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Posted: 5/26/2015 11:10:45 AM EDT
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I have an intrusion detection system and I am going to add security cameras. These will improve the security of my home. But I do have a single point of failure. Both my alarm system and the video system rely on my network connection. If a clever thief disabled my network connection, I would get no alarm.
All my cop friends tell me they have never seen a thief do this but I still worry about it. Does anyone know of any way to quickly get an alarm if the network connection goes down...such as by yanking down or cutting the cable coming into the house? |
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Thanks for the suggestion!
A quick google so far shows lots of services available for advanced monitoring of corporate networks. I'm continuing to explore. Do you have any suggesting for something simple and cheap that just checks for presence or absence of the local network? |
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I have a server at my house that maintains an outbound VPN connection and also contacts an external web server once a minute. I can see when the VPN connection is offline and the last checkin time on the web server. It would be elementary to have the webserver alert me if there were no checkin for several minutes.
ETA - Other tools I use are called smokeping and nagios. Nagios will do exactly what are want to do. But its a peice of software you setup on a sever and configure to check for specific things. |
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Top's idea is a good one.
What alarm system and network device are you using right now? The Envisalink card and included free service has the option to monitor the network I use quite a few of the Envisalink cards on DSC and really like the combo. Instead of using building connectivity I add a 4G router and Cell Dongle Here is a pic that I took ( forgot to put in the call dongle for the pic ) <a href="http://s75.photobucket.com/user/tyromeo55/media/open/0D8AADFB-76DC-4523-BF75-03E7AE6AAE6B_zps3mb3ceqg.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i295/tyromeo55/open/0D8AADFB-76DC-4523-BF75-03E7AE6AAE6B_zps3mb3ceqg.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 0D8AADFB-76DC-4523-BF75-03E7AE6AAE6B_zps3mb3ceqg.jpg"/></a> |
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tyro
As it turns out earlier today I was looking at Envisalink. I emailed them to see if they monitor the communications and can detect loss of the network. I got the reply "Yes" which I suppose answered my question but left a bunch more. Since then I asked them for more information such has how soon they can detect the loss of the network and how soon I would receive notification from them. No reply yet. Have you tested a loss of network and do you know how quickly they respond? BTW, I am using a DSC 1832. I am currently using an IP BAT for remote monitoring. It is a service which is similar to the Envisalink however unlike the Envisalink it does not monitor the network but it does provide spoken voice messages when alarms occur. Unfortunately it also generates a crap load of rf noise (around 144 MHz if I recall) so I am willing to give it up. Since the Envisalink also monitors the network, it might be a fair tradeoff...especially if it wasn't so noisy. I am interested in how you provide the '4G router and cell dongle'. Could you provide me with more specifics? In the right enclosure I see there is a power supply, battery, and an Envisalink, but what is the white thing? Also what power supply are you using? tyro, I am having another problem with my DSC system...I get lots of false alarms. Many of the false alarms are caused by false tamper alarms. For example, a few weeks ago I went down to my safe and on the way to it I walked by my DSC wireless motion sensor. For some stupid reason that caused a tamper alarm. The tamper alarm does not cause the IP BAT to make its phone calls so no big deal. An hour later the tamper alarm cleared. For some other stupid reason that did cause my entire callout list to be called. Go figure. Why did that happen? I think it is a problem with programming or configuration at IP BAT. That is another reason i would like to abandon them. But the problem still remains that I received a tamper alarm when I didn't tamper with the motion sensor. I've had other sensors give tamper alarms for no reason. I just checked my history and since the first of the year 3 different sensors have reported a tamper alarm, one sensor twice. Do you have any idea why I am getting these tamper alarms? My entire system is wireless. The wireless transceiver is located in the center of my house and should easily extend to all the sensors. Some of the sensors that have caused problems are less than 50 feet away. Traveler |
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Many alarm systems have cell phone devices to backup your primary connection.
