MCYSEKA-Maritime Cyber Security Knowledge Archive

Hello- we recently purchased a home with an existing Napco Gemini system, with two touchpads, a GEM-P1632 panel in the basement, a couple of motion sensors on the 1st floor, external door sensors and fire alarms. I estimate the system is 12 years old- neither new nor old, and works fine, as far as I can tell. Any contract with a local alarm monitoring company has long lapsed, and I have no idea what the admin pin might be for the system. We have also outfitted our home with Nest thermostats, and a Nest doorbell, which I control using a Google Home device as well as my phone app. In our prior house, we used SimplySafe, which we really liked, especially for the ability to control everything over our phones even after our monthly monitoring agreement lapsed. Turning on the system by phone was a great feature. We’d like to find the same level of flexibility we found with our prior SimplySafe system- especially how user friendly the interface was when traveling- together with the existing wired infrastructure currently in our new home, but I ‘ve found this middle ground difficult to find with all the various options.

Here is what I am looking for: in addition to upgrading the clunky Gemini touchpad, I would like to connect our wired home security system to Google Home / my phone, in order to recapture the usability we had with SimplySafe. I’m open/semi-proficient in DIY, but also don’t want to create a massive problem if i run into trouble. I’ve been in contact with a couple of local alarm system providers, with one option being changing the existing system to Honeywell, and installing a 6160 resideo keypad and VISTA 20P control panel. My understanding is that there would be the ability to control the system through a customized (by the alarm company) app on my phone, which is included in the $40/month monitoring fee. I’m open to paying this for 1-2 years, but definitely would like to maintain system connectivity through my phone if we chose to have the monitoring contract lapse. We live in a very safe neighborhood- most houses keep doors unlocked, and I would rely on the system primarily for fire and when we travel for long periods of time. Are there any wired systems available that can plug into Google Home (or a similar interface) that will not lose functionality if we lapse on the security company monitoring contract?