ADT vs Other Alarms

Interesting. I believe you have to kind of know what your doing with wiring, etc for Adruino. One thing to also keep in mind, ADT will lock you into a contract. There are pro’s and con’s to different systems, so it’s an individual preference.

Although I am quite a technical guy and have worked with Arduino before (with a 3D printer), we are moving into a new house and there are a TON of projects on my mind.

While in the future I would maybe consider a setup like that, for now I want to keep it relatively simple.

I would rather spend a few hundred dollars initially than have it be a complex setup OR get locket into a 3 year, $58/month contract.

Eg SimpliSafe is $900 for 3 years, ADT would be $2088. That is over $1k saved, so a little extra on setup is OK…

My contract is up. Wiring was really easy.

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I have been using ATT Digital life for the past 2 years. I liked it best because it offers basic call center monitoring and remote management (Wifi & GSM) at a lower price than most competitors (eg ADT) and gives me $'s off my home insurance.

Finally I integrated it with Smartthings last weekend using a PI3 as a server (see below). I am still testing but it looks very promising… You can see the status of all open/close sensors in Smartthings and can set the alarm to home/stay/away. There is also integration with SHM that is very useful (just in case SHM ever works again reliably)

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@bago, am I reading this correctly that the ADT sensors can appear is ST at the same time they continue to be used by Pulse? (I’m about to bring up a second hub at our primary home which has ADT Pulse at present and this might be a good migration path.)

Yes they can.

Alarm Server

Requires some additional hardware, but no doubling up of sensors.

Any other solutions besides running a server with ADT and a rig up solution with double sensors for SimpliSafe?

The Arduino doesn’t require a server.

Ok, I meant a seperate board to carry out commands. Are there any other solutions besides ADT with a Arduino or double sensors on SimpliSafe.

Att digital life with a raspberry pi (or other Linux) server

As far as I know, ADT doesn’t make alarm systems. I moved into a house that previously had ADT service, but the alarm was actually DSC hardware. There are a number of threads on how to integrate with DSC or Honeywell alarms which is probably what you actually have. Assuming that’s accurate, you’ll wind up having to choose between buying an Envisalink or AD2PI device, wiring it to your panel and then connecting it to your home network and using a raspberry pi running software that will bridge messaging between the alarm panel and the SmartThings API.

Personally, I’m using an Envisalink with @Xero’s alarmserver fork running on a pi. The company that makes Envisalink (Eyez-On) does offer monitoring service on the cheap (like $9/mo?) but I haven’t used it yet and can’t speak to the service.

Yep, ADT doesn’t really make alarms - they just install DSC’s and change the installer code to something else to make your life a living hell (LOL) but you can find the typical codes they use on the net so it’s not the end of the world…haha. Swapping one DSC board with another is also a pretty easy job so if the board is slightly older, you can upgrade it without too much hassle if you’re not afraid of re-programming the new board. It’s maybe an hour or two of work at most.

it’s not 100% guaranteed that you have a DSC though, i imagine what you get with ADT depends largely on the area and what they’re currently offering…

If you have a DSC or honeywell panel, there’s already existing integrations into smartthings, you just need to buy an EVL-3 or EVL-4, assuming you have the right panel type…The best part about that is the envisalink device DOES come with full call center alarm monitoring service, if you pay extra for it, and it’s quite cheap. Like under $10 cheap, and fully accredited, you’ll get your insurance discounts for it.

For ST integrations, my alarm integration covers DSC only, but there’s honeywell ones out there as well. The nice thing about this route is you can have both, which it sounds like is exactly what you want. I have yet to try their alarm service either, but I likely will once I’ve stabilized my system a bit more (i’m always testing it out as part of my development, I don’t wanna send the police here just yet, lol)

Also, I bet this is your cheapest option by far. The EVL device is like $70-90, and if your alarm is compatible, that’s all you need. If your alarm isn’t compatible, an entire DSC PC1864 v4.6 kit, which comes with alarm keypad, alarm system board, metal enclosure, battery, transformer, and wireless remote, and siren, is like, $120 or less, I’ve seen it as cheap as $50-80 for the board alone, and that’s often all you’d need to replace all the existing stuff you have with an up-to-date system that can be used with EVL-4 and ST. You can re-use all the hard-wired sensors as-is. Only wireless sensors are an issue, if the old system wasn’t DSC, but most old systems don’t have wireless sensors at all…Needless to say, you could have an entire DSC system with ST integration for less than say $200-250, and the monthly fee would be like $8/month for monitoring. But you will have to do some of the work yourself, if you’re up for it.

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In my neighborhood, the cops will come if the alarm goes off, no matter if we give the security password or not.

So a system with false alarms is not an option.

Again, I am not looking for something complex, and if the only real option is complex, I will just use SimpliSafe or ADT I guess…

I would not use ADT under any circumstances. I pay $105 per quarter ($35 per month) to a local alarm monitoring company with no long-term contract. The service a local, independent monitoring company provides is identical to ADT, except for the price. Definitely shop around.

Any local alarm company can come to your house and swap out the control board in your existing panel for one that communicates to their monitoring system. Since you already own the equipment, definitely ask if they’ll toss in a few free months of monitoring or something.

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Do the local guys offer any kind of Smart integration, or basically just remote arm/disarm?

Probably best to contact “the local guys” to get the best answer.

i wouldn’t exactly call it a system with false alarms - do remember ADT is installing DSC panels half the time. I only meant in regards to my own testing, most people aren’t doing what I am doing. Like installing various device types on to my panel and testing my code against the various alarm states - normal, non-developers, aren’t doing that kind of thing. I do it myself, so you don’t have to, kinda thing.

If you aren’t looking to DIY - then it’s a lot harder to save money. Unless you could find an independent alarm installer who isn’t going to try and bundle you into their own service plan kinda thing…

but seriously - just get a local guy to install a system like i mentioned and you would be good to go with only $8/month fees.

My local alarm company uses Alarm.com for remote monitoring, arm/disarm, and user codes. The Alarm.com iOS and web apps are pretty great.

I have Alarm.com set to email a Gmail account with IFTTT whenever the system arms/disarms so I can track that in ST (albeit on a 15 min delay). When the system arms Away, ST runs my Goodbye HHA. Works as a backup to iPhone presence, or for when we have a house sitter or other guests.

You can set up quite complex rules for alerts for individual users. We have it set to push a notification when our dog walker arms and disarms the system. Alarm.com also has a bunch of Home Automation features too, but we don’t use those and I believe they cost extra.

Anyway… It all starts with calling the local alarm company.

I have DSC, a dialer, an x-link, and an old flip phone with a pay as you go cell plan from Kitty Wireless. Costs me $40 a year…yeah, a year. The dialer calls on either a fire or burglar activation. Calls 4 phone numbers, 4 times, playing a recording. Calls me, then each of my daughter’s, then my sister in law. Each has the ability to check the Blink cameras to check for an issue.