If you have a stable cell tower nearby, you could pay for an LTE hotspot and hook your alarm into that rather than share the same broadband connection with DVR. Alarm messages are very low bandwidth so you could piggyback onto a shared/family cell data plan with little impact. |
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Quoted:
tyro As it turns out earlier today I was looking at Envisalink. I emailed them to see if they monitor the communications and can detect loss of the network. I got the reply "Yes" which I suppose answered my question but left a bunch more. Since then I asked them for more information such has how soon they can detect the loss of the network and how soon I would receive notification from them. No reply yet. Have you tested a loss of network and do you know how quickly they respond? BTW, I am using a DSC 1832. I am currently using an IP BAT for remote monitoring. It is a service which is similar to the Envisalink however unlike the Envisalink it does not monitor the network but it does provide spoken voice messages when alarms occur. Unfortunately it also generates a crap load of rf noise (around 144 MHz if I recall) so I am willing to give it up. Since the Envisalink also monitors the network, it might be a fair tradeoff...especially if it wasn't so noisy. I am interested in how you provide the '4G router and cell dongle'. Could you provide me with more specifics? In the right enclosure I see there is a power supply, battery, and an Envisalink, but what is the white thing? Also what power supply are you using? tyro, I am having another problem with my DSC system...I get lots of false alarms. Many of the false alarms are caused by false tamper alarms. For example, a few weeks ago I went down to my safe and on the way to it I walked by my DSC wireless motion sensor. For some stupid reason that caused a tamper alarm. The tamper alarm does not cause the IP BAT to make its phone calls so no big deal. An hour later the tamper alarm cleared. For some other stupid reason that did cause my entire callout list to be called. Go figure. Why did that happen? I think it is a problem with programming or configuration at IP BAT. That is another reason i would like to abandon them. But the problem still remains that I received a tamper alarm when I didn't tamper with the motion sensor. I've had other sensors give tamper alarms for no reason. I just checked my history and since the first of the year 3 different sensors have reported a tamper alarm, one sensor twice. Do you have any idea why I am getting these tamper alarms? My entire system is wireless. The wireless transceiver is located in the center of my house and should easily extend to all the sensors. Some of the sensors that have caused problems are less than 50 feet away. Traveler WOW, Lots of ?'s Ill try to answer the best I can but I'm almost ready to doze off so I may have to answer some things tomorrow when my brain wakes up The Envisalink checks in with their servers every so many seconds. I have it setup to text and email a couple people various perameters but only I get the network loss. As far as how long it takes to get a network loss signal I can't say I have ever checked. Ill try tomorrow and let you know The alarm and trouble signals seem to come almost instantly. I don't think the EVL3 has a voice option ( at least not on the free service I use) I rob AC power from the same X-former that powers the DSC card ( I use 40VA PTC protected transformers) and power an Altronix "AL624" power supply/charger. ( the Blue circuit board ) It takes the AC power and converts it to 12VDC while at the same time offering a battery charger / backup. That power goes to a 5V USB converter which is needed to power the "white box". The White box is a TP link MR3020 3G/4G router. It is what the Cell dongle plugs into and outputs a CAT5 connection to the Envisalink. The entire system uses about 25 Mb a month which is nothing. I put it all in a PVC enclosure that the Cell signal can easily pass thru If you are anyone is interested I can start a new HOW/TO thread on what you need and how to hook it up. Without actually getting a look at the system I can only guess what is up with the tamper here are some rambling guesses........... Does the keypad show a trouble when the tamper is set off? DSC wireless module are usually pretty solid as long as they get good signal and are left alone. That being said I have had problems with a couple tamper switches on motions when improperly hooked into the brackets especially if they are in really dusty dirty environments and then unhooked. How old are they? are the batteries more then a couple years old? when you installed them did you do a walk test? Might be worth doing it again. Have you added any more keypads on the system? DSC calls for a module if you have multiple RFK keypads on one system. How much power demand ins on the keybus. |
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Quoted:
WOW, Lots of ?'s Ill try to answer the best I can but I'm almost ready to doze off so I may have to answer some things tomorrow when my brain wakes up The Envisalink checks in with their servers every so many seconds. I have it setup to text and email a couple people various perameters but only I get the network loss. As far as how long it takes to get a network loss signal I can't say I have ever checked. Ill try tomorrow and let you know The alarm and trouble signals seem to come almost instantly. I don't think the EVL3 has a voice option ( at least not on the free service I use) I rob AC power from the same X-former that powers the DSC card ( I use 40VA PTC protected transformers) and power an Altronix "AL624" power supply/charger. ( the Blue circuit board ) It takes the AC power and converts it to 12VDC while at the same time offering a battery charger / backup. That power goes to a 5V USB converter which is needed to power the "white box". The White box is a TP link MR3020 3G/4G router. It is what the Cell dongle plugs into and outputs a CAT5 connection to the Envisalink. The entire system uses about 25 Mb a month which is nothing. I put it all in a PVC enclosure that the Cell signal can easily pass thru If you are anyone is interested I can start a new HOW/TO thread on what you need and how to hook it up. Without actually getting a look at the system I can only guess what is up with the tamper here are some rambling guesses........... Does the keypad show a trouble when the tamper is set off? DSC wireless module are usually pretty solid as long as they get good signal and are left alone. That being said I have had problems with a couple tamper switches on motions when improperly hooked into the brackets especially if they are in really dusty dirty environments and then unhooked. How old are they? are the batteries more then a couple years old? when you installed them did you do a walk test? Might be worth doing it again. Have you added any more keypads on the system? DSC calls for a module if you have multiple RFK keypads on one system. How much power demand ins on the keybus. Quoted:
Quoted:
tyro As it turns out earlier today I was looking at Envisalink. I emailed them to see if they monitor the communications and can detect loss of the network. I got the reply "Yes" which I suppose answered my question but left a bunch more. Since then I asked them for more information such has how soon they can detect the loss of the network and how soon I would receive notification from them. No reply yet. Have you tested a loss of network and do you know how quickly they respond? BTW, I am using a DSC 1832. I am currently using an IP BAT for remote monitoring. It is a service which is similar to the Envisalink however unlike the Envisalink it does not monitor the network but it does provide spoken voice messages when alarms occur. Unfortunately it also generates a crap load of rf noise (around 144 MHz if I recall) so I am willing to give it up. Since the Envisalink also monitors the network, it might be a fair tradeoff...especially if it wasn't so noisy. I am interested in how you provide the '4G router and cell dongle'. Could you provide me with more specifics? In the right enclosure I see there is a power supply, battery, and an Envisalink, but what is the white thing? Also what power supply are you using? tyro, I am having another problem with my DSC system...I get lots of false alarms. Many of the false alarms are caused by false tamper alarms. For example, a few weeks ago I went down to my safe and on the way to it I walked by my DSC wireless motion sensor. For some stupid reason that caused a tamper alarm. The tamper alarm does not cause the IP BAT to make its phone calls so no big deal. An hour later the tamper alarm cleared. For some other stupid reason that did cause my entire callout list to be called. Go figure. Why did that happen? I think it is a problem with programming or configuration at IP BAT. That is another reason i would like to abandon them. But the problem still remains that I received a tamper alarm when I didn't tamper with the motion sensor. I've had other sensors give tamper alarms for no reason. I just checked my history and since the first of the year 3 different sensors have reported a tamper alarm, one sensor twice. Do you have any idea why I am getting these tamper alarms? My entire system is wireless. The wireless transceiver is located in the center of my house and should easily extend to all the sensors. Some of the sensors that have caused problems are less than 50 feet away. Traveler WOW, Lots of ?'s Ill try to answer the best I can but I'm almost ready to doze off so I may have to answer some things tomorrow when my brain wakes up The Envisalink checks in with their servers every so many seconds. I have it setup to text and email a couple people various perameters but only I get the network loss. As far as how long it takes to get a network loss signal I can't say I have ever checked. Ill try tomorrow and let you know The alarm and trouble signals seem to come almost instantly. I don't think the EVL3 has a voice option ( at least not on the free service I use) I rob AC power from the same X-former that powers the DSC card ( I use 40VA PTC protected transformers) and power an Altronix "AL624" power supply/charger. ( the Blue circuit board ) It takes