Looking at the TR5164 + WT5500 combo some more, it seems that the WT5500 can only handle a single partition, and will always be partition 1. Not sure if (v1.41+ firmware of) the WT5500 supports all 60 zones of the TR5164 (in conjunction with a PC1864)?
Ok, so I’ve had a chance to play with a complete vera/zwave/dsc1832 wireless setup for a few weeks now in production, and here are the thoughts I can add:
[ul][li]The awesome:[list]
[li]The Vera DSC plugin is insanely good. Thank you to everyone who put in hard work to make this happen![/li]
[li]Wireless sensor installs for the DSC are pretty easy. [/li]
[li]The range of DSC’s wireless sensors is very good. I’ve tested door/window contacts up to 150ft away with consistent response. This was accomplished by mounting the receiver higher up (about 10 ft high).[/li]
[li]DSC wireless sensors are relatively inexpensive and high-quality compared to many z-wave specific sensors. [/li]
[li]Vera responds to DSC sensor status very quickly.[/li]
[li]I like the fact the plugin lets all DSC devices I’ve tried so far (window&door/motion/smoke) act as triggers.[/li]
[li]The ability to arm and check status remotely from your phone is brilliant.[/li]
[/list][/li]
[li]The not so awesome:[list]
[li]Going in, I understood alarm systems were sophisticated, but I was still surprised at the amount of flexibility the DSC wireless system offered. This means quite a bit of research may be required to get the DSC up and running exactly how you want it[/li]
[li]This is not a fault of DSC or Vera, but I’ve learned relying on commercial-grade motion sensors for Home Automation (HA) is a bad idea since they serve different purposes and have different design parameters. For example, in HA, motion sensors should be as sensitive as possible in order to trigger scenes. On the other hand security motion sensors are focused on being as accurate as possible in order to prevent false alarms. With DSC’s wireless motion sensors, a MINIMUM 6 second delay is built-in before it will even trigger a “tripped” event. Their wired sensors have a minimum 1.5-2 second delay. These delays are included by design in order to avoid false alarms. While I love the quality of the DSC sensors for pet immunity and false alarm prevention, I’m not sure if I can rely on the motion sensors for proper home automation.[/li]
[li]If i can nitpick, I have one DSC wireless smoke sensor and it’s UGLY as hell. On a more serious note, it does not support AC power which is required for modern building code compliance.[/li]
[li]As Aldera mentioned, wireless sirens are not supported for now. This is also noted in the DSC RF5132-433 manual. This didn’t bother me since I was lucky enough to have space near the panel to mount a wired siren, but everyone’s got different circumstances.[/li]
[/list][/li]
[li]The wishlist:[/li]
[list][li]I’m still looking for an easy to implement wireless sensor which reacts quickly. I may try using another brand’s wireless sensors and wiring some DSC window contacts into the relay. From the limited research I’ve done, Optex PIRs are designed to work this way.[/li]
[li]Hey DSC, can you make a better-looking smoke detector which support AC power?[/li][/list][/ul]
Installation/configuration tips:
[ul][li]When you’re setting up the system, make sure ALL your panels and sensors are sealed in order to close tamper alerts and avoid DSC errors. On the bench, I made the dumb mistake of overlooking this on a couple sensors and kept getting cryptic “GEN SYS SUPV” errors which was a pain to troubleshoot for an alarm newbie like me.[/li]
[li]Of course, wired and wireless zone assignments cannot overlap. Since zones 1-8 should be reserved for wired zones (just in case you want to add some in the future), it’s a good idea to start setting up your wireless devices from zone 9 and up. This helps add flexibility and avoid the potential problem of reassigning zones in the future.[/li]
[li]If you have any DSC sensors you might be using only for Home Automation purposes and not tied to any alarm, try setting them up as zone type 26. DSC will ignore these as alarm sensors, but the sensor status (tripped/untripped) will still be properly exposed to vera to be used as triggers.[/li]
[li]This thread by ken_in_pittsburgh is very helpful for setting up wireless DSC sensors (Thanks Ken!). In particular, it’s crucial to pay attention to the section on setting up zone definitions (zone type 4 is a good start for bench testing) and turning on option 8 in section 1XX to define each sensor as wireless. If you have trouble getting wireless sensors to work, make sure to check these steps again after adding your wireless sensors or changing your zone type since they may become reset. [/li]
[li]If you intend to use DSC motion sensors as zwave triggers, avoid DSC wireless sensors since the 6-second delay makes them virtually useless. So far, the results with wired sensors aren’t bad, but there’s still a slight delay. [/li]
[li]As per the DSC RF5132-433 manual, mount your receiver as far up as you can. In my case, doing so dramatically improved the range/reliability of wireless sensors.[/li]
[li]Best iOS app I’ve tried for EVL/Vera so far: automator.app[/li]
[li]Best Android app I’ve tried for EVL/Vera so far: authomation[/li][/ul]
Hope this is helpful for others who are looking at the vera/DSC combo. Overall, i’m very satisfied with the way everything is working out. I briefly tried frontpoint and I can say with certainty I’m much happier with this DSC setup instead, especially since it integrates into Vera.
Good luck!
Sorry, I only use one partition, so I can’t verify if the WT5500 can do multiple partitions or not.
On the WT5500 I have (how do you check keypad firmware?) on the PC1832 V4.6, I have been able to use all 60 zones. It actually comes with 64 zones, but 29-32 are reserved for wireless keypads.
