Integration with Honeywell vista VAM controller

[EPalisoc]

Has anyone used or integrated to a Honeywell vista security panel (in my case a 21iP) using the VAM. It's basically the tuxedo panel that has a built-in zwave controller without the display. I'm trying to gain interactivity with my security panel in even a basic one way communication, and had bought the alarm decoder device AD2pi. The issue I have had with that is, there's limited developed support between ISY and the product. I could hack my way around reinventing a basic means to have the security panel tell ISY that it's armed, but if I can get a much richer means to interact with the security panel via a zwave standalone hub with ISY, I'd plunk down for the VAM.

 

Anyone know if a zwave hub can communicate with another like any other zwave device? It's expensive, so I don't want to jump buy it if there's no chance of it working well.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi edp,

 

Not natively but this might be of interest to you:

http://forum.universal-devices.com/forum/80-honlink/

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[KeviNH]

The Vista Automation Module looks to be sort of a halfway controller, I don't know that it would be able to communicate directly with ISY994. It does have a built-in webserver, so maybe something could be done via Nodelink to tie it in? Unless you can use API documentation for VAM, it would take time and effort to make that approach work.
 

Has anyone used or integrated to a Honeywell vista security panel (in my case a 21iP) using the VAM. It's basically the tuxedo panel that has a built-in zwave controller without the display. I'm trying to gain interactivity with my security panel in even a basic one way communication, and had bought the alarm decoder device AD2pi. The issue I have had with that is, there's limited developed support between ISY and the product. I could hack my way around reinventing a basic means to have the security panel tell ISY that it's armed, but if I can get a much richer means to interact with the security panel via a zwave standalone hub with ISY, I'd plunk down for the VAM.

Anyone know if a zwave hub can communicate with another like any other zwave device? It's expensive, so I don't want to jump buy it if there's no chance of it working well.

I think your best option would be HonLink or DSCLink. Both of these solutions integrate with the Vista panel rather than via VAM, they require something along the lines of an Envisalink.

 

At my old place I used the built-in X10 support in the Vista 21iP, but I don't recommend this approach, it is difficult to setup and unreliable, so I switched to the AD2pi plus some custom software to send status to the ISY, and to allow the ISY to send an "Arm-Away" command to the Vista.
 

[EPalisoc]

The Vista Automation Module looks to be sort of a halfway controller, I don't know that it would be able to communicate directly with ISY994. It does have a built-in webserver, so maybe something could be done via Nodelink to tie it in? Unless you can use API documentation for VAM, it would take time and effort to make that approach work.

 

I think your best option would be HonLink or DSCLink. Both of these solutions integrate with the Vista panel rather than via VAM, they require something along the lines of an Envisalink.

 

At my old place I used the built-in X10 support in the Vista 21iP, but I don't recommend this approach, it is difficult to setup and unreliable, so I switched to the AD2pi plus some custom software to send status to the ISY, and to allow the ISY to send an "Arm-Away" command to the Vista.

 

 

Thanks for the info on the x10 approach.  I was contemplating this, but was a bit ambivalent on it, given x10.  I do have the AD2pi installed and operational, but I'm rusty/new to python and programming, so I've been searching for at least a base to begin hacking at.  Would you be willing to share what you  developed to pass the info on to the ISY from the panel?  That sounds like exactly what I've been hunting for.

[KeviNH]

I just skipped over the Python side of things and use Perl to talk to ser2sock like this:

use IO::Socket::INET;
use IO::Select;

# auto-flush on socket
$| = 1;


# create a connecting socket
my $socket = new IO::Socket::INET (
    PeerHost => $adserver,
    PeerPort => $adport,
    Proto => 'tcp',
);
unless($socket) {
        die "$0 cannot connect to $adserver:$adport, exiting!";
 }
print "connected to the server\n" if($debug);

$select = IO::Select->new();
$select->add($socket);

while($line = <$socket>) {
        print $line if($debug);
        if($line=~m/^\[(\d+[^\]]+)/) {
                &ademco_parse($1);
                }
        else {
                warn "Will not parse $line\n" if($debug>1);
}
exit(0);

#
# ademco_parse looks for keywords and acts accordingly
#
sub ademco_parse {
 # Secret sauce goes here
}

I use a Perl library to make calls to REST command to do runIf or set a variable based on keywords seen.  

 

 

The loop in ademco_parse is ugly, and I wouldn't want to share it, but here are a few ideas.

• You may need to check whether the new message is an exact duplicate of the previous message, and ignore it (you can set the Ademco interface box to drop duplicates automatically).
• You can decode the binary string to get alarm status.   Details are on the AD2Pi website, I can send a cheat sheet.
• For sensors, you probably want to call the ISY each time they are triggered. For example, every time the hallway motion sensor is seen, I call ISY to runIf a program named "Hallway motion".   That way the program conditions in the ISY determine whether to turn on the hall light based on time of day, etc.
• Handle strings with the substring "ARMED" in them specially.  Each time a change in the variant of the "ARMED" string is seen, call a program on the ISY named for "OLDSTATE_NEWSTATE" if it exists, then store the new string to compare with the next matching message.  This way the ISY is only called when the alarm status changes (e.g. from "ARMED STAY" to "DISARMED").    The Perl actually uses both the old and the new string to decide what program to run, so when the alarm is transitioning from ARMED AWAY to DISARMED the program named "ARMED_AWAY2DISARMED" executes, and a different program for "ARMED STAY" to "DISARMED".
• You probably want to add additional actions for critical events like AC Loss, low battery, and alarm triggered.

[EHFrancisco]

I have a VAM and Smartthings setup. I have opted to keep security and home automation separate, in that I don't didn't want to control my alarm system from home automation system. Mainly because of security concerns. I also didn't want to deal with having to setup a communications node between the alarm system and the home automation hub. This arrangement does however allow me to control devices paired with the Smartthings hub via the VAM. Doors are locked and the garage door is closed if I have forgotten to do those things after the alarm system is armed. Lights are turned on if the alarm is tripped. I receive a notification if the garage door is opened while the alarm system is armed. 

 

If you are looking to integrate your alarm system with home automation look at the Envisalink 3.0 module instead of the VAM.