Integrating Boundary Alarm with SmartThings (UK)

This post is aimed at UK users only I’m afraid as Boundary is currently only sold in the UK

Disclaimer
For the purposes of transparency, I am employed by boundary.co.uk and am head of the customer experience team. I’m a keen smart home advocate though so this post is to share a method to integrate Boundary with Smartthings rather than self-promotion.

About Boundary
Boundary is a UK based smart home alarm manufacturer that has designed, developed and manufactured one of the UKs simplest yet most powerful graded alarm systems. We’ve taken the approach that Boundary should be part of your home and lifestyle rather than just a loud shouty thing when someone tries to break in!

As the system is a graded alarm we don’t currently allow external access through a local API but we can still expose the system via SmartThings.

How to Setup

  1. Login to the Smartthings appand tap the Plus (+) symbol at the top right and select the Device option
  2. All devices that work with SmartThings are now displayed. Tap the By Brand option and scroll down to find the Boundary icon
  3. Tap the Boundary icon, then Others and finally select Boundary Alarm
  4. Under Location, select the location for your Boundary alarm or create a new location
  5. Under Room, select the room your Boundary alarm is in you create a new room
  6. Tap Next and you will be directed to the Boundary login for your alarm. Enter your owner email address and password and then tap sign in
  7. Once the connection between SmartThings and Boundary is complete, you can close this page and return to the SmartThings app
  8. The SmartThings app will now be connected to all the sensors and the Boundary hub. Tap the Done link at the bottom right and you are ready to start working with SmartThings!

Finishing Up

By default, all the Boundary sensors installed on your alarm and the hub will be listed under the room you selected when setting up above which can be confusing so it’s best to assign the sensors to the actual room. This is very simple to do:

  1. From the SmartThings home screen, swipe right to left until you get to your room with the Boundary alarm and sensors listed
  2. Tap one of the sensors and it will show details for that sensor
  3. Tap the three vertical dots at the top right of the sensor detail screen and select Edit from the drop-down menu
  4. On the Edit Device screen tap the Room and then select the actual room where your sensor is located. You can also create a new room
  5. Repeat these steps for the remaining sensors.

Boundary Hub and Sensors Triggers

The Boundary hub and sensors have multiple triggers and states they can be in to create other events with your smart home services.

Hub Triggers

  1. Status - Armed, Armed - Night Mode or Disarmed
  2. Alarm Activation Status - Alarmed or All Clear
  3. Battery - Battery state is equal to, above or below a certain percentage
  4. Power Source - Runnbging from Battery power, mains or unknown

Contact Sensor Triggers

  1. Contact Sensor - Open, closed or either open/closed
  2. Battery - Battery state is equal to, above or below a certain percentage
  3. Temperature - The temperature for the room the sensor is in is equal to, above or below a certain percentage
  4. Tamper Alert - Will return triggered if the sensor is tampered

Motion Sensor Triggers

  1. Contact Sensor - Motion detected or no motion
  2. Battery - Battery state is equal to, above or below a certain percentage
  3. Temperature - The temperature for the room the sensor is in is equal to, above or below a certain percentage
  4. Tamper Alert - Will return triggered if the sensor is tampered

Creating an automation

In this basic example, we will create an automation that will switch on lights if a door is opened, it’s dark outside and the Boundary alarm is not currently armed. You need to have already added a smart light as a device to SmartThings.

  1. Login to the SmartThings app on your phone and tap the Automations icon at the bottom
  2. Tap the Plus (+) symbol at the top right of the screen and select Add Automation
  3. Under the IF condition, at the Plus (+) symbol
  4. Tap the Time option and select Specific Time and then Sunset and then Save. This step will only begin the automation if it is after dark.
  5. Tap the Plus (+) in the IF section to add your next condition
  6. Tap Device Status this time, select Boundary Hub, then Status and then Disarmed. Tap Save and this will mean the condition will only be met if the hub is not armed
  7. Tap the Plus (+) in the IF section to add your last condition
  8. Select Device Status and then one of your contact sensors
  9. Tap Contact Sensor and then Open and then Save. This last condition detects if the door is open

You now need to create what will happen when the above conditions are met. In our example, we are switching a light on so this assumes you have already a SmartThings device that controls the light.

  1. Under the Then condition, tap the Plus (+) symbol
  2. Tap the Control Devices option
  3. Select the device you wish to control such as a light
  4. Tap Next and you will now be able to control what state that device is in.

And that’s it, your first Boundary/SmartThings automation! As you have been going through these steps you will see there is a wide range of other conditions and states you can use such as arriving home, specific times, using temperature as a trigger and so on, the only real limits here are your imagination.

1 Like