HMS - Is there really no self-monitoring option?

I’m trying to setup my Wyze Home Monitoring Bundle, but there is no option to add the necessary devices to my Wyze App. As far as I can tell, Wyze is forcing me to activate my subscription first. I am not ready to do this yet and not sure I ever will. I primarily got the system to use as a self-monitoring system for the property. I only bought a year subscription, because that is how you get the hardware bundle. With my pets, my alarm will be going off quite often and I don’t want these “false alarms” to be ran through a monitoring service. I just want to be alerted on my phone. I know they claim the motion sensors won’t detect pets, but the three I have tried also claimed this and they all detect my pets.

Did they really make it so this hardware is useless without a subscription tied to it? What happens if I activate my year subscription but then don’t renew it? My home is no longer protected even as a self-monitoring alarm system? That seems like a major design oversight, if so.

There is also absolutely no indication that a subscription is required for the hardware to function on the product pages.

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Calling @carverofchoice, as this was his plan as well. I’m interested in how this works out for you.

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I heard you can use it for self monitoring when you put and use the HMS in the test mode. I haven’t gotten mine yet so I don’t know how you do that

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I believe he also said v1 sensors would work with HSM and that apparently is not real-world. Not his fault, he believed what Wyze said.

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I do see a test mode mentioned in the user manual and figured this would work. However I’m still starting my subscription that I paid for. I would like to be able to spend a few months testing the system without creating any false alarms, but I don’t want to waste a few months of my subscriptions doing so either.

And again, what happens after the year? Can I go into test mode and keep using the hardware? Or do I need to have an active subscription to even get into test mode, thus making my hardware useless unless I’m subscribed?

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I believe that I read somewhere that the hardware should work just like the V1 sensors, in that you can use them for alerts, activating lights and cameras, etc. I ordered a set for the purpose of replacing my V1 sensors which I expect will fail due to the mac loss/low battery issue. You won’t have the functions of the HMS system, though.

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I see that there is a “Sensor” category to add these devices in the Wyze app. I was looking under the “Home” category, because that’s what made sense to me for the Hub and I saw that first. Not sure why it’s been put in “Sensors” if it’s not a sensor. Then again, they put the Sprinkler controller in “Home” even though that more of a lawn thing. Cameras get their own category as well, despite also being a “Home” thing. I’m setting the system up now and I’ll report back.

Unfortunately adding the devices to the app leads to very minimal options. The Sense Hub screen only shows you the status of the devices you’ve connected to it. There are no options to arm or disarm the system. You cannot change the pin to the Keypad. Pressing and holding the Emergency button on the Keypad does not trigger the alarm.

You can view some Hub settings, such as alarm volume and turn on/off status lights, change the device name. However, that is all that seems available to the user.

Yeah this is exactly what I was afraid of - the system would only be marginally useful without the paid service. I hope you guys figure out how to maximize “test mode” so it can function like an actual system.

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Test Mode seems to be an option behind the subscription service. I’m not seeing a way to access this mode by just having the devices added to my app.

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I would never trust my home security to a Wyze product, My current system is a REAL UL listed Alarm system and sensors, and the monitoring is also UL listed. It costs $4 a month more compared to Wyze’s

Also I have the Cellular backup communications if WiFi fails for another $9 month ($9/mo is cheap for a cellular data plan) - Wyze HMS doesn’t even have a cellular backup available.

With Wyze’s history I would never entrust my homes security to them…LOL

And my system will run without a monitoring service

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What system are you using, if you don’t mind sharing?

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@chrisjost
The v1 sensors will work with HMS in the fact they can be connected to the hub, they cannot however be used to trigger the alarm, they can only be used as automation triggers.

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This was my understanding as well, from what was described previously by Wyze.

Honeywell L7000 panel and over 70 sensors (mostly Honeywell 5800 series sensors)

Monitoring by Geoarm.com and GeoArm sells Do It Yourself systems with Free Technical assistance.

You can add all kinds of accessories such as extra keypads, CO detectors, fire/smoke detectors, and the list goes on… I chose Honeywell because of the large choice of sensors and devices it works with which are ALL UL Listed Alarm devices and sensors.

Their sensors work on 345 MHz so you will not be limited by the shorter range like Wyze sensors

Check out their website at Geoarm.com

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Can you have your system simply notify you/family and forget about the monthly monitoring service?

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This is why I got it. I don’t want it hooked up to monitoring I just wanted it to alert me. Now I am starting to panic because I don’t want it if it isn’t going to work.

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Why panic? Just cancel pre-order, or return within the first 30 days from it shipping?

I am probably doing so also because I had hoped that we could tie the Disarm, Away, and Home buttons on the keypad to the existing Wyze rules system. According to several people this isn’t implemented at this time.

I’ll re-evaluate later on to see if it will do the stuff I’m looking for. Will probably ask for my pre-order money back tomorrow.

I just went through this with the Color Bulbs, where a lot of the basic app features I assumed would be there aren’t ready. I’m done with buying stuff for what it might eventually do and I’ll stick with my v1 setup for now.

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What do you want your bulbs to do that they can’t?

NO (and Yes sort of)

The system will work without paid monitoring service and sound alarm siren when triggered by event, then auto-reset (re-arm) as programmed.

The notification needs a service (monitoring)

You could add a SMS auto-text device that would send you and others a text but it would only be a pre-programmed text such as “Alarm at home” and this would be Free of monthly charges but also limit the information to just notification of the alarm being triggered.

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