This Retrofit device is a lifesaver! I moved away from a monitored hardwired system to a more modern wi fi based self monitored Ring system, and this device allowed me to utilize all the perfectly good (and invisible) hardwired door contacts into Ring. Other systems don't have th, and if they did they would tap a big market... their loss! The Retrofit kit was easy to install and pair. You definitely have to keep track of which wires in your existing system go where, so that when your system is complete you'll be correctly notified about which door or window has been breached or left open. Be patient, use labels.

This diminutive gadget (it’s roughly the size of a stack of 4 CD jewel cases) is designed to allow you to integrate legacy sensors from an existing old alarm system into a Ring wireless alarm system. It attaches to the Ring base wirelessly, a very simple process; and then you can connect the sensor wires to its terminals, it supports up to 8 zones. For more zones, you can add more extenders. Door and window sensors do not require any special treatment, but motion and smoke detectors will require a 12V supply with battery backup. I found an inexpensive 12V UPS that is perfect for this, although the problem is when it fails it will trigger the alarm... The huge benefit of this device, though, is that it lets you use all the existing wired sensors: no running wires, no batteries, no problem (well, the batteries in the extender) Setup is super simple thanks to the well designed app. Go to the Devices section, select the extender, and you will see all the ones. Any zone with a sensor connected is configurable, the others are grayed out. To configure a zone, you select it and then open and close the door or window; you can then name and save the zone, and it becomes enabled. Couldn’t be simpler. Very well designed device, great software, if you’re contemplating Ring and your house has an existing wired alarm system don’t hesitate, make sure you buy this extender. It’s a little pricey but worth it. Buy Ring motion detectors and use your existing door and window sensors! Very highly recommended.

I couldn’t resist the opportunity to dig into the rats nest of wires in the closet of my 75-year-old house. As I did this, it became clear to me that the alarm system I was replacing (ADT) wasn’t the original. There was a lot of wiring left over from an even earlier alarm system. The one I was replacing also had only eight wired channels and relied on wireless for the rest of the motion detectors and door and window sensors. However, some earlier wired alarm system clearly had many more than eight channels, and I found myself wishing that this retrofit kit could accommodate more than eight of them (you can buy more than one of these to get more channels, but that’s expensive). However, it was easy to set this retrofit kit up so that two or more wired door and window sensors are wired in serial on the same channel, so that any of them being open will be registered as an open signal. This allowed me to take advantage of all of my house’s existing wiring, with a disadvantage that if a channel is giving an “open” signal I’ll have to try two or three windows to figure out which one is at fault. Other than my frustration at this device not having says 16 or 32 channels, it’s fine, pretty straightforward to use, and offers the presumably greater reliability of wired sensors. Will it save you any money? Not really, the ring door and window sensors are inexpensive (especially when on sale), and this item never seems to go on sale, meaning that on balance you might be better off just going to a completely wireless system. The only reason I didn’t go that route is that I felt that a wired se sensors waere probably going to be more reliable and it reduced the number of visible (and to my eye slightly unsightly) sensors that I had to install.

The Ring Retrofit Alarm Kit is perfect for our needs and was much easier to install and configure than I expected. You do need to be comfortable with electrical wiring although the connections are all low voltage. We built our home 3 years ago and had a Honeywell system installed with every window and door monitored with hardwire contacts. I did not want to have to routinely replace batteries in battery operated contacts. You will need to remove the Zoned wires attached to your current wired alarm system one by one, test them with a continuity tester and connect them to the Retrofit Kit. I found that we had more than one (sometimes 5) windows and/or doors wired in series before they were connected to our Honeywell alarm circuit board. I had previously labeled all the zones which made it a bit easier but you still need to verify all windows and doors in a zone using the Ring app during installation, which I found very easy. I added 22 gage extension cables to each zone in the Honeywell box so the 15 plus zone cables stayed in the Honeywell alarm box and only 6 cable were routed out to the Retrofit Kit. After installation, which included 3 of the Ring 2nd gen keypads (to replace the Honeywell keypads), a Ring Motion sensor to replace the wired sensor and 1 Ring Contact sensor to replace the battery contact on our patio slider, I discovered there was a lot of flexibility to defining zones, which zones armed when in Stay mode and with armed in Away mode. Very please with the flexibility of the Ring Alarm and Retrofit Kit. Ring monitoring and very reasonable compared to local monitoring companies. Ring alarm can be configured with Alexa which will monitor your smoke detectors and glass breaking (using Alexa Guard). Arming and disarming can be done by key pad, the Ring phone app or Alexa.

