DSC Plugin with PC1832 Expected Behavior

Hello,

Trying to integrate my existing DSC PC1832 with a new Vera Unit. The unit is up and running with a couple devices to make sure all is setup OK, FW is up to date, etc.

I have an IT100 with the DSC system

I installed the driver for DSC Security and after a few minutes it populated. I set partition 1 and all zones 9-25 as door and motion zones so both variable fields are identical.

  1. I don’t see any change in icon when I open or close a door
  2. The zone labels are behaving weird - they all pulled a tag as “Zone 9” , “Zone 10” , “Zone 11” , etc. but the system keeps adding a numeral 1 and a space , a numeral 1 and a space … so now all the zone labels are really long names like:

“Zone 13 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 … 1 1 1 1 1” and they seem to keep growing.

So the system connected with the alarm via the IT100 but not sure it actually read any zones?? Not sure what I am seeing as no zone label (such as garage door) is pulled in and the status of the icon doesn’t seem to change.

Now after fussing for a day or two leaving it run to see if it updated correctly the device labeled “DSC Alarm Panel” says it’s not detected anymore.

Any ideas what I should do to get it to work?

Thanks

I’m using mine on UI5, and I have the IT-100, but I connect to mine over IP (via a Rasp Pi) - so i may not be the best help.

You’ve not shared any screenshot of your settings - so I assume you are doing a direct USB/Serial cable into Vera ?

First things first - let try to get the obvious out of the way. Have you read all the installations online? (UI5 is the only one I’m aware of but it will help you troubleshoot)

http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_dscalarmpanel/wiki/UI5
http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_dscalarmpanel

I am running UI7 and read the older posts on UI5

My connection is from the it100 to an ethernet converter , then i added the IP address that the converter box shows up as on my local network.

Incidentally this is the same hw configuration i use to connect to a Control4 system via Ip.

I am trying to move away from the C4 system to Vera.

What is your Ethernet converter ?

It?s possible your converter is communicating over a specific port, can you see what that is ?

For example mine is 4003, so I enter it as 192.168.1.34:4003

It is a B&B Vlinx Ethernet Serial Server ESP901

I can find it’s IP address but no mention of a specific port# so I just assumed it was 443

The vera system connects to it , because it load the zones - but they are not working in terms of a change in the zone (no change to icon) , and also the name is constantly getting longer. Something is really wrong with that because it’s loading the gateway severly … everything slows down on the dashboard.

Are you manually setting the zones in the variable for motion and door to be equal?

Like say I have wireless zones 10 and 11. Do you set Motion=10,11 and Door=10,11 ?

[quote=“triwave, post:5, topic:199968”]It is a B&B Vlinx Ethernet Serial Server ESP901

I can find it’s IP address (which is now static) but no mention of a specific port# so I just assumed it was 443

The vera system connects to it , because it load the zones - but they are not working in terms of a change in the zone (no change to icon) , and also the name is constantly getting longer. Something is really wrong with that because it’s loading the gateway severly … everything slows down on the dashboard.[/quote]

I take this statement back - I don’t think Vera is talking to the ESP901 at all. The zones show up because I changed the variable to do so and the icons populate based on that … I mistakenly thought the icon showing up indicated the device was detected.

Let me take a step backward and describe my hardware.

There is an existing (working) PC1832 system with an existing (working) Control4 home automation controller. I want to move away from C4 to Vera and tried to take over the alarm thinking Vera had good support for DSC alarms.

See attached picture of setup.

On Vera DSC plugin I configured the IP and MAC address of the ESP901 (which the C4 system interfaces to no problem) but nothing seems to happen. No labels. No status changes. No arm/disarm.

I’m thinking since I have working HW with Alarm and C4 it must be a setup or SW issue but the DSC alarms are well supported (all be it not so much through the IT-100 , but again it’s there and working so I wanted to keep it … )

Any ideas why the C4 system works flawless and the Vera system can’t communicate with the ESP901 ?

Appreciate any ideas I can try … thanks in advance

First thing I would do would be to confirm that data is being sent via the IT-100 via your serial service - can you access the ESP901 from a PC using a program such as hyper terminal or telnet

This might help if not looked at it already - http://www.bb-elec.com/Tech-Support/FAQs/Ethernet-Serial-Servers-Gateways/ESP90x-ESR90x.aspx

I would expect it to use a port other than 443 (ssl/https) - something in the 4000 range is most likely.

Confirm that you can see information coming in, capture the IP & Port and then you can focus on the Vera side.

Found this - https://www.papouch.com/cz/shop/product/esp902-2-port-seriovy-server/esp-esr90x-0508qsg.pdf/_downloadFile.php

It suggests the port would be one in the range of 4000-4003

If you want to go straight to it, you can just try each of the 4 port options at the end of the IP you have set up in Vera.

Thanks for the port suggestion :slight_smile: I’m away from the system a few days but will definitely try when back.

The IT-100 definitely works (it’s actively working with C4 system) but possibly buried in the C4 configuration, which I don’t have access to, is a port # in addition to the IP (which I can see)

Will let you know if that helps …

Thanks for the suggestion parcerc – setting to port 4000 read in the labels and the zones changed when I opened doors :smiley:

I took over this house so never used a ESP902 before … knew roughly what it was but had to dig a bit more and your suggestion put me on the right track.

I have 16 zones on my DSC alarm and they all read in the labels and showed up in “No Room” so just a big long list on Vera. Yuck.

