Difference between connecting to Abode through the integration vs. Homekit Controller

Third party integrations
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Sorry if this topic has been made before, I searched the forums but I didn’t find anything as extensive as what I was looking for.

I have been using the Abode integration for HA for a few months, but have had a Homekit controller device starting with “HSGW” in my available integrations for some time now. Not knowing what it was, I left it there for a while and finally started to look into it this morning. I finally discovered it was my Abode gateway, and connected to it, but I have some questions about connecting to Abode this way:

1. Is it local?
My understanding of Abode is that it can only be accessed via cloud, but my understanding of the Homekit controller is that it’s local. I unplugged my router from the internet and saw that it took longer for the Homekit-connected version to say “unavailable” than it did for the Abode integration, which I’m pretty sure is cloud-based. But eventually, the Homekit-connection went to unavailable as well. Here it is, side by side:

image

This is the same device, a window, with the one on top being connected via the Abode integration, and the one on the bottom being connected through the Homekit controller. You can see that the Homekit controller one was connected even after the Abode integration version went unavailable and it showed even when the window opened and closed, but it took a while to update that state, and then then it too went unavailable.

So it seems that, for a time at least, the Gateway was sending information to HA locally, but that it took longer to send that information, and then eventually went unavailable. When I reconnected the Gateway to the internet, I then looked at response times and they seem equal. If it were local, I’d think it would be a bit snappier, but maybe it was just fast. So I’m pretty confused here.

I’d obviously prefer local connection, that way my motion sensor-paired lights don’t stop working whenever I lose internet connectivity.

2. Where are all of the attributes?
I tried to upload a photo, but am a new user and can only upload one so far, but basically, the version of the window connected through Homekit doesn’t have all of the attributes that the Abode integration has, including “battery_low: bool”, which would be really nice to have. Any way to get these in there?

The other attributes not listed are “device_id: text”, “no_response: bool”, “device_type: text”, and “attribution: text”

3. Which would you suggest?
Is there anyone using Abode who has made this decision? Which way did you decide to connect, and why?

2

Did you ever figure something out about this? I just got Abode and can’t even figure out how to use the Homekit way. I have it setup via the intergration.

1 Like
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I didn’t look into it much after this to be honest. I may look into it more in the future. If you figured anything else out I’d appreciate knowing though!

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HSGW is a “ID” for a group alarm/smarthome systems (serie) of the Climax company in Taiwan. The Firmware for the system and for the sensors usally has something like: HPGW or HSGW in the name. Climax sells thru a lot of resellers (re-branded). Resellers often have there own App and WebUI. Certain Climax models have Homekit integration available and it is optional that a re-seller offers this too for that re-branded model. I don’t know if this uses Cloud or not.
See: Apple HomeKit Guide - Integrations

Most Climax models support standard CID/SIA protocol. This is often used by companies who offer a paid subscription to communicate between your alarm and their “Alarm center”.

For local connection (local network) you could see if the SIA integration of HA picks-up a SIA feed from your Abode.
I have another Climax rebrand and there you have to specify under “Alarm system/ Report/ Reports to CMS via Contact ID” a “reporting URL” . Something like :
ip://[email protected]:4998/CID_CIA
(Example only) Where “1234” is an account (max 4 digits), “192.,…” the IP-number of your Home Assistent (thus needs to be static), “4998” a port (not used yet) and “CID_CIA” is refering to version CID SIA DC 09.
On Home Assistant you should specify these items too. (under “Devices & Services” add SIA etc.) .
I just tried it on my brand with the latest HA and HAOS and it does receive data but things do not work yet and maybe will not. For Ajax Alarms (no Climax re-brand) the SIA to HA works great. As SIA is a standard, it should work for all Climax stuff with this feature. Give it a try, if possible and let me know the results.

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I am planning to shutdown my Caddx panel soon and like the look of the Abode system. I read through the various posts but still have questions.

What is the advantage of running through HomeKit? Not cloud based of course, but quicker?

Can you arm/disarm the Abode system through HA?

How fast do motion detectors trigger from Abode through to HA?

Thanks.

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Honestly, I’m not sure if I’d go with abode if I had to do it again. They advertise themselves as the best home security system for home automators, but you can’t actually use it locally. While I was able to connect it through homekit, it doesn’t really work. Very frustrating to have my motion sensors stop working as soon as I lose internet connectivity.

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Interesting. All of the modern alarm systems depend on the cloud to a large degree which is not ideal for security systems.

Interesting that the HomeKit connection to motion sensors fails when the cloud goes down.

I am going to get a base unit and one door switch and play around with it to see how it performs.

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Everything else about it is great. If they would just add local connection it would be the perfect Home Security system. I have a feeling it’s because they want to maintain control. I actually missed the comment above yours about using SIA, so I’m going to try that and see if it works.

I will add, and this is both frustrating and good at the same time, that the system itself still works when internet is down. The alarm can still be set and turned off with the keypad, and it’ll still sound when triggered. It’s nice to know that it still functions with no internet, but makes the lack of local connection all the more frustrating because I know it’s already doing it all locally.

edit: I also want to add that I’d definitely avoid their cameras. I haven’t had mine show up in HA yet.

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Thankfully I already have cameras and frigate running.

I really want this to replace my aging alarm - which is reliable but no app and getting parts is harder and harder.

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Reporting back on this. Everything was working fine with my HomeKit Controller connection to Abode until today. I added some new sensors yesterday and did verify if they were showing in HA. This morning I went to set up automations for them and the HomeKit Controller reported that it couldn’t connect to my HSGW-blahblah controller. I checked all of the obvious things, IP address, restarted Abode, etc. Nothing would fix it.

So I deleted the controller from HA and then removed the integration from the Abode app, and then had to go through the process of adding it again.

When I restarted the Abode gateway it did ask to update the firmware. No idea if this was related or coincidence.

So far the HomeKit controller approach has been great - instant updates - but it is a little troubling that this just happened. Next I need to figure out an automation that will tell me if the controller has been disconnected.

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Thanks for this! I’m going to look back into using the homekit integration again. Does it continue to work when you lose internet?

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I am not sure I have lost internet since setting it up. I will have to pull the internet from the switch at some point to see if this impacts the usage. But it has been working well.