envisalink 3 and wireless bridge

[cretian]

has anyone connected the envisalink 3 to a wireless bridge to communicate wirelessly to a router? does this work? what backup power source (if any) was used for the wireless bridge?

[robertmm]

I have. iogear GWU627 ($25). For the power supply, I cut a mini USB cable (this is what the iogear uses) to get at the +5V/Ground wires (they are red and black). Connected those to a 10-14V to 5V DC-DC step-down from eBay ($10, current-logic.com has similar looking ones, not sure what brand mine is). That step down is on the AUX supply of a secondary power supply (PC5204) which is supervised by the alarm system. Because of this the bridge is battery backed. You do need the secondary supply because the wireless bridge can be power hungry. Mount the wireless bridge outside the metal cabinet.

That said, while all of this works just fine (after I upgraded the bridge firmware), I will eventually add a real Ethernet cable. Just less stuff that can break.

Robert

[GrandWizard]

Nice work Robertmm!

[cretian]

wow. impressive. thanks for the feedback. so you ultimately recommend against the wireless bridge since you plan on running an ethernet cable directly?

[robertmm]

If you can avoid it, I would not use a wireless bridge. Too many points of failure.

Then again, if all you're using the Envisalink for is to remotely check on your house it should be fine. I haven't had any trouble. But I also haven't had a break-in here and still pay for alarm monitoring, so what are the odds of things going wrong at the wrong time?

In my case the "telephone" wiring is CAT5E, so I'll be using that to get Ethernet to the panel (multi-story home, no way to run new wires). It's straightforward, except for some practical considerations (there's a rat's nest of unlabeled wires in the "telephone" cabinet that need to be traced, and I have to temporarily move some heavy furniture to get to the wall jack near my router to rewire it).

Edit: My system is monitored by a local alarm company using GSM. This is why I don't need the phone line to the panel. I don't have any experience with the Eyez-On monitoring service.

[Ken98045]

I have. iogear GWU627 ($25). For the power supply, I cut a mini USB cable (this is what the iogear uses) to get at the +5V/Ground wires (they are red and black). Connected those to a 10-14V to 5V DC-DC step-down from eBay ($10, current-logic.com has similar looking ones, not sure what brand mine is). That step down is on the AUX supply of a secondary power supply (PC5204) which is supervised by the alarm system. Because of this the bridge is battery backed. You do need the secondary supply because the wireless bridge can be power hungry. Mount the wireless bridge outside the metal cabinet.

That said, while all of this works just fine (after I upgraded the bridge firmware), I will eventually add a real Ethernet cable. Just less stuff that can break.

Robert

There is actually a product out there that is a 5 volt UPS. It is made for access card readers I think. It is significantly more expensive than your solution ($75). I thought about using that when I was going to use wireless. I managed to run a wire instead. Look on Amazon if anyone is scared about using the solution above. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Fingertec-Mini-Un ... 5+volt+ups