I assigned rooms to the alarm zones - like garage alarm , house alarm, etc to break up a bit. After I did that they no longer work :frowning: They show up as the right label in the right room but no longer change status. I tried to reboot the controller and they either show up but don’t work , or they show up with a red label “Can’t Detect Device”

Did I break the plugin by assigning rooms? Is there a way to do that?

I have all of mine sensors under ?‘no room’ on my second Vera ( as I just use it for that. )

Maybe others can comment?

I have left them in the default no room label and they seem to behave if you don’t mess with the room or label. No red warnings about not detecting sensors.

So it seemed stable, I set the variable to “AllowRemoteArm” and almost immediately everything stopped working.

How do I set up the driver such that I can arm/disarm through Vera?

@triwave,
I’ll need diagnostic logs to understand what’s going on. In this case, it sounds like you’re also going through a 3rd party IP:Serial device, so that might make things a little tricky, but we’ll give it a go.

Do the following steps:
a) Enable Verbose logging (disable when we’ve gathered the logs).
I haven’t run the DSC code in yrs, and I’m on UI5, but I’m assuming that UI7 still has “Verbose Logging” as an option. Enable it and restart.

b) Open a Browser to the log address:
In UI5 you can SSH directly into Vera to capture the log file, or you can use the Browser. Assuming the latter is still about, goto an address like the following (where <VERA_IP> is the IP Address of your Vera):

[ul][li]http://<VERA_IP>/cgi-bin/cmh/log.sh?Device=LuaUPnP[/li][/ul]

It’ll start enumerating all the innards of Vera to the Browser window.

c) Use the Option to force Vera to restart/reload
It’s likely changed under UI7, but this will force it to restart (without Power cycling!) and will leave the above browser Window collecting the log information at startup… for everything, including the DSC Plugin startup. If you trigger some of the DSC Zones, that data will be in there as well, along with any errors going on.

d) Once (c) Stabilizes, do a Select-ALL/Copy of the Browser window’s contents
Copy this somewhere and PM it to me. DO NOT POST this Publicly. It contains sensitive information.

Once I have that I can look at what’s going on. Allocating rooms (etc) shouldn’t be an issue for the Plugin, since it doesn’t know/see/interact with that level of information.

If the above is too much, then Support can pull the same log information and Email it to me.

Hi @guessed

Hope you?re well…

If updates are possible to the plug-in, having a variable that shows the last thing reported by them panel would be a great addition. This was done to the RFXCOM rfxtrx433 app and it provided a nice ability to look (variable_watch) for things that the plug-in was reporting/not processing.

@parkerc,
The DSC Plugin emits a number of the Panel’s internal status items in the standard Alarm Panel state variables:

[ul][li][tt]VendorStatusData[/tt][/li]
[li][tt]VendorStatusCode[/tt][/li]
[li][tt]VendorStatus[/tt][/li][/ul]

They’re in the DSC, under urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:DSCAlarmPanel1 (Panel) or urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:AlarmPartition2 (Partition), as needed. They’re set just prior to the event being handled internally. It’s possible to use these “raw” events to get access to additional data that the DSC Plugin is not setup for (along with [tt]SendCommand[/tt] to send things to the adapter)

There currently are no plans to extend the code further.

Let’s keep this thread clear for diagnosing @triwave’s issue.

[quote=“triwave, post:9, topic:199968”]Thanks for the port suggestion :slight_smile: I’m away from the system a few days but will definitely try when back.

The IT-100 definitely works (it’s actively working with C4 system) but possibly buried in the C4 configuration, which I don’t have access to, is a port # in addition to the IP (which I can see)

Will let you know if that helps …[/quote]

The IT-100 (direct, or via the IP:Serial device) will only be able to talk to either the Control4 OR Vera. I just wanted to state that as some of the behaviour discussed here also could occur if Vera and the Control4 are competing for access to the IT-100 (via the IP:Serial device)

HI guessed , thanks for your thoughts on this.

Unfortunately the Vera system is at a remote place where a Control4 system already lives. Because I can’t edit anything on the C4 system (which is why I’m getting away from it) I also can’t turn it off or eliminate the DSC plugin right now. It’s running other security lights and stuff …

So … I can’t properly debug what is going on with both systems accessing the alarm so I am going to put this on hold until I get the rest of vera automation developed to the point I can cut off the C4 system

Incidentally - when working proper - can I expect to be able to arm/disarm the alarm remotely over the Vera app or from a browser? This is important to me so if that’s not possible I might bail on the vera and leave the C4 but that isn’t my desire.

So for now I put this on hold and will revist when schedules allow me to get back to the cabin and work on the vera more. Hope to garner your attention in the future :slight_smile:

I am working on parts of my system now … slowly removing peices of the C4 system.

Can anybody verify that once I have Vera alone (and no C4 controller) , the DSC plugin and the IT100 working that I CAN use remote arm/disarm functions? I need to be able to disarm and arm from the Vera Android App

Thanks in advance

Yes, but you will have to enable that in the settings .

I personally use a VPN to connect back into my home network now as that allows me to enable the alarm as if I was on the local/home network

[quote=“parkerc, post:19, topic:199968”]Yes, but you will have to enable that in the settings .

I personally use a VPN to connect back into my home network now as that allows me to enable the alarm as if I was on the local/home network[/quote]
I also have a VPN into that remote location that is brought up “on demand” when I need it … so I’m curious - if you use the Vera App how does it change the functionality if you are running on your local network (tunneled in via VPN) or using the VPN connection that Vera app creates? Is there some other way you arm/disarm your DSC system over VPN ?