Completely useless alarm system! Honeywell HS351S Wireless Burglar Alarm Kit 

Always have Amazon up on my phone when going around Maplin.

amazon even has a bar-code reader so you can search quickly

Lovely Video clip! Apologies for the intrusion, I would appreciate your opinion. Have you ever tried - Mahorrla Defence Wisdom Method (should be on google have a look)? It is a good exclusive product for securing your home from danger minus the headache. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my friend Sam at last got cool success with it.

Didn't get the IP stuff for now due to the cost but would consider adding it in the future. I'm not a huge fan of the fact that the app looks as though it relies on a cloud service provided by Texecom as this could potentially disappear or become deprecated down the line but the fact that it looks to have a documented API does appeal.

Yep. We have been using a wired system at home for over 15 years now. Has been working perfectly all those years. Only problem we had with it was the backup battery being dead after about 10 years of use, so we replaced that, and now it's working fine again!

At any rate it doesn't bother me as I don't use the system any more... Not sure what the issue is with me criticising a system that I didn't like, people can have different opinions... The new system is so much better designed that even if I somehow got past all the issues with the Honeywell system, I'd still have much more faith in the texecom system I replaced it with. Even ignoring all the problems, the fact that the Honeywell system only has one way radio communication is a major downside IMO. As for the proximity tags, all the kits came with them, no harm in simply not using them. My texecom kit also came with some tags which I just don't use. To not get the tags I'd ha e bad to buy all the components separately instead of a kit (which comes with tags) and in the process I'd have probably spent more. As for buying one with the touch keypad, I bought this in a bit of a rush and just hoped that the touch keys would work okay, now that I've experienced them I know that I wouldn't want a touch sensitive keypad in a system if I was buying one again.

@@camerongray1515 Again , the one way radio frequency is common knowledge when reviewing the Honeywell system, maybe you might of also taken that into consideration along with the fact it has a touch sensitive keypad before opting to purchase the Honeywell kit ? Just a thought ! I can understand your frustration, I was like it with the ERA miGaurd kit, it was a nightmare from day one. I persevered for 3 months trying all sorts of things but in the end it had to go back. I've installed a few wireless systems for neighbours, friends and family but the ERA kit had me totally beat ! Anyway hope your new kit works fault free for many years to come.

kerry What’s the hourly rate for Honeywell shilling?

It claims to have "Jamming detection" but in reality this basically means that if it detects something using the frequency a suspicious amount of the time the system will trigger. This means you could experience it false triggering and in that case you'd have to turn the jamming detection off. The new system I bought has two way communications which should be a lot more robust as the panel can actually check the status of accessories and therefore be more reliable at detecting potential jamming.

The Pyronix Enforcer is a two way system. It regularly checks the status of the sensors and the sirens and if it loses connection when set it will trigger an alarm. When it’s unset and it detects a battery is low the control panel will show a trouble. Also the panel can turn off the sensors when the system is unset to conserve battery.

Did you remove the almost impossible to see clear protective film from the keypad ? This is why so many people are having difficulty with the touch keys on the keypad. Theres nothing in the instruction manual to prompt the user to peel this off !!!

I went for a Texecom Premier Elite 64-W system, it's great but it's designed for professional installers so does take a fair bit of learning in order to figure out how to set it up, it's not just the sort of thing you can mount, switch on and use straight away.

High end modern wireless systems like the one I replaced this with are okay, I've seen several places with the exact same system where it has been installed by a professional company - it has proper two way communication so it will give status alerts and information about the system state so it would be fairly clear if someone was tampering. That said, I'm not exactly protecting against someone determined enough to loiter around and try what you've suggested, chances are someone would move on and target one of the other hundreds of flats in the area without an alarm. It's not as though I'm protecting something like a jewellers or bank which could become a target, I have pretty much the same level of valuables as the majority of other people in the area.

Cameron Gray wireless is a toy, easy social engineering targets, remember they all use ISM bands anyone can transmit within power constraints on the sane frequencies your alarm is using. These bands are getting more and morandcongested, so it will only get worse.

You can cut wires, wired systems are no more secure

Forget alarms nobody takes notice of them, just buy decent "bump proof" locks from BiLock

Proper wired systems should cope with wires being cut and will detect it as a tamper which would set the system off.

Dave C Email the ceo of Honeywell: mailto:Darius.Adamczyz@honeywell.com don’t bother going through trading standards or ringing. Its best to contact the manfacturer directly to try and get a refund, since Maplin are no longer trading then i’ll doubt you’ll get any resolution from them.

The keyboard is inside the house... Hello?

