I searched around a bit and can’t find a schematic of the panel itself. If you can find one, feel free to post it here and I will take a look. If not, even just snap a photo of the panel and I will take a look.
Hey @RebelT, I’m just about to release a project on GitHub that you’re free to use/modify: https://github.com/marthoc/EntrHAnce. It’s written in Arduino IDE for the NodeMCU but would be adaptable to an Arduino board with more inputs easily. There’s an alpha release at the moment that I created for another user to test, and which works well, but I should have a few minutes of free time in the next few days to make an actual release. It’s a completely local solution that integrates over wifi and mqtt into your HA system. The actual release will support HA’s MQTT discovery feature, so you’ll just have to set up the NodeMCU, connect it to your broker, and then binary sensors for all your contacts will be created in HA automagically.
With the NodeMCU you have access to 7-9 inputs (still have to confirm if I can squeeze two extra inputs in), and it’s easy and cheap enough to add more boards until you get the number of inputs you need.
With your Arduino Mega idea, don’t forget that you will have to add an Ethernet shield or Esp8266 to give it network access for MQTT.
1 Like
I would recommend going with a DSC panel and an envistalink. They are really affordable and very well documented in North America. The real benefit is that they are an alarm panel so it works as an alarm reliably (without an alarm service / cloud) but you can hook up 32 / 64 sensor and control 4 relays and all hook up to HA with a PI.
hey @marthocoo – I will be watching this with keen interest!
re: the Arduino Mega, I will likely go with the EtherMega option which includes the built-in ethernet interface. Unless I’m missing something, that should work for what I’m looking for.
Thanks for the heads up – excited to see the full version once it’s done!
I don’t have a ton of time to look at it right now, but Terminal blocks 3 and 4 are “PGM1” and “PGM2”. Per a quick read of the manual, PGM2 is a 12v/50mA output that can be used to trigger detectors that require power (other than a N/O or N/C contact) to reset. In your case, you can simply connect one leg of an input wire to TB4/PGM2, and the other leg to ground, and that should give you a state-change for a N/O or N/C contact, which you can then connect in to HA to signal armed/disarmed.
While I’m not 100% familiar with the terminology they use, it appears on Page 14 (edited for correct page) that you can set PGM2 to pulse, which should be based upon the arming state of the system.
I would explore those options and see what you can come up with. Without having the panel in front of me, it’s tough to know for sure, but that’s my best guess as of right now. If you can figure out the programming, grab a multimeter and see if you can get it to register a state change on arm/disarm. If you can, there you go.
I will have some time after next Monday to dig in further if you haven’t found a way to make it work.
Great thanks. I’ll have a look at this… I guess now my issue is knowing the engineering code!
My alarm panel has failed - so intend to buy a new and fit a new wired panel. Everything else, all the wired pir’s and reed switches are OK.
Is there a UK available/supplied alarm panel that can be used with Envisalink or alarm decoder? The shown models all seem to be US spec.
Looking for something that can connect and provide functionality via web and hopefully provide all information and controls via HA also.
Many thanks if anyone knows any UK stuff that will work. The one thing I have found is Texecom:
These are available in the UK and maybe the closest I can get for now.
Thanks
Trux
@truxntrax did you go forward with Texecom, and if yes how did you manage to do any kind of integration ?
I’ve got the exact same issue as you.
Hi, I went with the Veritas 8. I’ve installed a esp8266 with a buck converter dropping the power from 12v to 5v. I’ve wired the esp to the board, so I can monitor the state via homeassistant. This is working well, sends me an alert by pushbullet if the alarm is triggered.
Stage 2 is to control a relay board to be able to set/ unset via ha. I’ve made a poc and the relays can short the right pins from the keypad to set or unset the alarm.
It’s a bit of a bodge but leaves the alarm system fully functional using the dedicated and reliable hardware, bit layers on top the ability to monitor and control using ha.
I have a different Texecom system (Premier Elite 64-W), but I’m guessing that the principles are the same. Do you mind sharing more detail on how you’ve wired to the board to monitor the alarm’s state?
Thanks in advance.
Sure. I’m on hols for 2 more weeks, but I’ll send a pic when I get home.
Great being able to monitor the status of the house alarm when I’m away. I feel hardwired dedicated hardware always does a more reliable job than anything wireless or home brew.
Great, thanks a lot.
Enjoy your hols.
Hi,
Any chance of getting the details of how you set this up?
Thanks.
I have an existing DSC alarm with mostly hard wired sensors, but some wireless. My interest initially is to bring the sensor values into HA for monitoring/automation purposes, but am interested in self monitoring it in the near future. My question is how to handle the wireless sensors? I believe those are currently managed by the keypad, correct? I would like to replace my existing keypad with a wall mounted tablet(s) if possible, but I’m unsure where to start.
Hi @truxntrax I’m really interested in your approach to interfacing with the veritas r8. Can you share any details? On mine I don’t have any spare zones so was thinking about the keypad, which technically has the info one would need - zone status, arm status etc and obviously can also arm the system.
I’d also love to see a guide for UK panels as DSC and EVL-4 aren’t easily available or supported by professional installers.
Texecom appear to be a good bet, and I’ve seen that people have been able to integrate it with their Vera setups. I’m keen to replace the existing basic wired system with a Premier Elite hybrid setup so I can add contact sensors to doors and windows without having to run wires.
My house renovation hasn’t started yet so I’m a way off but will follow the thread to see how you get on!
Trux,
I am stuck with an old Veritas 8 system, and I gather you have managed to connect an ESP8266/nodeMCU to the control panel and/or keypad - any advice on connections and or setup would be greatly appreciated as to how and where to connect.
Thanks in advance!
Hi,
Really sorry for tardy replies. I have now finished my alarm integration.
What works:
Keypad emulations (numbers, reset, full set, pt set)
Monitoring set status
Monitoring bell and strobe
What doesn’t work:
Can’t differentiate between pt set and full set.
How I set things up:
Keypad control: esp8266 + 6 way relay board - allows control of keypad by “shorting” right combination of pins. Diagram to follow to show which pins relate to which keypad buttons. I made a button card to simulate the keypad in lovelace. The button presses call scripts which “press” the buttons for 700ms.
esp8266 monitors the veritas board for 2 inputs. The sw+ and the strobe output. Both of these output 12v. Therefore I used resistors to the board ground to bring the v down to ~3v.
ESP8266 is powered from 12v on the alarm panel, converted to 3v using a buck converter. Up to now, the set up has been rock solid and has made the old school veritas into a smart alarm.
I will try to make a share your projects post and include some photos.