I’m thinking of deploying an ST for home automation and security. I havent decided exactly WHAT i want to do in terms of security, but I was thinking motion sensors+door modules+video. Something simple along those lines. I just wanted to know, other than always-on requirement for internet access, are there any caveats I should be aware of?
For a security system to require an internet connection is obviously a bit of an issue, but if I decide to go this route, I’m willing to pay for secondary wireless internet connection to another provider and use an old WRT54G use a floating route (aka failover) to mitigate. SHOULD cost <$5/month + $100-200 for the connection. I hope. Maybe there is a more elegant solution I havent thought of…
Edit2: when I said $100-200 for the connection, I meant for the device. Likely an LTE hub. I’m going to look for an LTE hub that actually supports failover from ethernet to LTE. That will be a bit better.
It’s just my personal opinion of course, and others may disagree, but I wouldn’t rely on ST as a primary alarm/security system, not just yet. Even with UPS and redundant Internet connection, ST infrastructure is just not reliable enough for security applications. There’s been hiccups on their server end resulting in events not being delivered or delivered with significant latencies (up to several minutes). A better solution would be to use it as a secondary system for monitoring a “real” alarm that can activate a siren without sending events to the Moon and back.
I currently use iSmartAlarm and am pretty happy with it. I just hate having to have two apps. Hopefully they can work together or ST has a few alarm smart apps.
I’m looking for some suggestions for a simple intrusion detector. Because the house I’m working on is old (circa 1938) it has some “unique” architectural features. One of which is the way the windows open - they crank open and swing to the left (or right). The window frames are metal and very skinny, with an internal screen. So the usual open/close magnetic sensors don’t work. I was thinking that a beam break system across the window opening would serve the purpose. It would especially work well for sections of the wall where there are four or five independent windows to be covered.
So far, I haven’t found any beam break sensors that would work over wi-fi or Z-wave. I could probably rig one up with an Arduino shield but I was hoping for a pre-made solution.
@kenramey, the Schlage Nexia open/close sensor has terminal screws for you to connect another sensor. The contacts simply short circuit the reed sensor, so you’d have to rig up something that is normally open. Maybe a magnetic contact switch with a smaller footprint would work, and give you some mounting flexibility: http://www.adafruit.com/products/375
Just a note that this is an undocumented, and largely untested feature of the Schlage open/close sensor.