I ended up getting a Texecom Premier Elite 64-W so it's still wireless but significantly better. In theory the batteries should last years so I'm not too bothered about having to replace them every couple of years. At least the Texecom uses good quality lithium batteries instead of the basic alkaline ones this Honeywell system had. It also supports the connection of wired zones as well so if I was ever running more cables down the line I could look into fitting wired hardware without having to replace the whole system. I'll need to give Wintex a go as it looks quite cool, I didn't bother buying the proper cable since it was £30, I tried using an Arduino as a USB to TTL interface instead although couldn't get it working. Will need to try with a proper USB to TTL cable and failing that I'd have to buy the proper cable.

Wintex works pretty well. And if you have the wifi module (or a cheap chinese compatible module like I do) you can use it wireless. I am not 100% sure if you have to enable the com port on the panel before it will work with Wintex. I am not using the official cable either. I know that the official cable is using an FTDI chip in there. I was using one of the cheap cables with the Prolific chip and it worked just fine as well. Arduino should probably work just fine too. Though I can't remember if the panel uses 3.3 or 5V logic (you can find that out somewhere along with the pinout). As for batteries.... I have 7 PIRs and around 12 door and window contacts. Plus a glass break sensor. Changing all of those batteries would be a nightmare in itself-

Ahh, interesting, I may well have the com port disabled, will have to check although getting a WiFi module may work even better as I'd be able to check it without having to open up the panel. With that many devices I can see batteries becoming a pain, all I have is 4 PIRs, a single door contact, the keypad and the siren.

If you want to add wifi your best bet today is probably the official Texecom Connect smartcom. The old com-wifi is more expensive and the app is just horrible. However... you can get a cheap USR-WIFI232-T wifi module on ebay and hook that one up (you will need a separate voltage regulator also). This is the module that the official Texecom com-wifi is using and you can get it for less than 10£. But if all you want is Wintex then that is probably your cheapest option.

roli rw

Yeah, I should have known better, they just happened to have it cheaper than Screwfix so thought I'd chance it, had I bought it from Screwfix I imagine they would have accepted the return without even questioning it!

The more expensive honeywell systems are good, but it took me a week of tech support calls to register it.

It's not permitted (in the UK at least) to have an alarm system that auto dials the police. To get police response from an alarm system it must notify an alarm receiving centre and the system must be professional installed and regularly maintained by a recognised company.

I have the same temptation. And for the auto-dial, can have it auto-dial yourself, check your CCTV if you installed it then consider contacting police.

imgur.com/iu8AiJH - I guess I chose correctly then :P - Definitely a bit of a faff to install and resulted in a lot of swearing when it kept telling me to "Contact alarm company" but now that I have it working it's absolutely flawlessly!

Cameron Gray sounds like a Premier 24.... well worth the initial head scratching. Look forward to your next video

Close, it's the Premier Elite 64W, only major issue installing it was that it seemed to expect you to have a wired engineer keypad in place to pair the wireless one. Of course I only had the one keypad so eventually figured out that the only way to pair it was to plug the keypad in, instruct the system to learn a new device then quickly yank out the cable and restart the keypad so that it would go into pairing mode. Of course there was nothing in the manual about this!

Cameron Gray Ive got a prem 24 which doesn't support wireless, but from what I've read and heard texecom's ricochet mesh wireless is very good. Whats good is that the support is really helpful, they are happy to provide details of the com port protocols as long as you agree to their NDA. Great styling of the keypad in you photo, much better than the honeywell!

Interesting to know although I'd say that if that's the case, it's concerning that they can't make door contacts that work properly, pretty big red flag to the overall quality of the system. PIRs are usable sure, but door contacts are also extremely useful for starting entry/exit timers or providing an instant alert if a door/window is opened when it shouldn't be.

Cameron Gray you have problems with hard wired door contacts too though to be honest, they’re a tricky component. I always just talk people into additional sensors. These aren’t the easiest to install at first, but after doing a few now they take me about an hour start to finish. End of the day, who even calls the police when they hear an alarm these days anyway haha? Might as well have a stylish looking one ! 😂

+Todd T There are definitely companies that provide monitored alarms (ADT included) but they are pretty expensive (ADT is like £30/mo, my entire insurance policy is significantly less than that). I'm in a very densely populated area (must be at least 50 flats that look out onto mine) so a "bells only" alarm should at the very least act as a deterrent, especially since most places around here don't have any sort of alarm. With the new system I could buy an additional unit that would give it telephone/internet connectivity to alert me to an activation if I wanted to go that route.

It's a Texecom Premier Elite 64-W - Video coming soon!

I have got a texecom 32-W

Its not necessarily 4 cables though is it? depends what youre installing. alot of double pole systems still out there.

