Well I had an old Vera Z-wave controller lying around and I remember there being a Texecom plug-in for that system and there is a Vera integration for Home Assistant so I thought i’d have a play.
Using Alan Carter’s Vera Plug-in and Patrick Rigney’s Vera Virtual Sensor Plug In I have created the Texecom alarm in Vera.
From there, I used the Home Assistant Vera integration which (with a slight tweak to stated HA instructions) maps in the Vera sensors to Home Assistant (input.booleans)
NB. recommend setting a static IP for your Vera as HA relies on this to communicate.
The update time between the Vera and HA is near instantaneous and max 2 seconds.
I have the following now mapped automatically from the Vera plug in.
- For each PIR a movement detect: Yes / No (slightly laggy as Texecom PIRs powersave when alarm is disarmed)
- For each contract an open trigger: Yes/No (no lag)
I found that it wasn’t passing anything across from the main Texecom plug in device so I using the Rigney’s virtual sensors plug in* i created a binary sensors for; - Full arm: on /off
- Part arm: on/off
- Alarm triggered: on/off
To do this i created a 3 virtual “Door/Security” binary sensors from Texecom control panel device in Vera - The ‘Texecom partition’. To create a binary sensors for arm I monitored the DetailedArmMode field (0 is off, 1 is Part Arm, 2 is Full Arm) using the ‘Starts with’ filter. For the Alarm trigger i monitor the field Alarm. The sensors get mapped across into HA by the Vera integration.
Also, if you delete and re-add the intergration it will immediate update with new sensors.
This has been a game changer for me as it’s brought HA to life - so many automations can now be driven off the alarm status and door sensors. I’ve been having a lot of fun. I now use the alarm state to determine occupancy (when house is full alarmed I know no-one is in) so turn off the lights, set heating away, turn off TVs, pause Sonos, etc.
Here’s a few of my new automations;
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When alarm is changed from arm to disarm and it’s night then turn on welcome lighting scene (and vary that depending which door they enter from).
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When patio doors are left open and motion is detected in the family room turn the garden feature lights are on.
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When windows are open for 5 minutes and the heating is on turn the heating off and play an audible alert.
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When garage door is open for more than 5 minutes play an audible alert in the house and make the side lamp flash purple.
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When the alarm is set for night mode start the bedtime routine script (turn off devices, downstairs lights, turn on bedroom lights, crank the heating down)
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When movement detected in various rooms and the alarm is in night mode then turn the low level lights on to aid movement. (most PIRs are not armed at night)
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When alarm sounds turn all lights on, turn TVs on, set HDMI to CCTV feed
Anyway, if anyone reads this and has a Vera then happy to help.