[quote=“silencery, post:42, topic:174399”]Ok, so I’ve had a chance to play with a complete vera/zwave/dsc1832 wireless setup for a few weeks now in production, and here are the thoughts I can add:
…
Installation/configuration tips:
[ul][li]When you’re setting up the system, make sure ALL your panels and sensors are sealed in order to close tamper alerts and avoid DSC errors. On the bench, I made the dumb mistake of overlooking this on a couple sensors and kept getting cryptic “GEN SYS SUPV” errors which was a pain to troubleshoot for an alarm newbie like me.[/li]
[li]Of course, wired and wireless zone assignments cannot overlap. Since zones 1-8 should be reserved for wired zones (just in case you want to add some in the future), it’s a good idea to start setting up your wireless devices from zone 9 and up. This helps add flexibility and avoid the potential problem of reassigning zones in the future.[/li]
[li]If you have any DSC sensors you might be using only for Home Automation purposes and not tied to any alarm, try setting them up as zone type 26. DSC will ignore these as alarm sensors, but the sensor status (tripped/untripped) will still be properly exposed to vera to be used as triggers.[/li]
[li]This thread by ken_in_pittsburgh is very helpful for setting up wireless DSC sensors (Thanks Ken!). In particular, it’s crucial to pay attention to the section on setting up zone definitions (zone type 4 is a good start for bench testing) and turning on option 8 in section 1XX to define each sensor as wireless. If you have trouble getting wireless sensors to work, make sure to check these steps again after adding your wireless sensors or changing your zone type since they may become reset. [/li]
[li]If you intend to use DSC motion sensors as zwave triggers, avoid DSC wireless sensors since the 6-second delay makes them virtually useless. So far, the results with wired sensors aren’t bad, but there’s still a slight delay. [/li]
[li]As per the DSC RF5132-433 manual, mount your receiver as far up as you can. In my case, doing so dramatically improved the range/reliability of wireless sensors.[/li]
[li]Best iOS app I’ve tried for EVL/Vera so far: automator.app[/li]
[li]Best Android app I’ve tried for EVL/Vera so far: authomation[/li][/ul]
Hope this is helpful for others who are looking at the vera/DSC combo. Overall, i’m very satisfied with the way everything is working out. I briefly tried frontpoint and I can say with certainty I’m much happier with this DSC setup instead, especially since it integrates into Vera.
Good luck![/quote]
Thanks for the update! Lots of good info that will help me when I start putting together my system down the road.
Concerning the best iOS app for Vera, I’d recommend you check out HomeWave. I had automator.app and was happy with it but I switched to HomeWave about a month ago. IMHO, it blows everything else out of the water. You do have to spend a little time in the beginning setting up the screens but it gives you total control over everything. I don’t think you’d be disappointed.
Thanks again.
Thanks for that! The only info I found talked about 34 zones. Since this is the only wireless keypad for use with the TR5164 (that supports 64-4 zones), that seemed odd. Maybe the new WT5500 firmware relaxed that.
My PC1832 has been in ‘bench mode’, on the floor, for months; waiting for v4.6 to turn up in the PC1864. I might give that, plus TR5164 + WT5500 a shot.
[quote=“aldera, post:44, topic:174399”]Concerning the best iOS app for Vera, I’d recommend you check out HomeWave. I had automator.app and was happy with it but I switched to HomeWave about a month ago. IMHO, it blows everything else out of the water. You do have to spend a little time in the beginning setting up the screens but it gives you total control over everything. I don’t think you’d be disappointed.
Thanks again.[/quote]
Aldera,
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve given homewave a shot, and it’s quite nice! I have to say though, i haven’t quite decided which one I like better, automator.app or homewave. It seems they’ve each got their own strengths.
Homewave doesn’t have native DSC support in their widgets list yet (but i understand it’s in beta testing). Should be really sweet when alarm support is released.
Is it only the DSC wireless motion sensors that have delays or do the wireless DSC window/door sensors also have a 6 sec. delay?
Just the motion detectors only.
@strangley
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Are you saying that the window/door sensors are pretty instant?
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Also, I see kits like the Kit32-POWER5 that come with wireless sensors. Would you still need to add the TR5164 or is that just for adding WT5500’s?
[quote=“mcoulter, post:49, topic:174399”]@strangley
-
Are you saying that the window/door sensors are pretty instant?
-
Also, I see kits like the Kit32-POWER5 that come with wireless sensors. Would you still need to add the TR5164 or is that just for adding WT5500’s?[/quote]
Yes, window door sensors are very fast.
Yup, you need a TR5164 to add any wireless sensors. The DSC1832 does not support any wireless devices natively.
Thanks for the quick response. I’m happy to know that about the wireless entry sensors. According to the Home Security Store guys, if you have an RF series controller (RFK5500, RFK5501) you do not need the TR5164 unless you are adding wireless keypads. I do like how mix and match this equipment is to evolve with your environment.
That is correct. The TR5164 is to enable you to add wireless keypad.
And also other 2 way Alexor components such as the keyfobs which are pretty cool.
I suppose for the people like me that live in Paradise (AU) will just have to wait…
With pictures of the fires I have seen the last few years … I thought it was hell 
It is a wonderful day… 35c or about 90 today We have big fires most years, same as US and Canada. 23 million people and nearly as big in land mass as US with room to grow. Paradise.
3477, 7306, 2360, 5075 or 6236? We have a lot of Paradises. Also Paradise Point in Queensland.
My country is better than your country
Yes @strangley not going to degrade your country (either of them) as I would open up the sports as a point of reference to which we are not current winning… But I still live in paradise just the same. Also I also have enjoyed my holidays in both and will again soon hopefully as soon as work stopped being a pain. Happy Easter mate.
Happy Easter to you too!
Not to go further off topic, but its a while since I’ve been “down under” and I must admit that it certainly has a lot going for it.