Anyone got this combo working with Vera?
Bump…
I was going to start a new thread after exhaustive searches on both the forum and google but this is the question I need answered. I see a long history of the ad2usb interface connecting an ademco vista 20p system to a vera, but I now see the Evistalink EVL-3 has added honeywell support to the old only DSC support. From what I have gathered the EVL-3 seems like a more mature technology over enternet vs serial usb link. So two questions, 1. is the EVL-3 a better way to link up the ademco vista 20p than the older well documented ad2usb? 2. Has anyone gotten it to work, is a special LUUP needed for vera. I have done a ton of reading, but am waiting to buy a vera lite to start setting up my system until I figure out thebest way to link up to my old vista 20P system.
[quote=“rabbmd, post:2, topic:173556”]Bump…
I was going to start a new thread after exhaustive searches on both the forum and google but this is the question I need answered. I see a long history of the ad2usb interface connecting an ademco vista 20p system to a vera, but I now see the Evistalink EVL-3 has added honeywell support to the old only DSC support. From what I have gathered the EVL-3 seems like a more mature technology over enternet vs serial usb link. So two questions, 1. is the EVL-3 a better way to link up the ademco vista 20p than the older well documented ad2usb? 2. Has anyone gotten it to work, is a special LUUP needed for vera. I have done a ton of reading, but am waiting to buy a vera lite to start setting up my system until I figure out thebest way to link up to my old vista 20P system.[/quote]
I would also like to know the answer to this as well but it’s not looking good by the lack of replies. I currently have a Honeywell Ademco Vista 10se that was already installed in my home when I bought it and I don’t pay for monitoring as I want to do my own, so I found out about the EVL-3 board as well and thought it would be great! Then I found out it doesn’t work with the Vista 10se only the 10p, 15p, and 20p etc. I can pick up a Vista 20p really cheap but not sure would really like to interface it with Vera as well. I’m wondering since I am starting fresh pretty much if I’m replacing the alarm if I should stick with Honeywell or go DSC? Not sure what one is the best of the 2 brands that seem most popular. Or maybe there is a brand that you can buy that already has the capability to interface with Vera directly without having to buy an EVL-3 type interface board to get access to it from remote.
Any help would be much appreciated…
Mine sees the 20P but i cant control it through vera only through envisalink.
I have both a NuTech AD2USB adapter and an EnvisaLink 3 adapter installed on my Vista 20P. Only the AD2USB interfaces with my VeraLite. But, I really like the EnvisaLink 3. While it does not connect my VeraLite to the alarm panel, I can login to the EnvisaLink 3 from the Eyez-On website and control the panel pretty well over the internet. I like being able to access my panel from different paths. It would be great if somone wrote a plugin for the EnvisaLink 3 like the the DSC panel has (at least I think it has). It would also be great if the micasaverde plugin for the AD2USB (or even the EnvisaLink 3 web interface) had a virtual keypad.
Robert, I came across your set up in another thread, http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,13986.msg110903.html#msg110903 , and I see that you have a Vista 20P, a Nutech AD2USB and the Envisalink 3 card. I have been doing some research because I have a Vista 20P panel that I am going to install and I would like to 1) integrate it with my VeraLite and be able to arm/disarm through my VeraLite and add that functionality to certain scenes and 2) have the option to pay for central monitoring over the internet. I have a few questions for you.
If I use the AD2USB only, is there an option for central monitoring somehow? I can’t seem to find anything and something tells me that is probably why you installed the Envisalink 3 card as well.
Will the DSC Alarm Plugin that incorporates the Envisalink 3 work with the Vista 20P? I spoke with EyezOn today and he said that he believes that this DSC plugin will work with the Vista 20P panel as well. He said that they have users that are using a Vera controller. He also suggested that I send an email to Support and see what they say. He did admit that he is not familiar with the plugin process nor is he familiar with Vera. I told him that the plugins are created for specific 3rd party products and interfaces and probably would not work. He reiterated that Vera control has been mentioned in other internal conversations as well.
