I've been a long time ADT Smartthings user but got an email this morning that they're going to turn it off in 90 days and all of my smoke / water / CO / door sensors will cease to function. I've also seen that it looks like Samsung is discontinuing ST altogether so I'm here thinking about switching to Hubitat.
So... since I need to replace all of that stuff, what would you recommend? I want to set up the HSM with multiple smoke / CO / water / door / motion sensors. I'd also like to set up a touchscreen tablet like I've got with the ADT Smartthings hub with a passcode for disarming. I'd like to be able to arm via Alexa like I do now, too. I've also got a Ring doorbell and Blink cameras that I arm (right now) via IFTTT, so hooking into that would be good too.
I was a SmartThings user from way back and I transitioned over to Hubitat and I love it. But I would not try to use it as a serious security system. I use it as part of an "awareness system" but if you need or want a serious security system I would shop for a system and try to find one with an open API to allow you to tie into it. If you are looking for a "security light" solution then you may be in the right place.
Here is one recent thread (from one of the Hubitat developers) about his favorite devices:
My current favorite door/window sensor is the Nyce NCZ-3011. It's Zigbee, fast reacting, very small, and quite expensive.
For water I prefer something with a remote sensor on a lead wire so I don't have to have the sensor sitting on the floor where I might kick it or step on it. I have a couple of Everspring ST812 units. They are Z-Wave and use "regular" batteries. Can be wall mounted with a fairly long lead to the sensor.
Motion - I have several different brands but the ones that work the best all seem to have been made by Centralite. I just recently got a couple of the Hue outdoor sensors and they seem pretty good so far. I much prefer Zigbee motion sensors because I think they react faster than Z-Wave (that should start another discussion). The Hue ones are Zigbee and will pair directly with the Hubitat.
For smoke I use a smoke alarm sensor from Ecolink (FireFighter). Mine is Z-Wave but I hear there is also a Zigbee version out now. It is compact and mounts next to a smoke alarm and listens for the alarm sound. My alarms are hard-wire interconnected per code. We have a couple of recent threads here with a lot of discussion about options. There may be some new products coming out this summer.
I don't have a CO sensor but the Ecolink apparently can also listen for a CO alarm. I should get one (note to self).
I don't know about Ring doorbells or Blink cameras. I use a Camect system for cameras.
@jcarreira I don't know why you think that you need to replace all of your ADT/ST devices. I have a ADT/ST Water Leak Detector, which is Zigbee, and it paired easily with Hubitat and is fully supported. I'm not very familiar with many of the ADT/ST devices, but I'm thinking that it is likely that most would work with Hubitat. Both SmartThings and Hubitat support Zigbee and Z-Wave. Do some research on compatibility before you give up on the devices you have.
From what I've read on the ST community, the dual branded ADT/ST devices are proprietary and won't work on other systems. Devices that weren't dual branded ADT/ST should work on Hubitat.
@jcarreira my advice, buy a HE C-7 hub and figure out which of your existing devices with pair/include with the HE hub using generic drivers (aka handler scripts). Then replace only the ones you can't bring over.
The compatible devices list is a little misleading, those are devices that HE staff has personally tested and/or built a customer driver. There are hundreds of more devices not on that list that will work with the generic drivers, but YMMV.
Hey, thanks everyone! This gives me a lot to start with. Any thoughts on a wall mounted tablet? I saw this thread:
I'm wondering if there's any new thoughts. Seems like the newer Fire HD tablets are harder to root, but pretty cheap. A used iPad Mini 2 is only like $100, so I was wondering if that would work better / easier?
But which dashboard do you do on the iPad? Is there a native, or browser in kiosk mode? I saw someone mention SharpTools (https://sharptools.io/) and that looks pretty promising
The newer Fire Tablets, when paired with Fully Kiosk can avoid the lockscreen after going to sleep. Seems to be a relatively recent discovery as older Fire tablets could not avoid the lockscreen after turning the screen completely off (the workaround on those being to use a screensaver instead).
More on that discussion here:
Regarding SharpTools, it can be used on any modern browser including iPads, Android, Fire Tablets, PCs, etc. Fully Kiosk Browser is an app which is a popular solution for displaying dashboards on Android and Fire tablets - especially devices that are dedicated to displaying dashboards.
SharpTools dashboards can also be added directly to your mobile device's homescreen much like an app (reference).
SharpTools supports PIN protection on any tile, so you can require a PIN on your HSM tiles or any other tiles you choose.
The built-in Hubitat dashboards has an option for requiring a PIN specifically for HSM or Mode tiles. The Hubitat mobile app can also display the built-in Hubitat dashboards (on iOS or Android) and you can also add them to your homescreen (or use Fully Kiosk on Android/Fire devices).
