Alarm.com and Smart Things

Devices & Integrations
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167

Still having trouble getting the new code working. I’ve removed everything related to the alarm switches from SmartThings and elsewhere, followed all the instructions for upgrading from a previous version and even set up github integration, but it’s still not working properly, even after several attempts. The switches show up in SmartThings but nothing happens when they are triggered. I can see in the Alarm.com history that the SmartApp is successfully logging in, but the commands aren’t being executed. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for the efforts to get this working again.

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For those who are looking to switch the DTH and SmartApp from manual copy / paste in each version to a git based update and publish, I put together a small step-by-step tutorial to take you through the steps.

How to link Schwark’s alarm.com existing code with git

Following this tutorial should (no warranties or support) get you moved to the new code without having to remove the DTH switches and SmartApp you are currently running as opposed to going about it the first time around. I did this because I wanted to avoid breaking all my integrations that are reliant on this code just in order to recreate them again. It worked fine for me and all dependencies are preserved. Your mileage may vary.

It would seem that there are quite a few frequent updates on the dev side to make the code compatible with the new alarm.com interface that warranted a move the development to a more automated version pulling method we are used to seeing in other integrations. Using this integration, the code would flag purple in the IDE when a new version is committed to git.

Special thanks to @schwark, @bumpaneer, @adrian97c and probably many others working behind the scenes to getting us all into a steady state soon.

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169

Great post @smurf … I had already re-did all my intergrations when I started testing his new builds. This would’ve been very helpful! I’m sure this will help others!

Thx for the shout out, but Def kudos to the ‘man with the plan’ @schwark for not giving up without a fight! Although still some tweaking before we get stability w/ the calls, I’d like to buy this man a beer or 12! Hopefully at some point he can provide a Patereon or PayPal link for well deserved tip$!

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170

Despite the integration code changing nowadays - the basic functionality of arm (stay/away) and disarm is most of what you can glean from alarm.com. At least today. I found a way around it by looking for devices that communicate with both and using them as a proxy. I did so in a previous post with a pair of Mimo relays for arm/disarm but needed a way to go more granular in status and buying a farm of dual-relays for each notification was simply not feasible.

Finally found a way around it and happy to report here:

I use the Lutron plug-in dimmer for that purpose. It is linked to alarm.com via the Lutron integration capability and obviously linked to Smartthings as well.

Now I can have alarm.com relay ‘messages’ to Smartthings via automation rules. This obviously requires you having the Lutron hub and lutron integration to alarm.com enabled in your setup so a bit of an edge case for some.

e.g. set a rule on SmartThings as an example in your case:

  1. In Alarm.com - Add a new Lutron automation rule
  2. Condition is: Any intrusion sensor
  3. Action is: dim dimmer plug to 100% (I don’t have anything actually plugged into this module. It is located in my closet next to my alarm control module)

Then on SmartThings, use the automation of your choice - e.g. Simple rules, Core, WebCore or other to respond and actuate anything you want when the Lutron dimmer plug is at 100%. In my case, I both turn on all lights and sending some notifications beyond what alarm.com is doing plus triggering several other events that are on the ST side.

A complement rule is dimming the plug to 5% (careful 0% is off and some rules don’t fire correctly) when system is disarmed so that the change in levels is detected correctly.

Now that you get the gist, you can get far more granular with a dimmer than you were able to do with a switch or a relay - you can basically go and create individual sensor rules if you’d like for example:

Front door sensor --> Dim to to 10%
Rear motion detctor --> Dim to to 15%
Smoke alarm --> Dim to to 20%
Any Intrusion Detection --> Dim to 100%
etc.

This way, on smartthings you can react to more granular events based on what the levels change to. Remember to reset back to 1% after you react in ST to ensure subsequent event trigger appropriately.

I already had a Lutron hub so the addition of the $45 plug-in module to serve solely as a communication protocol was a no-brainer. Hope this helps others on this forum who asked for back-flow communications from alarm.com to ST.

