Texecom2mqtt: Texecom alarm panel and MQTT integration with HA support

iMiMx · January 4, 2023, 6:43pm

I also experimented with switch port speed/duplex for the SmartCom and whilst I don’t really have any data to back it up, not any more, I’m reasonably confident fixing it to 10/Full (rather than autoneg, or higher) also had a positive impact on stability. Prior to this I’d changed cables, multiple brands, different port, different switch, etc.

… but this could also be a Unifi-ism, they often like to roll in more bugs than fixes to their firmwares.

mrhass · January 4, 2023, 7:29pm

Pretty sure that concurrent connections isn’t supported. You need to connect Texecom Cloud/Wintex on e.g. SmartCom and texecom2mqtt on a dedicated comIP.

But overall it seems to me that a Hass upgrade broke the integration as it worked perfectly for me before. We “just” need @dchesterton to find someone who can take care of his baby while he tries to fix this

ChrisJohnston · January 4, 2023, 7:46pm

Apologies - that’s what I mean - the issue described makes me think some other device is trying to connect to the ComIP at the same time as HA so the connection to home assistant is interrupted.

For my own setup I have two interfaces as well - comip for HA and smart com for texecom app / wintex (which I actually use very rarely now anyway!)

daern · January 4, 2023, 9:00pm

100% agreed - it will never be stable if you are running more than one service on a single interface.

Not the case for me. Running 2022.12.8 and have noticed no reduction in stability of this add-on on my system.

sohail579 · January 10, 2023, 4:44pm

I am new to Home Assistant and since getting to use it I have been searching everything i can add into it in my house. I have come across this as I have a Texecom Premier Elite 24 alarm in my home and love the idea of getting it into HA. I have tried to read as much of this post as possible. and as my system uses a Smartcom to connect to the app i see its not advised so I have purchased a ComIP. I have some questions though.

I think I will need to update my Panel. I have read here about creating myself a Texecom Cloud account to do so?

I would love to be able to configure some friendly names in my alarm also and i believe this will need a subscription to do so? anyone in the UK have a sub? how much is it?

do you think its possible to fit my ComIP myself and configure is it difficult anyone have any guides?

I have looked at the Texecom Cloud im just an individual and don’t have VAT or Business Reg number how do you get around this?

I have seen alot about Wintex what is this? I dont think i have it but also dont think its required?

mrhass · January 11, 2023, 5:13pm

@sohail579
You need at least

Engineer password to be able to change settings on the panel (e.g. add ComIP module)
So called UDL password (to be able to read + possible write data from/to panel)
ComIP module mounted on a available COM port. It’s relative easy task if you’re comfortable working with electronics.
If the panel was installed by someone else, then you either need to contact them for the engineer password (Or get them to do the programming + provide UDL password), or worse-case factory-default and start all over.

You no longer need a VAT number or Reg. number for Texecom Cloud. Not quite sure how the process is, but it should be possible to avoid. Basic Cloud functionality is free-of-charge.

Wintex is a PC application used for programming the panel (Downloaded from Texecom’s website if you’re an installer). Quite extensive, but some of it can also be done via Texecom Cloud, and of course also directly on a panel with Engineer password provided.

sohail579 · January 12, 2023, 4:19pm

Thanks for getting back to me. I know the UDL and Engineering Password its Written in the manual I have. but trying to create a account on cloud.texe.com and its asking for a company number and VAT number as a mandatory field

mrhass · January 12, 2023, 4:31pm

Have you tried something random?

sohail579 · January 12, 2023, 4:37pm

So I have managed to Create an account online. and I paid the £7 to configure my system online. I have also been able to add my ComIP via the texecom premier elite comport+ addon as com port 1 and 2 were populated with the smartcom.

can someone please help me how to configure the ComIP in the alarm?

mrhass · January 12, 2023, 9:59pm

It’ just needs to be configured as “ComIP module”. I would set a fixed IP address for it, so the address doesn’t change (Forcing you to update in Home Assistant)

sohail579 · January 12, 2023, 10:34pm

Yes did that in the cloud configuration and can now see it on my network thanks. seemed quite simple although there are so many settings which i have no idea what they are and thought there has to be more to it

now to figure out how to integrate it to my HA

EDIT: Managed to get this up and running perfectly in HA. I have one question though when mapping areas to the HA Names is it possible to have custom names? as for Part Arm 1 i have it as Bedtime in the connect app and want to have it the same in HA Aslo

Homeassistantuser3 · January 13, 2023, 6:53pm

This works well for me on the whole, except every few days the add on stops working. I am using the official texecom app on the SmartCom and this add on is running on ComIp. Below is what the log shows when the add on stops running. Any ideas?

2023-01-04 12:59:21 - INFO: Starting texecom2mqtt v1.2.3 (Node v16.13.0)…
2023-01-04 12:59:41 - INFO: Connected to alarm, sleeping for 2 seconds…
2023-01-04 12:59:42 - ERROR: read ECONNRESET
2023-01-04 12:59:42 - INFO: Panel disconnected, exiting now

mrhass · January 13, 2023, 10:23pm

Unfortunately it’s a well-known issue

ptelm · January 16, 2023, 4:44pm

Good Afternoon all,

I’m having an issue where the last_activated_zone is reported as “undefined”.

I think it is an issue with my panel config. But I am getting no joy in working through the documentation for both the panel, the SmartCom, the Communcator or Wintex.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

@dchesterton You are an absolute champion with this, it is even more appreciated than you know!

simonb · January 16, 2023, 10:08pm

Hi all, if successfully managed to get this working but only for a limited time.

Following a brief period of success I get the following. Has anyone any pointers as to what might be causing this?

Thanks

ptelm · January 17, 2023, 6:17am

Likely the local IP address of your panel has changed and texecom2mqtt is no longer trying to connect to hte panel.

sohail579 · January 17, 2023, 12:03pm

Managed to get this up and running perfectly in HA. I have one question though when mapping areas to the HA Names is it possible to have custom names? as for Part Arm 1 i have it as Bedtime in the connect app and want to have it the same in HA also but at the moment it only allows me to use the HA names such as arm_away, arm_home etc…

daern · January 17, 2023, 12:51pm

No, I don’t believe you can. I also have wanted to do the same, but I had a check of the HA codebase and this was all hard-coded. I admit that I’ve not checked it for a while, so if it’s changed (or if anyone else has a solution) I would certainly be interested!

ptelm · January 18, 2023, 8:59am

Update on this: the panel log correctly contains the zone that lead to the alarm activation. So it is just not being pushed to the texecom2mqtt payload.

I am not using any other app connections to the panel (i.e. no texecom connect is setup).

danb2 · January 18, 2023, 5:02pm

Hi, is it possible to have two separate alarm systems running through HA using this integration? I have two texecom alarms - one in the garage and one in the house. I currently have the garage alarm running through HA using this integration but would like to add the house alarm? Thanks