Of course it could be more but I wasn't speaking of additions such as DP, FTA or Walk Test Disable etc... I was saying that it's not difficult for anyone to install a professional system today as it was a decade or so ago due to the installer friendly features.

Yeah, really depends on what you are installing. im an installer by trade in the UK so these sort of videos make me so mad when people install shit haha

Same here, DIY systems are complete crap, it started to go downhill when Response took over the UK market and shat all over decent systems like Scantronic (Which as I'm sure you know) provided wireless DIY systems to Yale, these were at least fit for purpose albeit a self contained stand alone system. Security isn't cheap although our customers are far cheaper. There is no such thing as cheap security, if a customer wants cheap security then they deserve to be robbed, they are asking for it.

I have no issues with wireless systems but this was absolutely not fit for purpose. IMO, the siren being out of the range of the panel should be classed as a fault and should alert the user, with this system the only way to realise the issue is when you run a test. I could totally see there being situations where it works initially but as batteries lose charge or furniture is rearranged and put in the way of devices the signal may later be unable to reach the siren and cause it to no longer work which would only be discovered when/if the user next tested it. I have replaced this with a wireless system from Texecom which has none of these issues, the signal strength is fine on all of the devices, it gives full status of all devices on both the keypad as well as when the panel is connected to a laptop and any faults will clearly be flagged up with a text explanation. While I'm in no doubt that this probably works great for some people, the issues that I had mean that I'd have absolutely no trust in it as they indicate serious design flaws.

@@camerongray1515 Thanks! The fact that another system works well does suggest that the Honeywell product is different and, in your case, "dreadful". I'm lucky in that case - although it's not exactly the same product as you have. Luckily I have had no issues with my Honeywell / Response wire-free system.

I simply didn't think about installing an installing alarm when I was doing that and by the time I decided to fit one I had already filled in the holes and decorated. Nowadays it seems as though decent wireless alarms like the Texecom I replaced it with are perfectly reliable so there isn't a massive issue not having a hardwired system. It also means I can easily move/add parts of the system in the future without having to add even more wiring.

Could of got a Hybrid Richoshite panel haha. Texecom looks good though but wired is always better. Enforcer is probably more reliable than the texecom but still a richochet system is good.

Not sure if there would be any benefit to go for the hybrid panel since at least at first the system is entirely wireless so it seemed like a more sensible option to get the wireless panel from the start then if I did go to add wired zones and needed more than 4 of them I could then add a wired zone expander (The ricochet panel still supports 4 hardwired zones out of the box). The Pyronix system looked okay as well although the fact the Texecom uses mesh networking technologies appealed as I didn't want a repeat of the weak signal issues from the Honeywell. I'd also seen loads of people commenting that Texecom had very helpful support even for DIY installers and there appeared to be a lot of people online who had installed it themselves which really appealed.

Artūrs Savickis I bought a GSM Alarm system for 36$ and then I had to pay for shipping 10$ and also tax 11$

The DIY ones like this definitely seem to be. The Texecom system I replaced it with is also wireless but has proper two way communication and mesh networking so it provides full visibility of the entire system's state unlike the DIY ones where the PIRs are glorified RF remote controls! The new system also supports the connection of wired zones down the line if I wanted to go that route.

You had holes everywhere recently didnt you? Should have thrown in some 6 core cable for a wired system. Professional grade wireless systems like the one you mention are great, but nothing compares to a proper wired alarm. I had my house completely rewired when I bought it. As part of that I paid my electrician an extra £200 to fit a basic wired alarm.

@@stevecraft00 Depends where you live, if you're renting you don't have much option if the landlord won't install a wired system.

All devices had tabs in place so that the batteries were not connected, opening it would have had no effect as it wasn't powered on. Tamper protection is just a switch, not a permanent thing so once the device is sealed back up again the tamper state goes back to normal. You have to open up devices anyway to mount them on the wall. The issues I experienced here were likely entirely down to a badly designed product rather than user error.

@@camerongray1515 Did you use the instructions supplied or the online ones ? In fairness both are crap, but the ones supplied are utterly mind boggling. A neighbour and work colleague both have this exact system and have no issues at all. I recently purchased a miGuard ERA wireless, (made by Response) with solar panel, it has been an absolute nightmare from day one and is about to be returned as "Not Fit For Purpose", yet our old Response wireless (868Mhz) worked like a dream for over 15 years. Response, ERA, Friedland are all linked together, Honeywell used to be involved with them as well but I think since they were taken over by Resideo they may of parted with the others ? Response and the others have all switched to 433Mhz which can be prone to interference, Honeywell have stuck with 868Mhz, which tends to be a better option for wireless alarms. For the money this Honeywell kit seems to have everything, but is it over engineered at a cost ? Mine is on order from Screwfix so I'll give it a go but any crap within the first few days and it's going straight back. We put up with enough crap with the miGuard system.

