Ring Security Alarm
Security alarm systems have been around for years, but it wasn’t until Ring and SimpliSafe came on the scene that they truly revolutionized the alarm system, and lowered the cost that you could get a full professional monitored house security system for.
With the Ring Security System, you can get whole house protection for as little as $20 a month, or $200 for a full year.
Today we are going to talk about the Ring Security Systems, which is one of the lowest price full featured security systems on the market today.
Let’s start by talking about the various parts of the system. The Ring alarm system can be purchased in different sized packages, but each of them all have these parts or pieces. Just the quantity of some of the components differ to expand the coverage of the alarm system. The common size packages are 5, 8 and 14 pieces.
The brains of the system is the Base station. This has a small footprint of 6 ¾ inches square by 1 and a half inches tall and can be placed anywhere where there is an electrical outlet, since it does need to be plugged in for power. You don’t need to access the base station to use the Ring Alarm, so this could be placed behind or under furniture. The Ring Alarm base is what all the other parts of the ring alarm security system link to using z-wave technology. The base system is what you set up first when you install the Ring alarm system. The alarm system is set up through the Ring app, which is available for free from Android and Apple app stores. Set up is fairly simple – You indicated that you want to install the alarm system and the app walks you through the set-up process. Most of the parts of the ring alarm system are added by scanning the QR codes on each device. One of the first things the app will do with the setup is to connect the base and the alarm system to your Wi-Fi. The Ring alarm system will only work with 2.4 Ghz WIFI system at this point.
While the base does not look like much, but it handles a lot. The siren for the alarm system is located on the top of the ring alarm system base along with a color changing indicator light. While the base is powered by AC plug, it does have a built-in battery backup. If the power goes out to the ring alarm base station, you will be sent an alert to your smart device that the system is running on the battery backup. I personally like getting these notifications since it tells me that my power is out, even when I am away from home. With the battery backup, the alarm will stay active and your system will be monitored when there is no power.
The ring alarm system base also has a cell phone backup built into it that jumps into action if your Wi-Fi goes down. These give you a sense of security knowing that your security system will still work and protect you during power and Wi-Fi outages.
The next part of the Ring Alarm security system is the door and window sensors. The number of sensors that come with your ring alarm kit will vary depending on the size of the ring alarm system you purchase. Additional sensors can also be purchased individually separately. The window and door sensors consist of two different pieces. One side of the sensor is a magnet, while the other side is the sensor section. The premise is simple. When the two pieces are lined up next to each other, the sensor is in the “closed” position. If you separate the pieces apart, this breaks the connection, and the sensor is in the “open” position, and if active, the alarm will sound. For window and doors, you place one part of the sensor on the window or the door, and the other part on the window or door frame. When the window or door is opened and the system is armed, the alarm will go off.
Please note that you need one sensor for each window and door that you are looking to protect. The latest generation of ring alarm has a slimmer design that even works with casement windows. In my house I have double hung windows. I placed the sensor part on the window itself and the magnet on the window frame. I also purchase extra magnets, and have positioned the second magnet up on the window frame so my alarm system can be armed in the opened position. With this second magnet, if someone opens or closes the window, the arm will go off.
Another piece of the ring alarm system is the motion sensor. The number of motion sensors that you get will vary depending on the size of the ring alarm system you get. Like the rest of the components, you can always add additional motion sensors to expand the coverage of your Ring Alarm system. The motion sensors are placed high on the wall or the ceiling where they can get maximum coverage of a room. To prevent the motion sensors from going off when you are home, they are only armed when you are in the “Away” mode. You can adjust the sensitivity of the motion sensors with 3 option if you have pets: “Low detection” for use in homes with larger or multiple pets, “Medium Detection” for use with one or small pets, and “High Detection” for use in homes with no pets. If you have pets, especially large dogs, you may want to test your motion sensors after you set them up, so the next time you are away, they don’t trigger the alarm. This is a perfect reason to use the 7 day “practice” session when you first set up your alarm. During this practice period, if you have the active monitoring and the alarm goes off you don’t have to worry about getting a call from the Ring Security center, or the police being notified.
Another component that is included with the ring alarm system is the range extender. All the Ring Alarm components use Z-wave technology to communicate between them, which is Low energy wireless radio waves on a dedicated frequency. The range extender is designed to help create a “mesh” of the signal, and to extend the range. It is ideally placed away between your base station and furthest sensor for better coverage. In larger, more spread-out homes, you may want to considering adding additional range extenders, especially if a far placed sensor is having difficulties connecting with the base station.
The ring alarm system is controlled with the keypad. The number of keypads you get once again depends on the package you get. The keypad should be placed by any doors to activate and disarm the alarm system. The keypad allows you to put the alarm system into 3 different modes. “Disarm” will disarm the system and all the sensors will be deactivated. “Home” with arm the window and door sensors, but disable the motion sensors. “Away” will arm all the sensors, including the motion sensors. The system is setup to only allow you to change the system when you enter your personal pin number. You get to select your own pin and you can choose multiple 4-digit codes for different people to use, so everyone who is allowed to disarm the system have their own pin.
