I’m looking at getting a DSC PC1832 panel and am interested in ensuring compatibility with the DSC Binding. My question is basically, does it matter which interface I get between the EVL-4 and the IT-100? Is one recommended over the other? Does the EVL-4 offer any additional flexibility/functionality over the serial interface board?
A minor concern with the EVL-4 is that it is mainly marketed with the Eyezon cloud solution. I am not all that keen on having my security system “phone home” to a 3rd party. Tin foil hat? Yeah, maybe. Anyway, can I turn off that functionality and simply use it as a local interface to work with the DSC Binding, etc?
I use EVL-4 with DSC PC5010, it works fine except the ability to adjust the time for the panel (but I have found a workaround for that). I also switched of phone home feature - I simply did not acivate it and to be sure I created a rule on a firewall to block outgoing trafic from envisalink to the Internet.
As a bonus I was able to recover with a simple script the installer code, which my security company did not want to disclose.
I’ve got an Envisalink 3 running with a DSC PC1864. It creates a local web admin panel too, so you can log in and see activity there too. So you don;t need to open it up to their cloud based service.
All in all, I’m very happy with the way it works. And as for getting it set up with openHAB, that was the only thing that ‘just worked’ for me!
