Texecom2mqtt: Texecom alarm panel and MQTT integration with HA support

Third party integrations
554

Yes. thank you! Daniel made contact and I sent him some additional logs. Testing v.14 now and looking good so far.

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555

Hi,

I stuck with texecom2mqtt_1_0_36 version.

Yes this crashes but it does restart on watchdog…

Hope this helps some of you?

556

Yup, I did the same for a long time, but eventually it’ll come unstuck and result in a dead integration due to a required compatibility change in HA.

I have a backup of exactly this version and will probably have to swap back if I can’t figure out what’s going on with mine.

557

It’s crummy, but I’m considering using this:

2022-01-02 21:56:06 - DEBUG: Publishing to texecom2mqtt/power: {"battery_charging_current":9,"battery_voltage":13.49,"panel_current":630,"panel_voltage":13.56}

When the add-on fails, it appears to keep logging this status to MQTT, but as the data stops changing it should be relatively easy to check. If none of the values logged have changed for a few intervals, restart the add-on. Crude, but… :wink:

558

Thanks, I’ll take a look.

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559

A couple of questions for those that are seeing the issue where the app hangs and doesn’t update sensors.

  1. Which panel do you have?
  2. How are you connecting to the panel? ComIP, SmartCom (ethernet or wifi?), ComWifi?
  3. Are you using the official Texecom app at the same time or connecting to the panel using any other software?
  4. Do you see any errors or anything in the debug log when the app stops responding?

I really want to get to the bottom of the issue but I can’t reproduce the problem myself.

560

Hi Daniel,

Log from a crash yesterday

[quote=“dchesterton, post:559, topic:219354”]

  • Which panel do you have? Premier Elite 24 (V5.02.01LS1)
  • How are you connecting to the panel? ComIP, SmartCom (ethernet or wifi?), ComWifi? ComIP only on Com1
  • Are you using the official Texecom app at the same time or connecting to the panel using any other software? No
  • Do you see any errors or anything in the debug log when the app stops responding?
    [/quote] See Log

Regards,

561

Hi Daniel,

To answer your questions:

  1. Panel: Premier Elite 48 (V5.04.01LS1)
  2. I now use a dedicated ComIP, bought to augment the original SmartCom in an attempt to improve stability. Wired ethernet for both and have had stability issues with both solutions.
  3. No, the only other app I use is Wintex if I have to reconfigure the panel, but that’s a rare thing now
  4. The challenge for me is that because it fails silently, but continues logging power events, by the time that I realise it’s not working, the log has already rolled the failure event off the visible entries in the add-on screen. I’ve dropped it down to “info” to see if I can capture any additional information with the current (1.1.14) version. As a note, when it does fail, although it continues to log power events every minute, the values in these events no longer change until the add-on is restarted.

For some idea of frequency, I think I’m getting failures almost every day now, but there’s no particular pattern to it.

Thanks,

562

Hi Daniel,

  1. Premier Elite 12 (V5.00.02LS1)
  2. ComWifi
  3. I only occasionally connect with Texecom app and Wintext. I don’t believe the time correlate with the crashes but I will monitor that. Both of those will connect via the SmartCom I also have on the system.
  4. Same situation as Daern so I have turned down to Info again. The crash is irregular and happens once every week or so.
563

Hi herbert,

At the weekend I did a firmware upgrade to my panel, I don’t think that the upgrade fixed the issue but I went from V3 to V05.06 which means I had to default the panel and reload my config, after this I tried the add-on again and it has connected now. Probably worth trying a default panel and reload or at the very least unplug and replug your smartcom (if you have one).

564

Great to hear that there is hope and that you are back up and running again!
How did you do to update your firmware on the panel, did you manage to get a cloud account at Texecom or did you go the hardware route? I’m currently on 5.00.02 but as they for sure did some major things on Sept 20 it might be interesting to give it a try.
Btw, did your panel default when you upgraded the firmware?

565

Silly question , what HA use cases are people using thisTexecom2mqtt software?

I only ask as I already have a ESPHome+Programmable Output/DigiOutput solution for detecting alarms/alarm armed etc and wondered what else is possible… I’d want to ensure the texecom app+smartcom4g continued to work and thus Id need to purchase a comIP but running the cable is gonna be a pain…

For example, from reading the comments I understand you can determine alarm state (armed, part set etc), can you also detect PIR motion when the alarm is not armed?

