What does a DSC control panel look like? Are talking about a keypad?
I would be interested in a panel the shows various alarm system components such as motion sensors, fire alarm, heat and water sensors in a way that they could be added to scenes.
Hi, I just joined this forum to post my project.
I have a Vista 128bp panel, w/ 4100sm serial link. After a year with M%control, I have found the software to be to primitive for my needs.
I use the panel as a sort of microcontroller input bus. It was the more economical than using a PLC, in which all the contacts would have to be home run to. But I have written programs to talk to plcs, and implement an hmi with a pc.
Basically I am at the point were the panel is maxed out 95 inputs. I know it can accept 128 but there are communication issues past zone 96. Although i have no complaints about the hardware, I have not been able to find a software solution that can allow the sort of control i want to implement.
In M%contol I have made 253 macros. I have never been able to get the kind of dynamic responses I would like. I was cross linking way too much, and global variable are tedious in a program basically designed for and/or operations.
After using IDA PR_O to look at how M_%contol communicates. I am working on creating a program, that allows coding within. For example I would like to see if a sequence of contacts are made within specific time parameters, then if conditions are satisfied allow corresponding responses on the insteon devices.
i have an ademco/honeywell vista 128bp. i use only linux on my computers. i want a solution where i can manage, review, change, program all the settings for my system (zones/partitions/keypads/reports/notices/etc) on my linux system. i dont have my thermostats or lights connected presently, but perhaps i will in the future (if that is of any consideration now).
so does this plugin/solution achieve the above? i’m not sure how to connect the hardware, which hardware/software i need, & what do i use on my linux box to access it (minicom?).
so i apologize for all my ignorance; please instruct me as you would a complete newbie w/ no familiarity (its safer that way). or you can just point me to links if thats easier for you.
much obliged.
Hi, Could someone point me to where I can download this plugin? I have a vista 128bpt. Thanks for your time in advance and all the work that went into this.
On UI5 you can install it from the MiOS Marketplace: go to Apps >> Install Apps and search for Vista.
On UI4 you can get it from here: Honeywell/Ademco Alarm Panels Native RS232.
@mcvflorin Thank You! ;D
@jballam: OMG, somebody else is going to use this! If you have any problems at all, please PM me! I wrote this plugin over a year ago and have been using it ever since. I also have a 128BPT and have slowly been upgrading and fixing parts to this. I currently have no open issues, so as far as I am concerned, the plugin is done. However, if you find anything, don’t hesitate to both post on here and PM me.
Enjoy!
@dfad1469 I can’t thank you enough! I am actually in the process of swapping out my alarm panel APEX6100AN, with the Vista 128BPT. It was the only panel I could find that was comparable to my old panel. Finding this thread made my WEEK 
I was actually considering using the BAT by ipdatatel. I cannot Thank You enough for your work on this. I am very grateful. As soon as I have everything up and running, I will post with an update.
PS, anyone in the market for a BAT by ipdatatel.com?
Update: This is still a pending project for me. Hopefully I will have some bandwidth in the spring time.
I have a Vista-50p system and have recently purchased the 4100SM to be able to use this plug-in. However, I have a few questions and would appreciate feedback/insight.
[ul][li]It appears like the 4100SM can be installed for Direct-Wire Downloading connection or for a Serial Printer connection. I assume that the Direct-Wire connection should be used, correct?[/li]
[li]I plan to use a WIZnet Serial to Ethernet gateway to tap into existing Cat5 wiring in the house between the security panel and my Vera. I’ll connect the Vera into an Ethernet hub along with a connection to the cat 5 cabling from the hub. Since the Wiznet device has a DB9 pin male connection, I should be good to go with the cable and gender changer that comes with the 4100SM, correct? Will I need to use the null modem in order for communication with Vera?[/li][/ul]
I’m sure I’ll have more questions after I get past the physical connection process.
Hi,
I am very impressed by your integration efforts! I am planning to purchase an Ademco system and looking forward to trying your plugin with it. Would you be so kind to advise on the following panel/expansion kid selection issue:
By the looks of it my options are limited:
[ul][li]get VISTA-128BPT or higher model which come with RS-232 interface (sounds like a safe bet since you are reporting robust functionality and there seems to be a well-documented and supported interface spec[/li]
[li]get VISTA-50P or higher model with a Honeywell 4100SM add-on (I have not found any feedback if the module works with the plugin)[/li][/ul]
In my research I have stumbled upon the following product: Honewell 4232CBM (www[dot]security[dot]honeywell[dot]com/hsc/products/expacc/ac/310799.html) which seems to open up more modest security panels (VISTA-15P, VISTA-20P, VISTA21iP) to native RS-232 protocol (“designed to integrate supported VISTA security panels with a variety of Honeywell, Control4 and third-party hardware and software products”). I wonder if this product supports the same protocol that you mentioned in your original post (Computer Interface Protocol 4?). I was a little confused because the brochure mentions support for VISTA-128BPT, which seems counter-intuitive: why would they NEED to support a panel that includes on-board RS-232 already.
