SHM Notification fail during a break-in

Notification fail from smartthings multi sensor
Been robbed , but not a peep from SHM
Doesn’t instill any confidence does it .
Looked on log and details are there for when the bastards entered but no sms or push notification , how crap is that

That sucks! :scream:

By any chance did your Internet go out during the robbery? All of SmartThings notifications require Internet to work, even push notifications to a phone in the same building.

I personally use a completely different security system, one that can do cellular notifications, because I just have not found smartthings reliable enough as a primary security system nor do I find the notifications design adequate for my own needs.

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Internet fine
Just in the middle of installing a full alarm (sods law)

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I don’t know if you’ve looked into AT&T digital life, but there is a Digital Life to SmartThings interface that connects the two. It’s Called HomeCloudHub. I have been using it for quite a while and it is pretty awesome.

Bummer :frowning:
If you try it now, open the door(?) with SHM armed, does it work? Can you check the log to see if SHM was armed during the break-in? I know that while playing around with routines I have put it in unexpected states.

  1. Why did you not use the Smart Alarm community app for security?
  2. Get Blink for Home. It is a wireless camera, siren, door sensor and soon to be a home monitoring system for about $9.99/month.
    https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-official-blink-camera-device-handler-with-motion-sensor-live-video-streaming-integration-with-smartthings-shm-temperature-signals-and-push-notifications/40535/1480?u=lmosenko

https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-official-blink-camera-device-handler-with-motion-sensor-live-video-streaming-integration-with-smartthings-shm-temperature-signals-and-push-notifications/40535/1485?u=lmosenko

And it integrates into ST with the help of @RBoy code. When ST files at my house, Blink system notifies me and I get a video clip too.

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Just tried it all working good , notification straight away again (sods law)

Is that available in UK

Given how unreliable ST is, why would anyone continue to use it in a security application?

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I keep asking myself that!

Not my only security , just saying SHM failed to notify an intrusion , no Internet down time , event was on the log so why wouldn’t it report ,armed and tested it and it worked fine with instant notification

@Originaltrav Sorry to hear about the break in.

Well the unfortunate reality is, you can change ST out to whatever you consider to be a reliable system and that does not stop the break-in and the subsequent feeling of invasion and loss of property. All it gives you is a different area to vent your frustration, because now you were notified during the invasion and you and your “reliable system” is powerless to stop it or prevent it from happening. :confused: All security systems give a false peace of mind.

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I had this before and found out the reason for me was that I had a previous false alarm which I did not “dismiss”. If you do not dismiss the last alarm, it will never alert you again even if you stop and start the SHM. Could that have been the case here?

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In the case of an occupied home, I disagree. Plenty of solutions out there are able to reliably monitor doors and windows and alert the occupants if they are disturbed. If I was using ST to monitor an unoccupied pole barn, I’d agree. My experience so far is that ST can’t reliably automate a simple switch. Marketing this as a “Smart Home Monitor” to alert to window and door openings in a security application seems like litigation waiting to happen. The platform simply isn’t stable enough to serve that purpose. There is thread after thread of parasitic battery draw, failed sensors, faulty cloud operations, locks unlocking and locking themselves at random, presence sensors failing to register, etc… No consumer solution will be fail safe, but this is ridiculous. ST might be the best of the worst right now, but tech moves fast. I hope they’re ahead of the curve, or they’ll be a distant memory in a flash.

The official SmartThings usage guidelines tell you not to use it as a primary security system:

https://www.smartthings.com/guidelines/

Data accuracy and consistency from SmartThings sensors, including those provided by SmartThings directly, resold by SmartThings, or supported by SmartThings, is not guaranteed. Therefore, you should not rely on that data for any use that impacts health, safety, security, property or financial interests.

Obviously that collides with the smart home monitor marketing, so I don’t know how a judge would sort it out.

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Tested the sensor this morning by re arming , open and shutting the door whilst monitoring the log , unbelievable inconsistencies, it either logs or doesn’t and it’s the same for the temp reading , quality stuff eh

Tried a IFTTT routine , guess what nothing

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I completely agree and do the same. Love ST, but if lights don’t activate or turn off as they should, it’s nit a huge deal. Just an inconvenience. Not so with security. My FrontPoint system has been rock solid for a number of years. It’s wireless internally and cellular externally. The one time the duress function was inadvertently tested, the police were on site within three minutes.

Sorry for the OP’s break-in in any case. That really sucks.

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What city do you live in? In my city it seems they prioritize the responses from an alarm system and will respond in a higher priority only if its a verified (confirmed) break-in as reported by the alarm monitoring service that can pull up a home systems camera and view the break-in in progress. And then even after all that the response is 15 minutes so isn’t fast enough to catch them. https://www.abqjournal.com/699167/response-time-on-highestpriority-calls-gets-top-marks-in-study.html They do respond in less than 10min as well but the problem here which I would think is the same elsewhere is too many triggered alarms being reported. A reliable alarm monitoring system doesn’t do much for me, it’s my city police that needs fixin’ :wink:

Exactly, the daughter saw somebody climbing out the neighbors’ window over Thanksgiving weekend. Called police, gave them description of the person etc. I heard call go out over the radio about 5 minutes later, 1st officers arrived on scene about 15-20 minutes after the initial call.

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[quote=“dalec, post:18, topic:73558”]
What city do you live in?[/quote]

I live just outside of Rochester, NY. My mailing address is Hilton but my physical location is in a suburb of Rochester called Greece. Anyway, to be accurate, the police response was based on my duress code being entered into the security console as opposed to a break-in notification. So that may have been a contributing factor since they weren’t relying on sensors to say there was an issue. I actually typed in the duress code. The longer version is that I’d recently added the duress code to the system and wanted to ensure it was there. When I called the Alarm.com (FrontPoint’s monitoring service), the representative said it was there but we could also test it without alerting the police. I agreed but obviously the rep did something wrong - and you know the result.

My overall point was/is, that the security system is very robust, stable and from all indications, works extremely well. Although I love ST, those attributes don’t apply - at least to the same level. Therefore, I would not rely on ST to perform security functionality at anywhere near appropriate levels.

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