Is there any way to interface the Vera to my old alarm system's motion sensors?

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1

So a long time ago, we used to have ADT. We still have the hardwired motion sensors from that system, even though we no longer have service with them. I was wondering if there was any way for us to use these sensors with the VeraLite. I have 5 or 6 of them around the house already.

The motion sensor’s model # is DS920Z from Detection Systems, Inc. I can’t find anything online about this sensor. It seems like it just is way too old to find any info online. But I was wondering if these sensors have some sort of standardized connection that I can utilize (maybe connect them to an Arduino or something similar and interface that with the VeraLite?), because it’d be great if I didn’t have to buy and mount my motion sensors again.

Here is a picture of the PCB for the sensor: Dropbox - 2013-07-04 23.52.13.jpg - Simplify your life

As you can see in the lower-left corner, there are 4 pins: -, +, A, and T. - has a black wire, + has a red wire, and A has a blue wire. T is connected to A via a yellow jumper wire. There’s also a thin yellow wire that doesn’t connect to anything, which I’m not sure about.

Obviously, the red and black + and - are the power (which I believe is 12VDC). I’d assume a signal is sent along A and T when motion is detected. Anyone know if there’s any way I can interface this with a VeraLite?

Thanks in advance.

2

That looks like a pretty standard detector. A will be the activity (motion) wire and T the tamper wire.

Buy yourself a wired alarm panel and away you go. The DSC is the most popular on the forum; it has its own subforum here: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/board,44.0.html

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[quote=“futzle, post:2, topic:176015”]That looks like a pretty standard detector. A will be the activity (motion) wire and T the tamper wire.

Buy yourself a wired alarm panel and away you go. The DSC is the most popular on the forum; it has its own subforum here: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/board,44.0.html[/quote]

Thanks for the quick and informative reply!

To follow up, do you mean something like this? Security System Control Panel - PC1616 | DSC PowerSeries Security Products | DSC

I believe we may have something like this in the basement actually. A large metal box, and inside of it, all of the alarm wires plug into a large, centralized PCB. Would our control panel have a chance of working, or would it likely be proprietary because it’s from ADT? I can check tomorrow morning when I have access to the basement.

Also, I’m a bit confused, how does a control panel like this interface with the VeraLite, as it doesn’t indicate that it has Z-Wave? I hope I’m not asking obvious questions, this is all just a bit confusing to me.

4

To my untrained eye, yes. Personally I use a different brand so you’d have to check in the DSC subforum.

Would our control panel have a chance of working,

…

Also, I’m a bit confused, how does a control panel like this interface with the VeraLite, as it doesn’t indicate that it has Z-Wave?

If there is already an alarm panel board there then it may not need to be replaced. There are only about five boards that will interoperable with Vera, so chances aren’t great. Post pics when you can and we can try to ID it.

The communication with Vera happens over serial or Ethernet and not Z-Wave. The way you connect Vera to your alarm panel is by plugging a home-automation addon onto the alarm panel main board. This provides a serial or Ethernet port that you join up to Vera. Probably you have to buy this addon. They are cheap.

By doing it this way you get all the reliability of a dedicated alarm panel (runs for years without rebooting, can still add traditional monitoring), with all the benefits of a wired system (instant notifications, cheap, no interference, and no batteries to change).

Commercial alarm suppliers are unlikely to recommend this approach because they can’t sell you a whizbang system at a high margin, but the end results are as good or better. Quite a few forum members (me included) have their homes set up like this and we all agree that it is worth doing.

5

[quote=“futzle, post:4, topic:176015”]To my untrained eye, yes. Personally I use a different brand so you’d have to check in the DSC subforum.

…

The communication with Vera happens over serial or Ethernet and not Z-Wave. The way you connect Vera to your alarm panel is by plugging a home-automation addon onto the alarm panel main board. This provides a serial or Ethernet port that you join up to Vera. Probably you have to buy this addon. They are cheap.[/quote]

Out of curiosity, would you mind sharing the model # for the control panel and the home-automation add-on that you personally use? Just so I can see what kind of parts are required for a full working setup?

