Automating using Alarm States as a Trigger

Configuration
1

Hi,

Hope this is in the right section…

I want to have an action happen as a result of my house alarm condition. For example, when I set my alarm system on ‘Away’ I want it to switch the lights off.

I’m using the AlarmDecoder integration and have tried to automate it based on the device state but failed. Help!

2

Anyone? Appreciate the help :slight_smile:

3

I’ll try on the Alarm Decoder forum but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know :slight_smile:

4

I’ll see if I can create an automation.

Meanwhile, I’m looking for help as well.

My AlarmDecoder works fine when connected to a PC. It arms/disarms and is set to CON ADR 18.

When connected to HA through a Pi4 USB, it won’t arm/disarm using HA’s alarm keypad. I’ve tried typing in the 4 digit code and clicking Home or Away; I’ve tried clicking the numbers for the 4 digit code and clicking Home or Away; I’ve tried typing or clicking the code plus ‘3’ (like you do on a real keypad)

The real keypads work fine.

Alarm Decoder shows the Arm/Disarm state when a keypad is used. Alarm Decoder shows all of it sensor states and these can trigger automations (motion sensor to turn on lights, for instance). The tripped alarm state shows up on HA as well and it sends a signal to my phone.

I simply can’t arm/disarm from HA. HA is up-to-date.

6

I’ve successfully used ‘Alarm Panel triggered’ to have HA send me a verbal message to my cell phone telling me that the panel is triggered. You can also use the ‘Alarm Panel armed away’ to automate things.

Here’s how I did this:

  1. Create New Automation
  2. Add Trigger - chose device -
  3. In the Device field, find the name of your Alarmdecoder (I renamed mine to Vista) and select it.
  4. In the Trigger field, find the “Alarm Panel triggered” and select it. (Mine is called Vista Alarm Panel triggered") You’ll want to use ‘Alarm Panel Armed Away’ for your purpose
  5. I didn’t use ‘And if’
  6. Then Do - click ADD ACTION
  7. In your case, select your lights and turn them off. I don’t know how to do this as a group, but you can add them individually.
  8. In my case, Perform action 'Notifications: Send a notification via mobile_app_XXXXX. (The XXXXX is the name of your cell phone running HA.)
  9. message - TTS
  10. Leave Title unchecked
  11. Leave target unchecked
  12. enter this in the data field:
    1. tts_text: your message
    2. media_stream: alarm_stream_max
    3. ttl: 0
    4. priority: high

If you want this to repeat, add a delay and then duplicate the Perform Action