Alarm will only remotely arm into "Stay"

Plugins & Plugin Development DSC Alarm System
#1

I have DSC 1832 with EnvisaLink 3, and overall works very well. Originally I just had door zones, so on-site and remote arming/disarming worked as expected - whether you rid a regular “arm” or a “stay”, the alarm went into “away” armed since there were no motion detectors on the system.

A few months back I added a Bosch motion detector and added it in the parent panel device as a motion zone, and the new motion detector was added to VERA no problems. On site arming works as expected “arm” arming puts the alarm in “away” armed, and “stay” arming puts the alarm in “stay” armed. Remote disarming works as expected, as does remote “stay” arming.

But I now realize that remote “arm” does not put the alarm into “away” armed, but instead “stay” armed. This is a problem as the motion detector is bypassed. Any thoughts on what might need to be adjusted? Here is the weird thing - if you remote “arm” the keypads play the exit delay beeps before the panel does into “stay” armed. That is not what should happen - in normal “stay” arming, including remote “stay”, there are no exit beeps. Somehow the plug-in is sending an “arm” command that is not quite “arm” but neither exactly the expected “stay” - although the result is definitely “stay” armed once the exit delay is finished…

#2

Your Panel probably goes into “Auto stay” mode because when you armed it away … it did not “see” a door open and close so it assumed you did not leave and is in stay mode (alarm panels are designed like this)

You have to disable auto stay mode on your panel and you can then remotely arm in away mode.

#3

[quote=“jimpapa, post:2, topic:179195”]Your Panel probably goes into “Auto stay” mode because when you armed it away … it did not “see” a door open and close so it assumed you did not leave and is in stay mode (alarm panels are designed like this)

You have to disable auto stay mode on your panel and you can then remotely arm in away mode.[/quote]

Ahhhhhhhhh! That makes sense. Plug-in working as expected, panel overriding and going into Stay because it thinks the person who set the alarm is still home. Will pull the alarm manual tonight and alter. Many thanks!

#4

If you use the Eyez-on mobile, you can set to Away Arm from there.

This affectively uses the (*1) re-activate command after arming in the stay armed mode to switch it to away armed.

Therefore, you can create a scene that trigger on armed and after the delayed period executes the (*1) re-activate command via luup.

The alternative is a PGM setup with a relay to simulate a zone open during exit period and thus, goes into armed away mode.

Please note the initial “1#” in the code below was just to wake the panel and make it more responsive.
It then issues the (*1) re-activate command which should change the panel to Armed Away mode.
The final hash is to exit keypad commands and if you remove this you will experience delays in releasing the Vera and Alarm before actions are completed which maybe useful during testing.

luup.call_action("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:DSCAlarmPanel1", "SendCommand", {Command = "071", Data="1#*1#"}, Device _id)

#5

This topic comes up every once in a while. The easiest way to do it is creating a scene that uses “RequestQuickArmMode” and set it to “Stay”. See the attached screenshot.

#6

But he wants to set it in away from remote… And when you do that without opening a door the panel knows you didn’t leave and sets to stay instead. Unless you just disable auto stay like I did in my vista 20.

#7

I’m curious about the different quick arm modes…when i use the trick of my scene that does Stay and then ArmedInstant (to simulate *9 arming, i.e. no entry delay), the plugin reports that I’m in vacation mode. If I just send StayInstant as the documentation suggests, the plugin says I’m just in Armed mode.

I’m trying to set up scenes to use the different detailedArmModes, but all I ever see is Vacation or Armed…is there a way to get this working or am I missing something?

#8

But he wants to set it in away from remote… And when you do that without opening a door the panel knows you didn’t leave and sets to stay instead. Unless you just disable auto stay like I did in my vista 20.[/quote]

Sorry for the late response, I didn’t read the OP properly and gave the wrong answer. However, to get remote arming to work without having to open a door you would use the same “RequestQuickArmMode” and set it to “Armed” instead. See the attached screenshot.

#9

I guess there is no straight-forward way to disable auto-stay on a DSC PC1616/1832/1864? I can’t find a setting anywhere in the manual…

#10

Did you ever figure out what section this was in? I need to be able to Away Arm remotely as well.

#11

RequestQuickArm works. Why don’t you want to use it?

#12

Well I am the OP on this, and I just created the scene, ran it and it works - many thanks @huveu!

Today is the perfect situation where remote accesss to locks/alarm/climate can really make life easier - my wife is in the hospital and having a hard time, so I have been staying with her, some 20 miles from home. Two friends who are helping us out came by the house today, and I was able to remotely disarm and unlock to let them inside. As I might not make it back home for a couple of days, I really wanted to remotely Away Arm and not just Stay Arm, and via the scene example above I was able to do just that.

I also have to agree with @jumper4000 and others who would prefer that such a ‘workaround’ not be required for remote arming. I have already explained to my wife and family “arm” means away arm on AutHomation and the other remote apps, don’t hit it while at home - now I have to explain that if you are remote, it doesn’t quite work the same way and instead you run a scene. I would seriously prefer separate “Away Arm” and “Stay Arm” buttons that do just that…

#13

:slight_smile:

Because of that possible confusion I just created two scenes called “Arm Away” and “Arm Stay”. I never told my wife about the other way of arming. Then, on her phone app (HomeWave) set up a label with the current state and two buttons for the scenes.

#14

So, there’s no way to disable this Auto Stay feature? I’d rather just turn that off instead of creating scenes.

#15

Did anyone figure out how to disable this Auto Stay feature? I need to be able to Arm Away remotely (without having to open a door) from the Envisalink portal and from a Clare CLIQ.host controller.

Thanks,
Grant
smartifiedhome.com

#16

[quote=“gsads, post:15, topic:179195”]Did anyone figure out how to disable this Auto Stay feature? I need to be able to Arm Away remotely (without having to open a door) from the Envisalink portal and from a Clare CLIQ.host controller.

Thanks,
Grant
smartifiedhome.com[/quote]

DSC provides a way to disable the auto stay feature (015 / 4 OFF) but if you disable it, your alarm will not arm in stay and your zones tied to “stay” will be hot. This could be a problem if you use your alarm when you are at home and you have any zones tied to the stay feature.
You can also work around it by changing zone attributes of the zones categories you use but it is not recommended.
Eyez-on.com does provide a way to Arm / away from their portal so you can do it from their with relative ease.
But if you want total convenience and ease of use, I recommend you create scenes to automate your alarm arming and disarming controlled by the mode you are in. If you are in Home mode your alarm will disarm. If you are in Away or Vacation mode, your alarm will automatically arm in away mode.
It gets better when you tie your geofence feature into automatically controlling your modes as you will never have to arm or disarm your alarm again.
If you are interested, here are some instructions.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,47759.0.html

Error edited.

#17

Assuming you are using a DSC 18XX with Envisalink 3/4

Came back to this thread as I’ve had some recent experience with changes on remote away arming. Never had a problem with it - you just need to make sure Quick Arm is set - section 015 option 4 is ON. Remote away arming always worked flawlessly, including with the DSC plug-in

In my case, I turned it OFF because I have a panel at a vacation rental and the silly guests like to play with the panel. With Quick Arm off, you need to enter a code to ARM the system. However, due to a limitation with Envisalink, it will always arm stay if Quick Arm is turned OFF. Checked with them… feature, not a bug.

If you want to eliminate the “auto-stay” feature, go to section Section 023 and then set option 5 to be ON. That keeps the system from switching from Away to Stay if it doesn’t see someone exit through a delay door. If you don’t need codes to arm, just set 015 opt 4 ON to enable Quick Arm and you should be able to remotely arm away.