Change Generic switch to Siren for SHM

Devices & Integrations
1

I am looking for a siren for Smart Home Monitor. I bought an Aeotec Get 5 Siren but don’t like any of the tones available.

My plan was to purchase a 12v siren and power supply and have SHM turn on the switch when the siren should be activated. However, the switch is just a generic switch and not listed as siren so I can’t select it in SHM under sirens.

If I log into smart things ide it appears that I can edit from a Generic Zwave smartthings to a zwave siren. Is this the recommended way to doing this?

2

Maybe not: IF you do that, SmartThings will still try to send the Alarm On Z-Wave command, which possibly won’t be accepted by a Z-Wave Switch (though it doesn’t hurt to try!).

The typical way is to make a copy of the Z-Wave Switch DTH from Source Code and add capability "Alarm" and copy the on()/off() Command methods name them per the definition of Alarm: both/off/siren/strobe…

http://docs.smartthings.com/en/latest/capabilities-reference.html#alarm

3

I was able to change the device type to zwave siren and confirmed it turns the device on off as expected. It also runs locally.

If I create a custom dth by copying and adding the above will that run locally as well?

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4

No… A custom DTH won’t run locally.

Luckily, your Siren works with the on/off commands in Z-Wave Siren DTH as you discovered.

5

Would changing the DTH cause any issues to the device itself? Overheat, malfunction, etc

6

In this example, very unlikely.

In the case of some ZigBee devices, perhaps… The wrong DTH would be unable to push optimal configurations or firmware updates. But I doubt it would ever be serious.

Still… This is a kludge. Why don’t you just use the “Turn on these Lights” option of SHM, perhaps? I guess there are multiple solutions… Totally up to you.

7

That is an option. However, once the alarm goes off the siren would go off but once you disarm the siren would still stay on where as if you change the DTH as a siren the siren would stop.

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8

Is everything working properly for you so far? I am thinking of changing mine too

9

I haven’t had any problems so far. Working as expected.

The device I am using is a GE Z-Wave Outdoor Module. It was on clearance at my Walmart for around $21 a few weeks ago.

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10

Awesome. I will change mine too. I am using GE Z-Wave Indoor. Thank you!

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