Thanks a lot in a advance for any insight!
Thanks for your interest. You are correct that those are your options, and that is the current state of known support. I will say that I have read documentation from Honeywell that states that all security system RS232 interfaces use the same protocol. Therefore, they should all work with my plug-in, but, as you stated, that is untested. I don’t have any information about the Honewell 4232CBM, nor I have I seen anything about it in the documentation I have been working with.
As far as why the VISTA-128 might need the 4100SM module: not all VISTA-128 panels come with the RS232 built in. The three letters after the 128 determine what features are added on.
Finally, the reason I went with the Honeywell/Ademco system is because I pay for monthly monitoring service as well as I have an installer maintain the system. This system is prefer by many small professional installers and many monitoring services will only monitor systems that are familiar with. The GE, DSC, and Elk systems are more do-it-youself options.
I hope this helps.
Hi.
I’m having a hard time making the plugin work with a Vista50 and the 4100SM RS232 interface.
I have already asked micasaverde support and they couldn’t help me get it working.
I installed the 4100SM module and tested it with the Compass software from Honeywell to check if the board was working (direct download mode).
Then I installed the Vera plugin and the system wasn’t loading the LUA files… Micasaverde support was able to fix that, so now Vera loads the LUA files.
I understood that I only needed to set the partitions and the zones in the advanced tab to the values from the alarm panel and that it would work… no luck whatsoever… am I missing something?
I have alredy tried to wire the 4100SM in the event logging mode but it didn’t work too.
Thanks in advance for your time.
[]s,
Ronaldo
Sorry for the delay. I was out of the country on a business trip and just got home today.
I don’t have a 4100SM module to test this out with. I have heard from at least one person that the Vista50 was hard to configure and I am not sure if he ever got it working.
You should not have to create Partition or Zone items…the plug should do that automatically. Something is going wrong when the plug-in loads. If you send me you log, I will take a look and see if I can help.
I just installed a 128BPT panel, and am connected via ethernet using the Wiznet device. I loaded from the app store. I am having a myriad of issues:
[ol][li]It automatically loaded a bunch of zones, but a number of them are misnamed. Upon reviewing logs, it appears my panel is sending incorrect zone descriptors over RS232. However, the keypads display the correct zone description. I’m betting this is an issue with the panel instead of the plugin. Any idea why this is? I see there is a name value under the advanced tab for each zone. Are those editable, or will the plugin overwrite changes I make there?[/li]
[li]If I press arm or disarm buttons on an zone, I am presented with an error “No implementation”.[/li]
[li]It’s not accurately detecting any partitions. The settings page for the panel says there are zero partitions. If I change “Active Partitions” to the correct value of 2, it is immediately overwritten with a zero.[/li][/ol]
This might be part of the issue, from the logs:
01 02/16/13 17:09:03.821 Device_LuaUPnP::LoadDeviceDoc can't load /etc/cmh-lu//D_VistaAlarmPanel2.xml <0x2b24b000>
02 02/16/13 17:09:03.821 JobHandler_LuaUPnP::m_sMissingFile_set /etc/cmh-lu//D_VistaAlarmPanel2.xml <0x2b24b000>
01 02/16/13 17:09:03.821 JobHandler_LuaUPnP::CreateDevice_LuaUPnP failed to load 8/D_VistaAlarmPanel2.xml so device 8 is offline <0x2b24b000>
03 02/16/13 17:09:09.125 JobHandler_LuaUPnP::Run ready 7 devices installation 35007630 missingThe actual file is located at /etc/cmh-ludl/D_VistaAlarmPanel2.xml
While we are at it. Can anybody explain why there are two folders with these files in them (cmh-lu && cmh-ludl)? My guess is that “dl” is for downloaded files.
After some testing it seems that the first “[tt]sendRequest[/tt]” command is unsuccessful and/or sent too quickly. Simply adding [tt]sendRequest(“08ZP008E”)[/tt] before the call to [tt]loadPartitionData()[/tt] fixes the problem with the partitions not loading. I don’t think the sendRequest matters much, it just needs to be a valid request.
I’m guessing this may be unique to serial-over-ethernet setups (or perhaps only the wiznet device I’m using).
After reviewing the code, I think there is room for improvement in the sendRequest function. I don’t know if there is a way to wait until the ethernet connection is established (luup.io seems entirely undocumented). However, the panel does return an “fv” response for every properly formatted command to indicate that the command was received. Just looking for that response and resubmitting the request one or two times until it’s seen would probably fix this issues.
Even after the partitions are recognized, I’m not seeing the interface I expect (see attached).
I can get the system to arm or disarm by going into the settings page, entering my pin, and clicking the desired state. However, the pin is not saved, and there are no buttons directly on the dash like I see documented for the AD2USB plugin.
dfad1469 - I was just planning to purchase a AD2USB module for my Vista 128BPT panel, when I noticed this thread. I plan to interface the Vista to primarily provide access to the 50+ sensors/switches located throughout the house.