I am simply trying to find a clean integration solution to give me control through Vera and central monitoring over the internet without having to purchase both the AD2USB and EV3. The EV3 would be ideal if the DSC plugin would work or if one is being explored for the Vista 20P.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and input.
Any update on this? I posted a question on Safewatch 3000EN while not knowing that it is Vista20p. Is there a plugin for EVL-3 with Vista20p?
In case anyone missed it, an EVL-3 plugin for Honeywell/Ademco was released a few months ago (many thanks to the author!). I found out earlier this week and ordered an Envisalink right away. I just installed it and the plugin. I’m brand new to this and I didn’t see any instructions (I assume I can learn more by reading topics on the EVL3-DSC plugin). But I just added the IP address and MAC to the plugin Advanced tab and it automatically created an alarm panel device and one partition. I then added in my Zones and it automatically created devices for each sensor. The sensor statuses seemed to update within seconds of opening/closing/etc (so I assume I can integrate these individual sensors into scenes or PLEG). And I am able to arm/disarm/bypass/chime. I’m not sure about the security consequences of sending PIN codes via Vera (as opposed to using the Eyezon webapp). So for now, I’m not storing the PIN and will read up on this more. But I’m pretty happy since I should be able to use a wider variety of sensors & smoke/motion detectors with Vera.
fcol,
My AD2USB connection appears to have died. I am checking in with you on the status of your EnvisaLink and 20p connection. Is it still up and running? Any issues? The functionality via Vera sounds very similar with the added bonus of ip connectivity. I have a 20p panel and am about to go with the EnvisaLink3. Thoughts? Recommendations?
Thank you,
David
I’ve only had the Envisalink installed for a day and half. And the Vista 20P is pretty foreign to me (never touched it since I didn’t know I could integrate into Vera). I thought I had the Envisalink and plugin up and running pretty quickly (and perhaps jumped the gun on posting here). But as I’ve started playing with it more, I’m running into an issue with the Vera integration (the EyezOn web and mobile apps seem totally fine). I spent a couple hours troubleshooting but haven’t found a solution yet.
Right now, my Vera sees the Honeywell sensors as getting stuck in the triggered state (the physical alarm panel itself is correctly going back to ready state; and the UI5 alarm panel is also immediately toggling Ready/Not Ready states). I can arm/disarm via Vera with no problem (even when UI5 is showing the sensors as stuck open). But I can’t use the Honeywell sensors for any scenes/PLEG/etc until I sort this out.
I can’t figure out a pattern for when the sensor states correct themselves. Sometimes tripping another sensor clears the first one. But sometimes all of them get stuck. I don’t think it’s a refresh/reload issue since I’m also using EventWatcher to verify the variable state. And if I reload Vera, the alarm sensors are still showing as stuck open. Eventually (after ~20 minutes), the sensor states seem to fix themselves.
I’m not sure what to try next. I only have wireless sensors so I might try to rig up a wired sensor to see how that responds. However, I think I’ve ruled out RF signal since I disabled a bunch of sensors, used brand new batteries, and brought some close to the receiver. Plus, the physical alarm panel and Eyezon app are updating immediately. So I’m assuming I’m missing something in the plugin settings…
Just after posting, I realized I should be reading through this thread - I think I might be setting up the zones within the plugin incorrectly:
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,7266.msg179716.html#msg179716
I’ll try again tomorrow and post an update.
fcol, check the TTL setting in the advanced tab of the ademco device, i think default it is set to 1800 seconds, I have mine set to 60 seconds.
TriangleDave, I would try hooking your ad2usb up to a PC just to verify that’s the problem, also double check all the serial port configuration settings.
Before spending the $ on the Envisa link I am going to thoroughly check my AD2USB. The folks at NuTech have been very helpful. I am intrigued by the Envisa link and the multiple pathways to access. Thank you fcol for the update. Please let us know how you progress.
