Vista 20p alarm panel

I am trying to decide the best way of integrating this alarm panel into openhab. It seems the AD2USB adapter is the best way to connect to the vista 20p. Unfortunately my openhab server is not close to the vista 20p. I am considering a secondary openhab server located next to the vista 20p so that I have connect it to the AD2USB. Alternatively I have unused vera edge unit that I could connect to the AD2USB and then use the mios binding.

Does anyone suggest doing it one way vs the other? Any advantages or disadvantages to either approach?

There is a raspberry pi based appliance. That’s what I used. Then you can run an ethernet cable from your vista20p to your openhab server.

http://www.alarmdecoder.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/39

I am/was in the same boat as you @mbelleville. I “upgraded” from my veralite to openhab. I decided to keep my vera unit as my z-wave controller and in doing so I am able to use it to communicate with my vista 20p. I have the EVL-3 board attached to my alarm panel and it is configured with my vera. With some of guessed genius I was able to control my alarm via my openhab.

I like that solution. I would still use the alarmdecoder binding with the AD2Pi? Unofrtunately the network appliance is out of stock right now. Trying to decide if I should build my own with the AD2Pi board and a RPi or if I should wait for them to restock.

ease of setup is also a factor. If I use my vera edge will it auto create items for all the door and window sensors? that would be nice. The alarmdecoder binding looks a bit difficult to set up. I too am using my vera edge as a zwave controller. There were devices I wanted to use that were not supported by the openhab zwave database.

I would like openhab to be aware of the state of all the window and door sensors from my vista 20p, and I would like openhab be able to arm/disarm the vista 20p. Also I would like openhab to be able to trigger an alarm state in the vista 20p

what i did was use the ad2pi, and then use a program ser2sock which basically exposes the serial port to tcp/ip.

(you can interact via telnet pi.ip 10000)

So I have a pi near the alarm box, and then my openhab instance can be on a computer anywhere in the house, and communicated via telnet.

That’s what the openhab alarmdecoder was actually developed for first. The AD2USB support was added later.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the ad2pi comes with ser2sock already running and configured.

I also use ser2sock without problems.

Once I connected my EVL-3 to my Vera all of the sensors/contacts in my alarm were added to the MiOS environment.

If you can see the alarm sensors/triggers on your Vera, they will appear in the MiOS binding file. I suggest you use guessed’s file generator tool. It takes all of the guesswork out of the equation. My openHAB sitemap only has away/disarm/instant/stay right now. I haven’t had time to create more complex rules and informational sitemap displays involving my pir sensors and door contacts.

gotcha, that sounds like it might be the simplest solution. I do use the item generation tools that are part of the mios binding. They are great.

I like the idea of the vera and the mios binding autocreating all of my items for me. As long as I get the same functionality and abilities. Can you arm/disarm your vista 20p with the EVL-3, vera, and openhab? Or can you just see the state of the sensors?

Bernd,

maybe my terminology is incorrect.

From what i remember I purchased a board which plugged in to my pi via gpio.

I still had to supply the pi. Maybe the product offering has changed, it’s been a few years. I think I would have had to install ser2sock.

I can arm/disarm my system from the physical alarm panels, my vera interface, the openhab app on my phone, and the sitemap url on my pc. I even went so far as throw together a script in Tasker to arm it for me.

Like I mentioned earlier, I haven’t added the sensors/contacts to my sitemap yet so I can’t speak to that. I just the main functionality works.

but you see all the sensors and contacts in your vera interface right? and the mios item generator creates items for all of them correct?

Yes for both questions. They are all visible when I connect directly to my Vera unit, and the generator handles them properly.

I’m starting to like that approach more, seems like less set up work than using the AD2Pi

Fair warning, there is some setup work required for the EVL add-on, but most of it deals with programming your alarm system via the keypad and running the network cable to the alarm panel. If you can handle those two things the rest is a breeze.

Mark1,
I was wondering if you could provide the OpenHAB lines in your Items file that relate to arming and disarming your alarm. I also used Vera with AD2USB with my Vista 20p alarm system. I’m unable to arm or disarm my alarm system in OpenHAB. I can use all my alarm sensors in rules in OpenHAB.

I use the ad2pi with openHAB and it works great.

Here is what I have in my sitemap.

`  Frame label="Security" {
	  Switch item=EVL3VistaPartition1ArmMode mappings=[disarm="Disarm", instant="Instant", away="Away", armed="Arm"]
      Text item=EVL3VistaPartition1DetailedArmMode icon="lock"
      }

The switch is what let me pick which mode I want. The second line just confirms the status.

Now I also have a set of rules to handle the modes.

rule "Instant"
when
  Item EVL3VistaPartition1ArmMode received command instant
then
  sendMiosAction(EVL3VistaPartition1ArmMode, 'Alarm/RequestArmMode', newArrayList('State' -> 'StayInstant', 'PINCode' -> <4 digit pin code>)
end

@guessed helped me out with this as I was stuck and couldn’t get it to work. As you can see in the sitemap I am sending a command to EVL3VistaPartition1ArmMode and the rule watches for that command. (I am sure there is a prettier way of doing this.) When the rule is true, the system calls the function “sendMiosAction” and passes the variables listed. You just need to pass one of these states and your pin code. Example: You pass “Armed” and it will get translated into “Away”. I am not sure if you could just pass “Away” and bypass the translation. @guessed would be the one to ask.

(Vera) => (Vista)
Disarmed => Disarmed
Armed => Away
ArmedInstant => Maximum
Stay => Stay
StayInstant => Instant
Force => Away

He did update the MiOS Action page with some additional information.

Mark1,
Thanks for your help. The only button on the sitemap that I could get to work was the “Armed” button. In your ITEMS file do you have a item setup for the switch item EVL3VistaPartition1ArmMode? In my ITEMS file its setup as a string item. I also don’t have EVL3. Could you check to see if I have anything wrong?
Here is what I have setup:

Switch item=Partition1ArmMode mappings=[disarm="Disarm", instant="Instant", away="Away", armed="Arm"]
Text item=Partition1 icon="lock"



rule "Arm Security System Away"
when
       Item Partition1ArmMode received command armed
then
       sendMiosAction(Partition1ArmMode, 'Alarm/RequestArmMode', newArrayList('State' -> 'Armed', 'PINCode' -> xxxx))       
end

rule "Arm Security System Stay"
when
       Item Partition1ArmMode received command stay
then
       sendMiosAction(Partition1ArmMode, 'Alarm/RequestArmMode', newArrayList('State' -> 'Stay', 'PINCode' -> xxxx))       
end

rule "Disarm Security System"
when
       Item Partition1ArmMode received command disarmed
then
       sendMiosAction(Partition1ArmMode, 'Alarm/RequestArmMode', newArrayList('State' -> 'Disarmed', 'PINCode' -> xxxx))       
end