Support Differences between DSC 1832 versus Honeywell 20p

[mwyarm]

I have tried to search the board to see if I can see quick reference points as to what differences in options and support that exists or does not exist between the 2 products. I am about to upgrade my existing system and both systems are compatible but I am definitely going with self monitoring and thus this product fits my needs perfectly. I have to assume that some things may work for one product but not the other.

However, I would like to know the service limitations from your product perspective to weigh in to my decisions.
Thanks

[GrandWizard]

For sure go with DSC. There are limitations with Ademco but none with DSC panels.

For example, Ademco...

- cannot show zone status when armed
- requires programming
- only supports 2 partitions, 8 for DSC
- requires opening/closing reports to be sent to both your dialer and the Envisalink to work
- cannot automatically control the time on your panel to keep it current

[mwyarm]

Thanks for sharing. I suspected something was different and thank you for the advice. I do like the Honeywell keypads with the keys exposed versus DSC seems to have everything behind a door that you have to open and close. However, I am trying to not allow that to drive functionality as I truly want flexible monitoring and Envisalink seems to be the right choice with even monitoring at a later time if I choose to do so.
Thanks again.

[pendetim]

For sure go with DSC. There are limitations with Ademco but none with DSC panels.

For example, Ademco...

- cannot show zone status when armed
- requires programming
- only supports 2 partitions, 8 for DSC
- requires opening/closing reports to be sent to both your dialer and the Envisalink to work
- cannot automatically control the time on your panel to keep it current

Would you please elaborate on the "cannot show zone status when armed" comment? What does this mean and what is impact on usability of your system?

For instance, if the system is armed and trips, can I see the status of the zones to know if door x is still open? Or if someone is passing by a motion detector?

If the system is armed, can I see if a smoke has gone off?

If I have bypassed a zone to force an arming, can I see if that zone is still open from the webpage?

As to opening/closing reports, does this mean that in order to view open doors/windows on your website I need to send this information to Alarm Relay also? Or are you referring to arm/disarm signals?

Tim

[GrandWizard]

Would you please elaborate on the "cannot show zone status when armed" comment? What does this mean and what is impact on usability of your system?

For instance, if the system is armed and trips, can I see the status of the zones to know if door x is still open? Or if someone is passing by a motion detector?

If the system is armed, can I see if a smoke has gone off?

If I have bypassed a zone to force an arming, can I see if that zone is still open from the webpage?

As to opening/closing reports, does this mean that in order to view open doors/windows on your website I need to send this information to Alarm Relay also? Or are you referring to arm/disarm signals?

Tim

Ademco systems are rundementary panels and are designed to do one thing: make lots of noise when a zone is breached in ARM mode and call the central station. They lack a lot of the niceties seen in more modern systems like DSC et. al.

One thing it doesn't do is report the state of interior zones when armed in stay mode so you can't see what is going on with interior motion detectors at night, for example.

If a armed zone is breached you will receive your usual text message that Zone X is in alarm, but that zone won't show in the zone grid as open. This is because the zone grid is part of the Keypad system of the panel and Ademco doesn't inform their keypads of this information while in alarm.

The Envisalink is two products in one: a Keypad, and a Communicator. Zone/Partition status comes from the Keypad side, and Alerts come from the communicator side. They are not entirely related. The panel might tell the communicator that there is an alarm on Zone 5, Partition 2, but that doesn't mean it will display anything on the keypads.

[Jonathan]

Would you please elaborate on the "cannot show zone status when armed" comment? What does this mean and what is impact on usability of your system?

For instance, if the system is armed and trips, can I see the status of the zones to know if door x is still open? Or if someone is passing by a motion detector?

If the system is armed, can I see if a smoke has gone off?

If I have bypassed a zone to force an arming, can I see if that zone is still open from the webpage?

As to opening/closing reports, does this mean that in order to view open doors/windows on your website I need to send this information to Alarm Relay also? Or are you referring to arm/disarm signals?

Tim

Ademco systems are rundementary panels and are designed to do one thing: make lots of noise when a zone is breached in ARM mode and call the central station. They lack a lot of the niceties seen in more modern systems like DSC et. al.

One thing it doesn't do is report the state of interior zones when armed in stay mode so you can't see what is going on with interior motion detectors at night, for example.

If a armed zone is breached you will receive your usual text message that Zone X is in alarm, but that zone won't show in the zone grid as open. This is because the zone grid is part of the Keypad system of the panel and Ademco doesn't inform their keypads of this information while in alarm.

The Envisalink is two products in one: a Keypad, and a Communicator. Zone/Partition status comes from the Keypad side, and Alerts come from the communicator side. They are not entirely related. The panel might tell the communicator that there is an alarm on Zone 5, Partition 2, but that doesn't mean it will display anything on the keypads.

The Ademco vista series panels will show open zones while the system is armed. Using my Tuxedo touch and or Total Connect 2.0, I can see open zones while my system is armed. I also have my tuxedo touch programmed to turn on certain lights when I walk past a motion detector during certain times. This works in both armed and disarmed states.

The difference between regular Ademco keypads and the Tuxedo touch keypad/Total connect is the regular keypads get assigned a keypad address, such as address 16, 17 etc. The Tuxedo Touch and total connect both get assigned GUI addresses, such as address 1, 2 etc. The tuxedo touch keypad can see open zones while armed, and so can Total connect.

The Envisalink gets programmed under a keypad address on the Vista series panels. Perhaps, if the envisalink were updated to work under a GUI address, it will also be able to see open zones while the system is armed.

I'm not sure why you consider DSC panels more modern than Honeywell/Ademco vista panels, but in my opinion, Honeywell has a lot more to offer than DSC, especially when it comes to wireless devices.

The Vista series panels can also go up to 8 partitions (depending on the panel).

I've used both Ademco/Honeywell and DSC, and in my opinion, the DSC panels felt cheap in comparison to Ademco.