Ring Alarm

Don’t forget Abode. I switched from Simplisafe to Abode and am extremely happy. I won’t consider switching to Ring unless there is a way to talk to Smartthings even though I pay $100 a year now for my Ring cameras anyway which includes their Alarm service. I cannot put a price on shutting off my tv at night before going to sleep and having my alarm automically arm the house :slight_smile:

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I’ve heard good things about Abode. Does it fully integrate with SmartThings? I read about “iota,” which supposedly comes out later this year. Could wait for that I suppose.

@tgauchat I’m hesitant to go with the SmartThings/ADT version. I’ve read reviews on all the DIY units and the SmartThings/ADT kit is consistently the poorest rated. I’m inclined to choose a better product even if it doesn’t work with SmartThings the way I’d like, although a solid product that does work with SmartThings is what I’d prefer.

Through IFTTT I am able to arm and disarm Abode and create virtual switches, etc. it’s worked very reliably for me and I highly recommend it.

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@Mbhforum would it be possible to use IFTTT to connect Abode to an August or Yale smart lock? Basically, I want to be able to input a code on the lock at the front door and have the lock code trigger the security system to disarm itself. So basically, instead of using a code on the lock and then a code on the security system, the code on the lock would also disarm the security system. Is that something you’ve been able to do (or could do) with IFTTT and Abode?

You should just basically look up the IFTTT triggers and actions for each channel and that is how you will be able to determine what you can and cannot do. I am sure you can do this with some crafty work on the ST using virtual switches and IFTTT triggers.

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@daneoleary using the august lock key pad you will NOT be able to do what you are thinking as it is a closed system so the codes only work with the lock itself. Now with a yale lock i am not sure as i don’t have one but i have seen on the forum below that if you have webcore AND a compatible lock then you could do it. You would essentially assign a code to a “user” in this case it would be the alarm as the user and then you could turn on the alarm. I would suggest that if you want to use an alarm system like abode that has an IFTTT trigger then you could use the IFTTT integration with webcore to send a command to turn on the alarm system.

or here

Do you mind me asking what is the cause of the low ratings for the ST ADT system in the reviews you have been reading?

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@Mavrrick58 Basically, every review I’ve read has been below average and lower than the other contenders. It’s got a 3.2 out of 5 on Amazon, a 6 out of 10 from Digital Trends, and a 2.8 out of 5 on Samsung’s own website. The best review aggregate I’ve seen was Best Buy, which the system has received a 3.8 out of 5.

Some of the problems I’ve read about are connectivity issues, lack of compatibility with other SmartThings devices, requires that you set up the security hub as your main location or else use it as a secondary location (meaning moving all your connected devices over to the new hub), and some other things I don’t remember and frankly don’t feel like looking back over.

By comparison, SimpliSafe and Abode and some others seem to get much more solid reviews.

All of these “negatives” are entirely related to the SmartThings portion of the product, not the ADT portion.

In other words, it’s not an Apples to Apples comparison against other dedicated DIY security offerings, which don’t offer the tremendous power of (and some integration with SmartThings.

The SmartThings ADT Security Hub is a “best fit” only for folks use or want to use SmartThings and happen to also want a partially integrated, but reliable, monitored, no contract, security service.

Apparently, SmartThings is having a challenge setting accurate expectations / clear understanding of what this product actually is. Of course, it would sure help if:

  1. All SmartThings sensors were compatible for alarms.
  2. Auto migration from existing Hubs was provided.
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But if the SmartThings aspects of the SmartThings/ADT security kit is what makes it (subjectively) weaker than other similar kits, then is it really the best system to use?

It would be helpful to have someone with firsthand, personal experience with several of the systems I’ve seen who can offer some objective, unbiased feedback. While the SmartThings system would seem to be a better option in theory, it really doesn’t sound like it’s actually the better choice. To me, it sounds like going with a different system, like an Abode system or maybe SimpliSafe, would mean poorer smart home integration but an overall superior system. And at the end of the day, as much as I might want the integrations, the most important thing is to get a system that works and that I’ll be happy with.

This really just brings forward the “age old” classic question:

  • Is it better to have 2 products (from different vendors) with distinct specialties and strengths
    or
  • Is it better to have 1 hybrid-product (from a single vendor or official partnership) which may have various weaknesses in certain specific isolated areas and/or an “overall” lesser experience - but might have compensatory benefits stemming from the official integration and/or single vendor support for issues and/or lower cost?

