Is there a way to bring in a secondary controller? My existing home automation setup revolves around a Vera Lite which controls:
8-ish (I lose count) z-wave light switches)
1 z-wave open/close sensor (Schlage I think)
1 z-wave motion sensor (Aeon Tech)
2 kwikset z-wave door locks
Nest Thermostat*
3 Foscam IP Cameras (MJPG version)*
A DSC Alarm Panel (with Envisalink)*
*The last three are all IP controlled devices
Moving the z-wave switches and sensors is easy… I get that. But I’d like to keep the VeraLite around as the primary controller for the kwikset locks and IP devices until SmartThings itself can control those. I know it can do locks, but from what I’ve read it doesn’t seem to be able to program extra pins or let them expire (yet? status on that?). For IP devices I would also like to NOT setup a server here to act as a go between since the Hub apparently can’t communicate IP devices on the local network.
Is there a way to get all of these things working together in harmony? Is there anything planned to allow the hub to communicate directly with devices on the local network?
Can I have the VeraLite be a primary for the locks and have the ST Hub control the VeraLite (trigger different scenes on the VeraLite to lock/unlock/arm/disarm). Can the VeraLite provide information to the ST Hub (status of the alarm and its sensors, for instance)
I wanted to do a similar primary/secondary setup with my 2Gig Controller. However I wanted my SmartThings to be Primary (wasnt sure if you can only add/remove devices from Primary) and my 2Gig as the Secondary. I’m pretty sure you can do what you’re hoping to, just need to try it and see, I guess. That was my approach, and it worked just fine.
What I did… I unpaired all my devices from the 2Gig, set the Controller to “shift”, paired it with my SmartThings. I then paired all my devices back to the SmartThings – no issues. On the 2Gig I did a device discovery/network check, and all my devices showed back up on the Controller and on the mobile site/application. I recently added another thermostat to my SmartThings, and it’s working just fine with both systems…just had to do a manual device discovery/network check.
I have 5 GE 45603, and 5 GE 45605 modules, 2 Fortrezz Moisture Sensors, 3 Screw in modules, CT100 Thermostat… all of them are shared between my SmartThings and 2Gig.
I dont know if that’s what you’re hoping to do, but my experience seemed similar, and it worked!
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
4
I am using a GE Remote (Z-Wave) as a secondary controller (discussed in another thread), and works fine.
The steps for removing devices and re-adding, etc., can be a little complex; or not. The GE remote seems pretty robust and was able to clear network data on some Z-Wave devices I have so that I could re-pair them to SmartHub.
What do you mean by shift on the 2gig? I am trying to do the same thing but what happens is. The controller pairs but it stay blank on st. On the 2gig panel everything comes up as unknown and it wants me to remove them from the network. Also do you locks show up on the alarm.com website and can you assign the codes? Thanks
I’ve been researching 2GIG lately too. (Even though this is under Mi Casa Vera…) Just bought a new house and would like to use a 2GIG security system and a more feature full device like ST. Finally found actual verification that this will work! The PDF liked to here has this to say about the 2GIG-CNTRL2 panel:
" Learn Controller
The Control Panel can be added to an existing
Z-Wave network as a “ secondary” controller.
When the Control Panel acts as a secondary
controller, devices will only be able to
be added and removed by the primary
controller. Other than that, all functions are
available to either controller.
Use the following steps to add the Control
Panel as a secondary controller:
From the Advanced Toolbox Screen, press the
LEARN CONTROLLER button. The Control
Panel will display “Learning Z-Wave Controller”
and wait for a signal from the primary controller.
Press and release the include button on the
primary controller. (This button may also be
called “bind”, “learn”, or may not be labeled.)
I have a 2gig alarm panel so the secondary controller option would work well for me. I am curious if Smart Things could bridge its own primary zigbee light or sensor connections to the secondary 2gig panel or would only the z-wave network be present. My guess is the latter.
One of the advantages of having another zwave controller is that command response would be quicker than it is through alarm.com.
Whoa, that’s really interesting… I’m trying to do exactly this right now. I have my 2Gig panel as a secondary to the Smartthings Hub.
Are you still using this setup? Any gotchas or issues? Are you using Alarm.com? Basically I want to use my ZWave locks exactly how I was using them with Alarm.com/2Gig and simply allow the ST hub to lock / unlock the deadbolts based on occupancy / rules.
I’d really like to preserve the Alarm.com user codes as I have separate codes setup for everyone in the family.
I have the similar problem. I am currently using Veralite with Powermax pro alarm integration and Smartthing V2. I looking into moving the whole system to Smartthings but I cannot find Powermax integration for Smart thing so I ended up using both at the same time. Here is my setup, I am using Wemo as a middle man.
I am using Geofence on Smartthings. When I Arrive home or Leave home, Smartthing will change to "Home or Away "mode then turn my Wemo outlet Off or On. The Wemo outlet will trigger my Veralite to Home or Away mode and Disarm or Arm my alarm system.
it working pretty good but I am still prefer to have my Powermax alarm system integrated with Smartthings but I don’t know how or no one working on it.