Since ADT Smartthings is shutting down soon I'm looking for a simple new hub and alarm

Hubitat® Safety Monitor
#1

I went over to ADT Smartthings from Iris when it retired. Now I am in a bind again as i see the ADT Hub is shutting down in June. My setup is pretty simple. I use my system mainly for a non monitored alarm and just have few devices such as a garage controller, 2 door sensors, motion detector, Halo+ smoke and carbon monoxide detector, siren, Nest and 2 water leak sensors linked up to my ADT Smartthings.

My only automation i have setup is for my alarm to auto arm and disarm when i am gone and return home which I have grown to love using ADT Tools. Everything else i just get alerts on my Smartthings app (water leak, smoke, security alarm detected etc…).

Would my current setup work with Hubitat and could i just buy a keypad somewhere to link to it such as a ring keypad and possibly their door sensors and motion detector? Also would i be able to auto arm and disarm like i am now with Hubitat? I understand my ADT motion detector and window/door sensors would not work with Hubitati but should everything else? I also do not know how to code. Would i be able to setup everything i mentioned above within the Hubitat app or webpage by just checking options without coding?

Thanks so much for taking your time to read this. Please do suggest what you think the easiest option for me with my current setup and needs would be. Thank you, -Freddie

#2

Hi Freddie, I just switched over to Hubitat from ADT Smartthings myself and use it for the same reasons as you, self monitoring a few devices. I also used the ADT Tools with Smartthings so I think my opinion may help you out.

I initially found there to be a slight learning curve to Hubitat coming from ADT/ST. Connecting devices I found to go much more smoothly, but getting the Hubitat Safety Monitor (HSM) set up took a little practice. First, I will say the community here has topics on just about any question you would have for problems incurred during setup. I found that most of my issues were user error on my part and not issues with Hubitat or HSM itself.

With the HSM you can set auto arm/disarm parameters and Hubitat supports geofencing with their mobile app. That is not a feature that I currently use so I can't comment beyond saying it is available. There are a few keypads that Hubitat has come out and stated will work with their system here: SecurityKeypads - Hubitat Documentation I went with the Iris V3 after finding a nice used one for $18. It paired easily to Hubitat and setting it up to work with HSM was a breeze.

You are correct in stating any of the ADT/ST sensors will not work. Your other sensors, as long as they are Zwave or Zigbee, should work. Hubitat does have a list of known to work devices here: List of Compatible Devices - Hubitat Documentation

I do not know how to code either and did not find it necessary to do so to get this set up. I believe I may have responded to you on reddit as well.

2 Likes
#3

Hello and Welcome. I am using the system as you describe, although not using presence myself.

I have a keypad Iris V2 & V3, and a tiny Heiman Keyfob for arm/disarm, it has been working well.
Although not using presence, I have read tons of threads, long story short, many are using it and last I checked it wasn't 100% perfect.
I'd encourage you to read through the presence threads, using search above. Outside of that the system will work well for you

#4

I'm in the same boat. I'm just getting Hubitat set up and just purchased a Ring security system to work with it. I was self-monitored on ST/ADT but I already had a Ring doorbell and upgrading to the monitoring was only another $70/year, plus it integrates nicely with the Alexa stuff I've got.

In terms of Hubitat vs ST I've found with the Hubitat Package Manager that loading user apps and extending the platform is much easier and more powerful.

#5

As for presence, I have tried multiple geofencing apps with my iPhone 6S and nothing works reliably, it has nothing to do with HE but more how phones work to conserve energy from what I can see. So I've bought a SmartThings Presence sensor key fob on eBay and found this device to be very reliable but a bit power hungry (although it has been reporting the battery at 0% for the last month and still going strong), but I'm thinking that I'll be replacing the batteries in them every 4 months.

Some people have hacked them with larger batteries like AAA's for use in a backpack or even directly pluged them via a voltage step down to the cars power. Planning to do this to one of them for my boat so that lights turn on at the dock and backyard when we arrive at night.

#6

I'm using automations in the iOS Home app (AppleTV as home hub, always-on computer running Homebridge with the Homebridge Hubitat integration) for presence detection (toggling virtual switches for each person) for presence detection and it has been rock solid so far (I'm trusting that Apple itself knows how to optimize geofencing and can use features 3rd party developers can't).

#7

For presence I've just set up the Combined Presence app to combine geo fencing and Wifi virtual sensors: [RELEASE] Combined Presence

#8

Hey so i started the transition back in November and I will say it has been mostly painless I haven't had to port ADT Tools ,or a variant of it, as most of the functionality ADT Tools enabled is either already part of HSM or part of other included Smartapps from Hubitat. So you can do it mostly from within the provided apps that come with the hub.

My biggest concern when choosing to migrate the Alarm functionality from the Smartthings ADT Panel was what gear to use. You are right in that the Dual Branded sensors don't come over. After some research and testing two sensors what i settled on were Ring Contact Sensors Gen 2. There are a few reasons.

  1. They are on a known current alarm system component.
  2. The do produce Tamper alerts
  3. They talk back to the Hub on a regular basis which allows for status monitoring of the device itself, not just what they are monitoring.
  4. The Gen 2 Ring Gear uses Zwave 7 or the 700 chipse with Smartstart and S2 security.

After I confirmed what contact sensors to use I switched my focus to the motion sensor. that is probably the single most used device in my house as i primarily use them to automate some lights. I figured since i liked the Door/Windows sensors so much i would try Rings Gen 2 motion detectors as well. They did not disappoint. With a motion detection setting of 1 they are extremely responsive and work great the have all the same good features above and they use AAA batteries which will make that easy to take care of later.

