Is Nest Protect Compatible?

I am in the process of purchasing and installing a 2Gig Home Alarm system and had 2 questions:

  1. Can you integrate my Nest Protect Smoke / CO sensors into the monitoring?
  2. Can I just install the cell phone module to get remote monitoring, or do I need to run a phone line to the panel also?
  1. No, the Nest thermostat is currently compatible, but dedicated Smoke alarm and CO detection must go through the alarm panel. The Nest Protect is not currently an option.

  2. No landline is needed (or compatible) with Alarm.com service. Alarm.com service requires the cellular module, and depending on the panel, IP broadband would be the backup option.

A year later, have you heard anything about NEST Protect compatibility?

I don’t see a reason why if they integrate the thermostats they can’t integrate the smokes. At my own home, I have First Alert detectors and use the relatively new 2GIG ring pass through connector to signal my GC3, but the NEST Protect offers some good benefits. Using the audio-based FireFighter wouldn’t work with those. Unfortunately you would have to replace every detector because they won’t use the wired system.

It looks like the First Alert product that uses the signal wire is compatible by using the ring and you don’t have to replace every single one of the detectors. However, the FirstAlert NEST Protect competitor doesn’t seem like it’s quite as good.

Hopefully there would be a way to integrate NEST Protect to the GC3

The likely hurdle with Nest Protect is the fact that it is a life safety device whose communication would not go through Alarm.com Cellular, which means it would not be regulated and no reasonable expectation of uniform reliability can be assured.

Now, there is nothing that says this may not change, but I’m not aware of the GC3 having anticipation of accepting life-safety or security signals over another radio like Bluetooth.

Agreed. However, the GC3 has WiFi hardware (which ought to be made a redundant signal path because cellular is not perfect) that could be set-up to receive a signal from the Nest Protects and relay over cellular.

If there isn’t a way to do this, it looks like the First Alert AC10-500 is the way to go for better functionality. It’s just like the Nest Protect in most ways, but it does miss out on having dual smoke/fire detection functionality as well as other less important functions. At least with the AC10-500 you can use the 2GIG-SDS1-345. It’s too bad Nest doesn’t use a traveler wire so we could tap in.

Agreed. However, the GC3 has WiFi hardware (which ought to be made a redundant signal path because cellular is not perfect) that could be set-up to receive a signal from the Nest Protects and relay over cellular.

That’s true, and I am fairly confident that wifi will eventually be used for these purposes with panels, but I am not confident that would happen yet. Its security and quality is reliant on the owner and third parties much more so than proprietary RF, and as far as a strict security focused system goes, it is still a gamble since it can vary wildly from one home to the next.

Yeah, Nest did a good job except for allowing the traveler wire signaling functionality. It would’ve been an easy add that would make it possible to signal locally. They could still use the RF for identification of locations, and if the location didn’t come across just list it as unknown.

Thanks, guys!

except for allowing the traveler wire signaling functionality

I think you are right and this would be ideal in the current scenario.

Yeah ultimately this comes down to what the panel manufacturers decide to support. I’m not sure if it would be more likely for Alarm.com to start accepting wifi signaling from a third party device like that, but ADC has taken a hard stance in the past on assuring reliability of components.

Great thoughts!

The 2GIG-SDS1-345 is a game changer, the FireFighter just hasn’t been all that reliable in my experience.

Is the nest protect compatible with the 2gig gc2 or gc3 yet?

No, and I don’t think it will ever be directly. If they add a multi-wire version you can use the ring detector, that’s probably the only way it will happen.

We had to abandon our FirstAlert version that’s a lot like the Nest because they just weren’t reliable. We instead put in some dual-type sensor smoke alarms and some CO+Fire alarms that work with the traveler wire and that seems to be a good solution.

We cannot say for certain what might occur in the future, but I would not expect direct alarm panel compatibility with Nest Protect.