KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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more on comment on Resideo's Lyric panel goes dark leaving dealers high and dry
June 29, 2026
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more on comment on Resideo's Lyric panel goes dark leaving dealers high and dry from article on June 2, 2026
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Ken
Bart Didden wrote a great brief and his comments were bang-on. But Bart being Bart could have left the last sentence out of the discussion. All the best and thank you Ken (and Bart as well).
Ivan Spector
Alarme Sentinelle
Montréal, QC
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another comment
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Ken,
Thank you for keeping this conversation going.
I think the situation with the Lyric panels still deserves a little more attention because it foreshadows what I believe that we can all expect is the future of our industry.
First, the truth is that Lyric panels didn’t “quit working” or “go dark” as some are screaming. Lyric is still monitoring homes and businesses just fine and without issue. The Lyric did however loose a feature that is more critical to some companies than it is to others. They lost the ability to be remotely serviced or programmed, and if taken offline, they can no longer be re-activated. They must be replaced.
This means that dealers will have to either walk customers through programming changes on the phone or physically go on-site to service them. And while dealers do often try to avoid service calls by giving away free remote help, we can all bill for our service time (and we should).
So what is causing all of this? To over-simplify the explanation, up until relatively recently (the last 10+ years), most of our alarm panels were static, analog devices. All they really required to operate was power, and a powered phone line (or cell communicator). But nothing was really Internet-Based, and not much ever changed unless a new product or firmware chip was released.
Fast forward to modern panels, and they are all internet based. Software constantly gets updated. Features constantly get added or changed. All of this puts mounting pressure on manufacturers to provide a single panel that gets constant updates like a cell phone. Fortunately, most of our industry wants the benefit that comes along with this, but unfortunately, most of us haven’t quite gotten into the headspace necessary to accept the consequences that this change will have on us. Frankly, this change means more rapid development of new products and more rapid obsolescence of older ones. We can no longer count on having a single product made for 30+ years like the Vista 15.
There is a reason that Apple only supports an iPhone for 6 years and Google supports Android for even less. There’s also a reason that the first Nest Cams, Google Thermostats, and other devices have stopped working and being supported. GE is out of service altogether. DSC quit supporting the Power Series.
It simply costs too much to support legacy products in today’s constantly changing world. People don’t want a basic security system anymore. They want a lifestyle piece of technology that handles security too. It’s also impossible to keep adding the new features that customers expect on legacy hardware which is frankly what Honeywell tried to do for too long and then fell behind for not advancing.
It’s true that our industry is changing more rapidly than ever before and it’s getting harder to keep up. But I am of the mindset that it’s a good thing.
Eric Widner, Chief Operating Officer
LOUD Security Systems
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another comment
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Ken
I use the phone analogy when explaining technology to customers. More time than not they understand how quickly things change.
Jason Alcock
Wayne Electric & Alarms
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another comment
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Ken;
I read with great interest the ongoing problems with Resideo Lyric. I can't say that I am surprised by "just one more bad business decision" by Resideo.
This wasn't the first screw up on their part. They had a combination "smoke/CO" detector that seemed like a great idea to keep the customer 's ceiling uncluttered. Sadly (and quite conveniently) many of the units went into a "low battery" condition after about 18+ months. Corporates' arrogant position on the problem was that the units were six months out of warranty. The units used four CR123 batteries that were supposed to last 10 years. I know several dealers who lost many thousands of dollars replacing them with two separate smoke and CO detectors at their own cost. Yes you could be hard nosed about it and tell the customer that the defective units were out of warranty, but that is bad for business and you are likely to lose the customer. And yet Resideo continued selling what they knew was a defective product. Not all of the units went bad, but it was enough of a percentage that they knew there was a problem.
Then of course was the 3G sunset debacle with the Lynx panels. The solution that they peddled was insert a firmware card into the wifi card slot, do the update and according to Resideo, it should only take about 10 minutes. I updated several of them, each one took the better part of 3 hours, only to find out that the panel died less than a month later. That was the last straw for me. I switched to another manufacturer that used the same frequency (345 Mhz) as the Honeywell/Resideo line, and I never looked back.
Honestly, I dont know how they have remained in business.
As always, I remain;
John from New Jersey
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Response
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Thanks to all for taking the time to share their information and advice
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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