Konnected Alarm Panel - connect a wired alarm system to HA new in 0.70

heythisisnate · May 18, 2018, 3:45am

Friends, I’d like to introduce a product that I created to the Home Assistant community. The Konnected Alarm Panel is a wired alarm system panel replacement that lets you connect all of your home’s wired door & window sensors, PIR motion sensors, smoke/CO detectors, siren/strobe and more to Home Assistant.

I launched this on Kickstarter in November last year and we raised over $180,000!

Konnected is powered by a NodeMCU ESP8266 WiFi module and the open source konnected-security application built on the NodeMCU firmware.

Konnected connects any brand of wired alarm system to Home Assistant (or SmartThings). You wire it to your wired sensors and siren, just like a traditional alarm panel.

Highlights

Konnected component coming in HA 0.70
Reuse existing wired sensors already in your home!
Connects to WiFi and communicates with HA over your LAN. No cloud service. Works when internet is down.
Works with all common wired security system sensors including door/window sensors, PIR motion sensors, glass-break sensors, leak detectors, IR beam detectors, smoke/CO detectors.
Integrated siren/alarm output works with most (12V DC) alarm system sirens.
Add-on module features outputs for connecting an signaling a relay module, piezo buzzer, or temperature sensor for endless home automation capabilities.
AUX 12V out supplies power to motion sensors and other powered sensors
Infinitely expandable! Each module supports up to 6 sensors/zones. Add more modules for unlimited sensors or zones.
100% configurable and automatable. Check out the manual alarm control panel component.

Once you’ve replaced your old security system brains, the old keypads can be repurposed. Reuse the wiring for your keypads to power a wall-mounted tablet with HADashboard. [power converter]

Konnected started out as a late-night “hack project” with a NodeMCU that I bought on Amazon. I lived in a house with an old broken alarm system – but the sensor wires and siren were still working fine. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a product that would easily connect these sensors to my home automation hub (I was using SmartThings at the time). So, I built one.

A few months later, the Konnected Alarm Panel launched on Kickstarter and over 1700 backers have now successfully revived their old alarm system.

We’re still taking pre-orders for the Konnected Alarm Panel starting at $75 with expected delivery in June. We’ve just finished fulfilling all of our Kickstarter backers, and are now fulfilling pre-orders from early this year. We expect to be caught up on pre orders by mid-June.

If you’re interested in more detail about the product, head over to the Konnected Help & Support site. Also check out my YouTube channel. Or just ask!

Since Konnected software is entirely open source, you can also build this yourself with any NodeMCU Wifi module and some wiring/soldering skills.

I’m very excited to announce that the Konnected component will be available in the next release of Home Assistant, 0.70!

I can’t wait to hear your feedback.

indy5 · May 18, 2018, 3:59am

Awesome news! I have been waiting for this one. Will report back on my success.

jschwalbe · May 24, 2018, 9:39pm

Woohoo! been waiting awhile for this one.

GraysonPeddie · May 28, 2018, 11:31am

I would definitely buy one in the future.

Intranet of Things is more like it with no dependence in cloud.

(No, not “Internet of Things;” “Intranet of Things.” Notice the “ra” instead of “er.”)

And oh yes! I would definitely like to have an RJ45 version of the module. Don’t think I could power the Konnected Alarm Panel with PoE, though. Aren’t there PoE-powerd backup batteries that can be powered by PoE and then can power the Konnected Alarm Panel? There would need to be conversion from 24v to 12v for Konnected to work.

Update: I found something that can be of use:

badgerhome · May 28, 2018, 5:19pm

Been waiting for this for a while, can’t wait to try it out!

I have a question regarding my outdoor sirens, I’m pretty sure these are not 12v, is there any way I can connect these using a relay board? I’m guessing I can keep the original board in situ to power them and just take a feed from the original panel? I’m based in the UK. I plan on cracking my alarm panel door open tonight to take a peek at the cabling.

I’m also pretty sure my power is fed direct from the mains with no nearby socket (it’s actually installed in my downstairs bathroom) can I power this from a 240v step down converter?

Thanks for your hard work!!

heythisisnate · May 28, 2018, 7:08pm

Most alarm system sirens operate on 12VDC, and the Konnected Alarm Panel board can directly power a siren up to about 17 watts. If you have a siren that is more powerful than that, or operates on a different voltage, than yes you can use a relay module with the Konnected Alarm Panel add-on board which has pins for connecting a 5V relay module. See here for more details: https://help.konnected.io/support/solutions/articles/32000022175-identify-the-alarm-panel-add-on-boards

This is the relay module that I recommend for this use case:

The Konnected setup is powered by a 12V DC power adapter that comes with the kit (yes, we will send UK/EU/AU compatible plug types depending on the destination country). If you don’t have a wall plug nearby, you’ll need to supply your own 12V DC power (recommend 2A or more).

lmamakos · May 29, 2018, 3:25am

I can’t tell from looking at the photos of the board, but is there any ESD or surge protection on the zone inputs of this module? I can’t imagine connecting a hundred feet of unshielded, non-twisted pair alarm cables and expecting the ESP8266 GPIO input to survive a nearby lightning strike. You can get significant energy coupled into those long cable runs, and I’d like to see some sort of TVS diode or other protection device. Heck, even some ferrite beads would help a bit, given the high-frequency rise-time of nearby lightning strikes.