I used the online instructions which were better but that didn't solve the issues I had. The main issue I had was the fact that the signal to the external siren was so marginal it often wouldn't work and the fact that it only has one way communication so it couldn't detect this problem which to me is unacceptable. In the end I replaced it with a high end Texecom system which while it was more expensive at £300 it's a professional grade system (the sort that alarm companies would fit) and works so much better with proper two way communication. After using it, I'd never recommend a more consumer/DIY focused system like this one - sure the Texecom is a lot tricker to set up but it's so much better!

@@camerongray1515 Did you notice the almost invisible protective film on the keypad which needs to be removed before installation. There's nothing in the manual prompting to remove this, and it is almost impossible o know it's on there. Could be a reason why so many people are saying the touchpad does not sense it is being activated ?

I did yes. I doubt the film would be the cause of issues anyway as the touch panel goes from very responsive to completely unresponsive at random. While it was in it's unresponsive state it was also unable to scan tags. I'm still convinced that none of these issues are down to operator error and are almost entirely down to a terribly designed product. There are far too many reports of multiple people having the same issues for this to be operator error.

I ended up fitting a high end Texecom system. It's still wireless but supports proper two way mesh communication and uses a proper mains powered panel which also allows me to connect wired zones in the future if I'm ever in a position to run cabling again. It's the same system that I've seen lots of large alarm companies installing recently and it's been incredibly reliable so far (I've also got a video showing that system) Honeywell is good when it comes to their professional systems (Galaxy panels.etc), this system on the other hand seemed to be made by a completely different division of Honeywell (or maybe even a different company entirely licencing the name). I could certainly have got an alarm company to fit it and wouldn't have a problem with that, however I enjoy DIY and fancied playing with alarm equipment. I'd definitely go with an alarm company if I required monitoring services and have dealt with then in other premesis.

I ended up going for a Texecom Premier Elite 64-W which looks like a pretty similar system to the Pyronix. It's also technically designed for professional installers but I was able to get it working myself without too much trouble, just took a bit of time to learn the terminology due to the documentation being somewhat limited. Of course there was also the fun "Contact alarm company for service" message I kept getting when setting it up :P

Cameron Gray The professional systems are definitely more reliable than the DIY ones 👍. The Texecom systems are great once the programming is over 😅

It’s a professional system, but at IFSEC they sell the kits and they have how to vids on their RU-vid channel. You can also get the kits on eBay and Amazon from resellers.

running wires can be worse, wireless systems are fully battery backed unlike other mains wired systems

Vax Buster my mains system has a lead acid battery back up lol lasts years

To be fair, all decent wired systems I've seen are also fully battery backed - There's usually a large SLA battery in the panel which will power the entire system in the event of a failure.

Those batteries last 3-5 years if you are lucky after that they fail to sound the siren

Cameron Gray I always think if you wanted to steal things You would jam there alarm setting it off for a few days till they just don’t set it as they would get fed up with it lol

Yeah, went for a Texecom Premier Elite 64W with the remote keypad, think it was the KIT-0002 - Extremely happy with how well it all works!

Cameron Gray good man. best on the market. we are texecom registered and accredited. if you need any tech help let me know. add the smart com for a fully app controlled system.

Strange you say that given I was unable to get this system working despite it being designed for an average person to install yet I had absolutely no issues in fitting my replacement system which is designed for installation by professional alarm installers. The fact that the signal to the external siren can't reliably penetrate a wall or the control panel locking up and preventing button input is nothing to do with my ability.

Quite sad really. Because back in the day of hobbyist electronics, they were good. I still remember being amazed as a child as I entered maplin for the first time, and saw the big drawers of components. I told the man behind the counter I wanted an LED, and he even told me what resistors would be good for different voltages. He gave me the red and green LED I paid for, and even threw in a few 580R resistors for free, and said these should be good to protect them up to about 9v or so You go in there now, and no one knows anything about real electronics. It's all phone cases, and computer accessories. Not too long ago, I was in the Poole store, and asked where the transistors were... In return, I was asked "Is that like a transformer?".

Dan Coulson And that's exactly why they're going out of business.

yes in the 80s 90s maplin was great but now they have gone greedy like tandy did

and Tricky Dick's...

Maplin is quite expensive, some things are 5-6 times more.

