Hi everyone, looking for some advice on designing a yard system.
Love the products that Philips Hue is shipping soon for their outdoor line - limited, but nice industrial aesthetic.
I am looking for lights that mount into steps (small inset lights to illuminate each step), similarly lights to mount on the deck for ambient light, lights to put into the garden areas and illuminate shrubs and plants as well as standard garage lights and sconces that will be ambient and security focused.
So lots of areas to cover. My main desire is to integrate it with ADC somehow. I only have a 2GIG Go control 2 panel right now. Open to getting a secondary (make it primary) controller - just so I can trigger actions based on alarm conditions, arm status, etc. as well as to be able to use ADC app to activate things.
Thanks in advance for suggestions on the best approach.
I am looking for lights that mount into steps (small inset lights to illuminate each step), similarly lights to mount on the deck for ambient light, lights to put into the garden areas and illuminate shrubs and plants as well as standard garage lights and sconces that will be ambient and security focused.
So lots of areas to cover. My main desire is to integrate it with ADC somehow. I only have a 2GIG Go control 2 panel right now. Open to getting a secondary (make it primary) controller – just so I can trigger actions based on alarm conditions, arm status, etc. as well as to be able to use ADC app to activate things.
Unfortunately Philips Hue is not compatible with Alarm.com. You would not be able to control those through your ADC account.
Adding a secondary Z-wave controller would give a parallel system where more devices would likely be compatible, but still only those directly compatible with your alarm panel could be used through Alarm.com. This would not give you control of the secondary controller through ADC.
There are not Z-wave specific lights to cover all the use cases you are looking for. Instead I would recommend looking into using Z-wave switches to control the various types of lights. You would not have RGB control, just on/off/dim depending on the switch. However since they would all be Z-wave switches they would be closer to the controller and you would not need to worry about possible weak signal to outdoor/distant nodes.
RGB lights compatible with Alarm.com would be the Z-wave Zipato lights.
Hi - so I took your advice, bought one zipato rgb 2 to experiment with. Got it included and ADC sees it and sees it’s an RGB device. But tapping any color just dims the bulb to various shades of white. Put it on pure red and the bulb dims to about a red level but stays warm white. Am I missing a config step?
The ADC app shows color swatches and let’s me switch them. Things happen on the bulb when I do - but like I said, only brightness changes.
Inclusion was a bear too - for future visitors to this page, best way is to turn the wall switch to on, and unscrew and screw the bulb in - you have to do it twice. First time it blinks once, second time it blinks twice. Then the GC2 panel thinks about it for what seems like forever locking you out of z-wave features. Then it’s added.
I want to start building color rules but if I can’t control it with adc manually, I don’t see the rules working either. Any help is greatly appreciated. And as others have said, I wish there were more RGB options out there!
The bulb supports Tunable White light and RGB, but it seems to be stuck only on tunable white. I am talking with ADC on this to see if it is intended to be this subtle or if the device is missing a command to switch over.
There is actually a more dramatic change if you select White in the app and just select warm vs cool on the slider.
Thanks Jason - let me know when I can re-test. I don’t even have an app for it - no way for the app to connect to the bulb as my only z-wave controller is the gc2.
Please do continue to post about your experiences with the Zipato! I’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on some but I haven’t seen a lot about the RBG support with ADC coupled to the GC2. I know that the ADC app lets you select colors beyond shades of white but I wonder if the ZWAVE radio in the GC2 is not correctly sending those commands…
Hmm, unfortunately the Bulb 2 is the second gen version of the Zipato and only the first gen device has official documentation at ADC. It could be that the second Gen has changes that are not fully supported, but I only currently have the second gen to test. We’ll do some digging with ADC.
At the same time, I am looking at running RGB strip lighting on the deck. Are there any RGB controllers that are ADC compatible?
It seems that ADC is not keeping pace in automationland. I feel like I need to get a proper automation controller and give up on ADC for most of my home - just have it allowed to control basics on the new controller like scheduled away look automation, thermostats etc - put it all on a new controller and just slave the GC2 to that.