When I moved into my house there was an existing alarm system, after my 3-year contract ended I figured it was time to move on and find more affordable options. Doing some research it seemed that one of the better options that allowed for integration with the existing system was this Ring Retrofit Alarm Kit. It took overall about 1-2 hours to get everything installed, can be quicker though, but if you have things like wired motion sensors you'll have to consider how you're going to wire it and how you're going to provide the sensor with backup power. For me my existing panel still pretty much was intact so I was able to route the existing backup battery/power through the old panel but wire the signal wires to the Retrofit kit. Note that the app does NOT have a motion sensor option for sensors that are attached to the retrofit kit at the moment (they do have a wireless motion sensor which I also have). So instead the motion detector is setup as a door, which appears open when there is motion. Note that I continue to maintain the backup battery in the old panel to make sure that the motion sensor has power in the event of a power outage. Since the motion sensor has a default off state a power outage could cause the sensor state to change and trip the alarm. Each sensor is different so check the specs of your particular sensor. Overall the system isn't too hard to install; however, if you are uncomfortable with looking at wiring diagrams, not comfortable with wires, or using tools like a multimeter, then I'd suggest getting professional installation. Better to be safe rather than accidentally plugging in something backwards, damaging your system, or worse hurting yourself.

My home came with a DSC alarm panel installed by the builder. We eventually quit using it because of the cost of monitoring and maintaining a dedicated analog landline for it to use. I had no interest in wireless systems, as I find the contact sensors unattractive. It wasn’t until I learned that Ring had developed a retrofit kit for wired systems that my interest was piqued. I ordered the entire lot: 5-piece alarm kit and the retrofit kit. Installation of the base station was quick, and I first made sure it was working with the keypad and motion detector before moving on to the retrofit. Installation was super easy. The legacy panel had a set of connectors for power, keypad, siren and such. I simply disconnected all of those and zip-tied them and to get them out of the way. The zone connectors on the panel were identical to the connectors on the Retrofit Kit. I checked the resistors already on each wire to make sure it fell within the acceptable range for the kit, and then I just disconnected each zone wire from the panel and re-connected to the retrofit kit. The Ring app took me through naming and testing each zone. Once complete, everything just worked. The only caveats I would give are these: The kit doesn’t work with *every* wired alarm system. Watch the video that shows you how to check for compatibility before you order it. There are a *lot* of wires involved. If you’re not comfortable with working with dozens of identical looking wires going every which way, have Ring do the install for you.

Pretty easy to install after watching the Ring video.