Additionally, this would mean that I’d have to run extra wiring from my control panel box in the basement to my VeraLite (probably will end up in the living room since it has to be connected to my router), right? That might turn out to be a bit of a nuisance, but I think it should work.

EDIT: Also, how does it plug into the VeraLite itself, since the only communication port is has is the ethernet port, which is used for internet connectivity?

6

Personally I’ve got a Caddx/Networx/GE/Hills/DAS NX-4. The home automation adapter is the NX-584, which has an RS232 serial port on it. Finally, I have a stock USB-to-Serial adapter for the last mile.

Plugin for this alarm panel model is here. Disclaimer: I wrote this plugin.

Additionally, this would mean that I'd have to run extra wiring from my control panel box in the basement to my VeraLite (probably will end up in the living room since it has to be connected to my router), right?

Wi-Fi might be an option. But running Cat5 cable is better, yes. What you do will depend on your particular home environment, and whether the alarm panel automation module you use is Ethernet or serial. Mine, for instance, is serial, so I ran a cable through the wall space. There are serial-to-Wi-Fi gateway devices out there so you have lots of options. Don’t sweat this part, it is the least of your concerns.

Also, how does it plug into the VeraLite itself

If you go down the Ethernet route, you just have to connect each device to your router. The alarm panel is then just another Internet appliance on your LAN.

If you go down the serial route, then Vera has a USB port. USB serial adapters are everywhere.

7

If running Cat5 cable between your router and alarm panel is not practical, you could always use powerline network adaptors. These are much more reliable than WiFi in my experience.

I use NetGear AV200 Nano modules to extend my network and get speeds in excess of 200 Mbps between all nodes. Even my Vera is connected this way and works fine. Now where is that piece of wood…

8

The powerline ethernet is a great idea too, and one I really should have considered since we already use powerline in our house… oops. I might just go with that.

So, here’s the control panel that we have: Dropbox - 2013-07-05 09.02.33.jpg - Simplify your life

I don’t really see a model # anywhere, all I see is “Safewatch Plus”. Is there any information you guys can get from this? Thanks again.

9

That Panel is very old. It looks like a ADT Safewatch Plus/Moose Z900 (Aritech), at least going by the picture.

You’d need to replace the panel itself with one of the supported ones, from one of the supported integrations with Vera.

These are listed on http://code.mios.com, and there are a few different brands there, but each only supports specific (integratable) models within the brand. In the US, the more common brands are Ademco, DSC and GE. Look at their pages for the specific models that are supported, since not all can be integrated (ESP the all-in-one models now sold)

Each of these also has a specific forum sub-area covering questions, but their spaces on code.mios.com usually list the supported models, as well as general features integrated with Vera.

10

Yeah, our keypad looks just like the Moose Z900 (but rebranded for ADT), so that sounds about right.

Alright, so just to summarize, from what I understand, all I’d need to buy is a panel (looking at the DSC PC1864: http://www.homesecuritystore.com/p-1422-pc1864nk-dsc-power-series-1864-control-board-enclosure.aspx) and then a home automation connectivity module (looking at this Home Security Store | The Best Home Security Systems). Then I plug in the CAT5 cable from the EVL-3 to my router, to which my Vera is also connected via CAT5. Is that correct?

11

For a DSC, those are the core components. People usually buy one of the kit options, since they include a metal box, power supply and a keypad.

The keypad would also be swapped out, since they’re not compatible across systems, so you may want to check tht the citing ones also use a 4wire bundle to connect them.

The EVL3 and Vera need to be connected to the same Network switch, and the Vera DSC plugin will need to know the IP address of the EVL3 so they can talk to each other. As a bonus, the EVL3 is also available directly via a free service that EyezOn provides.

