Skylink SC-100 Security System Deluxe Kit

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Product Description

Features

• DIY Wireless Security System - Easy to install and ready to use, no programming is required.
  
• Rolling Code Technology - Leading edge technology, provides maximum security and reduces false alarm.
  
• Ideal for homes, apartments, offices, businesses and condominiums.
  
• This system is good for most small to medium size house (i.e. approx. up to 3000 ft2). For larger house, more accessories should be added in order to cover all the premises.
  
• Works in conjunction with up to 30 Skylink security accessories (including Dial Alert).
  
• When the siren goes off, it will immediately send a signal to Dial Alert (sold separately) to call the preset phone numbers.
  
• Can be customized to suit individual specific needs.
  
• Arm/Disarm using PIN or Keychain Transmitter.
  
• Includes a piercing 110 dB siren.
  
• Lighted keypad with Chime, Instant, Delay mode.
  
• Low battery indication.
  
• AC power with 9V Alkaline battery backup (included).
  
• Up to 100ft range.
  
• No monitoring fees.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2821 in Home Improvement
• Brand: Skylink
• Model: SC-100
• Dimensions: 2.60 pounds

Features

• Rolling Code Technology - provides maximum security and reduces false alarm
• System good for most small to medium size homes (up to 3000-feet). Additional accessories needed to secure larger homes.
• Works in conjunction with up to 30 skylink security accessories (including dial alert)
• Includes a piercing 110 dB siren
• Up to 100-foot range

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

184 of 184 people found the following review helpful.
Great product for the price
By Andrew A. Edmonds
After my house was broken into I wanted to get an alarm but didn't want to pay any companies or commit to any monitoring contracts. This fit the bill perfectly. It works great once you plan around some caveats.

Pros: very simple operation. I've only had it two weeks but seems reliable so far. Easy to set up. The remote works well, but it's too bulky for me to carry around. So I just use a PIN code when I come and ago. I love the flexibility of this system. It's easy to add sensors or accessories. Compared to a pro alarm, the stuff is very cheap but built decently. It doesn't quite have the build quality "feel" of a pro system but it's simple and for the money works well. I love how it's all wireless. I"m a renter and don't want to drill holes or pull wire in walls and this is perfect.

Cons: The control panel (SC-001), PIN pad and siren are all one unit. If a crook breaks in and smashes it to bits during the 30 seconds on a delayed entry alarm it will be worthless. Or even if the siren is going off, cover it tightly with your hand, rip it off the wall and take it to the bathroom sink and submerge it in water or otherwise disable it. In other words, there's a single failure point that's not well protected. Especially if you mount it by your door for easy ripping off the wall as the crooks come in. In professional systems, the control unit is usually in a metal box in a closet so if someone smashes the keypad it will still go off. In pro systems the siren is separate as well.

Now here's how you can plan your system to mitigate the cons. Here's what to buy: Buy an extra key pad and at least one extra siren unit. They're only $30 each. Next, get creative where you hide the control panel. Put it in a closet or behind your washer and dryer or some place hard to get to. Some palace where it will take more than 30 seconds to destroy the control panel. Better yet, I am going to buy an inexpensive metal key box. It's a locking metal box that you can hang keys in. I found one on a big auction site for $15. I plan to drill a hole to poke the antenna out and another hole to run the power cord in. And some holes in the door so if the siren does go off, it can be heard. This will make it a little more like a pro system, in a locked metal box, preferably in a closet. Once the control box is secure, then set up one or more external sirens. I bought two. I put them on opposite sides of the house. Now if a bad guy breaks in, he has to find three sirens and smash them (control panel siren + 2 external ones). The sirens are very loud but I live on a noisy road and it's hard to hear the interior one from outside when traffic is going by. That's why I discreetly mounted one siren on the outside of a window on the front of the house. The other one is mounted on the outside of a window on the side of the house. I even wrapped one in black trash bad plastic to make it less obvious it's an alarm. You might even want to put electrical tape over the LED on the siren unit. Now you will have a system that's very difficult to defeat. Most crooks aren't going to want to hang around a house with 3 sirens going, not knowing it's it's monitored as well.