I am ambivalent. The second approach also brings along the baggage of “all eggs in one basket”, which is yet another strike against it.

But, personally, if I wanted to add rigorous monitoring to my SmartThings household, I would not hesitate to make the ADT Security Hub the first product I would try. The benefits of official integration, IMHO, outweigh the drawbacks. However - this is partially due to my extensive entanglement with SmartThings, obviously.

And due to @Mavrrick58’s incredible work on enhanced integration utilities, such as https://github.com/Mavrrick/Smartthings-by-Mavrrick/blob/master/smartapps/mavrrick/adt-tools.src/adt-tools.groovy

It really is about appropriate expectations and many invalid misconceptions. You echo’d most of the complaints I have seen as well, and frankly they have nothing to do with the how the system works or if it is capable.

You mention a lack of compatibility with other smart things devices. That isn’t true, but has been stated so many times people think it is. The only limitation the sytem has with smart things is that non Dual branded sensors can’t talk to the Alarm side of the system to trigger alarms or for monitoring. Beyond that anything you can do on a differnet hub you can do on a ST ADT panel. The need to set it up as a primary hub or secondary location isn’t new and is again not a ADT Panel problem but a Smartthings problem.

One thing that seems to have hurt the ST ADT panel is that so many people have talked it down because they have invested alot of ST only equipment and they want that to control the Alarm side. I suspect if those folks have never had Smarthings prior to getting the panel some of those reviews would be different.

I will tell you this. My ST ADT Panel has worked flawlessly. I don’t dobt some folks have issues , but the majority of the time i have followed it the resulit is because they don’t follow directions.

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I can 100% agree that @heythisisnate’s Konnected.io is fantastic. I am using it at my house right now. It integrates with ST really well and with an extra $120 you can replace two keypads with Kindle Fire tablets that use ActionTiles to replace the keypads. I am even powering them both with the wires from my old keypads. It is a great system if you are willing to put a little effort into it.

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Here’s the only gripes I have with the ADT hub. other than these I think it is a great solution.

  1. I cannot have the alarm set at a certain time automatically.
  2. I cannot decide what items get bypassed in arm stay. The only reason this is a big deal for me is because I bought a single motion sensor to use for my sun room instead of buying 8 door/window sensors, when the single motion sensor covers everything. I just feel like I have no control over or even have the ability to set zones.

That’s it. Other than those two gripes, I think the ADT solution is the best I’ve found over 4 other systems I’ve tried.

Now, I haven’t tried your ADT integrations, but it’s on my list of things to do. Hopefully it addresses one or both of those gripes =)

-Steve

Issue 1 can certainly be addressed by ADT Tools 2. Simply put once the alarm mode integration is configured with the virtual buttons you just need to create an automation to trigger the buttons push to change to that mode at the time you want to.

Issue 2 is a bit different and ADT Tools won’t do anything with bypass. It is my understanding that in general all motion sensors with alarms are intended to disable when people are home and active when away. It would be to easy to trigger an alarm with a motion sensor with people present. You may be able to create a alarm alert action that run as a non ADT sensor alarm though and use that for the sun room sensor when in arm stay.

Ring announced the ability to have a z wave lock connect to the alarm and disarm it. I was pretty excited about it except that I already have the lock pairs with ST and automated with some lights. Can’t have it paired to multiple hubs. I wish Ring or ST would incorporate a little better. But I’m also thinking that Ring might start to enter the smart home market by making the security hub a gateway like ST? They’d have a lot to catch up on to make me switch though.

If ring enters the smart home market, me personally, im gonna pay close attention because ill bet they move alot quicker then samsung.

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Been playing with Ring + SmartThings with asishrs/smartthings and I found it works really well (kudos for asishrs) but I also wanted be able to use all Ring sensors in my automations so I forked to https://github.com/javier-jm/smartthings

Downside of the current state is that it relies on polling every minute, I just requested access to ring.com/partners hopefully I can review the APIs to see if they have any push notifications we could use instead.

Cheers

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@javierj, did you make any progress here with the API?

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I added the Ring plugin to my Homebridge yesterday and I am using automations in Apple Homekit to sync it with SHM. It works like a charm. Ring and SHM arm/disarm sync works both ways with only ~1sec delay.

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