I imagine it would be but decided to just go for it and get a proper professional system, the Yale ones still only used one way radio communication like the Honeywell so could well experience the same issues as this. The new system also uses a separate control panel from the keypad so it can be hidden away in a secure location. Looking at this Honeywell (and I imagine most other DIY kits with an all in one control panel) it would be trivial to disable it with minimal tools assuming you knew what system it was (which would be easy to identify from the siren.)

Why does the flat complex not have full CCTV? Most modern blocks have full security with door entry dead locks and video phones. That would negate the need for an alarm and just leave you to invest in decent "bump proof" locks. People never take notice of house alarms much less a flat with an internal siren no one can hear.

It has some CCTV but it only covers limited areas and nothing inside the buildings, the building is pretty secure with decent locks but I wanted to add an alarm as extra security. I also do have an external siren so it would be pretty obvious if it went off to people nearby.

Vax Buster I agree I love my yale! Had no problems with it thus far ☺️

Or maybe DIY is actually a valid interest that people can have and they shouldn't be put down when pursuing that interest and trying to learn? Ironically painting and decorating is the one "trade" that I'm hopeless at! Since making this video, I installed a Texecom Premier Elite 64-W system at home with no signal issues (as well as a wired Premier Elite 24 system in a friend's property) and despite apparently having no idea what I'm doing - both systems have been working flawlessly for years! Personally I work in IT infrastructure where I design, build and maintain pretty complicated systems. Do I see a lot of people who are less experienced/just starting out publishing stuff online? Of course! Do they often make mistakes or not do things "by the book?" Sure! Do I feel the need to tell them that they shouldn't be doing it? No - I was in their position once, nobody is born with knowledge about this sort of stuff!

@@camerongray1515 this is why I said alarm systems should be brought under legislation because you have to know how the equipment works in the first place to understand how to install it , diy systems have given our industry a bad name because of poor installation , the kit you tested I have installed about 25 of the for customers in a budget and they have never failed , Honeywell are a big big player in the “professional security “ market and their equipment is installed in high end property so yes diyers in my opinion should leave well alone

@@camerongray1515 this is why I said alarm systems should be brought under legislation because you have to know how the equipment works in the first place to understand how to install it , diy systems have given our industry a bad name because of poor installation , the kit you tested I have installed about 25 of the for customers in a budget and they have never failed , Honeywell are a big big player in the “professional security “ market and their equipment is installed in high end property so yes diyers in my opinion should leave well alone

@@jaychez3744 If you've had good luck with this system then I suppose it's likely that I had a faulty unit. If you've installed so many you're probably well aware that it's a relatively foolproof system with little that the installer could have done wrong. Of course the installer needs to think about signal strength but my point was that with the distances involved here, I felt that it wasn't fit for purpose for any situation where the keypad isn't able to be placed on basically the same wall as the external siren. My current Texecom system for example has had no problems at all in this regard despite using the same frequency and with the panel actually located much further away than I had the Honeywell's keypad. There's also no way that anything I could have done wrong would be able to cause random lockups where the keypad refused to respond. I wouldn't say it's DIYers that give an industry a bad name since, by definition, they aren't working in the industry. Maybe these DIY kits do, but that's down to the manufacturers who produce them. On the other hand, what I feel does give the industry a bad name is some of the installs I've seen from professional, registered companies such as a new build estate where the alarm panels were all plugged into sockets labelled "do not turn off" or where I commissioned an alarm to be installed where they drilled a hole into some metal trunking, dragged the twin and earth through the hole without any sort of grommet/gland and in the process dropped metal filings into expensive networking equipment that had been installed in the same cupboard. Of course, like anything, there is a hell of a lot of bad DIY out there but that's not to say that every DIYer is bad. I likely didn't come across as particularly literate in this video however, especially towards the end, it was probably around midnight after hours of fiddling and swearing at it so I definitely wasn't in a particularly good mood for providing a fully detailed and rational video.

Yeah, I'm pretty convinced it's not made by them and is instead they are just selling it under their name but I am surprised that they would put their good name on such rubbish!

Yeah, it's a useless design, I was already concerned as soon as I heard the stupid tunes it plays! That said, Honeywell are a reputable manufacturer of professional alarms (they make loads of stuff in addition to heating controllers) which is what made me go for this over Yale. My parents had a professionally installed Honeywell system for years although most of it (minus a couple of PIRs) has been upgraded over the years. However, I'm pretty sure this is purely branded by Honeywell and designed/made by a third party, makes me wonder why they put their good name to it! After doing more research, while the Yale system would have probably worked better, it would have still had some of the issues this has (one way radio comms.etc) so I ended up going for a proper professional level system that has worked flawlessly since I installed it a few weeks ago, sure it was double the price but it's at least 10 times better!