I came home today, after being at work for 9 plus hours, and the Aeon Siren gen 5 was going off. I immediately was like wth, as when I am at work, the dogs are home, and there is no if, then situation that would allow the siren to go off.
I look at my ST app, and it says the siren is off. I force the siren off by turning it “on” then off again in the app.
Wth!!! I have no idea how long the siren was going off. When I check the device in the app. It has no activity since I came home and turned it on and off.
I am very concerned that possibly my dogs were subjected to the siren FOR NINE HOURS without me knowing.
I’ve been on with ST customer service about 44 minutes. The “lower level” customer service rep could not see that the alarm had gone off at all. She had me reset the device by removing/excluding it and repairing it.
The “higher level” rep apparently can see more on the back end. I was told that some devices, say they are disconnected from the network or a power outage, will default to on, which in the alarm case would be sirening.
He ALSO could not see how the alarm had triggered/ turned itself on. I am supposed to leave it in, in case it happens again, to identify what has gone wrong with it. It’s messed up though, bc the dogs could have permanent hearing damage done, which is seriously really f*cked up.
I guess I’d like to hear potential ideas from community. Should I ditch the siren entirely??? Is it possible to simply remove the siren from my hub and only pair it when no one, including the dogs, will be here (like when we are on vacation)? Would it be enough to remove it from the hub to avoid future alarms, or would I also need to unplug/remove batteries?
Wow that sucks. Sometimes it happens that ghost events occur with devices connected to ST for no good reason; I’m not sure if the fact that ST support see nothing out of the ordinary means it couldn’t be a ST issue and must be a malfunction of the device itself.
I’ve had the aeotec siren for at least a year and never had something like this occur (I’ve had false alarms but that was because of well-documented instances of SHM acting up). AFAIK the device does not automatically turn on when the power is cut and the restored.
I’d suggest temporarily moving the siren to an area that if it goes off unexpectedly again, it’ll be far enough away from your dogs that it won’t potentially harm their hearing. If you use @krlaframboise’s custom device handler, you can also turn the volume down from the default 110db to as low as 88db while you’re troubleshooting.
Good to know that is hasn’t happened to you. It does make me worried it could happen again.
Moving it farther away from the space the dogs are during the day is a good idea… I also will download the app to adjust the decibel level, thank you for that! I am about to invest in the arlos (indoor and outdoor use) which I guess does have two way audio. My home was broken into over Easter and I’m trying to find the balance between security/control and not stressing over ST false alarms.
Awhile back, I had Z-Wave lights turn on spontaneously a few times. There was nothing in SmartThings event logs to attribute it to. I was watching TV and all of a sudden the light went on full brightness. There was no noticeable power surge or anything else I could blame it for. So yeah, although rare, this kind of things does happen.
I’d highly recommend installing a dedicated security system. SmartThings is ok for lighting control and other “convenience” applications, but it doesn’t hold up as a security system.
It could definitely happen again. I’m not saying it will, but it can. Search the forums for “poltergeist” and you’ll see multiple reports, including some for sirens going off.
This is one of the reasons why the official SmartThings terms of use says:
As part of using the Services, you may create connections between various physical devices (which may be provided by SmartThings or by others), third party services, and the Services. You acknowledge and agree that you will not connect any physical devices or third party services to the Services (or otherwise use the Services) in a manner that could be dangerous to you or to others, or which could cause damage to or loss of any property (whether real, personal, tangible or intangible). For example, you should never connect heavy machinery, power tools, medical equipment, or other similar devices to the Services. For more information, please visit our Product Guidelines Page.
And in the Product Guidelines:
SmartThings allows for the control of electronic devices through pluggable outlets and supported third party switches, outlets, relays and controls. Where possible, SmartThings has worked to ensure message delivery and control reliability, but many factors can impact this, including electromagnetic interference, solar flares, wireless and cellular connectivity, and the natural complexity of software instructions that might be in direct conflict caused by SmartApps or by end users.
. These and other issues can cause commands to not be delivered, to be delivered repeatedly, or to be delivered in rapid succession.
. Therefore, do not use SmartThings to control any device that may have an impact on health, safety, security, property, or financial interests, or where the device is sensitive and could be damaged by power cycling or power surges.
.
For example, do not control medical equipment or expensive electronics with SmartThings.
And don’t hook up anything that might cause hearing damage to your dogs if it goes on and off repeatedly without your expecting it to.
All of this is in the fine print, obviously, but it is what it is.
This is a conclusion that many people who have used ST for a while have come to. It’s just not a serious security system. And as @JDRoberts points out, ST basically states as much in the fine print of their terms of service. Which is stupid because that’s one of the major selling points in their marketing materials.
Oh, don’t get me started on marketing. These days, if something is being heavily marketed, it’s a sure sign you’d better stay away from it. Think junk food. Always read the fine print.
Thanks all for replying. I have only had the system hooked up for a week and this is the second “poltergeist” situation. A hallway light turned itself on the other night at full brightness with no log indicator. I have to say, as much as I am enjoying the system, it does make you rethink purchasing locks!!
As for the siren/using ST as a security system… I am not really concerned about the security of the house while I am at work (which is why the siren is NEVER set to go off when the house is “armed” while I’m at work - only when the whole household + dogs aren’t here). The dogs are very scary sounding/looking (although they are in fact very loving pitbulls!) and I have very watchful neighbors who are home during the day.
I would however like the siren to be working when we are out of town for the weekends. Which is when we were robbed over Easter. I know this is not a security system (but had only been considering self-monitoring systems anyway, so this seems similar to me of a self-monitoring system that also has the benefit of providing some peace of mind/cool gadgetry for the house). I obviously do not want to be robbed again, but at this point there is really nothing left that cannot be replaced (they already took everything of sentimental value that was un-replaceable). My only real goal here (in terms of security system use), is to potentially frighten someone off if they tried it again or at the very least to alert me that it is happening.
This is an annoying workaround, but to avoid the siren potentially going off for no reason in the future when we are home, should I simply remove the device from the system? And pair it before leaving on a trip?
Hi Elinor,
My house was robbed about a year and a half ago. In my case I suspected either my neighbors or neighborhood punks as I had only been away from my house for about an hour and they would know when I was home or not. Like you, I removed everything of value from my home, but after a lot of thought I realized that if it ever happened again, it was just as important to catch the burglars as it it was to protect my valuables. Therefore, I not only purchased the Smartthings system, but also purchased a monitored alarm system that worked on cellular only in case my internet cables were cut, and I purchased a slew of cameras.
You never know how long it will take for the police to arrive and many of them won’t respond quickly unless there is video evidence due to too many false alarms. Smartthings has batteries inside the hub in case of power loss, but you will probably also lose internet connectivity when the power is out. Thirdly, often when I am travelling I am in areas with no wifi connectivity so it could be many hours before I knew of an intrusion.
Finally, if I get false notifications from Smartthings but my other alarm system shows no activity, I can be fairly certain that it is a Smartthings glitch.
This is all good advice for those that are serious about home security. TBH I only use ST for security because I’m not that concerned about break-ins where I live.
There are other sirens, like the GoControl Siren, that have built-in auto off settings which will guarantee that if it turns itself on, it will turn itself off after 30 seconds.
There are also sirens, like the Zipato Siren, which have a configuration setting for auto-off and another one that disables the siren entirely. When that configuration value is set to disabled, there’s no way to turn the device on.
That being said, if you don’t have the Zipato Siren disabled and it goes off while ST is down, it doesn’t have an external button that turns it off like the Aeon Siren. To manually turn it off you have to open the device and press/hold a series of really tiny buttons.