The one thing that I wish Ring would add would be wording under the buttons to tell you what button controls which mode. Currently it just uses icons on the buttons, which may be confusing to some people at first to distinguish. The keypad also has a red-light bar that shows how much time you have left to disarm the system with the entry delay before the alarm goes off. There are a couple other lights that are only visible if the battery is low or there are communication issues with the base station. A nice feature that ring added on the second-generation ring alarm is the one touch emergency buttons. There is a button for “Police”, “Fire” and “Medical” emergencies, that notify the notify the proper authorities if they are held down for 3 seconds. We like this feature since it requires a press and hold, so that they cannot be accidentally pressed and activated. Keep in mind that notification of the authorities happens only if you pay the monthly fee for the ring protect subscription.
I personally have 3 keypads for my system – one at the front and backdoor, and one on my nightstand incase I need to activate emergency services in the middle of the night.
The feature that I love most about the Ring alarm system is that it is completely expandable. If you are on a budget, you can start with a small 5-piece system and add additional sensors, keypads and other components later. You do however get a reduced package price when you buy a larger piece package up front, so buy as large a piece system upfront that has what you need.
To get the full functionality out of the Ring alarm system, you will want to buy the Ring protect package. The price is currently $20/mo. or $200/ year. This is one of the cheapest monthly fees out there for a full featured professional monitored alarm system. What you get with the Ring protect plan is the professionally monitoring service, which is staffed 24/7 and 365 days a year. With the professional monitoring service, when you alarm goes off, and you do not disarm it right away, the Ring base station will notify the monitoring service. They will call you at the number you provide at setup to see if there is an actual emergency. They will simply ask if you are ok or if you need emergency assistance. If the alarm was set off by accident, you simply give the monitoring service the password that you select, and they will not notify the local emergency authorities. You can set up to 3 people to notify to confirm an emergency during setup. Ring will call them in sequence, until someone is reached. If no one is reached, or the wrong verbal password if given by someone, they will notify your local police department and report an active burglar alarm.
This is why it is important to disarm your alarm if it goes off quickly. If disarmed right away the monitoring service will not call you. It is also important to store the Ring monitoring as a contact in your phone, so you know when they are calling. I have mind set up in my phone as “Ring Alarm – ANSWER!!!” so I know to take the call. Ring even has a way to easily add the contact number to your smartphone with a few clicks. Depending on your community, a burglar alarm permit may be required for the Ring alarm with professional monitoring. Some municipalities may have fees after so many false alarms. The Ring protect plan is also needed to utilize the One touch emergency buttons on the keypad for them to notify the proper local emergency authorities.
If you don’t have the Ring Protect plan and the alarm goes off, the siren will sound and you will be notified via the Ring alarm app that your alarm is alarming, or by email. The local authorities will not be alerting by Ring.
Keep in mind that if your alarm goes off, you will be notified which sensor caused the alarm, and the location of the alarm if you have a separate alarm system in more than one address.
Another code that you choose at set up is the Duress code. Let’s use an example to illustrate when this is to be used: Let’s say you are coming home and just opened your door and an intruder comes up and threatens you with a knife or gun to turn off the alarm system. If you enter your duress code, the alarm will “appear” that it is off, but the police will be notified that duress code has been activated, and that you are in harms way. You and your other emergency contacts will not be called or notified either. The ring monitoring center will then send the police out letting them know that there may be an intruder holding you at bay. Keep in mind that you can’t inactivate the duress code, even by calling, so it should only be entered in an actual emergency. This can also be entered when the alarm is in any mode, so you could always tell the intruder you need to turn “off” your alarm and enter the duress code.
There are a few other separate Ring sensors and other product that I would recommend, especially with the Protect monitoring plan. For $35, you can add the Ring Flood/ Freeze sensor. This does just what you would expect from the name. You simply place it on the ground, and if water bridges the two sensors on the bottom of it, it sends a Water Alert. I have one placed downstairs by my water heater and also my washer and dryer. If a pipe bursts or there is a water leak, I am notified immediately via the Ring App. With the Ring Protect plan, I also get an automated phone call from Ring notifying me that water has been detected. This also works well for around sinks. You can add as many flood / freeze sensors as you need. The freeze sensor works well for areas of the country that get freezing temperatures. If the temperature drops below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, you will get notified. You will get notified in the app, and will also receive an automated call notifying you on the phone number you provide if you have the Protection plan. This is great if you are away on Vacation and your furnace fails, so you can take action to prevent having frozen pipes which may burst. This is also great for monitoring a second home, cabin, etc.
Ring has the Smoke and CO listener device which alerts you if your separate smoke or CO detector goes off. But I have found for around the same price you can get the First Alert Z Wave Smoke and CO detector, which works with the Ring alarm and has the smoke and CO detector built in. You just need to make sure it is the Z Wave version, which is compatible with the Ring alarm system. I have a few of these in my house. If the smoke or CO detector goes off, and you have the Protect plan, the ring monitoring center will notify the local Fire department. They will call Ring alarm emergency contacts as well to see if it is an actual emergency. If you let them know it is a false alarm, they will then let the local authorities know that it is a false alarm.
So, with all these accessories and for only $10/ month or $100 a year, I get a fully professional monitored Burglar, Fire and CO alarm, and am notified if there is water leak by my sensors. Plus, I get a discount on my Homeowners Insurance, so it is not a bad deal for a few hundred dollars investment.
This is why we highly recommend the Ring Alarm system with the Protect Plan.