It’s taking an infuriatingly long time for pro-oriented home automation systems to integrate with DIY doorbell cameras. At least Control4 (Nasdaq: CTRL) now integrates (kind of) with Ring, thanks to a new driver from BlackWire, a distributor and software provider for home-technology installers.
The new Ring Events Driver allows integrators to incorporate push-button and motion events into their Control4 configurations … but not video from the doorbell cam.
For example, if the Ring doorbell senses motion at the front door, the interior lights might turn on via the Control4 system; if the doorbell is pressed, Control4 might send a chime through the home’s loud speakers.
“The direct integration with Ring allows the driver to be much faster than other solutions that rely on third-party services like IFTTT,” says BlackWire president Kevin Luther.
He notes that some dealers today use doorbell-sensing boxes to integrate dumb doorbells into a home automation system, but that method is unreliable due to power fluctuations and the over-sensitivity of these sensing devices.
Luther says the company is exploring additional opportunities with Ring, hoping perhaps to integrate video in the future.
BlackWire software developer Seth Johnson says, “Video is obviously the big question, but the survey that went out with the beta [test] came back with most people not caring about video because the Ring app is so good.”
He adds that the Ring Events Driver has been “so fast and reliable in testing we’ve had no problem proving its worth.”
BlackWire expects to support Ring Stick Up Cameras in the future.
Control4 and other pro-oriented control systems do integrate nicely with professional-grade video-access systems from companies like Channel Vision, Invixium, Mobotix, Siedle, Holovision and many others; however, integration with popular DIY doorbells has been slow, non-existent, or based only on cloud-to-cloud communications.
Hopefully 2017 will bring more direct integrations with Ring, August, Skybell and other popular DIY solutions.
The Ring Events Driver is bundled free of charge with Ring purchases from BlackWire.
Next: Control4 Works with Google Home, Google Assistant for IoT Voice Control via IFTTT
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