Looking for an alarm system that has tight integration with HA and can be controlled locally as well as remotely, preferably also with remote monitoring to dispatch to police in the event of intrusion etc.
I just moved into a new building and existing system was ADT so we figured we’d go with that since it already had the control panel and several sensors, however I’m quickly seeing that there is little to no integration with HA which is becoming problematic.
I’ve read about alarm.com integration in reference to ADT but I don’t quite understand if you have to have gotten ADT through alarm.com, if they are the same thing, or if I can sign up through them and connect my existing ADT account etc. We currently have the ‘command and control’ I believe (not pulses) with the older button panels. Even if I could integrate with alarm.com from what I understand it’s all web based so it would be slower.
Ideally I want to be able to tightly integrate with our door locks (Yale assure 2) locally so that when a specific person enters their code the alarm disables etc. I also wanted to include a smart button that automatically enabled the alarm quickly rather than someone entering a code to arm the alarm (which is what you have to apparently do now with the current ADT panel). The other issue with the current panel is that if a sensor is open from a door or whatever the system simply won’t arm unless you add in your code, hit bypass then hit the zone. We have several guests and misc people who may come and go and getting them to do this will be impossible, hence why I would prefer a smart button – one press, everything turns off, arm is alarmed etc. I had this setup with our previous Simplisafe system but it was a tad slow as I think the integration also has to go through the web.
TLDR;
-Local integration
-Remote monitoring
-Tight integration with HA and other items, allowing me to utilize different sensors etc.
I have the DSC Power Series with Envisalimk for local integration.
Pros:
Works great for automations, and is VERY robust for reliability things such as auto alarm when everyone leaves, auto disarm when someone arrives, and switching between alarm-away and alarm-home at times of day. It is local, has battery backup, reliable, uses a LAN connection. Bonus-many sensors are cheap as it a generation old from DSC, but it has everything we need including: window, door, motion, sound (glass break), sirens just off the top of my head.
Cons:
I am the notification, and I have yet to find a solution that alerts emergency services without going through a commercial service. NOTE: If you are in the US then you likely won’t. It is still configured via YAML so you have to be comfortable with it as there is no GUI integration.
Alarm.com is a monitoring service. As far as I know, you can’t sign up directly, but have to go through a “dealer”.
I went this route using Surety. I have the Qolsys IQ 2+ panel and IQ sensors throughout. There is a local integration to communicate with the Qolsys panels directly from HA. This includes control over the alarm (even triggering the alarm) from HA and includes getting sensor data from the panel into HA. The communications is near instant.
The panel has battery and cellular backup for professional monitoring. I predominantly control the panel via HA but still have the Alarm.com app as backup remote connectivity.
I do something similar to what you are wanting to do. I have an automation to disable the alarm with the deadbolt keypad. This lets me give the dogsitters access by controlling when their keypad code is able to be used. I don’t have a button per se, but have Fire HD tablets around the house with a security “keypad” setup for guest use. I mainly did this so guests can disarm the alarm without needing an actual code. I’m using the HA “alarm control panel” integration to create a dummy keypad that replicates to the actual alarm. It has its own code that is stored in secrets and can be changed on the fly.
You can turn off the pin requirement for arming the system and you can even store a pin in HA to automatically use with automations. I setup a user on the panel specifically for HA.