Some other thoughts: I didn't get a dialer because I don't have a land line and odds are burglars may cut the house phone lines anyway. But if you already have a landline, it couldn't hurt. The magnet contact sensors work well on the doors. The PIR (motion detector) works very well. The only problem is I have a cat and it might trip it. So I put a couple of the PIRs in closets. When I was burglarized, the first place they hit were the closets. Keep the closet doors closed and the cat won't set it off. I'm very careful to avoid false alarms because I don't want the neighbors hear it cry wolf from a false alarm. If you don't have pets, the PIRs will work great in the hallways or any rooms.

Wish list: separate key pad, controller box and siren units. I wish it would tell you if a sensor was "ready" like a pro system, but this would no doubt make the cost of the sensors much higher.

Plan around its shortcomings and this can be a 5 star system. I gave it 5 stars because it works well for what it is and is a great value for the money.

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful.
3 years and counting
By Vonlutke
At the time of writing this review I have only had the system up and running for about a month. So far, I have not yet had any problems, and don't anticipate any to come up. I would rate this product with 5/5 stars, but a few minor things kept me at a 4/5, even though I am very satisfied with this product.
First, be aware that the system comes with only a few pieces, and you will most likely need to buy extra motion sensors and/or door sensors if you own a house. I personally - after inquiring of the company - bought two SC-100 systems so that I would have extra sensors and because I was informed that they are compatible and work together. This is mostly correct. The two systems can be programmed so that all of the sensors activate both alarms at the same time (and therefore you have two separate alarms sounding, making it all that much more difficult for any crooks to disable), but both can only be activated or deactivated SIMULTANEOUSLY if you are using the remote clicker within range of both control panels. If you manually activate/deactivate on the keypad itself, it will only affect the control panel you are typing into (and you will therefore have to run through the house to activate/deactivate the second control panel and get in/out during the allotted 45 seconds). Also, any other function than the two pre-programmed "arm" settings of the clicker (1 - arm with no one home, 2 - arm with leaving someone inside, 3 - disarm, RED - sound alarm) will have to be entered manually. For example: coding in for 'Night Mode' before you go to bed will require you to manually arm both control panels. (However, if you have the extra keypad-only accessory (KP-434), you could program it to work for both control panels, and skip this step, but will have to pay for the keypad which does not light up).
I did end up buying two extra motion sensors (PS-434a) for a total of 4, as well as an extra alarm (AA-433) for a total of 3 blaring sirens, which I put out in my detached garage to sound off in case someone were to break into that building.

An individual components critique:
1. Control Panel - Easy to understand and set up. Look through 'Advanced programming' in the instructions to get a good idea of how it all works, and figure out what sensors you want in which zones. The first CP I received nearly deafened me when I set it off. The second one was only about 75% as loud, and I have not been able to locate any change in its volume.
2. Motion Sensor (PS-434a) - Settings can be adjusted to high or low, and an extra sensitivity adjustment comes with aiming the sensor down a little bit more. They pick up most movement in smaller rooms, but are sometimes limited by where you locate them. By this I mean, if you try to position them into a ceiling corner to keep them from being too noticeable, they WILL be limited in the direction that you aim them and the STILL WILL be somewhat noticeable. Despite this, they have served the purpose. I have yet to replace any batteries, and it has been one month.
3. Door/Window Sensor (WT-433) - The directions say to have both magnets no more than 5/8 inches away from each other. The kit comes with 3 extra spacers and long enough screws that you should not have any problems. However, if you use all the spacers, the magnets become more noticeable than they already are. These sensors work wonderfully and I have had not trouble with the magnets. But I did not like that the sensor 'house' that attaches to the door frame magnet is on a relatively short wire, so that you can only position it about 6 inches away from the door frame magnet. This made it a little tricky on one or two of my windows/doors because there were not very good places to screw a little box. Also the 'house' is clearly visible by your door unless you can creatively hide it somewhere.
4. Audio Alarm (AA-433) - I received this piece last. It's an alarm. It's very loud. It's very basic: sounds off only when the system goes into full alert. It does not give warning beeps during the 45-second entry delay (like the Control Panel does), but will rather just blare at you once activated. A nice feature is that you can program it to work with either the Control Panel (and system) or just individual sensors (ie, just the back garage door or basement door) or both at the same time.
5. Clicker (4B-434) - No problems yet. Seems to work within the described 100 feet, although I have not measure this out :) The only disadvantages are, first - as many others have already said in other reviews - the buttons are hard to see. I took someone else's advice and colored around button 3 (disarm) so I could see it better. Second, the clicker-on-keychain is handy, but rather bulky. With a car clicker already attached to my keyring, this adds another, almost twice as large...'chunk' (for lack of a better word) into my pocket. But I would rather deal with the 'chunk' than have to run back and forth through the house all the time.

