I finally have my Fire HD 10 working nearly flawlessly to control my Konnected-driven home security setup (including integration with ActionTIles, Tasker for playing of warnings on Entry and Alexa Routines for playback of Exit warnings, Fully Kiosk Browser and more).
The one thing I’m missing is the ability to glance at the panel (as I don’t keep it on 24/7) to see the state of the current system. A typical security panel generally displays a solid green LED when the system is off and a red LED when the system is on.
I’d like to mimic this with some sort of smart device. I had hoped the Fire HD 10 could just do it, but as far as I can tell it doesn’t even seem to have an LED for notifications (if I’m wrong, I’d LOVE to hear it as that would solve this issue instantly, but I’ll be darned if I can get one to show and searching comes up empty). So assuming I can’t use the Fire HD 10, does someone make a really small LED device that is ST compatible and controllable by webcore so that I can match or improve upon the way a security panel works?
I’d like to be able to:
Place it next to my Fire HD 10 an have it sort of look like it belongs there.
Have it be able to be green while the system is off.
Have it display red while the system is on.
Have it flash yellow while entering the passcode on entry when it’s on and,
5 Have it flash red when just about 10 seconds remains to enter the passcode.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
2
I really miss my Motorola Photon phone (I think that was the model name…). It had single RGB LED on the front-face which could be controlled by various Apps. I had a notification manager App that would let you define a color and/or blinking pattern for a dozen different notification types: text message, missed call, voice message, alarm, etc., etc…
Unfortunately, most phones (and tablets), don’t have LED indicators anymore. I don’t know why. Most phone still have infrared LEDs and detectors for proximity detection (i.e., to shut off the screen when you hold phone up to face, or to wake phone by waving over it).
So: The above would have been ideal.
Given your detailed requirements, I think the best option would be a custom ESP project (i.e., WiFi / MCU chip with a simple LED on the board), and then a custom DTH that would drive it from SmartThings. A Bluetooth version would even be better, but harder to find… Since the Tablet could send the Bluetooth message directly.
Connection via USB is not as likely to be successful (from Android): If your tablet were running Windows or Linux, then … maybe more luck.
When you get an idea like this and you figure other people have probably had as well, but you can’t find a device that matches, it is often helpful to take a look at the project reports on the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki.
In this case, look down near the bottom of the page for the project report section, and then on the list for “alerts and notifications”. You’ll find several threads there for similar set up’s. Look for the ones about status indicator lights, those are the smallest.
There are also a couple of light switches which have an LED indicator light which can be turned on and off from SmartThings. The newest homeseer switch is actually intended for this purpose, but there are some other brands as well.
The homeseer is interesting because it also allows for double and triple tap, so you can use a single tap to turn the switch on and off, and a double tap to arm and disarm your security system, changing the tiny color indicator light at the same time.
Thanks, as always! I did actually search this but my lack of knowing what to call it failed me and the search. If I’d have known to call it a Status Indicator I’d have been saved.
Related to the Home Seer switch you mentioned, others pointed to the Home Seer wall plug device, but that’s both overkill and wrong for my setup as the only outlets near the tablet are behind furniture. The switch is a better (and cheaper) approach though it MIGHT be a bit confusing. On the wall below the tablet are three switches. Two are smart already and control the Foyer lighting and the coach lighting. The standard one is a paddle switch like the Home Seer, but it controls an outside motion-detecting Flood Light. If it is used in this spot I wonder if people will be confused and think it controls the security system.
Another possibility would be to cannibalize this thing and trim it down to just the LED portion and dremel out a clean opening in my existing light panel.
Either way it’s a better option that what I see now. Interestingly, their pre-sales support went overboard suggesting this shouldn’t really be used in a SmartThings environment and that I should instead convert over to HomeSeer entirely. Yeah, right.
On the project front I was thinking of drilling a tiny hole in my light panel faceplate (big enough for one small LED) and then get a mechanical engineer friend of mine to create the brains behind it. It is a bit shocking that this doesn’t exist yet!
Interesting…do you know if that works with SmartThings as far as the ability to make it do the status LEDs with SmartThings? I would replace at least one I am not happy with the 8-amp load limitation…probably 2 or 3.
It does, and homeseer has provided both a DTH and instructions. And examples of using it with webcore. But it’s a little tricky, apparently you can only set one Light per piston and people been trying to set all of them at once and getting flaky results.
For further discussion of this switch, see the following thread where you can talk to people who are actually using it.
And examples of using it with webcore. But it’s a little tricky, apparently you can only set one Light per piston and people been trying to set all of them at once and getting flaky results.