You would need a external siren and I ended up falling on the Aeotec siren 6 which has several sounds in it that include a Ding Dong sound similar to what the ADT Panel had. I liked it because it is connected to mains power but also has a battery back, and a light built in. It isn't perfect though as you can't load your own sounds. I think zooz has a decent option as well, but it doesn't have Mains power.

The keypad I decided on again was the Ring Gen 2 Keypad. Yes this does seem to have a theme to it doesn't it. Again Gen 7 zwave and all of the above features for device monitoring.

So once that was all acquired I start to finalize the setup. I used HSM for as much as I could. I set up it's options to monitor all of the contact sensors and have the alert options I wanted as far as audible alerts, flash lights, activate sirens, and send notifications for intrusion. Setup my entry/exit delays for the alarm modes configured. Setup notifications for Arming failures for opened sensors. Setup a auto arm option for when I put my house to sleep. Added a custom monitor in HSM to keep an eye on the batteries. All of that in HSM.

HSM is good for allot of the features, but there were still some things that it didn't take care of though and that is when i had to lean on other built in apps to fill in the gaps. Hubitat has a app called "Notifications". In that app I created 2 additional configurations

  1. A alert notification that tells me when any of the alarm components have a triggered tamper event.
  2. A door open/close which triggers a audible alert to select google home devices of which door/window opened. (similar to the voice option on the ADT Panel)

The last thing i did was use another built in app called RuleMachine to create some more advance actions based on additional triggers from the Alarm. The purpose of these rules are as follows

  1. A geofence rule that will arm the house when i leave based on my phone
  2. Clear an alert if a arming failure happens. This prevents me from having to manually clear it once i resolve the problem. When the Arming fails, HSM will tell me what device is in a bad state via Google Home mini.
  3. Notification of HSM Armed State change
  4. Flip a virtual switch that is still integrated with Smartthings so StHM knows what state the alarm is in.
  5. Generate Ding Dong sound when contact is open.

Lastly I did add a smartapp called "Device Activity Check" which just keeps us informed if a device stops talking for a period of time. The idea is to be like a supervision check to make sure the device didn't just die on you.

This was all to get as close to possible to what we had with the Smartthings ADT alarm panel. That doesn't mean it is all needed to have a working HSM Alarm. I am just trying to make it as complete a solution as possible.

I will say from my perspective most of this was very easy to setup. The ring gear since it uses the Gen7 gear with Smartstart was simply scan the QR Code provide in the Mobile app and then pull the battery tab and wait for the devices to connect. Just don't mess with the security settings in the Smartstart screen. The only Ring item that gave me any problems was the Keypad. I had to do a hard reset after the initial setup because for some reason it wasn't sending the codes to the hub. Honestly though i think that was a range issue with where i was testing it. The Aeotec siren added with no problem. just be aware once you add it the tamper alert can be fairly sensitive and since it sounds the siren you may want to place it where you want it to be so you don't keep triggering the tamper alert before you add it. If not you may want to go into the device and the volumes down a bit until you get it set where you want it.

Very easy to setup doesn't mean though that it wasn't tedious. It does take time and you want to be sure everything is set how you like it. The problem with machines is that they do exactly what you tell them to do so take time to make sure you tell it exactly what you want it to monitor.

1 Like
#9

@ fmnj86

Hopefully you are still around here, and maybe have been watching my journey.

I too am an ADT / Smartthings refugee. HOWEVER my impementation is FAR MORE extensive than what you are talking about...

I have the distinction however of having gone to ADT / Smartthings after Iris shut down, and I didn't get rid of my Iris stuff.

Lke you I am using it for unmonitored security. If I am away, I get messages on my phone, if I am home the sirens make it obvious there is an issue.

My setup is as follows.

All moving panes of glass, all exterior doors have Iris V1 or Iris V2 contact sensors on them.

Iris contact sensors are pretty reliable, and cheap. If you have your ADT sensors still, grab a lot pack of 10 Iris sensors from Alex_Sari on ebay for under $50.00, and use the ADT magnets and you have good working sensors.

I do not have smart smoke / CO alarms, but rather I use Alexa guard to monitor for my traditional alarms there.

I have found adding / removing devices from Hubitat to be FAR easier, and faster than within ADT / Smartthings which I always found painful to do. Especially the dual branded stuff.

Hubitat Security Monitor is what you want for security monitoring. Pretty much everything you could possibly want is in there. If you need a keypad, go back to Ebay and pick up from the same seller mentioned above an Iris V2 or V3 keypad, and go grab some self stick velcro because they typically don't have the wall mounts.

Now for me, I have almost but not quite all the nights inside and outside of my house automated, ceiling fans automated, security monitoring, video and audio monitoring via Ring and Wyze cams, 4 100db sirens, 3 keypads, 15 contact sensors Echo devices in every room for guard and voice control, and lastly, a smart thermostat.

You can go as simple, or as complex as you want. And the great thing about Hubitat and this forum is that there are folks here that are willing to help you out if you are stuck at the silly little obvious to everyone else part, or you are diving into coding and left a curly bracket off part...

There are a lot of really good folks on Smartthings, and honestly, you will see a lot of those same people here. Some folks have hybrid systems that use both, some folks just enjoy toying with the systems, and some like me, are fed up with proprietary locked into the cloud systems that go down 2 - 3 times a month on a good month.

#10

I second this I have homebridge on a pi running with an apple HomePod mini. It’s been 100% reliable for me over the last 3 months it’s been installed.

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