For a baseline - I'm quite familiar with electrical circuits, and initially studied Electrical Engineering in college. I'm also quite handy, and have installed dozens of smart switches, outlets, etc. in my home. While I'm not a professional installer, I know how to build and test a circuit - which in the end, is all an alarm system is. When I initially installed my Ring alarm sometime last year, I was disappointed that I couldn't re-use my existing wired sensors. So when I finally saw the retrofit kit was available, I couldn't wait to get it installed and add in all of my wired zones. Initial setup was a breeze! I unboxed the unit, mounted it on the wall using the adhesive strips already on it. I placed the retrofit kit right next to my old panel, and moved my zones over one by one. Because of the close proximity, I didn't need any additional wire splices. Total setup time was less than 30 minutes for 5 zones - including testing each zone as it was connected. Each of my zones had a 2K resister at the end of the common wire. One issue with the retrofit kit which seems to be a physical design flaw - the screw driver supplied doesn't allow you to really tighten down on the terminal screws. It easily strips the screw. Because my common wires were actually solid (the resistor legs), that made it difficult to make sure I had a tight connection when two common's were shared. The wiring for the retrofit kit, much like an alarm panel has one positive terminal for each of the 8 zones, and then it shares the common terminal across 2 zones. So you'll have [1] [C] [2] [3] [C] [4], where zones one and two both share the common terminal, as to zones 3 and 4. Another physical flaw is that once you screw a terminal screw in, even unscrewing it all the way doesn't seem to release the wire clamp fully. So getting a wire back into a terminal that at one time was clamped down, becomes much more difficult than getting the wire into the terminal the first time. I didn't realize this until I purchased a second retrofit kit for a different location, and paid special attention to the terminal clamp as I unscrewed it and removed the wire. It was clear that it didn't return to the same position as a yet to be used terminal. Aside from the relatively minor physical flaws, the real trouble started 12 hours after installation, when one of the zones blipped open then closed again in the middle of the night. I thought it was due to a window that was unlocked and may have dropped just enough to cause the sensor to open, but after securing that window, the same thing happened the following night. Then one of the zones started showing that it was open, when it was clearly closed. That door has both an old wired door close sensor, as well as a new Ring wireless contact sensor. So it's easy to see the mismatch as the wireless sensor showed open/close, and the wired sensor never registered the close. Testing the zone with a continuity tester confirmed 2K resistance across the circuit, so there was clearly a mismatch between the real-time state of the zone, and what the retrofit kit was showing. I contacted support, and my first experience was exceptional. They passed me through to level 2 support after asking some basic questions. The level 2 support tech had me test the resistance across all of my zones, and I found that one of the zones had a strange reading. The tech had me leave that zone out, and told me the retrofit kit voltage readings were now looking normal - that must have been it. Only it wasn't. A few days later, the same problems showed up again. I called support, but this time got stuck with level 1 support asking for pictures of my closed door, and asking for all of the details I had previously supplied. I mentioned that I had already submitted all of this, but was told "there are many tickets, I can't find this one." After wasting about an hour on the phone with the level 1 tech, she finally managed to submit the escalation to level 2, but this time I was told it would take 24-48 hours to hear back. About 36 hours later, a technician finally called me back, but I wasn't near the home, so I was told to email him an hour before I got there, and he'd give me a call. It's 48 hours later, and still no call. I decided to perform a bit more troubleshooting myself, moving each zone so that none shared a common, and taking the two zones that were misbehaving and moving them to a different terminal in the retrofit box. Unfortunately, that did not fix the problem. These zones were working perfectly when they were connected to the original security system just a few weeks back, and now they're completely faulty. Here's the crazy thing - I ordered two of these devices, for two different locations. One location is just non-stop false alarms and odd behavior, and the other location is working perfectly (1 week in).

