Thinking about home security

Sensors
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#2

I installed the HMS 1 year ago with 10 entry sensors, 8 motion detectors, 10 CamV3, 1 PanCam, 1 Doorbell cam, 1 Thermostat and 3 climate Sensors. To answer your questions:

A: yes and no. You can have 5 of your cams in the home monitoring tab of the app and they will show video from that tab, but I find it useless because I have the same thing in the home tab. It really doesn’t add any functionality. It does let you set a push notification specific to each of the 5 for motion, person, co² alarm and smoke alarm. The cams and notifications WILL NOT trigger an alarm and Noonlight has NO access to the video.

A: Unsure. That’s a question for tech support or someone who is using V2 successfully with the HMS hub. I have V3.

A: No. Cameras will not siren or chime when motion is detected as a function of the HMS. the cams have sirens that can be triggered, but I have not found a way to get a routine to trigger them from an alarm activation. I have asked for that in the wishlist. If the HMS is activated by an alarm… A door\window contact sensor or a motion detector… The HMS hub will siren and alert Noonlight who will then send you a text and call you. The app will also send you a notification of an alarm. If you disable the alarm in the app, or thru Noonlight with your safe word… No police. If Noonlight doesn’t get a cancellation they will send the popo. Noonlight is phenomenal. I usually get their text and call before the app notifies me. All within 30 seconds of the alarm.

A: Again, no camera can be used to trigger an alarm. Cams are only there as a passive recorder. If you get a notification on your phone for a motion alert and see something that need police, you can then hit the panic button on the app monitoring tab to trigger a silent alarm. If you are home, the keypads have a silent panic button on the side.

A: The app let’s you set up ‘home’ and ‘away’ modes and you get to select which sensors are on during these modes. When I am home and active, my indoor Cam is off, outdoor cams on, motion and contact sensors off. You will still hear the contact sensors chime the HMS indicating an open event, but no alarm. Same with motion sensors. Both of these chimes can be disabled so you never hear them. I disabled mine for the motion sensors because I don’t want to hear a bunch of chiming walking around the house. When I go to bed, I set the system to home which activates all the contact sensors to ON and on of my motion detectors in the Garage. I can walk around because all the inside motion sensors are off. If I open a window or door, alarm goes off. When I am in away mode, all sensors are active. I don’t have a pet, but I have read that the motion detectors are pet friendly. They can be mounted in such a way as to look out and up instead of out and down.

A: I am not sure what the exact range is, but these are radio frequency sensors. Not wifi. My house is relatively small, but the hub and the sensors outreached my last wifi router which wouldn’t reach the garage. I had to install a new mesh router and an extender in the garage to support my furthest cams.

a: The system is NOT perfect, no system is. But it is evolving very rapidly. I love my cams and the HMS. I am very glad I went with Wyze because of their development and customer involvement in improving features. I constantly tweak and upgrade when new feature and hardware are developed. There are a lot of pros and some drawbacks. If you are not tech savvy or don’t like to DIY, probably not going to be satisfied. Remember, This is a low cost DIY system experiencing massive growth and development. Because of multiple technical ecosystems, cross compatibility is not always possible. I have Alexa and like the integration, but it could do more. It will in the future as the Wyze and Alexa elves cobble out more features.

My motion detectors and contact sensors have always set off the alarm when triggered. I have had several false positive alarms when the motion sensors fell off the wall (screw them in or buy 3M gorilla adhesive) or when I stupidly set the alarm to away and went to bed only to set off the motion detector getting up to go. I do feel safe having it and the ability to trigger a silent alarm from my phone or the keypad

As for the security of the monitoring… Noonlight is incredible. They are FAST and WILL send the police if you don’t cancel the alarm or give them the safe word. They will not wait. And having the Noonlight monitoring also gives you a discount on your homeowners insurance policy.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

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#3

wow. thank you. I guess by all the stuff you have you like.

#4

Yes. I did a lot of research prior to investing. I wanted a low cost DIY solution that was scalable and cross platform ecosystem friendly. Because most of the others are married to one ecosystem (google\amazon etc) I found that Wyze was able to be more friendly on the Amazon platform which is what I already have. Mine is integrated with my Fire TV and Alexa devices. The big selling point for me though was the low cost of equipment hardware compared to other alternatives with comparable features and the low monthly cost of professional monitoring. These two factors are hands down the best in the industry. There were growing pains in getting everything meshed together and there are features still needed to compete with the very pricy systems, but Wyze is constantly developing these and new features are introduced on a regular basis. There are also some products they have yet to develop yet too… like WiFi smart smoke\co detectors, external alarm sirens, two wire smart switches, or a key fob control. There are also hidden costs to consider like CamPlus, CamPlus Pro, SD Cards custom mounts, longer cords etc. It is satisfying though that I have a voice in recommending improvements and features thru these forums. Every member has the option to be a beta tester and improve the platform.