I see there has been no activity in a while, so I would like to know current status of your plugin. Are you still actively supporting it? If so, a few questions:
- can you provide serial cable pin-out, as well as alarm connection layout/schematic?
- max distance of serial cable? my alarm panel is located on one end of house and my A/V & intranet panel is located on other end (along with Vera & RUC-01 gateways) - probably a 75-100 ft run.
- installation and configuration instructions?
- I know that with AD2USB you must initialize the unit as an additional keypad – is there a similar requirement for the RS-232 interface?
- any major missing control capabilities in plugin?
Thanks for your reply.
To all who are confused by the differences between this plug-in and the ADM2USB based plug-in. In reality, this method is much, much cleaner as the RS-232(serial) interface provides near instantaneous updates on zone open and closures as well as full control over everything the panel can do. The ADM2USB uses the keypad bus which can’t see any status of the first 8 zones without going though extra trouble via a work-around to define relay open and closures assigned to each of the zones so it can see them on the keypad bus (ECP). The ADM2USB can get there but it’s a lot slower and requires a bunch more setup. As well, all the zone names (basically everything about them) can be read (and changed) over the RS-232 interface so this plug-in just reads them all in - no setup required. The “RS-232” interfaces is called the “Home Automation” interface by Honeywell which is why it has so much functionality. It works on all boards above the Vista20 (full-sized boards - even old ones) but only the latest boards (the BPT series) have the RS-232 level shifters built in so no additional hardware is needed. If you have a non “BPT” board then you’ll need a 4100SM or other board to adapt your serial interface to standard RS-232 voltage levels - they go for about $40 on ebay. The BPT boards run at 9600 baud and the older boards run at 1200 baud.
So, the useful thing about this interface is you can see most EVERY single type of event that occurs on the panel and get time and date stamp, reporting code, etc. etc. It also requires much lower CPU/network overhead since it doesn’t generate any data unless something actually happens whereas the ECP bus generates one message every second which must constantly be evaluated. The serial interface (if you have one) is the better of the two interfaces from that standpoint. If you have one of the lower-end boards - the 20 or 15 your only option is an ECP based interface of which the AD2USB is one. It’s key downsides are A. ECP and USB (which has a distance restriction).
The other option for low-end boards without the serial port and only ECP is the EnvisaLink plug-in that someone has just written. It uses a small board that has an ethernet interface on it (available from EyzOn - Google it) which you just plug into your network. That way you can have your Vera anywhere as long as you don’t mind running an ethernet cable to your alarm panel. I have used both the RS-232 plug-in and the ADM2USB plug-in but haven’t tried the new EnvisLink plug-in yet (although I have one of the boards). I’s based on the ADM2USB plug-in code though so it should work just fine. It does however, connect to the panel via the ECP bus just like ADM2USB with the associated attributes as pointed out above.
The ADM2USB is a fine product and Sean and his company provide awesome support. That plug-in has been available for awhile so it’s pretty well debugged. The EnvisaLink board is more recent but if need to have your Vera more than about 6 feet from your panel it’s probably a more robust option. EyzOn also has a free service allowing you to control your panel and see your IP cameras via your smartphone/computer (without needing a Vera) that works pretty well which is also a big plus. As far as I can tell, you may be able both use their service and your Vera at the same time.
If you do have one of the higher end 40/50/128/250 boards (or want to get one) or the First Alert equivalents the serial/RS-232 plug-in may be a better choice for the responsiveness, ease of setup, and remote distance capability(vs USB).
Lastly, I’ve recently done some modifications to the ADM2USB plug-in that allows you to access it over the network. It’s not been published yet but I’ve asked for repository space and as soon as I get that I’ll make it available. You’ll need something to plug the ADM2USB into that has a network interface and can run SER2SOCK (windows/OSX/Linux) to take advantage of it. I built a little network appliance from a Raspberry Pi using Sean’s ADM2PI version of ADM2USB and Linux which allows me to interface to the ADM2USB/Pi via wifi to the Vera (which is why I did the mods to the plug-in). I’m also working on some updates to the RS232 plug-in because I plan to migrate to that soon because of it’s benefits.
In the longer term, Honeywell has a nice home automation interface board called the 4232CBM which appears to solve all the issues associated with using the ECP bus. Several of the big name HA guys use it - Control4 and others. The challenge at the moment is they haven’t released any software interface data on it but once they do I will likely migrate to that longer term.
So, summary:
- Lower-end board - Vista 20, 15 or older full size panel board (First Alert or Honey/Ademco) Use ADM2USB or EnvisaLink and hopefully 4232CBM in the future
- Higher-end full size board - 40,50,128,250 RS-232 option offers some advantages. These these boards work with the ECP based options as well - just slower responsiveness and more complex setup.
Hope this helps.
Ron
That’s great information, thanks