Ring Alarm hands-on tested

[Jan]

We tested the Ring Alarm — And it exceeded our expectations

South African ICT product distributor MiRO recently sent us the Ring Alarm wireless home security starter kit to try out.

We set it up at one of our journalist's homes to see how it works and documented our experience.

 

[gregmcc]

The only issue I've found is you should screw the sensors in. The doublesided tape can come unstuck.

 

[BouncyNinja]

Should check the Hikvision AX pro kit, its awesome

 

[Pak Fa Fui]

Next please test the camera you install in a light bulb socket

 

[goody2]

Can these DIY kits be connected to your armed response

 

[r00igev@@r]

Can these DIY kits be connected to your armed response

I've connected mine via a relay to a panic button. Works like a charm. Just get a basic radio alarm with a panic button then add the rest yourself.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

what if the wifi goes off? or load shedding strikes, does it keep sending alerts?

 

[RonSwanson]

what if the wifi goes off? or load shedding strikes, does it keep sending alerts?

That's the problem using unbounded media, all it takes is a burglar / attacker using a 2.4Ghz jammer. So don't use it for something that you value dearly or that's important.

 

[Death]

Anyone know if these have built in GSM perhaps? I like the idea of multiple sources for alarming me. So WiFi goes off, GSM can still send me alerts. Power goes off, it runs off it's battery (which hopefully lasts longer than the power going off) Otherwise you get yourself a 100W Omnipower Ratel or one of those GeeWiz types of UPS backup that I use for my ONT/Router and connect it to the alarm.

 

[wingnut771]

Anyone know if these have built in GSM perhaps? I like the idea of multiple sources for alarming me. So WiFi goes off, GSM can still send me alerts. Power goes off, it runs off it's battery (which hopefully lasts longer than the power going off) Otherwise you get yourself a 100W Omnipower Ratel or one of those GeeWiz types of UPS backup that I use for my ONT/Router and connect it to the alarm.

Surely if wifi gets jammed, so will GSM.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Some systems have RF jamming detection apparently.

These Ring systems look nice and are not badly priced but I'll stick to a more established system (I have a Paradox system installed at home).

 

[goody2]

I've connected mine via a relay to a panic button. Works like a charm. Just get a basic radio alarm with a panic button then add the rest yourself.

How did you connect the the relay to the bad station, does it have contacts

 

[garyc]

Anyone know if these have built in GSM perhaps? I like the idea of multiple sources for alarming me. So WiFi goes off, GSM can still send me alerts. Power goes off, it runs off it's battery (which hopefully lasts longer than the power going off) Otherwise you get yourself a 100W Omnipower Ratel or one of those GeeWiz types of UPS backup that I use for my ONT/Router and connect it to the alarm.

Their site says that you can have a cellular backup if the internet goes down. Looks like this only works if you subscribe to their professional monitoring service. They did not say what countries this applies to.

These issues are why I am still using an alarm with a GSM module and a battery that lasts over a week. The latter feature has been tested a couple of times.

 

[BouncyNinja]

Can these DIY kits be connected to your armed response

i've connected the hikvision to our alarm company, they use the rdc radio's .Using a few of the remote relay modules, it sends the arm/disarm, activations and panic though, if they used FSK radio's there is a proper interface module

 

[BouncyNinja]

Anyone know if these have built in GSM perhaps? I like the idea of multiple sources for alarming me. So WiFi goes off, GSM can still send me alerts. Power goes off, it runs off it's battery (which hopefully lasts longer than the power going off) Otherwise you get yourself a 100W Omnipower Ratel or one of those GeeWiz types of UPS backup that I use for my ONT/Router and connect it to the alarm.

Hik has wifi, cabled network & 2 sim slots ( both 4g enabled) , its built in battery does a good 8 hours

 

[Death]

Surely if wifi gets jammed, so will GSM.

I was more referring to GSM as a backup because Fibre tends to go down a lot where I live (hello Frogfoot) or for during loadshedding and there is not a battery backup for the ONT/Router.

 

[wingnut771]

I was more referring to GSM as a backup because Fibre tends to go down a lot where I live (hello Frogfoot) or for during loadshedding and there is not a battery backup for the ONT/Router.

My ONT/router are 12V, just leave it permanently plugged in:

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.

www.takealot.com

 

[Polymathic]

I'll wait for Amazon launch next year before I even consider this product

 

[RonSwanson]

Amazon's Ring and Google Can Share Footage With Police Without Warrants (or Your Consent) - Slashdot

U.S. law let's companies like Google and Amazon's Ring doorbell/security camera system "share user footage with police during emergencies without consent and without warrants," CNET reported this week. They add that after that revelation "came under renewed criticism from privacy activists this...

news.slashdot.org

Ring Reveals They Give Videos to Police Without User Consent or a Warrant

Amazon’s Ring devices are not just personal security cameras. They are also police cameras—whether you want them to be or not. The company now admits there are “emergency” instances when police can get warrantless access to Ring personal devices without the owner’s permission.

www.eff.org

 

[RedViking]

I've connected mine via a relay to a panic button. Works like a charm. Just get a basic radio alarm with a panic button then add the rest yourself.

Please can you share how this is done to a noob.