Alarm.com and Smart Things

Howdy forum. First time caller, long time listener. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from these forums, and i’m generally pretty handy when it comes to finding information and putting it to good use. For example, i’ve used this forum to pair chamberlain garage door, pair a really moody front door lock, and pair the most annoying blind controller i’ve ever had to deal with. I’ve used the forum to put in approximately 30 z-wave switches, some in a 4-way configurations and all is well with the world.

Now that my little league coaching football season is over, i’m finding myself with some free time and a growing desire to tackle an annoyance i have. Our home alarm system is controlled through Alarm.com, while my DIY smart devices (switches, outlets, etc) are controlled through smart things. It was an evolution, and i’m now to the point where i want to have a single controller to get all of these things to work together, instead of uniquely separate and all by themselves without abandoning the great smart things.

I could, i suppose, just unpair all of these devices with smart things and spend time repairing with alarm.com - but that horrifies me because of the lack of support, and amazing community that exists with smart things. (i tried calling alarm.com tech support on this topic, but gave up after about 40 minutes of waiting).

So, my simple questions: Is there a world where i can control / integrate / keep my Smartthings ecosystem with my Alarm.com ecosystem?

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Short answer: not really.

Long answer: you can see what other people have done by using the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki and looking at project reports for “security”.

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section

But it’s going to depend very much on exactly which brand and model of zwave controller you are using. Alarm.com itself is a service, it’s not the hardware. There are many different control panel Devices that can be used with it. And each has different features when it comes to integration. So you would need to know which of your current devices is the Z wave controller for your alarm.com service and then get the brand and model number off the back of that.

Then you should look for specific threads on that controller. If it’s frontpoint, there’s one set of challenges, if it’s two gig there’s another.

If you happen to have a controller/service which allows for IFTTT integration, that’s almost always the simplest method although it will be limited in features.

thank you. i’ll continue my research.

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I’ve hoped for Alarm.com integration since I started with ST. It just isn’t there unless you have an older DSC panel. The newer touchscreen Qolsys panels won’t integrate through hardware. Our best bet is for Alarm.com to open up their API to IFTTT or ST. Send them a suggestion email. Hopefully they start listening one day.

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OMG you’re my hero. This works well! Is the lack of Disarm your choice or a lack of a URI to send?

my choice… I guess I could make it an optional thing…

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I’d love to have the option. I gave it a shot and doesn’t seem to be working.

edit: Got it working now, had to uninstall and reinstall for it to run createSwitches. Thanks again!

You Sir, are my hero!!!
+1 for the OPTION to enable a Disarm button & make it visible.

Just added all of this as per your post & it is all fully functional!!!

AN ABSOLUTE, MEGA HUGE THANKS!

J

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Very nice! Great work! Thank you!

Am going to try to integrate with Alexa (Echo)

Echo supports only “Arm Stay” through the “Alexa Skills”

My guess is that connecting Echo through Smartthings will also allow for “Arm Away”

Will let you know.

I would also like the “Disarm” option

Hi @schwark

Does you device code / app code do real-time / 2-way updates, in other words if the alarm is armed through the web/store app/fob does the app reflect that in some way? If not, is there some way to implement that?

I took a look your source code, and notice you are using the PDA option. I’m no code slinger, especially not groovy, but I did find a reference to the method you are using almost 2 years ago [so long ago, I cannot even recall where anymore!] & wondered at the time if this can be adapted for ST. In a very round-about way I’m saying that this method almost looks like a “back-door” / “long forgotten” Alarm.com implementation, and I hope they do not shut this avenue down for us.

Again, my thanks
J

I’ve modified schwark1d’s code at GitHub - schwark/smartthings-alarmcom: SmartThings Integration with alarm.com
It now includes the ability to create a Disarm button as well.

Modify the smart app as follows:

private def getCommands() {

def COMMANDS = [
‘ARMSTAY’: [‘params’: [‘ctl00$phBody$butArmStay’:‘Arm Stay’, ‘ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionSilent’: settings.silent?‘on’:‘’, ‘ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionNoEntryDelay’: settings.nodelay?‘on’:‘’], ‘name’: ‘Arm Stay’],
‘ARMAWAY’: [‘params’: [‘ctl00$phBody$butArmAway’:‘Arm Away’, ‘ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionSilent’: settings.silent?‘on’:‘’, ‘ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionNoEntryDelay’: settings.nodelay?‘on’:‘’], ‘name’: ‘Arm Away’],
‘ARMDISARM’: [‘params’: [‘ctl00$phBody$butDisarm’:‘Disarm’, ‘ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionSilent’: settings.silent?‘on’:‘’, ‘ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionNoEntryDelay’: settings.nodelay?‘on’:‘’], ‘name’: ‘Disarm’]
]

return COMMANDS

I added the ARMDISARM line.
I do not know if the paramaters ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionSilent': settings.silent?'on':'', 'ctl00$phBody$cbArmOptionNoEntryDelay': settings.nodelay?'on' are required but it successfully Disarms my alarm now as well.

If you have the original code installed, remove all buttons added, make the code mods, save/update, and add the smart app back. After the delay there will be 3 instead of 2 buttons now. Happy Disarming now as well.

J

I got that request on another thread, and added that to the code as an option on the smartapp… Just be careful though - if you integrate your smartthings with Alexa, someone can disarm your system just by asking alexa from the outside to disarm… :slight_smile:

You could always change “Disarm” to “Blathering Blatherskite”

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Yeah. Not. I can see myself 5:45AM - Stumbling around, cursing at the top of my lungs: “Blathering Blatherskite”, followed quickly by divorce, depression and then death… :scream:

J

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Very excited to try this.

Wow! It worked. that’s incredible. Thank you so much.

I read a note on the instructions that suggests its default set to silent arming. I just tested it out, and while it did indeed arm, it didn’t silently arm. Any ideas?

What are the chances this would evolve to also link the devices linked to that alarm controller?

Does anyone have this working with the routines that are built in to smart things app?

Yes! They are working perfect! What you would like to know?

Did you have to do anything special to make them work? I can arm/disarm from the smart things app, but doing the routines does nothing with the alarm.com app