566

Correct, so a good example of an automation I do is to detect when a door has been left open for a period and then take action based on this (e.g. disable the heating).

567

I already had the flasher kit so I just did it manually, I think you need to be on V4 before you can upgrade through the cloud ?

The panel does not default when you upgrade, there is a button on the panel that you need to press while it is powered down, and keep it pressed while you apply the power back to the board. Obviously make sure your config is backed up with wintex so that you can write it to the panel when you are done.

568

Does the texecom2mqtt/zone/[name] give you a ping if there is movement? I have wireless sensors too… so not sure if that makes a difference.

The advantage of my EspHome based solution is that I dont need com ports, dont interfere in any way with the normal operation of the alarm box…

569

For what it’s worth, I would just use the associated sensor to do this. e.g. for my heating control, I use this:

- id: heating_off_if_door_open
  alias: "Turn heating off if doors left open"
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id:
        - binary_sensor.back_door
        - binary_sensor.patio_door
        - binary_sensor.front_door
      from: "off"
      to: "on"
      for: "00:05:00"
  condition:
    - condition: state
      entity_id: climate.heating
      state: 
        - "heat"
        - "auto"
  action:
    - service: script.heating_disable
    - service: notify.mobile_app_phone
      data_template:
        message: "Heating disabled due to open {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.friendly_name }}"

Those three binary_sensors are exposed directly by this add-on, so are very easy to integrate with.

TBH, I also have a very similar setup - mostly a holdover from my old, non-smart, alarm - which I use for primary alerting (e.g. set/unset, alarm, fire). Mine was bespoke Arduino, but has since been ported to ESPHome, but the hardware is unchanged. I would probably have decommissioned it by now, but the instability that I’m still experiencing (mentioned above) has meant that this is a useful (and very reliable) secondary alerting route. Having the proper integration allows for much more detailed monitoring, as well as other features such as set/unset directly in HA, which is extremely useful when you have multiple areas configured.

570

@daern I agree. For heating I have wiser, it detects open doors (not sure how well though), but im just thinking out aloud really. When my mum comes over I detect her mobile on the network and then change the heating in her room to auto…

I have seen the messages above about some instability gremlins which concerns me if HA was to do all the notifications, which is why I will definitively use my espHome circuit (from my old house - we just moved) and was looking at this integration for “additional value add”.

thanks,

Can u send me an example texecom2mqtt/zone output? Also do we know if wireless PIR sensors ping all the time ? or only when the alarm is set

571 
{
  "name": "Back Door",
  "number": 2,
  "areas": [
    "A"
  ],
  "status": 0,
  "type": "Entry/Exit 1"
}

I’m sorry, I don’t have any wireless sensors, but my wired sensors update regardless of whether the alarm is set or unset.

572

It depends on how you configure them in the panel. I had one which was set to Hybrid (as advised by Texecom) and whilst the battery lasted forever it was unreliable for detecting presence when alarm not set. I changed it to always on, and the battery is now rubbish, but it picks up every movement all the time.

573

Auto Mode

Auto Mode is the default device setting for the Premier Elite XT-W QD-W when used on V1 systems.

When in Auto Mode, devices poll at 15 minute intervals. Following activation, devices will not

transmit the same activation again for a period of 3 minutes.

Always Awake

This mode should only be used on devices which are required to signal at all times and is the default

setting for the Impaq Contact-W and Impaq Plus-W. For example a Impaq Contac-W on a door

which you need to know is opened, regardless of system state; or devices such as PA buttons &

smoke detectors which have been connected to the inputs of the Magnetic Contact. See page 44 for

details. The number of devices on a system in this mode should be kept to a minimum.

Hybrid Mode (Ricochet MT2 only)

Hybrid mode is used to control the reporting functions for devices. When in this mode devices are

asleep when the system is set, and are woken up by the control panel at the point of arming. When

the system is disarmed the devices will be put back to sleep. This mode of operation is the default

mode for XT-W, QD-W & DT-W, when used in MT2 systems

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/892767/Texecom-Premier-Elite-8xp-W.html?page=46

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