San Francisco software engineer who turned his home’s hardwired alarm system into an app-based one on a whim – and then proceeded to sell 500+ DIY kits with zero marketing – brings his first-of-its-kind security solution to the crowd.
Alameda, CA — The Konnected Alarm Panel, a groundbreaking new way for consumers to easily turn an existing wired home security system into a smart, app-based one, is now available for presale via a worldwide Kickstarter campaign. Creator Nate Clark raised $25,000 in the first two hours of the campaign, which is the first step in his quest to bring smart home security to the some 20 million American households – and millions more around the world – that are pre-wired for alarm systems.
The Konnected Alarm Panel seamlessly connects a home’s existing wired alarm system sensors and siren to Samsung’s popular SmartThings Hub via a wireless connection. SmartThings users can then use the built-in Smart Home Monitor app and other SmartThings apps (available on Android and iOS devices) to monitor and automate their home without any monthly fees or subscriptions. The Konnected Alarm Panel replaces any brand of wired alarm system panel and works with hundreds of brands and models of wired alarm system sensors including door and window sensors, motion sensors, glass-break sensors, flood/leak detectors, smoke/heat detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors.
Campaign backers will receive the device and step-by-step instructions to install it into their alarm system wiring and connect it to their Smart Home hub. The initial version will require the user to have a SmartThings Hub, but support for other smart home hubs like Wink and HomeAssistant is in the works and expected to be available soon.
Why get Konnected?
• Wired sensors already installed in your home are invisible and highly reliable – and you’ll never have to worry about charging or replacing batteries
• Easy to install yourself into your home’s existing alarm system wiring, you’ll have it up and running within an hour or two
• For a Kickstarter campaign price of $59 – $129 (depending on the size of your home), you’ll get a top-notch app-based home monitoring system that includes all of your home’s wired alarm system sensors. This is cheaper than even the least expensive alternatives on the market – with no contract or additional fees.
• You want to integrate home security with home automation and the thousands of IoT devices compatible with smart home hubs. When your security system is integrated with a home automation hub, you can do things like turn off the A/C when a window is open or turn on lights when motion is detected at night.
• You’d rather monitor your home yourself from your smartphone instead of paying an alarm company to do it. Or, if you do want professional monitoring, it’s available via third-party integrations without long-term contracts or compromising on Smart Home capabilities.
• You’re one of the 43 percent of people who don’t always (or ever) use your wired alarm system when you leave the house because you just can’t be bothered. A Smart Home system can be set to arm and disarm automatically when you come and go, so it’s always monitoring your home.
• Those old keypads by your door are a decades-old eyesore! Remove them or replace them with inexpensive tablets to use as a Smart Home control dashboard.
“I’m not surprised there’s an appetite for an affordable and painless way to convert a wired alarm system to the cloud, but I’m floored that no one had come up with a solution before. There are millions of inactive traditional alarm systems out there, and millions more being used by people who would prefer an app-based system if given an affordable choice,” said Clark. “It’s exciting to help people make use of what they already have at their disposal to help them feel safer and more secure whether they’re at home or away.”
The Backstory
Clark, until recently an Engineering Director at a successful San Francisco startup, created a beta version of the Konnected Alarm Panel in early 2017 after a rash of burglaries hit his neighborhood. He figured it was time to put his rental home’s old-school wired alarm system into action and went in search of a product that would enable him to adapt it to the cloud so he could monitor it easily and remotely with his smartphone.
To his surprise, Nate discovered no such product existed. So he went to work. A big fan of open source, he shared instructions for making the DIY system he came up with on GitHub and in smart home community forums, where enthusiastic forum members tried it out, gave rave reviews and valuable feedback, and encouraged him to sell it as a pre-packaged kit. He threw together a website and within two months had shipped kits to more than 500 customers around the world.
The streamlined Konnected Alarm Panel introduced today on Kickstarter reflects the hundreds of hours Clark spent honing his initial DIY project to make it accessible to anyone. It’s available to Kickstarter backers in configurations of six-, 12-, 18- and 24-zone setups, and is expected to ship in January 2018. For more information, visit Kickstarter.
About Konnected
Konnected creates software and hardware for the Internet of Things, with a mission to make DIY home security and home automation affordable and accessible to everyone. The company’s focus is on integrating hardwired home security systems into Smart Home automation platforms such as Samsung’s SmartThings. Konnected’s first consumer product, introduced in November 2017, is the Konnected Alarm Panel.
