Ring
Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen)
- HACS component
- Cloud required
- Z-Wave
Prices verified November 2026
See more sensors picks on our Amazon storefront →Our verdict
Only worth buying if you already own a Ring Alarm Base Station: this is a Z-Wave sensor that talks to Ring's base station, not to a Home Assistant Z-Wave stick, and Ring's cloud is the only way out of the box. Home Assistant's built-in ring integration lists doorbells, cameras, chimes and intercoms but not Ring Alarm devices, so the realistic route is the community ring-mqtt bridge, which relays the cloud API to MQTT. That means a cloud round trip for every motion event, a Ring account token to maintain, and some features locked behind a Ring Protect plan. Cheap at about £25 from a UK retailer, but if Home Assistant is your hub, buy a Zigbee or Z-Wave PIR instead.
What can Home Assistant control on the Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen)?
| Control | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Motion | Binary sensor | Motion state via the ring-mqtt bridge (cloud-relayed). |
| Battery and tamper | Sensor | Battery level and tamper status where the device reports them. |
Not supported by Home Assistant's built-in ring integration, which covers Ring doorbells, cameras, chimes and intercoms only. The route that exists is the community ring-mqtt bridge (tsightler/ring-mqtt), run as an add-on or container alongside an MQTT broker: it logs in with a Ring token, polls Ring's cloud API and publishes Alarm devices to MQTT, where the Motion Detector appears as a motion entity with battery and tamper status next to the alarm control panel. There is no local control, since the bridge uses the same cloud API as the Ring app. Panic switches need a Ring Protect plan, volume control needs the primary Ring account, and the project accepts issues from collaborators only, so treat it as best-effort.
Specs
| radio | Z-Wave to the Ring Alarm Base Station — retailer description (Smart & Secure Centre) |
|---|---|
| requires | Ring Alarm Base Station — retailer description (Smart & Secure Centre) |
| pet handling | Smart motion detection settings to ignore pets — retailer description |
| compatibility | Alarm devices and accessories from the 1st and 2nd versions are compatible — retailer description |
How does the Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) compare?
| Product | From | Protocol | Local control | Integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) (this product) | £24.98 | Z-Wave | Cloud | HACS |
| Aico Ei3016 (Mains Optical Smoke Alarm) | £53.89 | Wi-Fi | Cloud | HACS |
| Airthings View Plus | £259 | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Cloud | Native |
| Apollo Automation MSR-2 mmWave Multisensor | £38.7 | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Yes | Native |
Frequently asked questions
- Does the Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) work with Home Assistant locally?
- Partly. The Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) connects to Home Assistant through a community integration installed through HACS (ring-mqtt), which relies on the Ring cloud. It works in Home Assistant, but commands go via the internet and stop working during an outage of your connection or the Ring service.
- Which protocol does the Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) use, and do I need a hub?
- The Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) uses Z-Wave. To pair it with Home Assistant you need a Z-Wave controller stick attached to your Home Assistant host. Ring's own hub is not required when you integrate through a community integration installed through HACS (ring-mqtt).
- How much does the Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) cost in the UK?
- The lowest price we have listed for the Ring Alarm Motion Detector (2nd Gen) is £24.98 at Smart & Secure Centre. Prices were last checked in November 2026 and change often, so confirm on the retailer's page before buying.