The Alarm Panel Pro is so close, yet so far! These pre-production samples just came in, and I'm thrilled to share them with you and give an update on the production process. We've gone through several iterations since my last update in March, including a complete re-layout of the board. The result is beautiful, smaller form-factor that really looks great.
This was all in an effort to reduce unwanted radio frequency emissions, which have been the main cause of our production delays since last year. We just sent these off to Intertek for testing, and will know soon if they officially meet the standards. There's still a chance they could be ready in June if testing results come back favorably, although it would be late June at best.
UPDATE: It didn't pass 😭 (read more)
Konnected Alarm Panel Pro 1.4
The first thing you'll notice in the new design, compared to our originally published prototypes, is that it's (much!) smaller and has a square metal shield on the front.
The worst RF emissions problems were related to some components on the board that used a system clock, a harmonic pulse that helps the microcontroller components work. The problem was that this pulse was radiating off the board, creating RF noise that exceeded the FCC limits. Adding the RF shield helps keep this signal from radiating outward. Also, making the board more compact limits the distance that the pulse is traveling through the board, making it easier to contain.
Comparing an earlier version of the Alarm Panel Pro, the hotspot of radiated emissions at 50MHz is greatly reduced!
I'd like to give a huge shoutout and praise to our electrical engineer, Carl, who has been working super hard to solve this problem! Hardware debugging is a challenging and slow process -- every tweak or layout change takes weeks to validate, and RF emissions issues are particularly tricky to test and track down. Carl's efforts have resulted in, without a doubt, a much higher quality product that we all can't wait to get into your hands!
Alarm Panel Pro features
- Twelve input zones
- Ethernet & PoE capable
- WiFi 802.11b/g/n capable
- Two 12V alarm outputs
- Two dedicated low-voltage trigger outputs
- Up to 8 of the 12 zones can be used as trigger outputs
- 12V AUX power out
- 5V AUX power out (for relay modules, digital sensors, etc)
- Small form factor
- Very low power consumption
- User-serviceable and "hackable" via built-in USB access
- Supports 1 or 2 Konnected Alarm Panel Interface modules
- Integrates with SmartThings, Home Assistant and Hubitat with more integrations coming
- Made in U.S.A.
- 1-year warranty
July 2020 estimated delivery for new pre-orders
As of writing, we're still waiting on results of the official regulatory testing. I will update this post once we hear back from the testing lab, hopefully with good news and a more firm delivery date.
Thank you all for your continued support and patience! I am just as anxious, excited, and frustrated as you are about the delays in getting this product to market and into your homes. We're continuing to do our best to create a top-quality product that is fully compliant, reliable, and easy to use. Thanks to you, we've come so far ... and success is right around the corner!
Nate Clark
Founder & CEO