Having said that, from what I see in the current Schwark updates and the type of changes alarm.com made to their web interface, it may as well be that the integration can be further elaborated to directly scrape various events but my method definitely works pretty well in the interim.

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171

Hello,

Is anyone else experiencing if the arm it through Smartthings then disarm by the panel it still shows as armed in Smartthings?

Thanks!

Also @schwark thanks for everything!

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172

I second that. That’s all I use Arm Stay, so after updating the code, it didn’t work at all. I finally tried Arm Away and Disarm and it worked. Can anyone confirm if the Arm Stay is working? That is all I use because I have a dog at home.

173

I got it working by turning off “Use Silent Arming”. Ironically, it still arms silently. I double checked and if I turn on that setting it does not arm (does not show on the alarm.com log either)

image
image.png480×704 40.1 KB

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175

Wait how do you have lutron connecting to alarm.com (are we talking the actual alarm.com website or integration through ST?)

176

Actual alarm.com - they support Lutron integration. It’s been around for a while now but is a backend integration.
Your dealer should be able to enable it upon request and voila you can control your Lutron devices from the alarm.com web site and mobile app (but not the panel).

Screenshot:

2018-03-05_20-59-40

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177

@darrenph1 - Dealer view of the world: http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/Caseta_and_Alarm.com_Setup_Guide.pdf

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178

I’m not finding this through my portal. Wondering if its my dealer. I’m with Link Interactive. I have opened a ticket with them to see.

EDIT: They enabled it!!! Awesome Thank you!!!

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180

ArmStay is working for me. I have mine set up in such a way that I tell alexa “goodnight” and she actives the “arm stay” switch for me. Works great.

181

Did you ever figure this out? even with “use no delay” not selected in the Arm Away setting, it is arming immediately without a delay like you would if arming it from the panel

182

I’m still suffering from hit or miss commands. Sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn’t. Hopefully when he gets free time he can keep chipping away at it. I’d say the app works 78% of the time for me.

183

Same here. After using it for a few days now, I am also have hit or miss performance. Thankfully more hits than misses.

184

The only way to set this up is using a virtual momentary switch with a smart app or something like a WebCore piston. You could have Alexa activate the virtual switch and then the smart app could wait a set period of time and then arm the away switch.

185

None of these are working for me. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled and it still doesn’t work. Anybody else having the same issues? Is there a timeframe as to when this might be fixed?

Thanks!

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For those who are suffering from uneven performance of the arm / disarm functions - here is what I uncovered to date:

  1. If you set the ‘Use Bypass Sensors’ to on in the Arm Away switch settings --> It will not work

  2. The switches work in toggle mode - which means if any is on and you set it off, it will just actuate the function again - for example - Arm Away = On. Switch to Off and it will attempt an Arm Away command again

  3. If you build a small webcore piston that toggles any of the switches 2-3 times with a 2 second delay between each toggle, you get 100% accuracy - at least in the last couple of days that I’ve been testing it

To address this, I ended up creating three new simulated switches:

2Arm Away, 2Arm Stay, 2Disarm

Upon turning any of these ‘On’, I execute a webcore piston that repeats sending the actual Arm (or disarm) switches a toggle action, waits 2 seconds, toggles it again, waits 2 seconds, toggle for the third time and then turns the corresponding simulated switch back to off (just for convenience).

So far works every time for each of these simulated switches

A bit of a hack but the way I understand it from Schwark’s updates is that there are some timeout issues occuring between the SmartThings servers and the alarm.com servers where if you actuate the switch several times, it will do the right thing.

Hope this helps.

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187

Also Similar to above, but without webCoRE (for all those like me who can’t figure it out), you can create 3 new automations right inside ST app, I named mine “disarm backup, Arm stay backup, etc.” each time arm,disarm, gets triggered my backup automatons trigger them a 2nd time… doing this works 100% of time during this past week. Thx to Schwark for the tip!

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188

Hey @adrian97c
What are you using to do this? I can see how to do it his with webcore but I can’t think of a way without it.
Thank you.

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