Customer Reviews

AAS 500 Wireless Home Security Alarm System Kit DIY (R)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The system I purchased was the AAS 500 Wireless Home Security System. In rating this security system, I have good news and bad news. First, the good news. I have installed and programmed the equipment and it works very satisfactory. The controller programmed easily. All other components worked as they should. I used screws instead of the double faced tape that was provided to mount the door and window switches because overtime, the tape will become brittle and allow the switches to become unreliable. Now the bad news. I am a retired electrician and found the installation instructions to be very inadequate. After 40 years of experience in the business I found it necessary to Email the company twice and call once. The power supplies are not clearly identified. The Door and window switches do not have installation instructions even though they must be mounted in a certain way. The instructions for the keypad/dialer unit are totally inadequate. During my 40 years of experience in the business my goal was always to give very clear, concise, "idiot proof" instructions to the people I worked with. Not because I worked with idiots but because I did not want anything left to interpretation. To my way of thinking, every piece of equipment in the package should come with idiot proof installation instructions. I will finish by saying I will probably buy a second system for another project, especially now that I know how it works.

I'll start with saying that the limitations of the design of the system didn't allow me to use the alarm system to its fullest ability. Due to the phone system we have and the way the alarm system requires to be tied into the phone system, we could not use the dialer.

That being said...

The setup of the alarm was pretty straight forward. It took me a few tries to get through the initial setup, but it worked. I would recommend setting everything up on a table and use a sheet of paper with the numbers and what they are supposed to be used for. For example, the door sensors are numbered 10-? (depending on the system), the motion was 20-? and such. Number your front door as #11, back door #12, windows.... etc. This will allow you to go through and make logical sense of what unit is "activated". My only issue IS the numbering system and its limitations. For example, I would have wanted to number my garage door #6, the garage window #7 the motion sensor #8. But because the instructions said they had to go in their pre-designated group of numbers, I couldn't group my numbers to a location of the house/garage. If I got an activation of #24 I would have to see on a quick reference sheet what was causing the activation.. Beyond this, that was my only issue with the numbering of the sensors.

Programming: I somehow activated two door sensors the same number but was unable to un-program the one sensor. It appears as if I would have to delete ALL the programming I had setup. This seems to be a big flaw in the system. If I deleted or needed to delete one, you actually have to "wipe" the memory and re-program the entire system. Huge flaw I feel.

Use: The system is "wireless", but uses a lot of wires (power, alarm horns, phone, etc). It could be worse, but just take into consideration that your control box will have a power wire into it (battery backup) and a wire for the alarm horn exiting it at a minimum. When we have had accidental activations you can very easily "silence" the alarm by unplugging the horn from it. Our system has the black-remote direct plug in (110vlt) horn. The horn has a "broken" siren. It works, cuts off in the middle, works again, cuts off... I don't know if ours is broken or what, but if it's going off, we get the idea. The way it works is, it is remote, and must work on a signal sent off by the control head. We mounted ours in a remote place of the house, so even if the main siren is deactivated, the remote one is still doing its (quieter and less effective) notification.

Complaints:
#1: I have with the system vs. my ADT system is the "Door Chime". Our sensors with ADT, when opened (doors, windows, etc) could "chime" the control box. This unit does not do that. It was nice to know when the kids were opening and closing doors to go in and out of the house.

#2: Activation: There is an "entrance & exit" delay. The issue is, if you set up a "delay" it ALWAYS delays. For instance, the two settings it has "Home/Away". I would want a delay for entering/exiting when set to "away" that way when we exit and enter the house when away, the alarm gives us a moment to disable the alarm, but if HOME, and a door is opened, I want that thing to sound off and let us know a door was just opened! This is not an option with this system. I think that is one of the largest flaws.

Wrap up:
As stated, I have not used the alarm dial out feature. I'm sure it is a nice feature, but due to our house wiring, we cannot run wires to the control head to allow us to use that feature. An issue I see in the future is the motion sensor has a very flimsy mount, I can see the "orbit ball" which allows for adjustment as being the obvious failure point. The only other issue with motion is the LED inside the sensor is BRIGHT. To the point it actually freaks out my 18M/O son!!

Suggestions:
Get more than what you need. The system uses odd batteries. I had assumed it would be a AA or AAA battery, but they are small remote type batteries. Since we didn't use all our door sensors, I removed the extra batteries and will use those to offset the cost when new batteries are needed. By buying more sensors, this would allow you to replace ones in the event they go bad. The motion sensor uses 9vlt battery (FYI).

Misc:
The company says they will give two wireless door alarms if feedback is left. Guess we will see!

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps somebody with their purchase! If you have questions or comments, please post them and i'll attempt to update/reply!

Corey

I viewed the reviews prior to my purchasing the AAS 500 Security System. They highlighted the cumbersome DIY instructions. I encountered the same; however, I found the cause and have the solution.

The needed instructions are there, but the various instructional paragraphs are out of synch with the corresponding and illustrating graphics. The seller should reprint the instructions and ensure the corresponding and illustrating graphics are directly beneath the related instructional paragraph.

