GC2 Panel & Wink Hub 2

Support
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I am looking for some help with Home Automation and getting my GC2 and Wink Hub 2 to play nice.

What I would like to do is use the GC2 panel to only do security and have a Wink Hub 2 to do Home Automation (lights, door locks, temp. Ect). So when we disarm the alarm thru Alarm.com app all the lights and doors unlock. Also when we arm the house at night all the lights turn off and the doors lock.

I can’t find a lot of documentation on how this (if at all) works. Love my GC2 panel but would like more flexibility by using the Wink Hub 2.

Thanks

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What I would like to do is use the GC2 panel to only do security and have a Wink Hub 2 to do Home Automation (lights, door locks, temp. Ect). So when we disarm the alarm thru Alarm.com app all the lights and doors unlock. Also when we arm the house at night all the lights turn off and the doors lock.

Note that in general, you cannot easily use the panel’s security features to influence automation through another system. The panel does not share status of security features through Z-wave. The only real benefit to adding another hub is just if there are specific Z-wave devices you want to use in conjunction with other Z-wave devices on your network that the GC2 is not compatible with. These are typically specialty sensors etc., and there is limited value usually.

Note that a wink Hub is not necessary to perform these automation events you’ve described.

Alarm.com rules can manage lights and locks based on arm and disarm, so you could just directly create these rules in ADC. You would create one to control lights on arm and disarm, and one to control locks on arm and disarm, a total of four rules.

Alternatively you could also just create ADC Scenes which do all of these things at once, map them to a home page widget and activate the scene via a custom button on your phone screen.

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Warren,

Thanks for the info. I currently have rules and ADC doing light, locks, and other automation. However, i would like more flexibility and control then what ADC allows. Also the panel is limited to 10 light switches that report there intensity. I have 10+ switches now and I will be adding an additional 10-20 in the next few weeks.

I don’t want to compromise the integrity of my security system with 20+ z-wave devices.

So if I remove all the switches and plugs from the panel and use a Wink Hub. Can I still create a rule/scene in ADC that will turn my light off/in based on the rule??

Thanks

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However, i would like more flexibility and control then what ADC allows. Also the panel is limited to 10 light switches that report there intensity. I have 10+ switches now and I will be adding an additional 10-20 in the next few weeks.

So that we can best assist, if you wouldn’t mind, could you provide a use case you are looking to cover? ADC implements updates and feature enhancements based on user requests, so it’s always good to send ideas.

The device limit of 10 does not apply to newer Z-wave Plus devices according to ADC. Z-wave Plus switches are able to transmit status as they are physically changed.

I don’t want to compromise the integrity of my security system with 20+ z-wave devices.

I’m not 100% on what you are referencing, but I think you mean if the panel tried to constantly poll more than 10 devices? If so, that does not happen. And as above, Z-wave Plus devices do not require polling per ADC.

So if I remove all the switches and plugs from the panel and use a Wink Hub. Can I still create a rule/scene in ADC that will turn my light off/in based on the rule??

So to the meat of the question here, the answer is always “Maybe.” As long as the controller is able to properly share device info with the secondary controller (alarm panel) you would be able to still use ADC rules.

The Z-wave Controller chosen to be the primary controller must play nice with other controllers as the secondary, and many manufacturers simply do not want to fully support that kind of third party integration.

Now, that said, we have heard success reported when using a Wink Hub, so it is more than likely an option. The most likely candidates for problems are locks, since they require secure encryption keys to be shared between controllers and this is the most common failure.

Keep in mind what you are creating is a separate parallel system.

Alarm.com can only send rules and commands to the alarm panel. These commands are not forwarded through any other controller and do not go through the Wink Hub. Alarm.com cannot see rules created for your Wink Hub. It cannot activate rules you’ve created in Wink, so through Alarm.com you would still only be able to control the devices compatible with your alarm panel.

Pairing all of your Z-wave devices with Wink and then pairing the GC2 as a secondary controller would send all of the devices to the GC2. You cannot pick and choose what gets shared in the list.