"Modifying" my home security system

Projects General Guidance
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So we've lived in our house for 5 years. We bought it new and it came with a GE NetworX NX-8V2 security system installed. We've never activated it. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I realized that the box with the brains for the unit probably already has all the wiring for door and window switches connected, it's just not turned on.

This afternoon I "encouraged" the box to open (since it's locked with a key that they apparently don't give the home owner) and found my suspicions were correct. Everything was hooked up and ready to go except for a single wire with a cap labeled "AC." I connected that and now I've got a functioning security system, albeit without any off-site monitoring.

Which brings me to my plan: there's really no reason to keep this archaic security system around with it's cryptic keypad commands and ugly wall-mounted boxes when I can do pretty much everything it does now, plus add functionality these guys won't have for years, right now today with an Arduino. The hard part of getting wires to every nook and cranny of the house has already been done (all the first-floor windows and doors have magnetic switches that trigger when opened). Stuff like:

  • Replace the arm/disarm keypad with a thumb print scanner
  • Send a text message if a door opens
  • Call 911 via a telephony API like Twilio
  • Record motion detector movement over time and log it
  • Default to using the internet connection for reporting and fall back to a GSM shield for data or calls
  • Integrate with 3rd party services like Dropcam that give you DVR-like recording of video cameras

The list never ends. Has anyone done this already?

I'm not looking for bank-level security of the house, just something for a little piece of mind (and a fun project).

And a rant: why is the security system industry still in business? That's an area of technology that seems ripe for the picking for someone like Nest (now Google) to come in and completely blow away everything else that exists. These guys have been living off 20 year old technology and people just keep paying them $40/month for it.

Anyone want to start a new company with me?

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[quote author=Rob Cameron link=topic=213947.msg1566486#msg1566486 date=1390940062]
Call 911 via a telephony API like Twilio[/quote]Your local Law Enforcement Agency won't be too pleased about all the false alarms during your setup and testing period.

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Many of us had the same idea. Some have implemented it.
You can start with something simple, like logging a temperature to a website.

I think it is illegal in my country to call an emergency number with an automated system.

It's true, the list never ends: gas sensors, rain sensors, pressure mats, soil moisture sensors, solar panel power.

At this moment I am able to to sent an mail for a certain event.
http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/Email
I recently bought a legal phone number caller, but that is not yet connected. By the way, it is also illegal in my country to connect home-made things to the phoneline.

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Caltoa:
I recently bought a legal phone number caller, but that is not yet connected. By the way, it is also illegal in my country to connect home-made things to the phone line.

I fancy it still is here, but amidst the absolute farce of Chinese (and arguably other) clearly sub-standard imports over the last 20 or more years, I think this has pretty much "gone by the board"!

Caltoa:
I think it is illegal in my country to call an emergency number with an automated system.

Pretty much. That is what you are paying the monitoring service for - they come around and investigate. The Police certainly do not want to. (It's bad enough when you call them yourself.)

Regards the OP: There is a fair likelihood the unit is 8051-based with an EPROM; in which case I would start by disassembling the code for the hardware as it stands and modifying nothing unless there is a good reason.