I hasten to add that the customer support was super. They fixed me right up. I was assisted by a very pleasant and knowledgeable lady. Also, the AAS 500 works like a charm. Don't fix the instructions if it will put the nice lady out of work. (SMILE)

I am changing my origional review. The system is OK if you simply want an alarm for your home. However, if you want Central Station Monitoring this system is not for you. I feel misled. I was told that this system could connect to central station monitoring via Contact ID format. This is only part true. It will dial central station, but it is not capable of providing the station with the zone that was triggered. For example, if zone 3 is a window, zone 5 is fire and zone 10 is gas/CO2 detector, it sends the same general alarm, no zone identification. Central station cannot do anything with this information. Was the alarm set off by a break in? Gas leak? Fire? Do they send the police? Fire department? It is useless for this purpose. The alarm is inexpensive compared to others on the market and customer support is good, but this is a clear case of you get what you pay for. I am sorry I bought it.

AAS 500 Wireless Home Security Alarm System Kit DIY
I purchased the Wireless Home Security system from Amazon.com and am quite pleased with the way the system installed and performed. The wireless feature really makes the installation painless. I would recommend reading the reviews for this product before starting the installation however. The comments concerning the difficulties with the instructions were very helpful. I had few difficulties except for two minor things. First, I had to activate the motion sensor several times before it was working. Second, I found that making a sketch of the system with sensor locations helped keep the numbers of the sensors straight. I ended up with two of the window sensors with the same number. This did not seem to effect the operation of the system however.

After being robbed on February 23,2010. I spent $450.00 to repair the backdoor that was kicked in by the burgular. They only took a Laptop,charger and a ring. So I felt that the burgular would return.

Searching the internet and deciding on which of my options I should render, I decided to purchase the AAS500 Pet Immune System. The system arrived quickly! Everything worked fine, it only took planning and a little common sense to make this system work to my specifications. For the price of the system I am very satisfied, and would recommend this system to anyone wanting to protect their home.

I wanted to protect my storage building which is 140 feet from the house. Well the distance wasn't a problem it works just fine. The indoor outdoor siren was no problem. I connected a wire from the attic light, then ran it to an air vent on the eve of the house. Now the siren and plug can't be destroyed or seen. The double sided tape that comes on the window alarms, works fine and sticks well. You can always purchase 3M double sided tape if needed.

This system is home friendly as well, unlike most alarm companies who drill and run wires everywhere, and charge monthly fees for a simple alarm system. Hope these statements help others on their purchase.

This system was easy to install. The instructions related to the positioning of the window and door monitors needs to be improved. The pad was not working when I recieved it. I called the tech and she is very helpful. She sent a new one out and I had no furhter problems with it. One thing that I wish I knew before purchasing is that the DSL line causes the system to have false alarms. After a number of false alarms i called the tech and we figured out that there was nothing wrong with the system and that the DSL was causing the problem. I disconected the phone line and there have been no more false alarms.

The system overall is excellent and the support has been great. I would recommend this product.

the setup of the alarm was very hard understand instructions...
but it worked i like it.
gret product ! no regrets in my decision to buy this alarm aas 500.

Security system was generic Chinese but seems to work as promised and was received shortly after order. However, "paying" customers for a 5 star review is not cool. Amazon should check into that.

AAS 500 Wireless Home Security Alarm System Kit DIY (R)

I purchased this system, after looking for an affordable way to secure my outside basement doors and windows. I have never had a security system until now and never have I installed one. It took 2 phone calls to tech support(Thank You Fei! you where very helpful!) and 3 hours of setup to get my system functioning. I had one small problem. One of the window/door sensors was not working on arrival. I called customer service and they immediately said they would send me a new one. The system is not fancy but it does work! The system components use different types of power. The base unit requires a dedicated AC outlet(per install instructions).The base unit also has a built in battery backup for power outages. The wireless exterior siren also needs an AC outlet as does the glass break sensor. The wireless smoke detector and motion sensors require a 9V batteries to operate. Finally, the window and door sensors require type 23-12v alkaline batteries. I don't know if I will use the call out feature of the system, but I did test it. I have Vonage VOIP phone and was able to plug n play the system to call my cell phone. I also had several people call me to see if the system would interfere with my phone's answering machine. This was also no problem. You can have the system call up to 6 numbers with a 10 second message per call. The sirens are fairly loud. I made the mistake of testing both of them while standing a few feet away (OUCH!) . I don't have a decibel meter, but my ears did hurt. The motion sensors will pick up movement 35 feet away which is adequate for any size room. The system comes with 4 key fobs. Each fob has four buttons. button 1) disarm , button 2) away, button 3) home, button 4) panic . The fuctionality for each button: disarm(turns off the alarm and silences the sirens), away(arms all sensors both motion detectors and windows and doors), home(arms all sensors except motion detectors), panic(triggers alarm immediately) all alarms will fire off the sirens and start the phone dialer to do its thing. NOTE: if you want the motion detectors to be active in home mode you can program in this fuctionality as well, as I wanted to monitor my basement when I was home, I did. You can arm the system with the base, key fobs, or a phone call into the system. You can disarm the system with the base (4 digit password required), key fob, or a phone call into the system. I can't speak to the longevity of the product, but so far it does work. I will post an update if things go wrong.