Status of AlarmDecoder

Hardware
1

I have seen online in numerous places that AlarmDecoder would be the perfect interface for my alarm system. Unfortunately, as of the end of December 2024, I cannot seem to find it for purchase, new or used. The website seems to have transformed into a generic website with links to alarm companies.

Does anybody know what happened to AlarmDecoder? Can it be purchased anywhere? It seems like a great product.

Moving forward, are there any suitable alternatives? The only one I found was EnvisaLink, which seems to be more limited, and requires a third-party website. I don’t really like that idea.

Are there any DIY alternatives, such as making an interface yourself using Arduino?

Thank you very much for your help!

2

If your system is a DSC panel, you can use this DIY solution:

or if your system is a Honeywell Vista, you can use this:

3

I don’t know what happened to AlarmDecoder but I am trying to find out. My list of things to do is long however so I can only dedicate a few minutes a week to this. Been trying to contact the developer. At work, we have a vendor who sold AlarmDecoder hardware so I’ve asked them as well (that’s where I got mine so many years ago).

1 Like
4

Here’s 70 minutes of reading time about the Vista panel option above from my forum bookmarks:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/ademco-honeywell-vista-esphome-custom-component-with-an-esp32-esp8266/230537

I have never used the above, since I’ve had a USB AlarmDecoder and their Pi software running for several years with no complaints. I’ve been following the thread in case the AlarmDecoder dongle ever fails, and guess I’ll have to pay attention more now if the company selling it is defunct…

5

If you want to add more capability to your interface, you can add a standalone web keypad or a standalone telegram bot all hosted on the same esp32 device. Of course, there is also a lovelace keypad card available for HA.

2 Likes
6

I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say.

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7

Thank you very much. I’ve taken a look at your stuff, and communicated with you on GitHub. I am looking into getting a raspberry pi and setting up Home Assistant first. Any opinion on which version of the raspberry pi I should get? And do I need all the bells and whistles, like the cooler or fan?

Thanks! Looking forward to this project.

8

I can’t really be the one to recommend what to use for HomeAssistant. My project is really on ESPHome which doesnt need Home assistant. You can use any hardware you have, even an old computer or laptop to run HA. If you’re happy with it, then you can move on to something more permanent. You can get more help by asking on the HA specific areas of this forum for more info if needed in that respect.

9

I thought you needed to use Home Assistant or some other home automation system (eg OpenHAB) to use ESPHome. Can you use it directly without home automation?

10

Try AlarmDecoder - AD2USB | AlarmDecoder Store

11

You can program Esphome devices from the command line. The devices can be accessed using mqtt , the HA api or using a web api (using the web server). Again, I recommend you read up on esphome if you want to go that route. Esphome is just a way to customize and program firmware on an ESP. If you are posting on this forum I assume then that you would like to have a running HA instance, then I suggest your read up on that as well.

12

Thanks for info!

Do you happen to know if they are still being supported?

1 Like
13

That’s basically all I know. I’m probably going to order one and try the HA integration. Its either that or replace my whole alarm system.