Overall, I am very pleased with this system. The instructions for setup and programming were clear, it did not take long to set up, it is sensitive and loud enough to wake up anything in a 50-foot radius, and provides me and my family with a little more sense of security without the contract. At this point I do not plan to add any other accessories (such as the telephone dialer) to the current pieces I already have. I would recommend this product (and in fact, already have to family members).
I hope this helps!

Update 2013: I wouldn't change anything about my review, but a lot more time under the belt here are a few more observations.
-Siren loss: the extra audio alarm gave out its siren within a year. Whatever went on inside of the thing was beyond my repair attempts. I WAS successful in re-soldering the connection to the siren in one of the keypad units and got its siren back, but it took a lot of tweaking to make sure the connection was there.
-Re-programming: I still have yet to figure out in what situations I have to go back and reprogram the functions of the keypad. Sometimes they hold after power has been lost (see Battery Life). Sometimes they don't, and I have to go back in and re-set up the clickers and sensors.
-Battery life: batteries are annoying. They never all go out at the same time and I have to get the ladder out of the garage about every other month to replace one sensor's battery. As well, the batteries in the keypad units always seem to get drained - a waste, and rather pointless to even have one in there as 'backup'.
Keychain: one finally gave out recently, after 3 years. Not too bad of a life, but now I have to replace it and it's annoying to only have one person with a clicker.
+Safe: I DO feel safer just having the system in place. I have two keypad units, and one is visible inside the front door. Anybody looking into the entryway can see the system is armed (or disarmed if we forget!) and I feel that at least this is some deterrent. Because I have a family this takes precedence over ANY of the above-mentioned annoyances.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
3 Years of use and no problems. Here are some tips for install and use.
By Gregorio
I've been using this security system for 3 years and have had NO problems with it. I had one false alarm and that was my fault (accidentally pressed the panic button on the keychain remote while it was in my pocket). The system comes with an AC powered control panel with battery back up, two door/window sensors, a keychain remote control and a motion detector. I also ordered the Skylink KP-434 Keypad Control, and extra door/window sensors as well as some window stickers and a lighted yard sign. I didn't get mine from Amazon, I got it from Norco/HomeSecurityStore because they offered free tech support if I had any problems with it. The user manual is easy to understand and has photographs of all the equipment, installation process, programming and use. Very easy to follow. I had the system completely installed and working in about 2 hours. All the batteries needed for setup are included. The system is easy to expand for all sorts of devices including telephone monitoring. You can set the system to call a neighbor, family member, police station or even an independent monitoring service. The built in siren is loud enough to be heard on my street even when all the doors are closed. The control pad and keypad control are backlit so you can see them in the dark. The system uses all sorts of batteries from 9volts to tiny little camera type batteries to those little flat round lithium batteries. Replacements can be found at any Radioshack.

The system has 5 zones and multiple devices can be programmed for each zone. Four of the five zones are visible on the control pannel and the fifth zone is "invisible". Zone one is for entrance doors and has delayed entrance feature. Zone two is for motion detectors. Zones 3 and 4 are for additional sensors set for instant activation. Zone 5 is for control devices like keypads, keychain remotes and panic buttons. You can custom program the control panel for whatever your needs are but the built in programs are probably sufficient for almost any purpose. The system supports multiple PIN numbers. It uses rolling code tech for additional security. For a fairly inexpensive system it is pretty state of the art.

I like the design of the control panel. There is no screen with little messages to read. Instead you can tell exactly what state the system is in with the use of red and green lights. In a few days of use you will be able to glance at the panel and tell what mode the system is in. You don't have to walk up to it and read messages.

