Get Inspired by Konnected User Stories
Konnected founder, Nate Clark, started the company because he noticed that solving his problem could become an excellent solution for others. Now that our Konnected Cloud has over 15,000 active users, we would like to share different customers' perspectives on reinventing your smart home with our products that we’ve seen across our Alarm Panel & Alarm Panel Pro listings. We’ve got hundreds of 5-star reviews by now (thanks, guys!), but we thought that taking a closer look into these two from-the-heart reviews could inspire you to automate your smart home with Konnected.
See the POV of a SmartThings User - “Worked out perfect for my smart home!”
Chuck, our Verified User from the US, begins his 5-star review by talking about SmartThings:
“Extremely easy to wire and connect to the internet. I was able to easily connect to SmartThings (without a hub) and then connect SmartThings to Google Home. My virtual switches in SmartThings showed up in Google Home and enabled me to create routines. With routines in Google Home, I was able to automate messages throughout all my smart speakers. Currently, my house announces the following:
- Door Open
- Alarm is disarmed
- Armed Stay will be active in 20 seconds
- Armed Away will be active in 20 seconds
- Intruder Alert
- Siren will sound in 20 seconds.”
This is a perfect example of how Konnected doesn't lock you into any system, app, or subscription. Like many other Konnected users, Chuck decided to take it one step further than just connecting it to our #1 cloud-based integration, SmartThings. He also wanted to sync his system with Google Home, which allowed him to add the smart speaker functionality that smart home users love.
Chuck then continues to talk about his new way to control the Konnected ecosystem (and more):
“I purchased three Fire 7 tablets to use as control panels and installed ActionTiles on them.
The always-on Fire tablets display:
- time
- date
- 3-day weather
- front door Nest camera
- driveway Nest camera
- garage open (with security code), arm stay, arm away, and disarm (with security code)
- the status of all doors, windows, and motion sensors.”
Chuck may or may not have replaced his old alarm keypad and installed one of his three Fire tablets in its place, but you can easily retrofit yours by wall-mounting a tablet. More to it, we even offer 3D-printed tablet frames to make any mounted tablet look neater. Always-on tablets are a great way to access your smart home with a single tap.
Chuck then shares that he also prepared for any power outages by adding an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to support his smart home essentials:
“Battery backup was installed in the modem, router, all wifi points, and Konnected alarm board.”
If you'd like to be like Chuck and ensure you're ready for any power-related issues, consider getting our Konnected Backup Battery. We've designed it to work seamlessly with our Alarm Panels, but it can also support other devices around your home.
Let’s go back to our friend Chuck, who pointed out one of the most beloved features of Konnected - savings on home monitoring:
“I did this all for less than half the price of the most affordable alarm company I could find, and I don’t need to pay a monthly fee for their ineffective monitoring.”
Yes, you read that right. Since the beginning, we have never required fees for essential self-monitoring features, and we never will. We’re all about restoring you, the customer, control of your wired sensors.
Chuck concludes his review by talking about possibly expanding his ecosystem in the future,
“I may add more smart switches to my panels for home control. Still deciding since I can already control all the switches with voice commands. The added bonus is that I know how everything works if there are ever any issues in the future—highly recommended!”
What we love about his review is the common theme of “this is what I did,” “this is what I can do.” It makes us happy to read reviews where customers appreciate that with Konnected, the possibilities are endless, and you’re in charge of them.
Read the Story of a Home Assistant Enthusiast - “Superb addition to the 21st century home!”
David K., our customer from the UK, started his review on a very positive note,
“This was exactly the product I was looking for. Thanks to Nate and the team for putting it all together; what a brilliant way to snazz up your old home alarm system!”
Then he continued to share more insight into using the benefits of the Alarm Panel Pro,
“Power over Ethernet worked fine for me, and the board immediately powered on and subsequently was recognized in my home assistant installation :)”
David's home, just like millions of others out there, is pre-wired for both an alarm and Ethernet. If your home also has wired Ethernet, you can connect our Alarm Panel Pro locally to your network and power it up via built-in PoE (Power over Ethernet). That's a terrific 2-in-1, isn't it?
David then goes on to talk about the installation process,
“I had no trouble wiring up my existing wired door sensor and five motion sensors to the board as it has nice handy screw terminals for the wires; once again, these appeared correctly in Home Assistant after configuring them.”
If you want your installation to go as smoothly as David’s, then make sure to check out our extensive support page that helps our customers in their journey to retrofit their alarm system and connect it to their desired smart home platform. Make sure also to check out our YouTube channel if you prefer to follow step-by-step video tutorials.
In his review, David also tells us that he was able to keep one of the traditional features of a wired alarm system,
“It was also a breeze to wire up the piezo buzzer, so we still have a door open/close sound, just like the old system using the existing wiring from the old keypad.”
Replacing your old alarm panel with one of ours doesn’t mean you have to say “goodbye” to the features you liked - like the piezo buzzer that many customers love. With Konnected, you’re modernizing and adding functionality to what you already have, never the other way around.
Our customer from the UK adds some thoughts on his experience with Home Assistant,
“Also, I had no trouble using the Home Assistant's manual alarm panel configuration and setting the Konnected board up for remote monitoring/notifications, depending on what state the unit was in. It's all working exactly as I expected.”
Although Home Assistant has a bit more complex setup than platforms like SmartThings, it rewards users with the ability to customize their system exactly as they wish. Whether it’s about creating your own Manual Alarm Control Panel, putting together a smart home dashboard of your dreams, or playing around with elaborate automations & routines, Home Assistant has it all.
And to second the points made in the previous customer review, David says,
“*Just as a random project, I wired up a simple push button doorbell button to one of the 12 output zones, and that works great in Home Assistants, too! so I managed to have a very cheap and simple configurable doorbell that I wasn't planning for, but this board gave me an easy platform to do so :)”
As you can see time again, our products are so flexible that they can mean different things to different people. For most, they are a tool to breathe new life into their unused wired sensors, but for some, they're also a gateway to creatively expanding their smart home's reach.
David also claims that he took some inspiration from our aforementioned support page,
“The documentation is great for this unit from Konnected's website, which pretty much helped me do everything; thanks again!”
All we're going to say is - thanks! We're keeping our documentation up to date and expanding it based on user feedback
And finally, the big finale of this amazing feedback,
“Overall I would score this unit an easy 10 out of 10 if your use case is the same as mine.
- To upgrade an old wired alarm system to the 21st century.
- To combine with existing Home Assistant installation for remote monitoring.
- To pass the wife-friendly test when I told her she would be able to disarm the alarm system with her phone's NFC reader after setting up an NFC tag and/or that presence detection could do it automatically.
Job done!”
Yes, the 1 & 2 make us smile, and we’re happy to be of help, but the 3 is what really matters. The experience with Konnected doesn’t end with the customer who purchased and installed it - it’s usually just the beginning. We’re proud to see that our customers' entire families or households benefit from making their wired alarm systems smart.
Every Feedback Matters
We hope that these stories gave you some more insight into our brand. Our customer's perspective is the perspective that keeps us laser-focused on staying up to date with what we’re doing right and what can be improved in our continuous efforts to build the brands. That’s why we encourage you to join the Konnected Users family, so you can make your home smarter and so that we can make our smart security home system even better!