Simon XT wireless alarm?

[Billiam]

I have a GE Concord alarm system. The touchpads suck. I'm supposed to remember obscure override codes (* * 07 passcode, not * * 7 passcode) 3 months after the last time I needed to remember them? Control4 doesn't help because all I get is a virtual keypad on the Nav screens. Control4 now knows which windows or doors are open but it doesn't help tame the actual security system interaction. Plus I have trouble with the phone line that connects to the dispatch office.

So... I'm thinking of getting a GE Simon XT system. It passes the phone line (uses cellular) and has a nice, idiot-proof touch screen as an option. Replacing my whole security system will only cost a few hundred bucks (after discounts and a 3 year commitment) for all the advantages I'll get -- easy to use Alarm.com portal, no landline, icon based screen...

On my current system Control4 driver "hears" the Concord via a serial wire connected from the Concord's box to a Control4 home media controller.

- Is there a way to do this with the Simon XT?

- Is there a way to get Control4 to interact with the new wireless sensors or am I going to have to accept that the new system won't be able to talk to Control4?

I know there's an option to add a cellular module to the Concord unit but it will cost more than this whole new system and I'll still be stuck with the sucky keypads.

[RyanE]

Nope.

The Simon is a residential panel with no Automation functionality available. It's not in the same family as the Concord / Advent, or even the NX-8E, which are the only GE panels that have (or can have) Control4 drivers.

Sorry.

RyanE

[henniae]

The Concord 4 is so easy to use.

[ILoveC4]

If you've got wireless sensors from GE you could get your new panel and then a Card Access Sensor Bridge to allow you to see/use the sensors within Control4.

[Billiam]

If you've got wireless sensors from GE you could get your new panel and then a Card Access Sensor Bridge to allow you to see/use the sensors within Control4.

Can you clarify that? The new GE Security Simon XT comes with it's own wireless sensors which, according to somebody at Frontpoint Security, use Z-wave as opposed to Zigbee. Is there a Z-wave to Zigbee bridge? Or are you referring to the sensors I currently have installed on my Concord system being GE wireless sensors? The system was already here when I moved in years ago so I'm not sure how many are hard-wired and how many are wireless. I know that the Concord system can understand a mix of both. Are you saying the Card Access Sensor Bridge would able to hear THOSE old wireless sensors?

A thought I had was to simply leave the old concord system up and running but with the phone part disconnected from it (if that's possible.) That way my old alarm system would be running (but never armed) and control4 can still hear the door sensors I use to program lights and stuff without actually being able to call the police.

The other thought I had was perhaps I could just buy a few Zigbee door sensors to take over for what the old alarm sensors. Off the top of your head, do you know what door sensor(s) I should look at? I'm asking because it'll be a week playing telephone tag with my dealer. It's much easier to say, "I need 2 of [THESE.] When can you install them?"

@ Henniae "The Concord 4 is so easy to use." Not when every few months your phone line gets a little too much static in it and the system starts beeping because it can't call the station. You have to go into "program mode" (Do you know that sequence off the top of you head?) and override the system for the beeping to stop. But that only works for 12 hours. Then the beeping starts again (assuming the phone lines haven't gotten cleaner yet.) Then 2 months later it does it again and of course I forgot the codes. But even that I could deal with. Usually it goes like THIS: my WIFE calls me because the panel is beeping "YET AGAIN!!" and I have to lead her through it over the phone, using codes I can't remember and her being pissed off that the manual is confusing and she can't find the page of override codes I keep referring to and how come this wasn't fixed the last time and how come the phone company didn't fix the line by now and on and on and on. This happened AT LEAST 4 times over the past few years. Last year I even tried adding a custom button in Control4 to send the codes but the last time it wasn't the phone line, it was a broken sensor which is a DIFFERENT override code. I want cute little icons and a system that bypasses the phoneline altogether. And I can get the Simon XT for less than the cellular option (plus installation) on the Concord.

[lyoness]

I'm not sure about the Simon stuff, but most of the GE Wireless Sensors I've seen use a proprietary protocol at 319.5 MHz, not ZigBee or Z-Wave. I don't think GE has really changed their wireless line for years, besides making them smaller. Might not hurt to get some model numbers (if you can) and see if you can use what you've already got. If they're hardwired then you are probably stuck using serial through some kind of panel or homerunning the wires back to a Controller or I/O extender.

If you want to go wireless for door sensing then your two cleanest options for integrating with Control4 are going to be a Card Access Wireless Contact Sensor -OR- a GE Mirco Sensor or Recessed Door/Window Sensor with the bridge ILoveC4 mentioned.