Hi all, I’m wanting to hook up open/closed sensors on all (3) of my doors. All the doors are already wired into my home alarm system…so I was thinking it would be nice if I could somehow use those existing sensors, without interrupting their function as part of the security system…This would look much cleaner than installing a new sensor on each door (the existing sensors are embedded in the door jam), and in theory it could cut down on a bunch of batteries which would need to be replaced periodically. I don’t really know what I’m doing tho…does anyone know is this at all feasible? I haven’t been able to find a product that explicitly says it does this…
It depends on a few things…
What alarm panel is it? You may be able to interface to it. That’s what I do and the alarm panel can still work independently as if HA didn’t exist, yet it relays all sensor info arm/disarm status etc through to HA, allowing me to use the alarm panel sensors as HA inputs for automations etc.
There are also other devices which allow you to piggyback the sensor signals to the alarm panel to send them to HA. Or you can make your own.
Ooooh good call, I never thought of doing it that way. It looks like this gadget should do the trick for me https://www.amazon.ca/Eyez-Envisalink-RECEIVE-EMAIL-ALARM/dp/B016WQTJ4S …that’s even better cuz then (I hope) I should get other events too (like “alarm triggered”)…and maybe even be able to arm/disarm it through HA too…noice! I’ll give it a shot, thanks!
My security system is hooked up through envisalink and if you have motion sensors like I do then you can use them to turn on lights when you enter a room. I also use the arm/disarm signals in automations to turn off lights for the night and turn the heating system temperature up and down. It really made my old security system very useful.