I have/had a Guardian Security alarm system with 5 wired zones connected into a Honeywell Vista 20P control panel. It took me several hours to figure out what wire went to what zone, and how to connect it all. I'm sharing this in the hopes it helps others out there with a similar dilemma. It works great once you know what to do! I connected 4 wired doors and 1 wired motion sensor to my new Ring Security system with this retrofit kit. In hindsight, had I known, I probably would have saved myself hours of trouble tinkering with things and trying to get the power to work (it wasn't being monitored, so I had to figure it all out on my own), and ultimately just not messed with the wired motion sensor and have just put a wireless one up. This is because, (after the fact) I figured out that (in my case) ONLY the wired motion sensor needed to be connected to the Honeywell control panel, and required connection to a power outlet and backup. To make that a bit clearer, all 4 doors only had 2 wires (a black & a red wire) which BOTH connected into the retrofit kit. They don't require power. The motion sensor DOES require power to work - (it has 4 wires: green/white to retrofit, and black & red to control panel for power). For the motion sensor, this means it requires power through the transformer (plug) AND a battery backup. (My battery backup had died, so I ordered another on Amazon, and got a scary-defective one. The first one I bought I noticed it was warm and made a sizzling sound like the acid was boiling inside! Amazon refunded me and I ordered another replacement and it's working fine - just sharing because that was scary and I didn't know it was a possibility/risk. All good now.) After labeled all the wires, I connected the four doors to zones 1-4 (red/connector to the zone, and the black goes to their respective common terminals). Zone 5 is my motion sensor - so the red & black go to terminals 4 & 5 (respectively) on the Vista 20P control panel, and the green goes to designate zone 5, where the white goes to the common shared by zones 5&6. The other thing to note about the motion sensor / detector is how ring 'sees' it. It thinks it's a door. You can label it whatever you want, but it's either open (motion is sensed) or closed (no motion detected). No big deal, just worth noting for those who didn't think motion sensors could work with the Ring system... it can. See photos for screenshot showing it's connected, and it's current status of closed/no motion. I took painstaking efforts to keep things straight and to label things, and to provide photos. I'm NOT a technical person and have never done anything like this before. I was able to figure it out with a lot of frustration and stubbornness, and hope my pictures help others figure theirs out. Overall, we love our new system and are enjoying having wired and wireless devices connected. If this helped you, let me know with a thumbs up. Good luck!

This review is for the Ring Retrofit Kit only. Other components of the Ring Alarm System are reviewed elsewhere. I decided to install the Ring Retrofit kit to replace the legacy alarm system that came with my home. My original system had 20+ alarm circuits. I installed two retrofit kits to transfer 16 of the existing circuits to a new Ring Alarm system. This was a very doable DIY project. It will help if you have a clear understanding of your existing system. Find the wiring diagram for your old system and study it. Take lots of photos and label everything. It helps if you make sure all of your alarm circuits are working BEFORE you do the retrofit. I needed to replace two of the magnetic sensors in my windows before I could attempt the retrofit. You use the Ring app to add circuits one at a time. Disconnect the circuit from the existing system, and then connect the wires into the Ring Retrofit module. I needed to add extra length to most of the circuit wires, so you might need a spool of alarm wire, and some wire connectors to complete the circuit. Once the circuit is connected, the app will ask you to open and close the associated window/door for testing. Repeat the process for each sensor circuit that you add. Traditional alarm systems include a resistor in the circuit in order to detect tampering. My system had the resistors in the alarm box, so I could just reconnect the existing wires to the retrofit kit. A lot of reviewers are concerned about the need for resistors. My reading of the Ring documents seem to indicate that any wiring arrangement will work with the retrofit kit (resistor or not), as long as there is not a short circuit or broken wire. PROS: The retrofit kit allows you to use the existing sensors in your home. This not only saves money, but it also gives a “cleaner” look to your home when you don’t have to have clunky wireless sensors attached to each window and door. This is a project that a homeowner with a reasonable wiring knowledge can do alone. Save the cost of professional installation. Very reliable system. I’ve had zero problems after six months. There really aren’t any other options for retrofitting an older alarm system. Ring is about the only one out there. CONS: You can’t connect wired motion detectors or smoke/fire detectors to this system. Ring sells alternative devices for this, but it would be nice if you could use the devices that are already wired into your house. Each retrofit kit only supports 8 alarm circuits. I installed two retrofit kits for my system, but I really needed three. It would be nice if they was a larger capacity kit with more circuits. The retrofit modules are battery powered only. Ring claims the batteries will last years, and my batteries still show full charge after six months. However, it would be nice if you could power the modules directly, and avoid the cost and hassle of battery replacement. I was able to use the power in my old alarm system to power my new Ring keypads using the existing wiring in the walls. This isn’t an option with the retrofit kit. No Siri/ Homekit integration. Ring devices only work with Alexa. If you’re a HomeKit user, you’re out of luck. However the Ring app is very useable. This hasn’t been a problem for me.