It also appears that this is only going to work on a contact closure, and that end-of-loop resistors are going to be a problem. I have them installed on a number of my zones (at the far ends) and these are valuable to detect failures.

I wonder for this kind of application if a cheap 8- or 12-bit multichannel ADC on an I2C or SPI interface wouldn’t be a good solution…

BrianHanifin · May 29, 2018, 4:06am

I won’t be a customer because my house only has two crusty old wired door sensors, so I will use a couple of Xiaomi sensors instead. But I wanted to congratulate you on creating a terrific product!

CtrlX · May 29, 2018, 5:16am

Extremely exited about this product, but had the same thoughts like you. Curious about the answer. I will definetily be a customer if this is safe enough.

nickrout · May 29, 2018, 6:19am

Congratulations, very cool. I don’t have a “wired” house, but if I did this would be on the way already.

heythisisnate · May 29, 2018, 12:36pm

No, there’s not any surge protection built in. Honestly, lightning strikes isn’t something I had considered. It’s an interesting point though. I’m living in Florida now and we’re approaching the summer thunderstorm season, so we’ll see how it holds up this summer.

That’s correct. I advise Konnected users to remove the end-of-line resistors when installing the device.

GraysonPeddie · May 30, 2018, 2:56pm

Does anyone know of alarm security cabinets that can be bought stand-alone without any system boards that came with it? Just a security panel with screw holes. I like to fit in 1 Konnected alarm panel and 3 add-ins – just enough room to fit in additional modules such as a relay module if I so desire. I would prefer to buy a cabinet from Amazon and Konnected Alarm Panel from the main Konnected website.

Emmanuel · May 30, 2018, 3:20pm

I have been looking for this for a while!
Ordered the 12ch version ! Will report back

heythisisnate · May 30, 2018, 3:34pm

Search on Amazon for uxcell ABS plastic enclosures. I recommend a plastic enclosure rather than traditional steel to avoid WiFi signal issues.

martamoonpie · May 31, 2018, 3:31am

I have this installed and configured, but my binary sensors aren’t updating. Can someone review my configuration and make sure I haven’t missed something? I see the binary sensors, but they don’t update when I open a door or window.

konnected:
  access_token: !secret konnected
  devices:
    - id: 007284
      binary_sensors:
        - zone: 1
          type: window
          name: Window Guest Room
        - zone: 2
          type: window
          name: Window Puzzle Room
        - zone: 3
          type: window
          name: Window Master Bathroom
        - zone: 4
          type: window
          name: Window Bedroom
        - zone: 5
          type: window
          name: Window Ten Forward
    - id: 0fb930
      binary_sensors:
        - zone: 1
          type: door
          name: Door Garage
        - zone: 2
          type: door
          name: Door Back
        - zone: 3
          type: window
          name: Window Garage
        - zone: 4
          type: window
          name: Window Laundry Room
        - zone: 5
          type: window
          name: Window Kitchen
        - zone: 6
          type: window
          name: Window Holodeck

ETA: I had this working in SmartThings.

heythisisnate · May 31, 2018, 5:20am

Two known issues that emerged over the last few days that I need to write up and address:

if you’ve set base_url in your configuration to a host that’s not accessible from your network internally, Konnected will not be able to reach the Hass API. Workaround: make a local hostname mapping on your router/firewall so whatever you set as base_url is accessible from inside and outside.
Does not work when api_password is set in the http module. No workaround yet.

DrZzs · May 31, 2018, 6:47pm

I’m guessing this is the source of my trouble so far.
I’m not getting state changes at all.

DrZzs · May 31, 2018, 11:58pm

will I rip a whole in space-time if I have 2 rpi’s running HA and I put the Konnected Component in both?
One is just for development and doesn’t have an API password. Might get me through until there’s a fix.

Crhass · June 10, 2018, 8:57am

I have been testing this on a second raspberry pi3 and can confirm it works ok with API password set in the http section on hassio.

The base URL is not causing an issue for me as I have local loopback on my router but the upcoming changes are good as they will allow it to work if internet/dns is down.

Only thing I have noticed is that if duckdns or SSL is configured where base URL is set to an Https address then HA will pick up the initial status of the binary sensors but konnected can’t update them. You can switch any configured actuators like a siren and that works ok. The SSL/TLS problem is a big issue as lots of users will need this.

Crhass · June 10, 2018, 9:02am

I have have been running 2 rpi3 with hassio and it doesnt seem to have broken anything. For me it just doesn’t update sensors on my main install that has duckdns configured. You can still switch actuators such as the siren from either system but the status doesn’t update on both.