Alarm.com compatible RGB bulbs

did anyone ever solve the issue with the Zipato V2 RGB bulbs? In rebuilding the garage, that circuit has been offline for two months, I’m getting an electrician to fix the circuit in a week or so and am curious. I somehow doubt ADC did anything. So if not, is there any other RGB solution available yet? (Other than V1 Zipato?)

Currently there are two Alarm.com compatible Z-Wave bulbs that offer RGB. The Zipato Gen 1 and the Aeotec LED Bulb ZW098 Gen 5. The Zipato Bulb 2 is still not RGB compatible with Alarm.com, with no ETA.

You can find a list of Alarm.com compatible products here.

I see that Aotec now has a Gen 6 that’s even brighter. I suppose that G6 is not supported? When will we ever get a break with this silliness.

I see that Aotec now has a Gen 6 that’s even brighter. I suppose that G6 is not supported? When will we ever get a break with this silliness.

By silliness do you mean quick iterative hardware version changes by manufacturers? Or delay in support from all panel manufacturers and ADC?

Ultimately unless the product is developed for a service or system, development is required for full functionality (unless it has just simple standard parameters like light switches) for the panels that will support it.

Support is usually added based on demand, from my experience, and we are always happy to forward user requests and check for any news on related product support!

Currently only the Gen 5 is supported, but I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to whether there are any differences in support for the Gen 6. It could be that no functional changes were made to controls. We can check with ADC and report back, but they might not have details yet.

FYI, I’m not seeing web results to purchase the Gen 6 yet. It was announced by Aeotec for 2018.

I get it. I work in tech and have been dealing with new hardware and old software all the time. However, since it’s based on a supposed standard (Z-Wave) one would think the command set would be the same. Example: controller sends hey device #332, set RGB value to 255,255,0, execute.

Think of things like Postscript, it’s evolved since it came into form in the late 80’s, yet things are and have been compatible. Just because a new printer comes out, using the latest version of PS, computers somehow don’t stop printing. This is really no different. Otherwise, what’s the point of standards?

Net-net, what really disappoints is the lack of RGB support in Alarm.com. I know that’s not their primary business. But if they thought about it, how cool would it be if RGBW bulbs were in every room of the house. But when an alarm is triggered, have that room flash red/blue/white, while the rest of the house comes up on white. That would be amazing, simple to code, and helpful.

Conversely for fun factor, the ability to change colors based on time of day, or seasons… think outside bulbs green/red for Christmas, orange for Halloween, etc. Sure we can do all this manually, but the integration of this into automation is the holy grail.

So please keep passing these things on to ADC. Hopefully they will expand on what’s possible. Also ask them to somehow embrace HUE. I know, I know, it’s unlikely. But some sort of bridge between them and ADC would be fantastic and hopefully not much more needed than a translator bridge. I may still move my main controller to a standalone/multi-protocol one. But that limits what ADC can do unless they support it anyhow. So minimal impact.

And in the short term, if someone can find a gen 6 and test it and confirm it works, that would be great. The angle of light is also much greater in addition to the few extra LUX, but it also seems to be lower energy consumption and smaller in size (based on web pic). So win win.

Thanks guys for all that you do. And btw, a very happy Thanksgiving to everyone there!

Net-net, what really disappoints is the lack of RGB support in Alarm.com. I know that’s not their primary business. But if they thought about it, how cool would it be if RGBW bulbs were in every room of the house. But when an alarm is triggered, have that room flash red/blue/white, while the rest of the house comes up on white. That would be amazing, simple to code, and helpful.

I’m with you. The creative possibilities of RGB are alluring. It’s a security system, but it is also an automation system, so fun needs to factor in, absolutely. I think that is one of the main reasons for things like the Legrand audio integration. That sentiment is not lost, despite the austerity traditionally associated with security systems. Stuff like this is more a matter of time, rather than a matter of convincing.

So please keep passing these things on to ADC. Hopefully they will expand on what’s possible.

We always do. If a feature is requested enough it tends to be placed higher on the priority list. There is a widening net of automation options and it always helps to let them know which are getting the most interest.

Also ask them to somehow embrace HUE. I know, I know, it’s unlikely. But some sort of bridge between them and ADC would be fantastic and hopefully not much more needed than a translator bridge. I may still move my main controller to a standalone/multi-protocol one. But that limits what ADC can do unless they support it anyhow. So minimal impact.

I do wish this was possible. I wouldn’t rule it out, but the path of least resistance is with Z-wave currently. We’ll check to see if there is any movement on the Hue possibility, but they would need to be very far along in a process to be able to talk about it unfortunately I would guess.

And in the short term, if someone can find a gen 6 and test it and confirm it works, that would be great. The angle of light is also much greater in addition to the few extra LUX, but it also seems to be lower energy consumption and smaller in size (based on web pic). So win win.

We will report back here with any testing. Unfortunately I’m only seeing a result on a European distributor website for the Gen 6, which may be a placeholder. Aeotec still only has an announcement of it on their website, missing from support docs and tech support form.

I’m not sure what exactly changed between Gen 1 and 2 for Zipato, but it is functionally different, causing the problem with Gen 2.

The Gen 6 bulb may simply work the same as the 5 out of the box. We’ll post here once we know.

Thanks guys for all that you do. And btw, a very happy Thanksgiving to everyone there!

Thank you! We appreciate your support and suggestions to help improve the services being offered. There really is no better driving force for feature development.

Happy Thanksgiving!