the AC power and converts it to 12VDC while at the same time offering a battery charger / backup. That power goes to a 5V USB converter which is needed to power the "white box". The White box is a TP link MR3020 3G/4G router. It is what the Cell dongle plugs into and outputs a CAT5 connection to the Envisalink. The entire system uses about 25 Mb a month which is nothing. I put it all in a PVC enclosure that the Cell signal can easily pass thru If you are anyone is interested I can start a new HOW/TO thread on what you need and how to hook it up. Without actually getting a look at the system I can only guess what is up with the tamper here are some rambling guesses........... Does the keypad show a trouble when the tamper is set off? DSC wireless module are usually pretty solid as long as they get good signal and are left alone. That being said I have had problems with a couple tamper switches on motions when improperly hooked into the brackets especially if they are in really dusty dirty environments and then unhooked. How old are they? are the batteries more then a couple years old? when you installed them did you do a walk test? Might be worth doing it again. Have you added any more keypads on the system? DSC calls for a module if you have multiple RFK keypads on one system. How much power demand ins on the keybus. Yes, please to a how-to thread on your setup. I too am a DSC/Envisalink user and would enjoy seeing exactly what you are doing. Thanks in advance. |
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Quoted:
Without actually getting a look at the system I can only guess what is up with the tamper here are some rambling guesses........... Does the keypad show a trouble when the tamper is set off? DSC wireless module are usually pretty solid as long as they get good signal and are left alone. That being said I have had problems with a couple tamper switches on motions when improperly hooked into the brackets especially if they are in really dusty dirty environments and then unhooked. How old are they? are the batteries more then a couple years old? when you installed them did you do a walk test? Might be worth doing it again. Have you added any more keypads on the system? DSC calls for a module if you have multiple RFK keypads on one system. How much power demand ins on the keybus. My system consists of a DSC1832 with a wired keypad next to it, a wireless keypad, a 433MHz transceiver, a bunch of wireless door sensors, a bunch of wireless motion detectors, and a wireless water flood monitor. The transceiver is in the center of a 2200 sq ft house with a full unfinished basement. The transceiver is mounted near the midline of the house about 6 ft up from the floor but towards the front of the house. The sensors that fail are predominantly in the basement or along the rear of the house. The ones that fail are still within 50 feet of the transceiver but the signal does have to pass through sheet rock and sometimes the floor. After looking at the geographic distribution, I am becoming convinced my problem is related to low signal strength. Do you think it would help if I put a repeater in? To answer your other questions: I do not typically have keypad trouble, neither with the wired or wireless keypad. I believe I have had one wireless keypad trouble in the last 3 years but I can't remember any details. My wireless motion sensors are not in a dusty environment and I was not touching them when the trouble occurred. The other sensors that have reported trouble are all door sensors are the furthest from the transceiver. Those alarms occurred when the house was empty. The system is about 3 years old. I have not changed batteries. The batteries that are in it are the batteries that came with the sensors. Who knows how old they were. I think I will change all batteries. I have done a couple of walk tests and all sensors appear to work ok. Anything specific I should be looking for while doing walk tests besides obvious non working sensors? I have added nothing to the system since it was installed as I described above. The keybus has the wired keypad, transceiver, and the IPBAT connected to it. I will compute the loading on it. I also would like for you to do a how-to thread on your system. I notice your router provides a wifi signal. Do you use it for anything. Can it be disabled? Also, what cell dongle are you using and what service plan? Where do you purchase the dongle and service plan? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I already owe you a beer for helping as much as you have. I think getting rid of the IPBAT and switching to the Envisalink will help improve my security. |
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I setup something like this last year.
I setup a $5/month server and set it to ping my router every minute. You could have it ping one of your cameras. If the ping failed, it sent me a text message using Twilio. So, every time my internet went down, I knew it. You need a static IP address from your ISP or you will have to update it in the script each time it changes (when the power goes out). |
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