Hey all… I’ve been watching this thread for a while and thought I’d share with you my experience.
Quick Background: In December, I purchased the SmartThings basic kit. I first concentrated on integrating SmartThings with my pre-existing Honeywell Vista 20p hardwired alarm system. That project completed successfully yet I felt I sill needed to automate and integrate my door locks with the security system an SmartThings.
After extensive reading of these community forums, which I think is essential step for anyone stepping into the Home Automation experience, decided I needed to replace my “dumb”, ugly and old lock on my front door. After some consideration, I decided to go with a Schlage FE469NX LAT 619 CEN. This is the Century touchscreen deadbolt w/alarm model and it also comes with the handset grip. I needed to replace everything as the lock and doorknob on my entry door was downright hideous. I ordered the unit from Amazon.
I needed to prep the door for the deadbolt because my door did not have one. Fortunately, I already had all of the tools I needed to complete the job… hole saws, tape measures, chisels, etc. Because of my uncanny ability to measure twice, cut once and realize 1000 times later that my cut was still off target, the fear factor was high with me as I started to drill into my door. This time, I somehow got it right and the door was properly prepped. The physical install went fairly well, although I needed to make minor adjustments to the strike plate in the jam to ensure the deadbolt opened and closed without obstruction.
Installing the Schlage went incident free as well. The instructions were clear. I even studied several YouTube videos before hand so I could better visualize the steps written on the paper. The test of the unit went flawlessly and it worked! The problem? I installed and tested the deadbolt’s electronics, true. However, the basic setup does not include instructions on pairing with Z-Wave devices nor SmartThings. To include the lock on SmartThings, the lock must be within 10 feet of the SmartThings hub. I already knew this, but wanted to install the lock and test it first in door before I tried to pair it with my hub. So, after my successful test it wasn’t that difficult to remove the lock, take it downstairs to where my V2 hub was and successfully pair it with SmartThings.
The final step was to install the Device Handler and SmartApps from @RBoy. I picked up the Lock Multi User Management with Unlock Notifications, Advanced Scheduling and Automatic Lock/Unlock, the Schlage Lock Alarm Mode and Sensitivity Change and Monitor as well as the Schlage Z-Wave Lock with Alarm device handler. I willingly paid the lifetime access fee to download the code. Installation was easy (now that I’ve figured out IDE) and my locks are working perfectly!
Now, I always know the state of my front door (open/close) because of my alarm system notifications as well as I always know the state of my lock (armed/disarmed) because of RBoy’s apps. Next steps: assignment of user codes to the lock. My family uses codes for my Vista20p, so I may simply marry the codes to make it a bit easier for them to memorize all of the different codes they need to use if they were to not use their smart phones and manually input them into the keypads.
Anyway, my experience so far with SmartThings so far has been positive. My expectation going in was this was a technology not yet as simple as pressing the Staples Easy Button. The overall system design, configuration and installation needs to be carefully planning to make it useful and, more importantly, add the level of safety and security I am looking for in a Home Automation system. It’s one thing to have a light turn on and off via an iPhone and impress your friends at a party. It is quite another to know that as you are away from home on a business trip, that your system is helping to keep your family safe and secure.