Home Security System

Community Playground General Discussions
1

I currently have a home security system that is monitored by a national company. Very typical of tract homes. I’m wanting to remotely control arming/disarming the system. What systems are out there that work with Vera? Minimal cost…

Thanks,
Byron

2

I found that the Paradox Alarm Plugin works. Trying to find where to buy one is difficult. Any suggestions on doing so?

3

You can use this to find a local distributor:

http://paradox.com/Find_Distributor/

I believe MCV is going to build an interface for one of the GE Alarm panel models as well, but no timeframes have been discussed yet.

4

I am very interested in this as well. I would like to replace my panel with something I can automate, but would like to retain my existing wired window/door/glassbreak sensors. It would be a plus to be able to use those sensors as inputs into the zwave network as well. Anyone who has more information on this it is much appreciated…

5

As far as I can tell, wired Alarm sensors (Windows, Doors, Motion) are interchangeable between Alarm panels.

It’s the Panels and Keypads that are “special”

Before I got the Paradox, I had a GE Concord 4… but only for a few days :wink: The installers came in, pulled out that Panel (and Keypad), and installed the Paradox (and Keypads and a Wireless hub for Keyfobs (The GE had that built in).

With the exception of the keypads, this was all done in the wiring closet with no changes to the sensors. … which are varying grades of GE sensor (some are better than others)

My Alarm Luup code bubbles up each Alarm “Zone” (Sensor) as a MotionSensor1 in Vera, so it looks and feels like I have a ton of HSM100’s all over the house.

Scenes work also, since my Devices implement the same interface. I also have Scene capability on the Alarm “Area” (Partition) itself. This is how you get notified of Alarm states (Armed, Disarmed, StayArmed) as well as Alarm Breaches.

You can see them all on the image attached to the Wiki

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Paradox_Alarm_Plugin

Someone with a programming background could transcribe the code to another Panel/Interface, but they’d likely also need to have an Alarm of that type since it was a lot of “testing” and trial… the Vendor docs aren’t always clear.

6

forgot to mention, I currently dont implement remote “Arm/Disarm” since it could be mis-used. It wouldn’t be hard to add it though.