My last remaining IRIS migration issues + what worked well and what didn't

I finally got 42 of my devices moved over from IRIS. There’s only a few quirks that I still need to correct to get my system just like it was before. My IRIS hub is essentially deaf and blind right now; all it has is an irrigation sensor attached with the backup modem.

  1. A simple door beep like the Iris 1st gen keypad when contact sensors are open. Seriously, I miss this. Like badly. The dogs are also trained to the sound.
    (The IRIS 2nd gen keypad handler is wonky. I’m just not messing with it for right now. The only beep that it makes is a default beep that’s really annoying.)

  2. Motion that happens after sunset triggering smart plugs to light downstairs for 15 minutes. I have a “Downstairs Motion Detected” routine. It turns on lights/switches when “Things start happening” on two motion sensors within a start and end time. There is no “sunrise and sunset” here. I can back up a menu and select “sunrise or sunset” instead of “Things start happening”, but not both. So, I had to give it a rough time of 6PM - 7AM.

  3. My Zigbee (Orbit) 27396 Iris irrigation timer. I saw some hacks/custom handlers on the forum, but I really don’t want to chance it, because I could get a $500 water bill before you know it.

Now, what worked well in the migration:

  1. First Alert Smoke and Combo units paired without incident (excluding them first)
  2. CT-101 thermostats paired without incident (excluding them first)
  3. 2nd Gen IRIS contact sensors worked awesome
  4. 2nd Gen IRIS motion sensors worked awesome
  5. 2nd Gen IRIS smart plugs worked without incident (as did the Centralite ones I picked up)
  6. 1st Gen Water sensors picked up as an Everspring Water/Flood detector and paired fine (after excluding first)
  7. IRIS Garage door opener paired fine after excluding (left where it was)
  8. Smart things Panic Button and Water sensors paired super easy!
  9. Smart Things presence sensors work awesome for notifying us when our kids leave/arrive to/from school
  10. It picked up all my Wemo outlets!

And what was a bit picky:

  1. The Kwikset Z-Wave locks were a pain. It seriously took me like 4 hours to do all three of them.

So, now I have a box of 1st Generation IRIS smart plugs, contact sensors, motion sensors, key FOBs, keypads, and a panic button. I also have a couple 2nd generation Key FOBs that I don’t need, and a few 2nd generation IRIS keypads that aren’t currently being used.

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If you have an Amazon echo device, or are willing to buy the Echo Dot, it’s very easy to use their routines to set up a beep whenever a sensor is opened. You can even have different sounds for different sensors. ( although you will have to buy a sound effects MP3 for each one.) So that’s a popular option if you want to go that route. :sunglasses:

There are also a number of other devices you can use, depending on exactly what you want to accomplish. So this is definitely something you can add back into your system if you are interested.

https://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Set_Up_a_Door_Open_Chime/Siren

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Alexa triggering a song for a sound effect is very iffy. I get a huge delay, can’t play on multiple devices at once, and sometimes just get a “sorry, I can’t play music at this time.”

not sure what to say about that, lots of people are using it successfully, but the setup at every house is different. There are other choices that might work better for you, in particular one of the Z wave chimes that can play eight or 10 different predefined sounds. But that’s covered in the wiki article. Choice is good. :sunglasses:

#2 use smart lighting, not a routine. Runs locally that way too. I use a Dome siren for door chimes, but does require a community device handler.

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Is there a way to toggle a smart plug or a contact sensor for five seconds to use a 12V chime I have? (Via transformer)

Will take a look at that… heh, there’s always multiple ways!

Edit: I looked at it… the trigger still only lets me pick motion or at sunset. The more options at the bottom might have given me “only if motion…”, but that isn’t there.

The issue is that I want multiple Alexas (I want to hear upstairs and in the basement), and when I try to activate multiples, it only works on one if I choose speech. If I choose a sound effect, one of them inadvertently says “Sorry, I can’t play the music right now” when triggered. Sounds like a good enhancement for Amazon to simply “chime” the Alexas in an audio group as an action.

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Yeah, it would be great if they had some default sound effects you could pick from. They add features all the time, so hopefully someday.

I just filled that out in the Alexa app as a feedback form. I asked them if they could have an option of “Chime” to a group of Echo devices in the house. And gave them my door sensor example so I could hear any door sensor in the house. I also bugged a friend who works for Amazon to see if there’s an internal system they can log these suggestions into.

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Setup the trigger as motion and then at the bottom under more options put the time restriction.

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Well, once you’re ready to tackle custom smartapps take a look at echo speaks. This allows you total control of your Alexa devices from within the ST environment. I have my echo’s announce which door was owned, and it only does in the rooms that are currently active.

Also, look at EchoSistant, there is so much there that you can do i can’t even begin to start.

And finally, for really powerful control of your home, look at WebCoRE.

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It may be possible to have shm delay generate the door chime. I’m going to try it this weekend.

I think there are ways to have a dome siren trigger the door chimes as well