Debate on using a Hubitat hub for a security system

Then what good are they? Just so you can turn lights off from your recliner?

Well I don't have any particular issues but I wouldn't rely on any hub as a security system or for any safety system. It's stated in the documentation somewhere. A professionally installed security system designed, installed and maintained to the relevant standards can be relied upon but a smart home hub is for convenience. I have lights, outlets, curtains (and my professionally installed security system) automated. I wouldn't want to be without that automation but everything that the hub automates can also be operated manually if that hub goes down.

5 Likes

I would never trust my home's safety and security to ANY hub. I have a fully wired alarm/fire system that reports to a central service that I gladly pay for annually.

Hubitat and other devices/services in my home are there for convenience.

7 Likes

Yes, we're all about "Home Automation" here not "Home Security." Hubitat themselves do not recommend relying on HE for home security. HE can provide some functions that are related to home security, but the platform is not purpose-built for that. If Home Security (caps for emphasis) is your only reason for using HE then I would agree that you are on the wrong platform and should look for other options.

5 Likes

Then why do they sell and support and promote devices to monitor temperature so you can be alerted if your heating fails while away from home?
Why do they sell and support and promote devices to lock your doors?
Why do they sell and support and promote devices to detect motion?
Why do they sell and support and promote devices to sound sirens and alarms?

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Yes, I agree, you should not rely on these little gadgets for "safey and security" but I'm willing to bet 90% of the people who buy and use them have some sort of related dependence. I'm willing to bet you do as well.

1 Like

Automations using contact sensors, locks, motion sensors, etc., that I've set up on my hub are helpful and I depend on them for convenience for me\family. Including locking doors I forget to. But as noted Hubitat is not a security service like ADT, Simplisafe Home Security, Ring Security, etc. So while I appreciate it that my front door should lock if I forget, I always check before I leave my home... It's on me.

Just because HE supports some of the device types that are also used in purpose-built home security systems, does not make HE the same as a home security system. Purpose-built security systems control the devices that are used in the system. HE is an open system, allowing any manufacturer's device that can be supported by community custom drivers, there there's no way they can offer a true security system in that context.

I own and use many of the same tools as my brother, who is a general contractor. That doesn't make me a general contractor too. :slightly_smiling_face:

7 Likes

So you basically proved my point...You ARE actually relying on the hub for safety and security. You are just merely labelling it a "convenience"....

If HE suddenly stopped reliably locking your doors for you, you'd get rid of it pretty quick I'd imagine, just like your brother would get fired if he screwed up a job.

1 Like

Answer to all your questions:

For convenience and home automation, which are inherently different than home security/safety.

Automating locking a door, is not a matter of security/safety. It is a matter of convenience. I still have the ability to use a key or the knob to manually lock/unlock my door. I don’t depend on Hubitat to do that for me. If Hubitat fails, I still have means to lock/unlock.

You mention sounds and sirens. I automate announcements using Hubitat, but again, I do not depend on it for security. I have, as mentioned, a fully wired alarm system with a siren that I do depend on.

So you lose your bet with me. I do NOT, in any way, depend on Hubitat or other automation devices/services for anything regarding home safety/security. I have other services that I do indeed depend upon for that.

1 Like

I kind of agree with Op where there is implied safety and security aspect. I would hedge a bet that more than 50% of hubitat user rely on their systems for some form of safety and security

1 Like

I would keep using the hub in other ways, at the very least.

Like others have mentioned, I don’t rely on it to maintain the security of my home, even though I do use the hub to lock and unlock my doors. Ideally, I could get that to work reliably enough once again, but I’d be in no particular rush.

OTOH, if I were at work and the access card readers that we use to restrict access to various areas stopped working, they would be fixed asap, most likely the same day. Since that’s a totally different context with very different implications for downtime of the involved devices.

3 Likes

Yes, this exactly. Sure, I use my HE to enhance safety & security at home, but if my HE is down for some reason, then although that's admittedly an inconvenient bummer, I'm not unduly exposed or overly vulnerable.

Ugh, sorry Mark -- I intended to reply to topic, not you specifically

4 Likes

Yes, for convenience for lazy people. My apartment is 100% automated and everything is running hands free relying on gazillions of different sensors.

Ah, no, unfortunately your point is languishing unproven, regardless of what you'd like to assume. If HE couldn't at least mostly reliably lock doors, I'd probably just stop using HE to lock doors, and return to locking them manually all the time. HE saves me time and makes things more convenient by locking, as I can walk down the hall and glance at my door 15' away at the entry and see if it's locked or not. I don't rely on HE to secure my home, but I do like the convenience of not having to go all the way to my door to lock it all the time. I have a feeling you are going to continue to intepret my and other comments as you will, so I'll leave you to it.

9 Likes

1 Like

I think you have to think about what would happen if a rule fails to run as you thought it should. Case in point:

1 Like

@danabw I think @sidjohn1 just proved my point for me. LOL.
I'm sure if you posted your rule set, we'd find something that's related to security and safey.
I'm sure you have something to turn lights on at dusk, turn a light on based on motion, etc. Those rules failing to operate are a security and safey hazzard once members of your family start to rely on them.

I don’t think anyone’s proven anything (me included).

Other than people will come up with a wide variety of uses for their hub.

Some are not recommended by a strict reading of the hub documentation and terms of use.

Some may have unintended consequences.

All uses cases are ultimately up to the hub owner to maintain responsibility for.

8 Likes

No, by definition a smart home IS more than just turning on lights from an app. A system designed for Home Automation and a system designed for Security while they may have some over lap in features are designed for different purposes. If you choose to use a system for a purpose outside of what it was intended or designed for, you may be disappointed with the results.

The fact that hub login security is disabled by default is a very strong indicator that habitat was not designed for home security.

7 Likes

It is coming down to a definition of what each is calling security and safety. For me turning lights on at dark and such items is a convenience not the definition of safety. I could get up and then the lights on when it starts to get dark. For the OP that fits their definition of safety.

For me safety and security is a security system and fire alarm system. Yes I use HSM, as a back up and supplement to my installed security system. I use the Z-wave smoke detectors for automations and notifications but they also beep loudly. Nothing in this realm is strictly dependent on my HE hub.

3 Likes

Nothing that falls into the category of "Safety and Security" should be strictly dependent on any one thing. The thing that most of the subscribed services have is redundancy.

I have had some quirky issues with my system after the latest updates. Those issues might be just conincidentally timed with the updates. Or they (more likely) are just settling down since I always to a reboot with rebuild after each update (after backing up my databases both locally and to the cloud).

I do use some of the features that are safety/security adjacent. But, I do not rely on them. That said, any issues I have had have been quirky and self resolved. OR, they were the result of something I did to myself that I researched and found a fix for (Like creating ghosts that I had to remove early on).

4 Likes