This might not be the place for this but I feel like someone here should know.
I moved into a new house recently and there's a whole security system, infrared scanners, alarms on all the doors and windows, glass break detectors everywhere. When we open a door or window there's a little chirp so something is working, but I'm curious if anyone knows if I can rewire this somehow or get a new panel so that I can actually set an alarm and stuff.
Yeah, it's just for remote monitoring. But if it's not connected, it will probably always show communication errors on the panel above. Sometimes you can get away with using a telephone line emulator like a Magic Jack (sometimes not, it's hit or miss).
I rented a place that had a slightly newer honeywell/ademco system (that was no longer in use) and was able to get it running locally with a Magic Jack. I programmed my cell as the monitoring company. So if it went off, I would get a call from that # and know it was an alarm. The downside to that was it keep calling over, and over, and over. Making it difficult for you to call the police (found that out the hard way).