one of the questions we got after we
published our ring alarm review is
whether non ring sensors can be added to
the ring alarm Network the question
comes up because the sensors all use a
technology called z-wave now that is a
standard there are many z-wave sensors
out there so can they be added to the
ring system I got one of these GE smart
door sensors this is intended to go into
the hinge in your door and to notify you
when a door is open or closed it's based
on z-wave that's what it looks like and
the answer is yes this can be added to a
ring system but the more interesting
question is is it worth it so adding the
sensor is pretty easy I'm in the ring
app and I'm going to go to set up device
and choose it's a security device and
it's a sensor and then the list
pre-populates with the ring products
here the contact sensor and the motion
detector but if you look all the way
down the bottom it says add manually so
I'm going to click that and then the
only selection that comes up is 0 so
let's click this and then there's the
z-wave logo and down the bottom here is
ad I'm gonna click that and now it's
looking and listening for this device I
pair this device by pressing this button
so I'm gonna press that and we've
already got configuring device and any
moment now device configured
successfully device added successfully
so it's now part of the system
it comes up here the GE hinge pin door
sensor - if I click that I can assign it
to the room in the Ring alarm you assign
sensors and alarms and keypads and
things based on the rooms I'm going to
say it's in the living room and the
placement is on a main door so it's just
save that and we are done and if we go
back here to the device page you'll see
all of the devices on my network there's
a door sensor there's a ring motion
sensor and there is the GE hinge pin
dort Center - so I've got it connected
and it's hooked up to my network to
prove it let's simulate opening the door
and there's the time to show that the
door is open it's the same as so if
you're using one of the magnetic sensors
and a door opens you get the same chime
but so far so good
this is where things start diverging
though between the ring devices and the
non ring devices the next thing I'm
going to do here is I'm going to go into
my alarm and I'm going to arm my system
put it into away mode ok so 60 seconds
has passed and the ring alarm system is
now activated you can tell that by the
red circle on the base unit here so
let's find out what happens if say our
front door which is protected by this
third-party sensor is opened while the
alarm is armed you get a chime nothing
else no countdown no alarm sounds
nothing comes up on the app let's find
out what happens when a door protected
with one of rings own magnetic sensors
is opened it immediately starts the
alarm countdown and I've now got 60
seconds to disarm this before the alarm
sounds and this is one of the important
differences between all of these systems
thank you if you have a third-party
z-wave sensor on your ring alarm system
it will not notify a neighbor that
something's up with your alarm if you
have that function set it will not
trigger the alarm and it will certainly
not dispatch make a call to the
emergency dispatch center who will call
you to ask if there's anything up and
might possibly send the police to your
house if it happens with one of the ring
sensors which is the magnetic sensor or
the infrared sensor then it is going to
do all of that so to answer the question
yes it's possible to add third-party
sensors to your ring alarm the only
thing is at the moment it's not really
worth it because they're not really
going to trigger anything except for a
chime when a door opens
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