There are a couple of threads in either the DSC sub forum here, or in the general alarm systems one, that discuss the specific setups that people have considered/used, along with step-by-steps for setup (etc) so I won’t recap all of that here.

For disclosure, I’m the owner of the DSC Plugin. :slight_smile:

12

Ah, I see. So then how about this kit instead of just the bare board? http://www.homesecuritystore.com/p-1456-kit32-16cp01-dsc-power-1832-security-kit-with-rf-keypad.aspx

The fact that it’s a wireless keypad seems nice too, since my existing wiring might not necessarily work with it. This keypad could communicate wirelessly between my basement and my front door (which is directly above the basement), right? It’s not too much of a distance?

From what I understand, the wiring would go something like this, is that correct? http://i.imgur.com/0GkoD3a.png

Also, would this allow my VeraLite to directly see each sensor through the web interface so I could set up things like schedules and triggers, just like if I had Z-Wave PIR sensors connected to it? Or would it not allow for that level of granular control?

Sorry for asking all these questions. I think this is pretty much all I need to know, so I just wanted to close off everything I was wondering about instead of starting a new thread elsewhere. The DSC 1832 kit with the EVL3 sounds like a great combination provided that the VeraLite can see every sensor, especially with a wireless keypad.

13

The keypad on the kit is not the wireless you are thinking. It still requires that the keypad be wired to the panel. The wireless capabilities are for the sensors.

Yes, all of the sensors in the alarm panel would be exposed to vera to use in scenes and so forth.

  • Garrett
14

My test system is an 1832, it’s fine for most folks since it can support 32 Zones. Some will recommend the 1864, which has better Zone capacity.

IMHO the Alpha-numeric keypads are better. The 5501 model you’ve selected is numeric only, it’s probably a big improvement over what you’re running now, but I prefer the Alpha numeric keypads (like the PK5500ENG, or the RFK5500 if you plan to have Wireless sensors at some point down the road)

The fact that it's a wireless keypad seems nice too, since my existing wiring might not necessarily work with it. This keypad could communicate wirelessly between my basement and my front door (which is directly above the basement), right? It's not too much of a distance?
As Garrett mentioned, it's a Keypad that allows you to have Wireless sensors, it's not a Wireless Keypad. Lots of people fall into this trap. You [i]will[/i] want to read the other threads on this topic, since they've covered this ad-nausium.
From what I understand, the wiring would go something like this, is that correct? http://i.imgur.com/0GkoD3a.png
Looks about right, except you're missing the wiring to the Keypads. You'll use the existing 4-wire that goes to your current Keypad to wire up the new Keypad also.

As normal, before you wire in any of the new stuff, you’ll want to Label, and disconnect, all existing wiring so that nothing electronic gets a surprise during the cutover :wink:

Also, would this allow my VeraLite to directly see each sensor through the web interface so I could set up things like schedules and triggers, just like if I had Z-Wave PIR sensors connected to it? Or would it not allow for that level of granular control?
Total low level sensor events for every Contact closure on your Alarm system. Every Alarm Zone becomes a "Motion Sensor" in Vera. It'll look and feel like a Z-Wave one from inside of Vera's scene functionality.

Only they’ll actually work reliably (I’ve had 2x different types of ZWave ones, and they’re now in a box somewhere since I only use ones on my Alarm system)

In addition to the above, you’ll also be able to Arm/Disarm in Vera, know when the Alarm system is going off (and get Notifications by Email, SMS as examples)… and to be able to do this remotely from your house (either via Vera, or via a Free Eyez-On service)

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Oh, I see! Thanks for the heads-up. 32 zones is more than enough for my house.

Then it looks like I’ll be getting that kit and the EVL-3. I may upgrade to an alphanumeric keypad later, but at the moment, I’m hoping this will suffice since it comes with the kit. This is fantastic. Thank you, all 4 of you, for the incredibly quick and helpful replies. I’m super-grateful that you took the time to bring me from zero knowledge up to par on this stuff.