Why Did My Lyric Lose Local Z-Wave Smart Scene Control After Activating Service?

Your Lyric lost local Z-Wave smart scene control after activating service because it has been activated with Total Connect 2.0. Any Lyric activated for monitoring service that includes TC2 must have Z-Wave smart scene edits done via TC2. Local Z-Wave smart scene editing is made impossible.

If a Lyric System is not active with Total Connect 2.0, then it is still possible to create new smart scenes and edit existing smart scenes locally from the panel. But once a Lyric System is connected with TC2, then a user must access that service to create or edit scenes. Honeywell specifically designed the Lyric System in this manner, since they want users to manage smart scenes through the TC2 servers instead of managing them locally. This is necessary for ensuring proper panel synchronization with the TC2 service.

Please note though that individual Z-Wave devices can still be controlled locally. Only scene creation is restricted. Additionally, any smart scenes that were created before the panel was activated with Total Connect 2.0 can still be performed locally. However, they cannot be edited or changed in any manner, unless TC2 is used. Additionally, if these scenes are deleted, then they can only be recreated through Total Connect 2.0.

Most Alarm Grid customer are unaffected by this quirk because they will just create and execute scenes from TC2. The panel will also automatically sync with TC2 so that any scenes created in the platform appear on the panel for on-site activation. A successful automation sync must go through for this to work. From an end user's perspective, this is basically the same as doing local control. The only noticeable difference is that the user must create new scenes and edit existing ones from TC2.

However, a problem arises for any Alarm Grid customer with a Self-Bronze Plan. These customers have alarm systems that are connected with Total Connect 2.0, but they do not have automation enabled. This leaves them without a way to create new smart scenes or edit existing ones. This might leave the end user feeling frustrated because they were previously able to do this locally, but now they can't do it at all. For these customers, the best option is to upgrade to a Self-Silver Plan that includes automation. This plan is only $5 more a month, and it includes everything else featured in the Self-Bronze Plan. More information is available on our monitoring page.

Note: Customers with a regular Bronze Plan will still be able to perform full local smart scene control. With a Bronze Plan, a system is connected with the AlarmNet Servers, but it is not actually connected with Total Connect 2.0. This means that local smart scene control will still be possible. It's not until the TC2 platform is used that all smart scene creation must occur through the service. Since Self-Bronze Plans use TC2 without enabling the automation feature, local editing is made impossible after the system has been activated.