TIPS FOR INSTALLATION AND USE

1. READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL. If you don't do this then you will not know how to arm the system. There are no on and off buttons. You have to remember your PIN Code and know which letters and symbol to push and the only way to do that is to read the manual. The manual covers everything you need to know except for installing optional devices and complete instructions come with those devices. If you do have a problem, Skylink has decent customer service. I had to call them one time with a question in three years and within 3 minutes of dialing the number I was off the phone with my question answered.

2. DON'T INSTALL THE CONTROL PANEL BY THE ENTRANCE DOOR OR SIT IT ON A TABLE WITH THE CORD SHOWING. Install it in a less obvious place and cover the cord. I did a wall mount in the middle of the house and hid the AC cord underneath the woodwork and the plug is in an outlet behind a heavy piece of furniture. If the cord should get cut, the battery in the control panel will keep the system activated. If anyone attempts to remove the battery without first entering the PIN then the alarm will activate. Not fool proof but better than nothing. Don't give an intruder any help by just sitting the thing out with the cord visible.

3. USE THE HARDWARE PROVIDED TO MOUNT THE SYSTEM PARTS AND DON'T HANG IT UP WITH TAPE. Yes, the alarm comes with double sided tape but the instructions clearly point out this is only for the initial temporary install. Once you have all the sensors, panels and detectors installed with tape and have checked to see that it is working properly then you MUST use the screws that are provided to do a permanent install. It helps to have a small drill to start the holes for the screw. Use the tape for checking placement and for leaving both hands free to handle the little sensor magnets and screws. Use a small Philips screwdriver. If you leave this thing up with just the provided temporary tape then be sure things are gonna fall down (probably in the middle of the night, giving you a false alarm).

4. BUY A KEYPAD FOR THE ENTRANCE DOOR and put the control panel somewhere else. Even if you use the keychain remote to arm and disarm the system, you will still want a keypad by your main entrance so other people can turn the system on and off (babysitter, housesitter, relatives etc.). The system will support an additional PIN that you can give to someone for temporary access. Then you can reset the system with a different PIN while keep your personal PIN. Instructions for this are in the ADVANCED PROGRAMMING section of the user manual.

5. CHANGE THE BATTERIES! If you don't keep up with the batteries the thing won't work. Every sensor has some sort of alert to let you know it is working. All door sensors have a test button. If it dosen't light up red when you press the button then your battery is dead. Also, put the system in "chime" mode and check every sensor and detector to make sure signal is getting to the control pannel. The motion detector will make a chirping sound when the battery is low to alert you. It also has a red light behind the screen that flashes briefly when motion is detected so look up at every once in a while to make sure you see the red light when you move. If you don't see it turn red, you missed the warning chirps and should change the battery. The control panel has a low battery indicator light as does the keypad control. Whenever there is a time change and you change out the batteries in your smoke detectors, do the same thing for your alarm system. You can buy all the strange little batteries on line or at any electronic store like Radio Shack. If you do that regularly then your system will keep working. It will take you about 15 minutes to change all the batteries but that isn't such a big deal is it?

6. DON'T INSTALL THE MOTION DETECTOR AROUND AIR VENTS OR WHERE PETS WALK. If you have curtains near an AC/Heating vent then the air will blow the curtains and your motion detector will notice and give you a false alarm. Don't install the motion detector in a room with a running ceiling fan. Turn the fan off before you turn on the motion detector. If you have a cat or dog, keep them out of the area covered by the motion detector . They WILL set it off, even a little cat. Even on the low sensitivity a small cat will set these off. You will have to close the door and keep kitty out of any room covered by the motion detector or you are gonna get false alarms and if you have the telephone option set up you may get complaints about false alarm nuisance calls so either close the door so kitty dosen't wander in or don't turn the motion detector on. Those are your only choices.

7. INSTALL YARD SIGN AND WINDOW STICKERS, OUTSIDE LIGHTS and DEADBOLT LOCKS and leave a light on inside when you go out at night and chances are a burglar will pass you by for a less protected looking house and you will never have your alarm system tested for real.

I got everything for under $200 bucks, installed it myself in a couple of hours, have kept the batteries maintained, used a little bit of thought when planning the placement of everything, READ THE MANUAL and have used the system on a regular basis for 3 years without any problems. If you take a little time to learn it, it is easy to use. I think it was a good purchase.