The buttons on the keypad are made from easy-to-clean hard plastic and provide pleasant tactile, visual, and audio feedback when pressed. Again, we remain focused on bringing HomeKit support across the product line, but it won’t be available at launch with the Alarm products specifically.” We’ll continue to march down the path of trying to support everything we can.” I got a similar answer when I asked about support for Apple’s HomeKit technology: “We’ve given it a lot of time. “We remain committed to being open to all of the different pieces that are important to our customers. Harris was slightly more circumspect about supporting Google Assistant. Once you can arm your security system using a voice command, you won’t want to do it any other way (disarming it that way is whole other question). There is currently no support for controlling the system with voice commands, but it should come as no surprise that Ring is developing an Alexa skill. The buttons on the Ring Alarm’s keypad provide visual, audio, and pleasant tactile feedback. It’s the same app used for Ring’s video doorbell and security cameras, although there’s currently little integration between the cameras and the security system.) Michael Brown / IDG You create a four-digit PIN during setup, which you’ll tap into the keypad when you arm and disarm the system (you can also do this from the Ring app, which is available for Android and iOS devices. The keypad has 12 backlit buttons on the left-hand side and three in a circle on the right. A channel on the back routes the power cable down below the keypad. It comes with a holster that you can hang on the wall and slide the keypad into. Putting the base station somewhere other than near an entry door also enhances the system’s overall security: If burglars can’t find it quickly, they can’t disable the system.īoth components can be hung on the wall or set on a table or countertop, but the keypad is particularly well designed. You can also deploy more than one keypad-one at the front door, one at the back, and one on your bedside table, for instance. The decision to separate the system’s brains-the base station-from the keypad is smart: It allows you to place the larger base station somewhere out of the way and put the smaller keypad near an entry door, where it’s easy to access. The Ring Alarm keypad can operate on AC power through its Micro-USB port, or it can operate on its rechargeable battery. An LED will tell you when the battery needs to be charged. You can even run the keypad on battery power full time if you choose, since most homes don’t have AC outlets right next to doors. A Ring Protect subscription activates an LTE module in the base station that will keep the system connected to the internet if your broadband connection goes down. The base station connects to your home network via hardwired ethernet or Wi-Fi. All three of those components have battery backup, so the system will continue to operate in the event of a power outage. Ring’s sensors operate on battery power, the keypad and base station come with AC adapters, and the Z-Wave range extender plugs directly into an AC outlet. “I’m sure people will open it up and see there’s another radio in there that’s not turned on yet. “You’ve got Wi-Fi, you’ve got LTE, you’ve got Z-Wave, you’ve got ZigBee….” Harris said. That goes double for people who already have other Ring devices, because it includes video storage in the cloud for an unlimited number of Ring cameras.Īll the components in the Ring Alarm system use Z-Wave Plus radios and support Z-Wave’s S2 security framework, but Harris told me there’s also a ZigBee radio onboard as well as some other surprises that aren’t discussed in the user manual. You can monitor the system yourself, but at the price Ring is charging for professional monitoring-just $10 per month ($100 per year if paid annually) with no long-term contract-it would be foolish not to sign up for it. The very affordable ($199) starter kit includes a wireless base station, a keypad for arming and disarming the system, one door/window sensor, one passive infrared motion sensor, and a Z-Wave range extender. And in an interview with Ring Solutions president Mike Harris earlier this week, I learned that’s exactly what Ring intends to do.Įach of the key components in the Ring Alarm home-security system is powered by a Z-Wave Plus chip (but the base station also has a ZigBee radio).īut let’s go over what it can do today, first. But it lacks nothing needed to support those and similar devices down the road. Ring Alarm doesn’t support smart lighting controls, door locks, thermostats, garage-door openers, or other common smart home products today, and there’s a very short list of supported third-party products.
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