I am trying to decide if I want to purchase Envisalink. It is expensive.
I am checking setup and have a question. The code requires to enter user name and password. Where can I find this information? This is an old ADT Safewatch Pro 3000 (Honeywell) system.
Thank you.
The default for an Envisalink 4 is user and user
They need to be the same, but obviously can be changed from user.
You probably have a honeywell vista 20p. They way to figure it out is too open the alarm panel, and see what’s inside. I forget exactly what to look for, but there is lots of stuff on the internet to help figure it out.
If you do this, you’ll need to reprogram your panel for the envisalink. Reprogramming is much easier if you swap in an alpha numeric keypad. A while ago, I put in a combination rf/alpha keypad so I could add some rf sensors.
And for all of this, you’ll need to programming code, which is different from the arming code. But you can get it by removing primary and battery power to your panel, and then re-powering.
Some of this is a little involved, but there are lots of videos and reference material out there to show you how to do this.
And sometimes you can find envisalinks on the auction site for less. And there are lots of honeywell alarm stuff there, almost always cheaper than other places.
Thank you for your reply.
I am sure that I have Honeywell Vista 20p.
What do you mean that I have to reprogram it? This setup guide does not say anything about reprogramming. Can you explain?
Thank you.
The setup guide is just to integrate envisalink to HA.
You need to install and setup the envisalink.
Here’s part of the document I used to install the envisalink.
BTW, it’s not as bad as it probably looks at first, but its also why I recommended that its easier to have an alpha numeric keypad. Plus its really is nicer to have an upgraded keypad instead of the original ADT one.
Program the Module and Vista 20P Panel
1) Power up your panel.
2) If you have more than two keypads (assigned to Address 16, 17, 18, etc., it would be best if the keypad assigned to address 18 was switched to another address using the same technique used to program it originally, including activating that device number in the *190-*196 programming range. This allows the EVL-4CG to run properly with no changes, since it addresses itself to Address 18 automatically.
3) Once you have programmed your Vista 20P Panel properly in all other aspects (From the 20P Manual) follow the next steps to properly update that program for the EVL-4CG:
A. Enter (Installer Code from 20P Manual) + 800 to access installer programming mode. “20” should appear on the display.
B. *191 enter 10 to activate Device (Keypad) Address 18
C.29 Enable IP/GSM (IP/GSM/LRR support required for your Envisalink4 to transmit alerts): Enter 10*.
D. *48 Report Format: Enter 77
E. *49 Split/Dual Reporting: Enter 5 and you will hear 3 beeps.
F. *50 Burglary Dialer Delay: Enter 0 and you will hear 3 beeps.
G. *54 Dynamic Signaling Delay: Set to 0 and you will hear 3 beeps. H. *55 Dynamic Signaling Priority: Set to 1 and you will hear 3 beeps.
I. *59 Exit Error Alarm Report Code: Set to 0 and you will hear 3 beeps.
J. *60 Trouble Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
K. *62 AC Loss Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
L. *63 Low Battery Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps. M. *64 Test Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
N. *65 Open Report Code: Enter 110 and you will hear 3 beeps.
O. *66 Arm Away/Stay Report Code: Enter 111100 and you will hear 3 beeps.
P. *67 RF Transmitter Low Battery Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
Q. *70 Alarm Restore Report Code: Enter 1 and you will hear 3 beeps.
R. *71 Trouble Resolve Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
S. *73 AC Restore Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
T. *74 Low Battery Restore Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
U. *75 RF Low Battery Restore Report Code: Enter 10 and you will hear 3 beeps.
V. *84 Auto Stay Arm: Enter 0 and you will hear 3 beeps.
W. Enter *99 to exit programming.
4) After a few minutes your EVL-4CG should now have 5 solid green LED lights lit up. (The Link light will flicker with communication activity).
Thank you. Lots to think about. I checked their website and watched a few how-to videos, nobody mentioned reprogramming.
I am not sure if I want to do this and if ADT will like me doing this.
Thank you.
I have the Alarmdecoder device which is similar to this one and still have ADT monitoring my system. For this device you didn’t have to reprogram all that stuff. I only had to allow the extra keypad address and that was it. No issues with it interfering with their monitoring.
One feature I do like more about the Alarmdecoder with the Vista 20p is the ability to emulate the relays to use bypassed sensors such as motion sensors while the system is in armed home mode and use the system’s motion sensor(s) for automated lighting. I’m not sure if Envisalink can do this yet.
Thank you for your reply. Which Alarmdecoder device do you have and what does it mean to “allow extra keypad address”? How to do it? Is there a documentation for this?
Thank you.
Both Alarmdecoder and envisilink look like another keypad to the 20p. At a minimum, you have to tell the 20p that you are adding another keypad, and give it an address. Both Alarmdecoder and envisilink are setup for address 18.
Your primary keypad is at 16, and if you have a 2nd keypad, it should be at 17. I think a 2 keypad installation is pretty common, which is why they both picked 18 as the default, but you can change it if you need to.
So at a minimum, you will need to disconnect power and battery to your alarm, connect the 4 wires from the alarm to the device you pick, and then power back up. Then you need to reprogram the 20p to add the new keypad address.
