Chuango OV-300 Home Alarm System
I had been using a previous Chuango product for the last 8 years and after the base station started malfunctioning, I decided to upgrade to the lastest version of their home alarm system. I completely replaced the base station, 10 window sensors, one wireless keypad as well as two internal sirens. All of this for the great price of just 254 EUR.
I originally had not planned to stick with this chinese “no name” system and did some research online looking at systems from Ring, Gigaset as well as Abus. All of these systems were either too expensive for my needs or lacked features / hid features behind a subscription paywall. After checking the features presented on the chuango website, I decided to try out this very affordable system.
A great DIY alarm system with a lot of features for a great price
After 8 years the existing door / window sensors as well as the external keypad had yellowed quite a bit and even though they still all worked just fine, I decided to replace them. So here is what I got:
- OV-300 base station
- 9x DWC-102 Door/Window sensors
- 2x WS-105 internal sirens
- 1x KP-700 wireless keypad
The main features of this system are:
- Very easy to install / you can do it by yourself
- Easy operation through a mobile app with many functions such as: On/Off Schedules, different rooms and zones etc.
- Automated notifications to your mobile phone when an alert happens
- You can add up to 50 sensors as well as 10 remote controls
- Voice commands for Alexa and Siri
- Share access to the alarm system to other family members via the app
- Removable batteries in case of a power outage
- Integrates into your WIFI system
Very easy installation
After connecting the base station to power, just open the app, (which has the weird name “Dreamcatcher Live”), register your user and hit the “+” button and the base station will automatically be recognized and added. There are a bunch of tutorials available on https://www.chuango.de just in case.
How to add sensors
You can then easily add sensors to your system. Just by hitting the “+” button in the app and by manually triggering a sensor, it is automatically added to the system where you can then rename it or assign it to a room of your liking. Even my 8 year old sensors are still supported and I could add them without issues.
Cover your ears !
The volume of the base stations internal siren can be set to “low” and “high” as well as “mute”. At the “high” setting, it creates an ear piercing noise which in my opinion is already loud enough to scare off any burglar. In connection with the optional 90db wireless internal siren, of which we have installed two around the house, the noise that goes off when the alarm is triggered is almost uncomfortable, even to my old 50+ year old ears. It’s a good idea to set the alarm temporarily to “mute” while you are installing the sensors, otherwise you might drive everyone in the house crazy…..
Daily usage
We installed a wireless keypad just next to our main door where everyone who is leaving or entering can easily input a 4 digit code in order to arm/disarm the system. You can also use an optional RFID tag to disarm the system without entering a code manually.
The system has 3 basic modes:
- Disarm – all sensors are disarmed
- Arm – all sensors are armed
- Home arm – all sensors, except the ones in the “home” zone, are armed
The arm/disarm function can of course also be done easily via the mobile App.
The app also allows you to set automated schedules that govern at which time the system is automatically armed or disarmed. Other alarm systems provide this at an extra fee / subscription, so it’s great that Chuango provides this at no extra costs right out of the box.
Zones
The App also allows you to define different zones. You can for example set a “home” zone that contains a motion sensor which will only be activated when the system is “arm” mode. When in “home arm” mode, the zone “home” can be excluded, therefore ensuring that you can walk around the house with the motion sensor in “off” mode while the door / window sensors are still active. You can also apply this logic to the optionally available webcam.
All in all this is a great system at a fantastic price point which can be installed in minutes and provides great functionality. I’m very happy with it and can only recommend it.
Chuango also provides another base station (LTE-400) which includes a SIM card option that allows the sending of notifications even when no WIFI is available.
