Texecom2mqtt: Texecom alarm panel and MQTT integration with HA support

[MarkB1 (Mark Booth)]

@PeterDemiSwede

Did amend the device class in the config as initially it didn’t identify the class of my zones correctly.

Same here, hallway motion detector was configured as door.

homeassistant:
  # Optional: enable auto discovery (default: false)
  discovery: true
  # Optional: MQTT topic prefix (default: homeassistant)
  prefix: "homeassistant"
  zones:
    # This can either be the zone number or the name of the zone lowercased and with spaces replaced by
    # underscores (e.g. Front Door = front_door)
    hallway_motion_sensor:
      # Optional: set the Home Assistant device class for a zone
      # By default the application will try and guess the correct device class based on name and zone type
      device_class: "motion"
      # Optional: override the name of the entity in Home Assistant (default: name of zone on panel)
      # name: "Living Room Motion Sensor"

[ChrisJohnston]

@MarkB1

So in one week I learned some basic Linux, Docker and Portainer and over the moon with the results, you will get there.

Ha - thankfully I’m comfortable with all of those, but still new to the Texecom lexicon at the moment!

Thanks for your wintex screenshots. I’ll have to get that installed as I’ve been labouring over the keypad!

I’m a bit reluctant to remove the ARC settings as I fear that might break the Texecom connect app connectivity with the SmartCom. I’m at the point of giving up until I can think of another angle to attempt, as I’m currently going round in circles of changing UDL/Digi options and getting the same exception message every time!

[fredkruger]

I’ve just noticed a small problem with my Elite 168 the Texecom2mqtt code. I have an outdoor sensor set to “Latch Key” type, which chimes the panel but doesn’t arm with the alarm, In home assistant the entity for this zone is not triggered, I know it is outputting because it did work before with my previous integration in node red by i.j. levick from here - http://texecom.websitetoolbox.com/post/nodered-flow-for-texecom-elite-simplecrestron-protocol-10294046?&trail=15

Daniel, any chance you could look at this please?

[ChrisJohnston]

small update - I connected via wintex (not a small feat as my OS of choice is MacOS, meaning a reboot into windows!) and verified the communication options. The only difference to your settings, @MarkB1, is that I have the TexecomConnect protocol set up in ARC1 and my COM ports are as follows:

COM1: SmartCom
COM2: ComIP
COM3: ComIP

Since I have both a smart com and comip.

I can connect to the panel and receive events successfully using the Texecom-connect implementation by davidMbrooke (https://github.com/davidMbrooke/texecom-connect), which also uses the TexecomConnect protocol to interface with the alarm. This leads me to believe that there’s something in my config.yml that’s causing the texecom2mqtt application to error. As I don’t have access to the code that @dchesterton has very kindly written for us I can only make guesses.

[sups]

This app is fantastic.
@dchesterton or anyone else who can help, I have defined 4 items under mapping but the UI is only presenting 2. As per attachment…

Any idea what’s going on here.

Also I noticed that if I disarm mid way through an arm instruction, the app goes into a ‘pending loop’ and I have to restart HA to get out of the loop. Any insight as to why this is happening?

Regards
Sups

[ChrisJohnston]

I sorted the first problem, this was my config.yml. Apparently single quotes are the way forward!

The second problem I still think this may be because I’m running the 64-bit RPI image of HASSIO and the add-on config.json needs to have “armhf” in its list of supported architectures: https://github.com/dchesterton/texecom2mqtt-hassio/blob/2dd839db57a67cda2acf7cfdae07f3c13888ed95/config.json

in addition to a armhf-specific image: https://hub.docker.com/r/dchesterton/texecom2mqtt/tags

[ChrisJohnston]

@sups

I have defined 4 items under mapping but the UI is only presenting 2

in the config for the alarm panel, have you selected the additional states from the “available states” dropdown?

[sups]

Thanks for you response @ChrisJohnston
I’ve added single quotes to the mapping i.e ‘armed_away’, and it hasn’t helped.

I have 2 dashboards, the automated Lovelace one and another one where I can do manual tweaks. The manual dashboard lets me do as you say, add more from the available states and this matches the conf. But the automated dashboard isn’t pulling the available states through. When I try to create a scene only the states showing on the automated dashboard are available.

So that ‘pending’ issue, so is that a general issue others would be having?

Cheers

[ChrisJohnston]

@sups

I’ve added single quotes to the mapping i.e ‘armed_away’, and it hasn’t helped.

Apologies for the confusion there - sometimes the forum topics can be confusing as to where replies are directed. My first reply referencing single quotes was to my own earlier post where I was having trouble with my configuration.

The second reply referencing the UI config was directed to you.

@sups

But the automated dashboard isn’t pulling the available states through.

I’m not sure why the automatic config is only showing two states but I would guess that it’s just the default configuration for this component and it doesn’t actually look at what other states are available.

@sups

When I try to create a scene only the states showing on the automated dashboard are available.

I’m seeing all of the states in my automations - the main difference is I did not define anything in my config.yml but rather let the add-on auto-detect everything.

[dchesterton (Daniel Chesterton)]

@ChrisJohnston

For this, I’m wondering if you (like me) are using the arm64 image of HASSIO? Looking at the Arch section of the texecom2mqtt-hassio config, this can be either amd64 or armv7. My guess here is that the arm64 HASSIO is identifying at armv8 and therefore not finding the image.