SteveZ - Thanks!! The default TTL was 1200 (which explains why I was seeing things correct after 20 min) and changing it to 60 helps. I found one explanation here:
http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_vista-alarm-panel-ad2usb#TTL
I still need to do a lot of testing to see how well I can integrate these Ademco sensors into PLEG, etc. And I had some wacky stuff happening with a wireless motion sensor (which I disabled and haven’t yet re-enabled). But at least I feel like I’m headed in the right direction again…
Thanks for posting that TTL setting guys. That was driving me crazy.
Here are a couple more of my observations (plugin Ademco Vista Alarm Panel with EVL3 v2.60):
[ol][li]The Ademco sensor states appear to be reported/repeated multiple times (unlike my Zwave sensors that only toggle once for each change in state). See attached screenshot. You’ll see the Zone 13 door sensor repeat multiple tripped values = 1. And then since there’s a 60 sec delay in seeing the closed (value = 0) state, some scenes based on “real-time” reporting could require modification. It’s not a big deal but it “broke” most of my PLEG actions (and since I’m a PLEG dummy, it’s taking me a while to sort it out). “Broke” meaning I can’t swap in an Ademco sensor into certain kinds of scenes that were formerly using a Zwave sensor.[/li]
[li]Similarly, I ended up removing my Ademco motion sensor from the plugin since it was just pegging the logs and messing up my PLEG actions. But again, this could be solved once I better understand PLEG.[/li]
[li]Warning: My physical alarm panel was locking up mysteriously and I finally traced it down. If I added a zone into the plugin but then disabled that zone from the physical alarm panel (i.e., changed zone type to 00), then the physical panel would lock up when I triggered one of the enabled zones. I don’t know if this always happens but it was definitely happening when I disabled a motion sensor and again with a smoke sensor. But as soon as I removed those zones from Vera, then the panel started responding again.[/li][/ol]
And for clarification: I’m not complaining (many thanks to the plugin author!). I’m just documenting my experience to-date.
Fcol,
Thank you for your thorough reports. If I was intending to integrate an ENV3DS with an Ademco Vista20, with no need for PLEG, and just basic scene control, could I do it reliably do you think? You mention that a door opening will cause that to be reported to the Vera multiple times. Would that trigger a scene multiple times too? Once the panel is in place, I don’t intend to disable any zones, so that particular bug shouldn’t be an issue.
Thanks!
Pestus,
I think it depends on your scenes. Generally, I’d imagine that a simple scene (door opens and light turns on) should work fine (i.e. once the light is on, it doesn’t care if it keeps being told to turn on again; except that maybe there’s a little more load on the Vera CPU).
In my case, I use a lot of timers (if door is left open, speak an alert; or turn on light a minute after a sensor is triggered then turn it off after another timer). So the multiple/repeating tripped states caused my timers to keep “reseting” and never fire. The easiest workaround for me was to use a virtual combination switch to trigger on (or off) when one of my Ademco sensors is tripped on (or off). Then I made my scenes/PLEG actions dependent on the state of that virtual switch. [Again, I’m a PLEG dummy so there’s certainly a more elegant way to handle]
Also keep in mind there is a lag when the Ademco sensors are “closed” (it might take up to 60 sec (or whatever your TTL setting is) for Vera to see the change in state. So you might not be able to get scenes to fire immediately after closing a door or window sensor. I only have wireless sensors so perhaps wired ones behave differently. But I doubt it - I assume the Ademco panel is just getting polled periodically to look for the closed state (although I have no idea why the open states get repeated every 4 sec).
FCOL
Have you gotten the Vista 20P to work with Vera with the EVL3?
jon
[quote=“fcol, post:14, topic:173556”]SteveZ - Thanks!! The default TTL was 1200 (which explains why I was seeing things correct after 20 min) and changing it to 60 helps. I found one explanation here:
http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_vista-alarm-panel-ad2usb#TTL
I still need to do a lot of testing to see how well I can integrate these Ademco sensors into PLEG, etc. And I had some wacky stuff happening with a wireless motion sensor (which I disabled and haven’t yet re-enabled). But at least I feel like I’m headed in the right direction again…[/quote]