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#5

Nice write-up, and very helpful.

#6

It would have taken me a while to discover what you have covered in one post.

#7

I would really reconsider Wyze for a Home Security System. They can’t even keep their own system secure.https://www.theverge.com/23003418/wyze-cam-v1-vulnerability-no-patch-bitdefender-responsible-disclosure

#8

You go ahead and reconsider. I will keep my HMS since all equipment is behind a NAT router with Firewall, patch has been implemented, and the V1 is obsolete and no longer supported.

Where were you 3 Years ago when this was discovered?

Let me know the next time the sky is falling.

#9

Easy now, Don’t shoot the messenger. All I’m saying is that if that article is true, and the vulnerability was known to Wyze in 2019 and rather than patch it then and there they quietly discontinued the V1 and only patched the V2 and V3 3 years after the discovery without notifying any of the users, makes me very weary of using Wyze for any sort of security.
But I mean to each their own, if you feel that having your cameras behind a NAT and updated is safe then all the power to you.
I personally don’t trust a company that can’t be bothered to fix a security vulnerability until 3 years later for … well … security, Who knows how many other vulnerabilities Wyze is aware of but just hasn’t bothered to acknowledge let alone fix.
Don’t get me wrong, I still intend to use the cameras, but mine are simply pointed outdoors to see if my dog has done his business or not. Thats about all I trust them with now.

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#10

After I purchased, received HSS. I tried for 2 days to get the system up and running. Downing apps, adding the devices, getting it on 3 mobile devices. It was such a P.I.A. Contacting support all the time. I gave up. Cancelled the the HSS, return it. I went with a different company that took abt 2 hours to set EVERYTHING up. As soon as I can afford it. I will be getting there cameras as well. Bc every time there is update. Its a nightmare for me to update some of my cameras, plus I want everything on 1 system.

#11

It’s clickbait and has nothing whatsoever to do with the HMS. This was (past tense) an issue with the V1. To imply that it does by posting it here in an HMS topic is irresponsible and clearly motivated by an emotional response, not rationale. Your argument is purely speculative and has no merit in fact.

#12

You are correct, perhaps this wasn’t the right forum to post this in. I apologize for bomb posting this thread. But my point stands that if Wyze takes 3 years to fix something as serious as something that allows a hacker to hijack your camera, shouldn’t you at least pause to think what if they are doing the same to any other product?
If McAfee had a vunerability in their antivirus software that they blatanly ignored for 3 years how comfortable would you be to use their VPN software?

But as I said before, if you feel comfortable with your decisions that’s all that matters. I understand that after all your research and implementations and well thought out post you felt threatened at the prospects that this company cannot be trusted.

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#13

I guess I started something I shouldn’t have. Cant say something with someones feelings getting hurt. Not every system works for every individual.

#14

The issue is disclosure. Wyze can make a decision they won’t support or update old software but that doesn’t obviate the need to keep their paying customers informed - especially when those customer are paying for a subscription. Wyze has a duty to disclose and they are rightfully being raked over the coals for failing to disclose (better still would have been fixing it but I care more about disclosure - can’t fix what you don’t know about).

#15

So full disclosure, don’t care. If you want to discuss the Home Security system, fine here. If you want to whine about what Wyze did or did not do about a V1 security threat. Go there and post there. There are TONS of like minded minions running around bumping into each other over there waving their hands in the air screaming.

KEEP IT ON TOPIC!

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#16

Noted. Thanks for the clarification and dismissal.

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#17

I doubt you can give then ways of suspecting intruder vs. homeowner. But if there is no perimeter breach but an internal sensor trips, then it’s likely a home resident. But you shouldn’t depend on that kind of thing. If you get up, just switch from Away to Home. It’s just a one button press. I keep my system remote by my side, when sleeping, for that reason.

I use home and away programmed the same. Both Home and Away, triggers an alarm instantly, to allow me to prepare, if I’m home. And might warn off an actual burglar if he hears an alarm instantly. And I always keep motion sensors on, since that gives me more coverage. It is the hardest sensor to bypass. I don’t have a motion sensor in the room I sleep in. Kind of late at that point. But a burgler would have to get through other sensors to get to where I sleep.

I just need to make sure I turn off the alarm, before I enter the house,

#18

If you review my post above, The text you have quoted was answering this question from the OP. This was not a question I was asking.

#19

Other opinions can be found here:

#21

Don’t do it. Centers go off-line all the time. My windows open but the sensor still says close. My 21-year-old ADT sensors work so much better. Canceled my HMS. Not worth the constant headache of sensor off-line

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#22

Reliability with security is paramount. Agreed. Not sure Wyze leadership recognizes that - they don’t seem to appropriately prioritize that dynamic.

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