I’ve now created an arm64 version of the image so it should work with arm64 HASSIO. I haven’t tested it as I don’t have an arm64 setup so if those having problems could try pulling the latest version and letting me know if it works, that would be great.

@sups

So that ‘pending’ issue, so is that a general issue others would be having?

I think it may have been a bug with the use of arm_custom_bypass and the app not recognising it as a valid state. I’ve fixed it in the latest version. Can you try pulling the latest version and seeing if it works?

@ChrisJohnston

I’m not sure why the automatic config is only showing two states but I would guess that it’s just the default configuration for this component and it doesn’t actually look at what other states are available.

Yep, unfortunately the HA component doesn’t actually look at which states are available, it just defaults to those two states. I haven’t got the time at the moment but should be an easy enough PR to fix it if someone does have the time.

[sups]

Hey Daniel,

thanks for looking into this. I have pulled the latest version and tested.
‘arm_custom_bypass’ still does the same thing. I’ve also just tested this with the other ‘arm_away’, ‘arm_home’ and ‘arm_night’ and im having the same problem with them.

so if I initiate any of the above arm procedures and wait for it to complete (i.e the panel arms) before disarming - everything seems to work fine,
But its when I hit disarm during the arm procedure that I get the pending loop. To come out of the pending loop I need to restart the integration.

[dchesterton (Daniel Chesterton)]

Hmm, I’ve tested that scenario many times and it works ok for me which is why I think it might be a config issue.

Can you please send me the value of the following topics when it’s stuck in the pending loop

• texecom2mqttt/XXX/area/X
• homeassistant/alarm_control_panel/texecom2mqtt-XXX/X/config

And also the debug log (set log: 0 in config.yml)?

[iMiMx (iMx)]

General question for anyone that has installed this… after reading through the above a few times, I think I’m on the right track…

Am I correct, after reviewing the SmartCom install guide, that when using just the SmartCom module, I don’t want to setup any ARC config?

The ARC config seems to connect to Texecom Connect, for the mobile App, which if I have just the SmartCom module I don’t want? As I understand it, SmartCom can have only 1 TCP connection - so it’s either this integration, OR the Texecom Connect app?

I’ve yet to get my SmartCom module installed, I just want to make sure I understand what I need the alarm company to do - or not do. Basically, I want them to install the SmartCom device, setup the COM ports, setup the UDL password… then stop there? i.e no Texecom Connect, ARC, config etc.

[sups]

@dchesterton

set log: 0

sorry, I’m still fairly new to this and i dont know how to get topic values or the debug log (i’ve already set log: 0) - any pointers?

[dchesterton (Daniel Chesterton)]

No worries. You can use a tool like MQTT Explorer to view the MQTT topics. For the log, it’s just the docker log, so if you do something like docker logs texecom2mqtt you should see the log output. Or if you’re using HASSIO, go to the addon then the logs tab.

[iMiMx (iMx)]

Texecom2mqtt: Texecom alarm panel and MQTT integration with HA support

I only have a SmartCom and can use both the Texecom app and this in parallel, with some limitations. I don’t get Texecom alerts when this is running (but can set the equivalent up in Home Assistant), and the calendar in the app doesn’t work (but it was pretty useless anyway)

Missed the above, so presumably I can get the Alarm Company to setup ARC/Texecom Connect as well.

EDIT: But then the below seems to suggest something different.

Texecom2mqtt: Texecom alarm panel and MQTT integration with HA support

Great work @dchesterton. I have my own serial to mqtt hardware adapter for Texecom using the Crestron and Simple protocol. What you’ve done here it brilliant! It sucks that Texecom won’t let you release the code. Does this stop the standard Texecom app and notifications from working? In my early testing the SmartCom could only handle a single TCP connection. So if any other session was open the Texecom cloud can’t connect and the SmartCom will not send updates to it. Thanks, Kev

[PeterDemiSwede (Peter Baldwin)]

I bought and installed the SmartCom module last week. Installed it myself following a guide on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Wbqyf6thE&ab_channel=TexecomLtd

That guide is for Ethernet. There is a similar one for Wifi. It tells you all you need to know.

I’ve just done a test and can see zone outputs in both the Texecom Connect app and Home Assistant. I.e. when I open a window it shows in both the app and in my lovelace interface. Haven’t tested the other functionality.

[iMiMx (iMx)]

Many thanks - Alarm is due a service and they said they’d upgrade the panel and install it FOC, so I’m quite happy to let them do so

House is wired for ethernet, so should be good on that front. Thanks for the video link.

I think, the only downside to just having a SmartCom (and no ComIP), is that you don’t get Texecom notifications - the App can be used as an App and Home Assistant at the same time, which you’ve confirmed… but then I’d rather have notifications from Home Assistant than Texecom, so no big deal.

[iMiMx (iMx)]

One other question… if I don’t setup the Texecom Connect/ARC settings, it’s not going to talk to Texecoms cloud service… but I can still use Home Assistant?

If so, I think I might prefer that - I’m not sure I want to send that data to Texecoms servers. Or does the Texecom Connect app/service only work on the local network?

[ChrisJohnston]

@dchesterton

I’ve now created an arm64 version of the image so it should work with arm64 HASSIO. I haven’t tested it as I don’t have an arm64 setup so if those having problems could try pulling the latest version and letting me know if it works, that would be great.

Perfect, thanks. I can verify that the add-on now installs although I haven’t yet configured it as I need to “transfer” over config and (hopefully) MQTT topics from the standalone installation. I’ll try to do this today