So if you are not using SHM for the dashboard and/or intrusion alerts, what are you using instead? How are you notified of a possible intruder?
I decided that I donât need to know every time my wife âintrudesâ. She does not appreciate when I greet her with a bat in my hands. JK.
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Basically the same response as @625alex. I generally donât have the need of being notified about intruders, but I really like that theyâve designed a solution that appeals to the masses.
Also keep in mind that Alex developed the infamous SmartTiles web-based dashboard, so he can always refer to that if he wants to get a quick overview of the status of all his devices.
And I developed SharpTools which is a set of widgets and Tasker plugins for Android. So in my case, if I want to be notified of something, I usually subscribe to the event in SharpTools and react to it in Tasker â either through a simple notification or widget (or in rare cases, an audible alert).
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I see, thanks. I guess Iâm striving to use my ST setup differently then. Iâm mainly interested in alerts of something going on at my house when we are away. I have ST for motion and open/close sensors. I have Hue for lighting schedules (not integrated with ST), and I have Canary cameras for video. The cameras, of course, include motion sensors but this solution costs more and doesnât cover areas of the house where I want alerts to motion, like the garage and the office. (EDIT) In those places I have the ST motion sensors.
NewtoHA - Like you Iâm new to HA. Bought my ST hub about 3 weeks ago along with two GE switches: one outdoor plug for Christmas lights and a dimmer switch for the living room. My experience with these has been GREAT. First suggestion: use a tablet rather than a phone to create any rules. Much easier. The Christmas lights are pretty simple: on at 5:30p and off at 9:30. With the living room dimmer however I created a simple on/off but also a âpresenceâ event. When my wife comes home and itâs after 9:30p, her phone signals her presence to the hub and the light goes on automatically. I set the timing on this for any time between 9:30p and 6:30a. My wife loves this.
The âaddictionâ then started and I purchased an Iris motion detector. That created a bunch of frustration because although it was seen as I device, I couldnât figure out how to tell ST what it was. That led me to the following web site: https://graph.api.smartthings.com/. There I had to use the âMy Devicesâ setting and change the unknown device type to a SmartThings Motion/Temp sensor, which worked just fine after that. A little geeky to be sure!
Finally, with a new toy and the fact that I had to get up last night and go down to the kitchen in the dark, I created a new event. After midnight, when the motion detector senses motion, turn on the living room light (using my first purchased switch) at 40% and turn it back off after 5 minutes of no one roaming around down stairs. This event works from midnight until 6am.
So, donât be afraid of pressing onward with the SmartThings system. If you make a bad event, just delete it and start over. - Enjoy! All of a sudden youâll come up with lots of things to do with ST
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Thank you KayakL8. I appreciate your info and encouragement. I may experiment with ST more after the holidays. Given STâs difficulties, I want to keep my setup as simple as possible while we are away. Iâm still debating whether Iâll keep the system in general - weâll see. Yesterdayâs outage and subsequent need to do a physical reset was not confidence building⌠I love new technology and gadgets, and the community here is amazing. That makes me want to stick with it. But I already work a lot of hours in I.T. and if this system becomes more burden and frustration than fun, thatâs when I would have to pull the plug.
No need to pull the plug, actually⌠Just put your Hub on a smart outlet and then order it to shut itself off. 
⌠Depending on what SmartApps you have configured, even the batteries might not let it turn itself back on. 
LOL, not sure if your post was sarcastic but when I said âpull the plug,â I meant give up on the system all together. 
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Iâm likewise in the I/T profession, which is why this stuff seems so interesting. Yes there have been some ups and downs lately, but not worth getting too excited about if you have just a few devices. Like all hardware/software marriages, there will be some challenging times, but it will get better.
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