I have a fairly simple home security setup, using Iris By Lowe’s as I had trusted Lowes would have Iris around for a long time and actually support their community. I have done some research and I think I can carry over some of my Iris stuff, but not much. My setup consists of.
I also have the following that I am fairly certain are incompatible.
16 1st Generation contact sensors.
5 1st Generation indoor / outdoor cameras.
Now I wasn’t done building my Iris setup, due to it’s wonky software I was considering jumping to ST anyway.
I want to add the following devices. After review, and the fact almost all sensors use Zigby, I am planning on going Zigby long term…
GE or Leviton 3 speed fan speed control white decora for each ceiling fan (6)
GE or Leviton 3 way switches, white, decora for the main bathroom, and front hallway (4).
GE or leviton white decora switches for the front door, each bedroom, kitchen, living room, dining room, dressing room, master bath, and back door.
First Alert smoke and CO2 detectors for each bedroom, one for the kitchen, and one for the living room.
Water leak detector / sensors.
Ring video doorbell. (The wife wants the Ring doorbell 2).
Now my questions are…
#1. Of all the equipment I have listed, how much can I carry over to Smartthings? #2. Looking into device compatibility, smartthings doesn’t appear to have any compatibility / support for any type of glass breakage sensors. Is that correct? #3. If Lowes is unable, or unwilling to help me out with my first generation sensors, is there any way to make them useful or are they just wasted money?
There is a thread talking about the options lowes is offereing to help you transition. I would first see what they will do to help you with gift cards to replace your current stuff. Then if this is for security you may want to look at the ADT Smartthings Panel as it will provide the best alarm option since you are basically start from scratch Your gen1 contact senors won’t work so considering that not being able to use your 2 2nd gen contact sensors doens’t cover much anyways. One thing to keep in mind with the ADT Smartthings panel is that for it to call ADT as a monitored alarm system the sensors used for security have to be dual branded ADT/Smartthings sensors. This would just mean your iris Motin and Door/contact sensors can be used for automation, but not security. You can use a Smartapp called ADT Tools 2 and use your siren and Keypad with the ADT Smartthings panel. They will just need the cloud to function.
There are several ways you can go with the cameras. I personally would just suggest you go with Arlo or a POE system. Arlo’s are officially supported and POE would mean you would likey want to use a software like Blue Iris to integrate with Smartthings.
Don’t forget to go to the iris site and try to see what they will do to help you migrate i heard they are offering gift cards to offset the loss of what you invested.
No official support for glass break sensors or pin pads. But if you search around here. they can be made to work via some copy and pasting in the developer portal.
Try to get credit from Lowe’s for them. They’re useless with SmartThings.
Lowes has an official redemption process set up to get you some credit for devices you won’t be able to use with the new system. They have to be devices that you have registered to your iris account. And you’ll have to return them by mail, you can’t take them to a store unless you bought them in the last 90 days and still have the receipt.
You do not have to return your old V1 devices. With what you listed you should get back $700 or $800. They gave me $130 for my 1 V1 Indoor camera. I missed out on $200 or so because I switched to smart things a couple of years ago, but I still used my Iris hub for some simple stuff. I had about 15 devices that were not connected when they took their snapshot of all the systems. If your device wasn’t connected when they did that you are out of luck, as I understand it.
Okay, so does anyone know, I have 4 more V1 contact sensors not on my network, and 1 more Utilitech siren that are not on the network yet. Can I still add devices to get them all on my account /network prior to starting the redemption process? The Utilitech sirens are listed on the SmartThings website as a compatible / direct product. Do I really need to trade mine in?
There is no trade-in required for any devices, as far as I can tell. Lowes will just send you a gift card based on what they saw attached to your Iris system when they took the snapshot.
So… uh. Does that mean that I don’t have to rip my stuff out, box it up, and ship it back? That seems a bit odd, but okay. If that’s the case, can I use say my V2 stuff excluding the hub of course, and add it to smartthings? If I go with the ADT Smartthings hub will the Iris V2 stuff remain compatible? And can I arm / Disarm from that hub interface?
We have a petsitter / housekeeper that I don’t want to give full access to the security system to, and even if, she doesn’t do smart phones. Her cell is still a flip phone and she’s happy with it that way… Kind of a luddite if you ask me…
How would I allow access for people with codes or some access token that I can manage, to additional people like my pet sitter, or my brother in law when they house sit for us sometimes?
The ADT hub requires ADT/ST sensors for the security side. So won’t be able to use your V2 sensors for security with that hub. A lot of people use z-wave locks with pin pads for outside visitors and have their code disarm Smart Home Monitor.
I could be wrong, but from what I’m hearing from people in other forums, they are only giving credit for the devices that cannot be used with other systems. The ones using the proprietary protocols. So the hub, the first GEN zigbee devices, maybe a couple of others. They don’t want them back, but you won’t be able to use them with smartthings either.
On the Iris forum, I am seeing folks talking about getting credit for the V2 sensors, but to be blunt, I don’t have much in the way of v2 gear. Most of it is first generation. The hub, and keypad are second generation and from what I can tell worthless on any other system.
It wouldn’t be a bad thing if they gave me credit for everything except say the Utilitech sirens, and V2 contact and V2 motion sensors. My cameras have been offline but paired for a while. Thats my big worry.
So I went through the process today to sign up for the redemption and the gave me credit for everything but my 2 second generation contacts sensor’s my 2nd generation motion sensor in my to sirens. However I’ve never been happy with the fact that Iris didn’t integrate ring and so with the money I’m getting back I’m gonna go smart things and Ring spot light cameras and I can just continue from there.
Wow I will have fewer cameras I will have better coverage considering the angles to the rings get and honestly I’ve never like the video quality with the Iris cameras.
The biggest issue for me right now is well number one getting the redemption card in from lowes and number to getting me keypad to work with smart things.
