Bwalarm (akasma74 edition)

could you tell more about this bit?

sorry, I don’t have/use alexa so you cannot answer your question without some details about it.
I don’t use AppDaemon, what do you mean by “transfer over to AppDaemon”?

I think it is valid my friend i able to test when you want to

under the assumtion that you are talking about the ability link to cameras useing exsiting panels … well for instance i use zone minder, i have a card using the floor plan in panel mode, so rather than tying to use mqtt sensors which i don’t use if i could just link to thelovelace floorplan pnel that would be so much easier.

if you can do as in the fomentioned floor plan card so that it can be a panel of its own then then using the custom header module then you have a complete panel ready to role on a tablet/phone screen.

Mo

sorry, I don’t remember me talking about linking to cameras using existing panels… could you elaborate?
and the rest of the sentence (what do you want to link and how?) is unclear to me as well.

every Lovelace card can be used in panel mode i.e it takes up the whole window, and there is nothing special in it so I assume it can be done for sure.
the only difficulty is that card need to be created, and I’m yet to learn how to do that :wink:

Perhaps these guys are referring to the option that this component had to allow cameras to be displayed below the alarm keypad… at a guess

I just came across this. Could be an option for many people. I’ll prob give it a try when I get a chance

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Trying to get that configured my self.

I can’t get bwalarm to respond to MQTT. Does the MQTT part of bwalarm work?

I can see the commands coming from bwalarm and from the node-red dashboard, but the alarm isn’t getting armed/disarmed at all.

Yeah the MQTT in BWAlarm does work, however in saying that I only ever had one way traffic working. ie: my commercial alarm system would send MQTT to arm/disarm HA, but it wasn’t working back the other way… but I think that was a config issue on my behalf. I’m currently using the manual_mqtt alarm and have two way mqtt working so I should be able to get it sorted with BWAlarm.

Weird, my experience is the opposite. BWAlarm sends the commands to MQTT no problem, but isn’t picking up what MQTT is putting out from node-red. Or any other alarm panel I’ve tried that uses MQTT.

EDIT: Finally found info in the log. Apparently BWAlarm isn’t getting the passcode when I attempt to arm. It shows that an attempt is made, but without a passcode. Interesting.

I believe the majority of us only used the panel to change settings. If you could get this functionality with a lovelace card it would be great! thanks for your (free) work!

Have you checked the docs?

I don’t think so. I personally use it as a main screen on a 7" wall-mounted tablet by the entrance door - gives me full control over the alarm (and optionally access to other HA stuff).

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Same here.

I did. I can see that BWAlarm is capable of arming/disarming without a code, but I want to require a code and am finding a very difficult time finding something that will actually pass a code using MQTT.

EDIT: I’m dumb. I didn’t realize that the override code would allow me to still require a PIN, but MQTT would not require the PIN in the payload.

It works now.

That sounds pretty logic.
As nobody seems to be objecting, go ahead with your plan. I would love to help, but I have no programing skills.
Good luck and thanks a lot for your efforts.

A small follow-up on my announcement a while ago:

Got something started in the meantime.
I opened a new thread for it.

Would appreciate your input to expand it more.

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Is there a way to notify the user why the alarm will not arm? I have a device somewhere which is in an ‘invalid’ state preventing the alarm for arming. Would be nice to either receive a notification or have a prompt and perhaps allow to override.

I had to look into the logs to find out why it was not arming properly.

well, if you’re arming your alarm using its panel, it shows you a dialog with sensor’s name and option to arm or cancel.

[quote=“John_Gratis, post:931, topic:113666”]
I have a device somewhere which is in an ‘invalid’ state

I’d say that’s not right and should be fixed.

Sorry for the confusion. When I mentioned invalid state, I meant that a sensor was in a state where the alarm would not arm.

I am using the Alarm Panel card and added the entity. It works when all devices are in the correct state, and it also works to disarm; however, if an device is open it simply will not arm nor does it raise a notification. It simply does not react.

That’s because this component was born before Lovelace interface and is not 100% compatible with Alarm Panel card (in fact, from HA 0.115 it doesn’t have a panel, it’s work in progress to fix it).

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Hi buddy, how are you progressing on the fix? can’t wait!