Since you already have to disconnect power, this is a pretty easy way to figure out the installer code. When you turn the alarm back on, the installer code is displayed for a few seconds.
It seems like the alarmdecoder system does some of the setup for you, which is nice, wish envisilink would do the same. Since its a keypad, it can, you just need to give it the installer code. But alarmdecoder would have cost more money or taken more effort to get running with a pi, versus spending 5 more minutes programming the envisilink manually, at least that’s how I view it. This is based on the envisilink price on the auction site, vs a pi version of alarmdecoder.
As for ADT, technically my 20p belongs to them. But it was installed by adt in the early 90’s, they weren’t even adt back then lol. So a few years ago, I decided I would take over my alarm system, and start making changes. ADT must know I’ve been messing with it, but it seems they don’t care as long as I pay my bill lol.
I guess if I stopped their service they could come out and remove the 20p and the keypads, but I highly doubt they would do that. They would just throw them away, so it’s not worth the time/effort to come and remove a 20 year old system.
Randy
I had my Pi already ready to go, plus I could run some other services on it as well since Alarmdecoder is dockerized and doesn’t use much on resources. So the cost of startup for me was much lower. I’ve also seen some folks just plug in the USB version or even do the hat style on their HASS.io setup but I don’t run HASS on a Pi. The other big deciding factor for me back when I was doing research was the ability to work around the Vista 20p not reporting bypassed zones while in armed mode. From my research at that time 8-9 months ago, only the Alarmdecoder had that feature so it was a no-brainer to go with cheaper and more features I needed.
The setup was super simple, I did pretty much what you said, pulled power, connected the 4 wires, powered it up and did the code to allow the keypad 18 address and that was it. It did work without the code but I doubt I would have been able to type in any codes or what not, it just would have been in read-only mode.
Thank you guys!!
I think AD is a more diy friendly approach, and if my pi was close to my alarm panel I would have used it.
The other advantage of AD is it doesn’t need any outside services, I ended up having to create an envisalink account and using their cloud service. I tried without it but couldn’t figure it out, and ADT called as soon as I enabled envisalink because I guess my alarm panel started to complain I had remote service but it wasn’t connected.
Anyone compared AD2PI and envisalink? Is there a difference?
I already have Raspberry PI that I can use for AD2PI. Raspberry PI has WiFi connection.
I will have to purchase WiFi bridge or something like that to connect envisalink to my network. I do not have wired network connection next to my ADT system.
It looks that if they can do the same, it is better for me to go with AD2PI.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Thank you.
I have no affiliation with either company and haven’t owned the EVL before. If I had to do it over again, I’d go with the USB version of the Alarmdecoder, that way I’m not forced into the a Pi and I could plug it into whatever I wanted such a server, Pi, etc. I’d have to agree with randytsuch as the AD is definitely DIY friendly and can fit many configuration options and modifications, such as the monitoring bypassed zones(motion) at night. With that said it does appear to not have as much of a plug and play style that the Envisalink might have.
Thank you for your reply.
I’d go with the USB version of the Alarmdecoder, that way I’m not forced into the a Pi
I saw instructions how to set it up with Windows and Mac, but not with Pi or Linux. Is it possible to set it up?
Thank you.
So from the envisalink side, from what I can tell the AD looks easier to setup, and there is no reliance on the cloud there.
So as long as you can get remote access through HA, I think AD is the way to go.
Envisilink looks better if you need a way to get remote access. It also works if you have an ethernet switch close to you alarm panel so you can make a wired ethernet connection.
Bottom line is I would go with the AD in this case.
Thank you guys.
For the record Envisalink doesn’t need the cloud. Its optional and doesn’t require an account or registration.
I just set up the Envisalink and I just had to set it up as a new Keypad on my Vista20p. The programming guide they give you has a lot of stuff that you don’t “have” to do. Eyezon has an Alexa integration out of the box that you can use to Arm and Disarm the system. I also arm my alarm automatically every night and disarm it in the mornings. I am trying to figure out now if I can turn the door chimes on and off via an automation from Home-Assistant. With Envisalink I can also use my alarm sensors to do automations… for instance, if theres motion in an area, and it’s dark outside, I can turn on the lights.
Oh yeah, no cloud requirement either unless you want to use their Alexa integration, etc. The HomeAssistant to Envisalink integration is using the local connection.
The shame is only, if you are using in and in only “local” connection, so that you disable Envisalink from internet connection (because you do not need their so named cloud solution) that you can not set IP for NTP settings from which Envisalink get date/time. So in this case (in complete offline mode) if there is power fail Envisalink won’t set date/time to alarm station (DSC or Vista - no matter which you have).
If anybody has any other solution how to set NTP or somehow to fix this please tell me…
I’m using Ubiquiti router…
If you use DHCP as the means to assign addresses on the “inside” of your Ubiquiti router, can you get the DHCP server to reply with DHCP Option codes? If so Option 42 is how you tell DHCP clients which NTP server(s) to use. Hopefully, the Envisalink can accept Option 42 data?
Regards,
-Ambi