But if there is something that ADC can control for RGB LED strips - please advise and let me know on the Zipato 2.
From what we have been told, only the first gen bulb is officially supported.
There are no current LED strip lights which are officially compatible. I’ve been looking at the Aeon Labs Z-wave strip lighting myself. We’ll reach out to see if there might be any hints at development.
Note that Alarm.com is not the same as a single controller manufacturer and consolidates numerous different alarm controllers. The controllers themselves must support the devices first. With support for one RGBW light though it sets precedent for more. It’ll come down to demand.
Will post any news from ADC here regarding additional RGBW/strip lighting
Keep in mind that distance would be a factor and many of the outdoor locations you have mentioned I’m not finding appropriate products for. Are there any specific products you are looking to use?
Thanks Warren - in my case, the G2 panel is about 10 feet from a wall-mounted RGB bulb (the one that started this thread) which is on wall of the deck where I’m installing this. So all within range.
I am thinking that a dedicated automation controller is in order the more I read this. Do all the fancy stuff on that and only have ADC turn on main lights with alarm and some activities. I assume that is possible right?
At the moment, all my zwave devices are on the GC2. If I put in a Vera (pick on them for a moment) and put all my devices on that (all alarm sensors obviously stay on GC2)… ADC can still trigger what it can on the Vera right? Assuming the Vera is master and GC2 a secondary?
Then in this same scenario, the Vera could also control a Fibaro RGBW controller for colors etc, and ADC may see it as a simple on/off device? or would it not even appear?
In the end, if it works as I described (all educated guess) then I’m ok with that. I just want ADC to be able to hit some lights on/off, control thermostats and do it’s alarm functions. But I also want to be able to have other things in the system - they don’t necessarily have to be ADC controlled.
At the moment, all my zwave devices are on the GC2. If I put in a Vera (pick on them for a moment) and put all my devices on that (all alarm sensors obviously stay on GC2)… ADC can still trigger what it can on the Vera right? Assuming the Vera is master and GC2 a secondary?
As a point of clarification, Alarm.com cannot control anything on the Vera. It can only affect the Alarm.com compatible alarm panel and compatible devices connected to it. Commands from ADC do not get forwarded to Vera, they go directly from the secondary controller (alarm panel) to devices.
In general though, yes you should be able to do what you are expecting.
The Vera is the primary controller (with wider compatibility) and the 2GIG Panel is paired as a secondary controller, receiving the device list from the Vera. Compatible devices can then typically be controlled through Alarm.com as normal.
Then in this same scenario, the Vera could also control a Fibaro RGBW controller for colors etc, and ADC may see it as a simple on/off device? or would it not even appear?
ADC can only control what is compatible with the 2GIG Panel. unknown devices may be listed but uncontrollable. It depends on the device.
Got it. Sounds like what I pictured - just didn’t say it the same way. I guess I’ll give this a shot.
Now the what flavor of ice cream do you like style question… is there a recommended primary controller? I see Fibaro on the high end, Vera (with multiple versions) and some software based stuff all the time. I’m inclined to stay away from Smart Things or anything tied to a big corp (like the stuff Lowes sells).
I want to control Zwave and Zigbee (for Hue). Beyond that I really don’t have many other needs, but if it had Apple Home support - one more bonus I guess.
Net-net, though, I want to be sure what I get has had good integration with GC2/GC3 (I’ll probably be upgrading the panel one of these years) and ADC of course via these panels.
There is no recommended controller exactly, because it is not an officially supported solution, though as a parallel system there is not a lot of support requirement. Vera is a commonly used one (as is Smart Things actually).
I don’t have any experience with Fibaro and couldn’t speak toward its use.
Thanks again Warren! Only reason I’m shying away from ST is the ownership by Samsung. Maybe it’s the tinfoil hat mentality but I can see a simple change in privacy notice (that goes unnoticed) and all that data gets sent for analysis. Not that there is anything to hide.