safe integration.

    Agree 100%
    BTW The way that they are doing this one way monitoring of the Ajax system is quiet ingenious.

    Yes, it is a good solid way for digital I/O interface. This is nothing new for intruder alarm systems though, in fact it is quite old school. This is how far older “conventional” alarms have been connected to third party devices such as text alerts for a long time.

    In industry interposing relays are commonly used in this way to control and monitor many devices.


  • Options
    #95
    garion
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭garion


    Received an additional shipment of AJAX sensors from https://webshop.best-alarm-system.eu/en/ with no issues. Took about a week for delivery as they had to wait for one of the sensors to come back into stock.

    Delivery was a flat €25 and free for orders over €1000. There was a site wide 10% discount running last weekend so might be worth keeping an eye out.

    Been using AJAX for about a week now and all going well. No false alarms and triggering when it should. Arming/Disarming remotely working without issue too.


  • Options
    #96
    Fishdoodle
    Registered Users Posts: 321 ✭✭Fishdoodle


    Excellent thread- thank you all for the info!
    I've been researching alarms for weeks, learned a ton of stuff and glad to see alternatives to trad. systems.

    Regarding Ajax, -Seems a great alarm. An interesting glitch I came accross relating to the app, relavent if you've added your neighbour for notification:

    "If I want users outside my family (neighbours etc) to be notified for an intrusion or when the devices have been tampered with, I must allow these users to see all activity history and also realtime activity of when I am in and when I am away from my house. This invades the customer's privacy!"

    https://www.trustpilot.com/review/ajax.systems

    Ajax Reply:
    At the moment, our security system does not provide the ability to filter events in the event feed of the application for specific users......

    In the next updates we plan to add the ability to filter events in the application for specific users, but at the moment we don’t ready to disclose release date.

    Currently, you can turn off event feed for your neighbor’s, but turn on SMS and calls. In this case, they’ll receive messages in case of alarm.

    ..............................
    This was the only negative I came accross when researching Ajax, and should be ironed out in due course.

    I was looking at installing a Ring Home Monitoring system, but Ajax looks to be the better optin overall.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #97
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,486 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    Fishdoodle wrote: »
    Ajax Reply:
    At the moment, our security system does not provide the ability to filter events in the event feed of the application for specific users......

    In the next updates we plan to add the ability to filter events in the application for specific users, but at the moment we don’t ready to disclose release date.

    Currently, you can turn off event feed for your neighbor’s, but turn on SMS and calls. In this case, they’ll receive messages in case of alarm.

    I have to say, this really impresses me. No system is perfect, they all have flaws, however the Ajax system seems to have an excellent website and the fact that they have a forum and actively engage with customers there greatly impresses me.

    The fact that they are willing to take feedback, say that they are working on it and give you a decent alternative solution for the time being is really great.

    It shows very active development of the system, that is what you want to see. This is something that a lot of other systems greatly lack IMO.


  • Options
    #98
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,486 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    BTW Maybe one of the mods could pull out garions review and other posts and create a new thread title "Ajax Systems"? I think this deserves it's own thread given how interesting it is.


  • Options
    #99
    2011
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 12,533 Mod ✭✭✭✭2011


    bk wrote: »
    BTW Maybe one of the mods could pull out garions review and other posts and create a new thread title "Ajax Systems"? I think this deserves it's own thread given how interesting it is.

    Now done, see link.


This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement