I also have EVL-3 but that came afterwards… (after AD). If you have EVL4/3 you don’t even need the AD. EyezOn has a full documented API also. After I had my AD, I only purchase the EVL to integrate with their monitoring service. I can actually get rid of the AD now but I still use it as a “gateway.” With the AD, you can get sensor messages/transmission even if you don’t program it in the alarm panel (Vista 20P). It just won’t trigger the alarm but it’s still perfect for automation (PIR sensor, contacts, etc).
My previous EVL4 was sold with my house. New house and all new equipment which is why I explored OH as my HA solution. Like anything, this will take time to adapt. I’d definitely install another EVL for monitoring as well as remote arm/disarm - although that’s what HA is for right …
Just a quick update, everything is working great now…
I can help you with remote arm/disarm. You can do this with AD also.
And take a look with my AD/OH keypad 
It has:
- Fingerprint sensor
- Bluetooth Integration
- PIR Sensor
- NFC/RFID reader
- Local LAN web UI
- Shows exactly what is shown on an actual keypad
- When I disarm, it will also unlock the Garage door (you can see from the video)
Video:
Other things I did you might consider:
- When I arm the house, it will turn OFF all lights during the day. During the night, it will turn on my Human Simulator (randomly turns on lights, tv, radio).
- WHen alarm is triggered, I also have ESP8266-based Sirens all over the house (4 indoor, 3 outdoor) and let me tell you, THEY ARE LOUD
- Use virtual relays on AD and connect it to my Smoke/CO2 sensors. If these sensors are triggered, it will raise an alarm through EyezOn monitoring. They can dispatch the Fire Department if I don’t answer their call.
- Enable LRR as I posted here and here to get more events.
- Send text message to my phone on certain scenarios (sensor triggered)
- Arm house based on presence detection, as well time-based
- Using virtual relays, add more DIY sensors. I even use some of my security cameras as ‘virtual sensors’ and when motion sensor is triggered while alarm is armed, it will trigger a specific zone, and thus alert the monitoring company.
- Use your alarm sensors are generic sensors. For example, when my garage main door is opening, my HABPanel says “Garage door is opening” and if garage has been opened for more than 10 minutes, I get a text message: “Warning Garage has been opened for more than 10 minutes…” The same for my gun safe. If my gun safe was opened, I get a text message immediately.
The LRR will also tell you additional events/messages, such as who (based on USER ID) actually armed/disarmed the system.
Check out my AD Keypad Widget
Sensor (alarm) dashboard
Also, I’m in the process of decoding the 345MHZ transmission of a Honeywell wireless keypad itself. This will potentially replace my AD.
This is greatness, you’ve done an amazing job on securing your home. I’ll definitely need your help on the remote arm/disarm (thank you so much). WOW, just WOW ! It’s going to take me some time to analyze the alarm widgets but this is what makes this fun…
–Mon
So for the remote arm/disarm, my first question is, how do you access your OH remotely? myOpenHab? MQTT? My assistance to help you configuring your arm/disarm remotely will depend on your answer.
Also, enable this on your AD config:
send_commands_and_compromise_security = true
Do not set to TRUE if you’re OH is insecure.
How do you want to arm/disarm, by sending your PIN, or through a remote keyfob? I have done both. Initially, I was sending the PIN (hardcoded) in a item/rule to AD. This is ‘ok’ in a sense, as long as NO one else has access to your OH configuration files since your PIN will be there.
What I did is I purchased a keyfob from amazon (here). With an ESP8266, I simply trigger the keyfob buttons. The keyfob will then securely send the arm/disarm/panic commands to Vista20P as if you actually physically pressed the keyfob buttons.
If you want to arm/disarm through code, add an item like this:
Number alarmPanelCommandMacroAway "" (gAlarmPanel) {alarmdecoder="SEND#1=POUND2", autoupdate="false"}
Number alarmPanelCommandMacroStay "" (gAlarmPanel) {alarmdecoder="SEND#1=POUND3", autoupdate="false"}
Number alarmPanelCommandMacroOff "" (gAlarmPanel) {alarmdecoder="SEND#1=<YOURPIN>1", autoupdate="false"}
Explanation:
For Vista panels, Arm Away is by doing this on a keypad: # 2
Arm Stay is # 3
So what the items will do is, you are basically mapping the input to a keystroke.
Example:
Number alarmPanelCommandMacroStay "" (gAlarmPanel) {alarmdecoder="SEND#1=POUND3", autoupdate="false"}
Notice SEND#1=POUND3
Which maps 1 to #3
so if you want to ARM Stay your alarm, in your code, just do:
alarmPanelCommandMacroStay.sendCommand(1)
Disarming example:
Example, your PIN code is 6789. For Vista20P, you disarm the system by PIN then 1 like this: 67891
So to disarm your system, create a new item or just keep adding mapping:
Number alarmPanelCommands "" (gAlarmPanel) {alarmdecoder="SEND#1=POUND3,2=POUND2,3=67891", autoupdate="false"}
As you can see above, I have defined 3 Numbers mapped differently.
So, they will:
alarmPanelCommands.sendCommand(1) // will send #3 .. arm stay
alarmPanelCommands.sendCommand(2) // will send #2 .. arm away
alarmPanelCommands.sendCommand(3) // will send 67891 .. disarm
I also forgot in the previous post… I wrote an example use case for LRR:
https://docs.openhab.org/addons/bindings/alarmdecoder1/readme.html#example-lrr-usage
Currently, I’m accessing OH remotely via a VPN connection from my office. The network was recently installed and consists of active-active firewall appliances and VLANS. Nothing gets in (or out) unless I allow it so we should be pretty solid. I don’t (currently) have Openhab (?Cloud Connector?) or Cloud MQTT configured as I haven’t had an opportunity to familiarize myself these methods. I do have Mosquitto running on a NAS system for my zoned AC systems so I’m very familiar with MQTT.
ATM, I don’t have (send_command_and_compromise_security) enabled but it sounds like it’s pretty safe for me to make that change (will do tonight).
I’m thinking that the security system can self-arm via the z-wave sensors throughout the entire house (presence). I’m still familiarizing myself with the OH Z-wave binding (testing for stability) so until I’m happy with the performance this will have to wait. I have z-wave locks on all entry doors so I’d like it if my daughter and I can enter our access code and that will disable the system (and notify me she’s home). I should be able to interrogate the lock for the user code (not PIN) and disable through a rule. Remote arming is tricky, not sure there … Too many options, just need the most secure one and easy enough for me to implement 
My daughter and I both have wall mounted iPad’s and I’m excited to not only display the camera’s around the property but also the widgets you developed (awesome!) for the security system and presence.
SUPER HUGE thanks for sharing with me all these amazing details. I’ll give this a closer read in the morning and see what I can implement. I’m curious, what is the ‘autoupdate=false’ ?
–Mon
Yes, user code… the term PIN seems a bit esier to refer to and type
You can read about autoupdate here
The ZWAVE Binding by @chris is very stable. I’ve been using it for years now. Also, just to let you know, you can actually add this zwave bridge to Vista20P if you also already have their RF Keypad. I have it and I only use it to lock my zwave doors. That way, locks are still automated even if OH is down for any reason.
G’morning… Ah, the auto update makes total sense now (continuing to learn here).The z-wave bridge is a great idea, no RF here though - strictly wired only. I was adamant about it when the house was built. Chris was super helpful when I needed to add support for these Fibaro wall plugs and its been solid so far. I’ll move forward this weekend with pairing more sensors to the z-wave system.
I initially thought of wired sensors for the system, and almost did. The thing about wireless is you can take it with you when you move to a diff house.
The wires, of course not. But everything else you can, My big sister bought a house and they took everything that wasn’t structural so to speak. Seriously, towel racks, toilet paper dispensers… Everything. True story.
Hi guys,
I see you discuss AlarmDecoder here and I have a question - I bought Alarm Panel Focus FC-7640 - 8 wired and 32 wireless zone + GSM SIM and TCP/IP connectivity - they say it’s Ademco protocol based. Can this binding for AlarmDecoder can be used or no worth wasting time. I did some tries, but maybe don’t create the Thing properly and also missing how to configure it in alarmdecoder config file.
Telnet connection on port 80 is not giving any feedback - just connects and stays black window.
Any advises are appreciated.
Apologizes that I’ve jumped your your conversation.
Sorry for the extremely late reply lol but you can check if your panel is supported from http://www.alarmdecoder.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Panels
Lucky -
This is great stuff you are sharing. I am quite excited to have OH and the my trusty crusty Vista-20 connected. I’m very happy to use the alarm and also determine presence for now. I had posted earlier that I was having an issue but edited the post because the issue was mearly a typo. Stopped for a while and listened to some nice Blues music and it was easy to sport.
Later maybe if we both leave the the alarm becomes the slave to the presence detection. If anyone has experience with this I’m all ears 
The v2 version of this binding (if it ever gets accepted) has a “sendStar” setting which sends the “*” character to the panel after it is disarmed. In the v1 binding you would have to set up a rule to do this.
After the “*” character is sent to the Vista, it will begin to update the zone field as you trip the zones. When zone is updated the Ready status is cleared. So something like
rule “presence”
when
Item StatusReady changed to 0
then
switch (Zone.state)
{
case 7:
{
do stuff for zone 7
}
etc…
1 Like
Billfor
Good to hear there is a version 2. I’m having fun with what I’ve got and trying to learn to write rules. I would be interested to know if the version 2 is available to try. Some of my other projects are coming along and may try to keep going at least a little bit through the summer months
Sure, you should be able to download it. I’ve been using it for the last month or so without any issues.
So I had this working with my old 2.5 install and version 1 of the binding but for the life of me I cannot get it to work with openhab3 and the latest binding. Is ser2sock still needed/required ?.
In fronttail I am not seeing any messages being parsed. If i arm and disarm through the keypad I am seeing log events but none while using habpanel. Can someone please post an items/things or atleast point me in the right direction.
You need to connect the bridge via tty or a port, and if using a port then you still need ser2sock or ser2net. Attached is the thing and items for my vista20-se, with the old v1.x binding format commented out so you can see the difference. There is also doc on the addon page.
alarmdecoder.things.txt (228 Bytes) alarmdecoder.items.txt (3.5 KB)
Thanks for the info.My bridge is attached to /dev/ttyUSB0 so I guess I still need ser2sock.Actually what do you mean by port? I will look over your files to see if there are any clues to solving this.
I do presume my bridge is working since I am getting rfzones flooding my inbox. I have since turned off discovery. I am also getting log line when I arm/disarm open/close zones from my keypad.