Im looking for a siren that can do both alarm and flash or can do one or the other do you know if the iris does this?
under âInstalled Smart Appâ it should list apps. For me I have âSecurity/Alert with Sirens (Home)â
If nothing is listed, nothing is running locally.
For the siren, it has a flash mode and siren mode. I donât really care about flash since I just have my hue lights turn on blood red.
I would not use my echo to arm/disarm. While it could work any one could say âAlexa, turn off alarmâ. I been using rules that once my presence is detected alarm is disabled, it works 98% of the time. The other 2% is the alarm sounds when door opens.
I have the Ring Doorbell and super happy with it.
Very true regarding anyone can tell Alexa to disarm/arm. I am using a code word to try eliminate that issue, still just working it out so I will see how it goes. Good Idea about the hue lights I may try that.
I am thinking about using the echo to set my alarm, like at night. Should look into that.
When the alarm goes, its so loud and the red lights is really disorienting. I wish the siren would sound for longer, but I guess most crooks will bail quickly.
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@desertblade Thanks. Iâm gonna check out the iris one this weekend.
Now you both have me convinced I need an echo haha.
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Itâs the same as this one
I am mostly happy with it, and for 35 its a good price.
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Just curious about folks in this thread still wanting 3rd party monitoring. One of the main reasons I went with ST was to eliminate that monthly cost and the less than stellar service. I didnât think it offered anything I could not do myself, probably better and more reliably. With the mobile app, I get notifications and with ip cameras, I can verify whatâs going on before calling police. How does 3rd party alarm service beat that? Just interested in hearing the reasoningâŚ
For me, itâs just about reliability. Nothing more complicated than that. If you check the official status page for today, for example, youâll see that smart home monitor (the official smartthings security feature) was not working for a number of people. There are also forum threads on it where people canât turn their sirens off today.
I do pay a monthly fee for a different security system. Itâs been very reliable. I think weâve had two false alarms in about 10 years. The only thing I donât like about it is the monthly fee. Iâve always felt it was a little high for the value I received.
But I was actually just thinking this morning after reading about the troubles people were having that maybe that fee is worth more than I thought. 
For me, I have three minimum requirements, as Iâve said elsewhere in the forums:
One) that the system work even if power and Internet are down
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that it be connected with 24/7 professional monitoring for both police and fire
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that It communicate with the professional monitoring via cellular, not Internet
SmartThings at present does not meet any of those requirements.
But of course even above those three is just the basic issue of reliability. Since last October I have yet to go 10 days in a row without an impactful SmartThings failure. When SmartThings works, it is my favorite home automation system, but itâs just not reliable enough to meet my own needs for security monitoring.
The other big point for me is I donât make the assumption that I would be able 24/7 to respond to an emergency. If thereâs a fire, I want to concentrate on getting myself and anyone else in the house out. Let the service call the fire department. And also in the hopefully-never-happens department, if thereâs a home invasion I might not be in a position to make a call. Professional monitoring is a higher level of service than I can provide to my own household simply due to the nature of many emergencies.
But everybody has their own requirements for peace of mind. There are many people who find SmartThings a valuable addition to their home monitoring. I myself use it for non-critical applications like A notification if the window in the guest bedroom has been left open when rain is expected. I really like the way SmartThings handles triggers and notifications. I just personally wouldnât use it as my main security system. But everybody has their own preferences and priorities, different things work for different people.
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Everyone has their own requirements and threshold for pain, but ST is not stable or reliable enough for me to act in any security-related capacity. Not even close. I have a separate system and vendor (FrontPoint) that provides me an extremely reliable system with 24/7 security monitoring. In over three years, weâve not had a single false alarm. The only event that comes close was a mistake by a tech at Alarm.com who told me we could test the distress logon without alerting the police. He was wrong and didnât set up the test correctly⌠Two police arrived on site in less than three minutes. It was a good test however, because it proved that the system, monitoring and police, worked very well and worth the monthly expenseâŚ
I likely will never give up the 24/7 monitoring and at least at present, Iâm not going to trust ST with my familyâs safety either. Again, others may think that 24/7 monitoring is too expensive or that ST is OK where it is with itâs current state of reliability. I donât.
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Thats pretty impressive. Most police donât respond to alarms, maybe since it was a distress and had a physical trigger.
I think itâs too expensive for what you get. Good deadbolts, and securing garage door would prevent the majority of break ins. Having an Akita also probably helps.
Is ST a replacement for an alarm system? Probably not. Is it good enough to meet my needs? Yes.
Iâm not surprised by those who feel they need a more reliable security system. Iâve experienced my share of ST failures and unreliability. Given that, I guess I keep wondering why anyone would want to pay for 3rd party monitoring of a ST security system. Layering 3rd party monitoring doesnât add much if the underlying system leaves so much to be desired in real reliability.
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Probably depends how safe your hood is.
Hey, Glad that you have started this thread. I have integrated ST in my home along with Echo, Harmony, Schlage Lock, Aeon Siren and a few sensors and switches. I am kind of heading towards pulling the trigger and start Scout subscription. However before doing that I need to integrate the Siren and Chime properly so I can simulate the scenes and when I get comfortable, Iâll start scout⌠:-). Generally I am very vigilant to the notifications I get on the phone and third party monitoring is only required for the instances I canât respond, which is rareâŚ
@eveezy - So being the nube that I am to RasPi and wanting start with tying the envisalink 3, DSC alarm panel and ST, which Pi board would you recommend? Is it worth it to get the Pi 3 kits off amazon with a bunch of extraâs, or is that just a waste?
I have UPS battery backup for my ST Hub, router, and cable modem.
Looking into getting a 4G backup for the cable modem.
Now the issue is any hard wired sensors would not work when lose battery, but most security sensors are battery operated so shouldnât be a problem.