Acceptable Substitute For Z-Wave Alarm Panel To Arm A Scene?

Although I was well aware from the informative posts on the forum here about using z-wave as a security system because of costs and reliability, I went ahead with purchasing a bunch of z-wave security peripherals anyway and used Vera Lite to make several security scenes.

I’m using automator.app to run all my Vera devices and scenes. Although it’s simple to use, my girlfriend and I don’t always remember to set the security scenes I’ve set up. I have an “armed - away” scene that when set, arms all my Aeon Labs door/window sensors, arms my foscam motion sensors and locks my Yale Real Living deadbolts to ensure they had been locked. My “home -bypassed” scene then returns all these devices to their unarmed states. A major benefit of an alarm keypad near a door is that you always see it before you leave the house, reminding you to set it before you leave until it becomes a habit. Even though I’ve saved the scenes under automator.app’s favorites, because there is no voice activation on the iPhone or easy one-click way to access the Vera scenes through the app, setting the scene to arm the security devices because more of a hassle than a traditional keypad would.

With that long explanation out of the way, I am looking for a suitable substitute for a z-wave alarm panel, which really doesn’t yet exist. I need something battery-powered, as I don’t have any existing wiring/outlets or light switches near my rear door that I would like to install this device to arm my security scene. Dis-arming the scene seems easy - creating a trigger for my Yale Deadbolt when a valid PIN code is entered could set the security to immediately disarm. Arming the scene though it what I need a separate solution form. I can’t set all the devices to be armed when the deadbolt is simply locked because there are many instances when the door is locked when the house is occupied. Under the armed -away scene then any motion picked up or door/window being opened would trip the armed scene.

All I could come up with so far is using a Wayne-Dalton WDHA-12 Gateway as a secondary controller with Vera, and then using a Wayne-Dalton 3973CR 3 Button Transmitter with the armed-away scene set hanging near the door (or kept on my person) to arm the security-scene. Just as in a non-z wave keypad I have the armed-away scene set on a 30 second delay so that there would be time to open the door, get out of the house…etc before the scene actually activates. If I kept the keychain with me at all times I could also use the second scene button for the home-bypassed scene so I could arm/disarm my scenes from one spot and it would also have the range to do so from my driveway or the street.

Has anyone else using a z-wave only solution for security come up with any creative way for arming/disarming security scenes? I know for example some people have even used an older model cheap iPhone/iPod or Android Phone mounted on their wall as a dedicated scene controller. Just want to see what my options are before I order the two Wayne-Dalton products to test it out.

Maybe just use a light switch and a light where when the light is on the system is armed and make the “on” trigger your armed scene with a 60 sec delay and leave disarm to your phone or key fob. You could go another step and write it where if a door sensor is not tripped during the 60 second count down that only the doors and Windows arm and not the motions so you can arm while your home as well