Is SmartThings Shield for Arduino Available Anywhere?

Devices & Integrations
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Can someone let me know what the status of the SmartThings Shield for Arduino is and if it is available online anywhere? It seems as though getting it through the SmartThings Marketplace is iffy. Have they discontinued support and development for this? Are people still actively using it?

Here is an email response that I received when I asked the Shop about it. It’s a bit confusing with a combination of (a) check back soon and (b) we might note ever offer them again.

At this time, I do not have a timeframe for when we will have the SmartThings Shield for Arduino back in stock. Our current inventory situation is unique and we hope to have this back in stock soon. I recommend checking back at the end of next week (possibly by the end of this week).

I can not guarantee that we will be getting more of this item in stock.

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It was just in stock last week. But it has been in and out of stock for the past several months. I noticed it’s no longer listed on the Things list on the Shop. Odd and it would be bad if it is no longer available.

Maybe @Aaron can provide a better answer.

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I contacted support and was told that the Shield has been discontinued. I asked if there was any other avenue for integration they were working on and was told that some users are using a Raspberry Pi for integrating to other systems, but that there would be no support provided for such solutions.

I hope this is not an omen of things to come from SmartThings. It used to be a premier platform for open development, but it seems to be going in a different direction.

If anyone has any ideas as to how to integrate an ST v2 hub with an Ademco alarm system without the Shield, I’d love to hear them.

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Honestly I think IP communication is likely a better solution to interfacing with ST and my own projects. I have two of the Arduino shields and I’m still not using them. I have several ESP8266’s talking MQTT which integrate well into ST and also have conventional network access to other IP-based devices, and they do so at 1/10th the cost, maybe 1/5th the size, and lower power utilization than a Adruino Uno + ST Shield.

edit: Here’s an example of one of these projects, my IoTea kettle.

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You can use this device to hook up your alarm to SmartThings:
http://www.alarmdecoder.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/39/osCsid/he5nhn2401eqd1ma545sejsd30

Many folks are using their AD2Pi device already hooked up to an Arduino via Thing Shield. The above device is a full featured appliance and the folks at Alarm Decoder have a device handler and SmartApp.

There is a thread where you can post questions about it here:

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The new issue is that SmartThings has now officially discontinued the thing shield. So there will need to be an alternative hardware approach.

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Agree, but that comment was just validating many folks are using an Alarm Decoder device with success. The network appliance I referenced uses one too.

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Thanks so much, Michael. This is very helpful. I will look into it - I’ll report my experience,

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If you’re still not using the things shields you have, I’d be happy to buy them from you. I have done a ST–>X10 interface that is working and happy along with Google Home --> ST. I’m surprised by the reliability.

Now I want to do other integration projects of other not-quite-ST-ready older devices.

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I received an email from ST that

I am going to disappoint you a bit… unfortunately we are no longer carrying the Arduino ThingShield. Thanks for writing in. I am not aware of any alternatives, but the SmartThings developer and hobbyist community might have some recommendations for you.

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That’s really bad news! I was planning to build a sprinkler controller using an Arduino and Things Shield but now I have to figure out something else. Ugh!

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I think the world is moving toward IP devices instead of smartthings shields. It is not totally crazy. I think for the next project I’ll use a regular wifi card and do it that way. But then I have to rewrite code….

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Is it possible to use the ESP8266 with AD2Pi instead of the discontinued smartthings thingshield?
How :smile:?

Im stuck with the AD2pi hardware and no smartthings thingshield hardware :confused:

Not cool smartthings management.

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Maybe this could help??? I have a new version of the Arduino SmartThings library which now supports using an Arduino with an Ethernet W5100 shield. Or, you could just use a NodeMCU ESP8266 board. I support that platform as well. I also still support the old ThingShield as well.

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Dan,
Thanks so much for posting this. I hope that SmartThings is somehow recognizing and supporting you, as you ST_Anything code is the only reason I came on board with ST and the discontinuation of the ThingShield was making me feel like jumping ship!
I am looking to build ST into my home renovation pans, and the ability to switch relays is key to this.

I haven’t looked at the code as yet, but it will be high on my list of things to do when I have time.

Thanks again!

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Hi Dan,

I am trying to integrate an old wired security system with SmartThings and found this article, but it relies on the SmartThings ThingShield, which seems pretty much officially dead.

I’ve been digging around trying to find an alternative or maybe old supply/stock on ebay but now you mention using the W5100 instead and the ST_Anything project (which incidentally is used in the article I linked) - talk about serendipity!

Would the project referenced in the link still function as intended using this hardware trade-out? How does one go about getting the SmartThings hub to talk/link to my bevy of alarm sensors if there’s no SmartThings interface in front of them?

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I have one thing shield left, $50, free shipping to the 48…
PM me if interested, thanks, Mike

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How do I send a PM? I can go to your profile and click on all sorts of things but I’m not seeing any ‘send X user a message’ type options. What am I missing?

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pm sent…

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If you can get an old ThingShield, that is definitely the simplest and most straightforward path.

If not, or if you need additional Arduinos to be connected, check out my most recent update (v2.1) to my Arduino libraries as I have just added a very low-cost Arduino/WiFi solution.