I am not using z wave with my ST hub… but am looking for a siren.
Right now I have a nice setup with blue iris but if someone dodgy does come to my house usually I see them from work. But the most I could do to get rid of them other than calling 000 (yes that’s what we dial in Oz) is to make my lifx lights flash.
I’d love to be able to set off a siren manually … not a big fan of the siren going off on it’s own as there would be too many false alerts. - curious on peoples thoughts on this…
Any ST compabiel sirens out there that are non zwave that anyone can recommend?
Thank you
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
2
No personal experience, unfortunately, but Alibaba (and relations) are fun to browse. You might find something worth a try…
They don’t directly integrate with smartthings, but there are a number of solid Wi-Fi sirens that can be manually triggered from their own apps. Some of them can also be set to send you a text, in which case you can get indirect integration with smartthings through IFTTT. dlink has a nice one, although I don’t know if it ships to Australia.
But basically, if you’re going to manually trigger it anyway, wifi devices will be a lot easier to find.
The other option is to build your own Siren/Strobe with ‘off the shelf’ components and use a SmartPower Outlet to turn it on and off. This is the set-up I have, probably cost me $75 total but its will blow any of these cheap sirens/strobes away!
Parts you will need: Siren
You can find these for $10-$50 and in many different form factors depending on your needs. One is used was Honeywell Ademco 748 119db Dual-Tone Siren
Strobe (If you desire)
Prices on these are all over the place. Can find as cheap as $10 all the way to $150 (heavy duty outdoor models). Again many different for factors to choose from here, there are flush wall mount strobes (<1" thick) that are clear or there are plenty of other options. My suggestion would be to go with a cheap one as it will likely only be set-off a few times a year (hopefully by accident) and tested periodically, you do not need to buy strobes that are rated for 10-20years of continuous use.
Power Supply
As both the siren and strobe you buy will likely be 12-24VDC you will need one of these to power it. Simply cut connector from the end and hard wire to your strobe/siren. Just make sure whatever you power supply you buy has the correct VDC and amps to run both siren and strobe.
SmartPlug
Your DC power supply will plug into this (or other ST compatible plug) and then all the rules you build will turn on or off the SmartPlug to trigger the alarm.
What I love about this is the flexibility to build with components based on your needs. You can run no strobe or a big/small strobe. You can choose a loud or quiet Indoor Siren and add an outdoor siren if you want too.
When I get home I can take some pictures of my set-up if you would like.
Thank you! I was tempted to try this because I hoping all the siren needed was a pulse of electricity to get it going. I have a hardwired siren up in my rafters and I wanted to attempt to repurpose it. awesome!
It’s the same as radios, sound systems, TVs, and alarm clocks: some come on as soon as you plug them in or give them power, others go into a sleep state so that just giving them power is not enough, you also have to give some kind of “on” Command. So you just have to experiment and see what your particular hardware requires.
I think a barking dog would be a pretty good deterrent.
ROBO Dog Barking Alarm >> The Robo-Dog Barking Alarm Kit simulates a real, angry dog barking, making it the perfect watchdog for anyone home alone. Use the included Keychain Remote to scare off intruders at the touch of a button!
cheap, and could probably be hacked to just plug into a zigbee outlet and play when powered. Plug-in siren too.
The D-Link siren really is a nice little piece of hardware. I can’t find a ST driver for it though so I am having trouble truly integrating it. If someone would write an ST driver for it then I would say this would be an essential ST accessory. Can we take up a collection to pay someone to take the time? I am in for $20 via PayPal.
Andreas
Good thread! First I’ll share my own concept, then I’ll state how reading this will prompt me to modify it.
I’m a big fan of multi-use stuff. I work off a “control center” $50 android tablet. I’m using it as, amongst other functions, a sorta “poor man’s Alexa/Echo” with an inexpensive Bluetooth speaker. So I talk to it via OK Google, and it does things like turn on lights and unlock doors… as well as giving me Google spoken replies.
I currently have it set up to play a siren sound .mp3 at max volume if the conditions of unauthorized entry are satisfied in Smartthings.
Based on reading this thread, I’m likely going to modify it as follows:
A. Add an inconspicuous outdoor motion sensor.
B. When people come within range of the sensor, have the speaker play a barking dog sound.
C. If there is a forced entry, switch over to the previously mentioned siren sound.
Also, my wife has been bugging me to get a new home theater system. So a networked unit can easily be turned on via Tasker, and have Tasker in such instances automatically switch its bluetooth connection to that system, choose the bluetooth input on that system, and blast the siren through it.
I have IFTTT recipes set up. I want to, very easily, enable and disable the siren when I’m home/away (siren doesn’t sound when I open the door when I’m home; siren sounds when an intruder opens a door when I’m away/asleep). SmartThings home/away/etc. would be ideal, but I don’t know how to get home/away/etc. to enable/disable a siren/IFTTT applet. Integration with SmartThings should let me do this.
It does if you buy a fully approved/supported ST device. Anything else is a bunch of code & configuration. The D-Link siren is not supported and has very limited functionality available via IFTTT.
Obviously. I had the siren before I got the SmartThings hub. So I’d rather find a way to integrate them than buy a new siren, which led me to this thread. Any actually helpful advice is welcome.
IFTTT is the only way to interface with this device. The device comes with quite a bit of security so it’s best to use THE ONLY option ATM to interface. That’s as helpful as you’ll see around here because there simply are no other options.
