Our house that we’re buying comes with ADT pre-installed by the previous owners. It doesn’t look like anything fancy or new but they have door sensors, window sensors, motion detectors and a keypad. I’m wondering if there’s any way I can modify these things to work with my Smartthings or incorporate them into my smart home setup. It would be such a waste to not use them since they’re already there. I’m just not sure exactly what I can do with them.
Sure, you’ll just need an external sensor (and compatible DTH) which can accept wired inputs NC and/or NO and then notify ST.
For example, the Monoprice 15270 Z-Wave Door/Window Sensor which has a terminal for external wiring and can be configured to be used as a N/C or N/O with this DTH [RELEASE] Official Monoprice Z-Wave Plus Sensor Door/Window/Mailbox Open/Close Sensor (Recessed/Mounted - 15268/15270/24259) with External Trigger Option and Tamper Device Handler
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Honestly I didn’t understand a lot of what you wrote. Haha. Maybe I’ve been a way too long.
What do you think of Konnected? I’m thinking this might be my best bet for integrating the existing system into my smartthings setup once we move in.
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No sweat. Let me try a different way. The Monoprice Sensor has 2 terminals to which you can attach the wires from the existing sensors. In fact we have a large range of wired sensors in our labs here hooked up to the Monoprice sensors (one Monoprice Sensor per wired Sensor). When the wired sensor triggers, it triggers the Monoprice zwave sensor which tells ST that an event happened (open or close).
The N/C and N/O refer to the type of wired sensors. N/C is normally closed and N/O is normally open. It just depends on how your sensor is configured to work. You just set this option in the DTH and it takes care of the rest. Best way to find out the configuration if you don’t know is to experiment. Set it to N/C and if the notifications are coming in reverse, set to N/O. That’s it.
I don’t don’t have personal experience with Konnected but I believe it operates on the same principles and it seems to have good reviews
Sometimes when moving into an existing house it is wired with hidden wired sensors which are better and more reliable to reuse than sticking on external sensors which aren’t as accurate and don’t look nice. This where using a sensor like the Monoprice with the external contacts terminals for external wired sensors or Konnected really shine.
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Depending on the model of the alarm panel, you may be able to integrate it directly. A couple of companies make devices that speak to some of the older, not so fancy ADT installs, which can then be added to ST. I know the Ademco Vista 20p can be made to work with ST, and that’s an older panel that ADT used quite a bit. I’ve also seen threads with working DSC integrations. You’ll need to look inside the metal alarm box to find the model of the panel. The benefit of keeping the current system intact is that you can continue to use the existing keypad, and could still have professional monitoring if you want.
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Get in touch with @heythisisnate or his team at Konnected.io and describe your current setup (especially the wired portion…) in as much detail as you can - and they’ll let you know if their product is a good fit for you.
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Hi @Heather_A, Konnected was designed with exactly this use case in mind. Let me know if you have any questions about it.
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Yep, you will get set up with Konnected. I was in the same boat but my panel was a DSC model with 28 pre-wired sensor. Was able to get them into SmartThings and use each just as any other “thing” in SmartThings. The really cool part was, by using my actual alarm panel, I did not have the exit delay issue in SHM or the “what if the internet breaks” issue. I also have professional monitoring and a more reliable security system. This is all included in my SmartThings setup so you are definitely thinking on the right track!
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Thank you!!
Hey Rontalley!
If i use Konnected, can i use my alarm system too?
I mean i am building my house and i will have normal alarm system what i want to use.
But I have wired sensors (windows) what i want to monitor with smartthings.
Can i use both?
Both use my normal alarm system and monitor with smartthings?