Visonic Powermax and Powermaster Component

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1641

I think you may have got it wrong, but keep reading :wink:
This integration uses a simple “passthrough” device, all it does is pass data to/from the panel, all the “intelligence” is in the HA integration itself. The hardware gadget that goes in the panel is a simple ethernet to/from RS232 data transfer. So I have no idea how to answer your question.
Have you read the wiki here

I did say keep reading…
I’ve been experimenting with a Wemos D1 to provide the pass through functionality I need to simply transfer data between the ethernet and the panels RS232. I know this sounds over the top for what I need but I’m using ESPHome and I’ve included a switch and service to connect a relay to a wired zone in the panel. This is so the alarm can be triggered from within Home Assistant. I hope to have a first “test” release for people to try in the next few weeks.

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1642

Hi Madcloud, It looks like you might be trying to flash ESP_Link??. Use nodemcu-flasher to flash the the four bin files into memory as below

image

boot_v1.6.bin into 0x00000
user1.bin into 0x1000
esp_initi_data_default.bin into 0x3FC000
blank.bin into 3FE000

this should work, it did on my Wemos DI Mini.

The D1 works well, 3.75v connected to the 3.3v pin. Also tested this on DI Mini Pro - flashed 1st time

In esp-link set all the pin assignments to disabled, set UART to normal

Devesmeghead - thanks for your work on the integration, its working well and for your recent advice on github…I have gave up on the 12 pin Powermax+ and got a Powermaster 30 on ebay.

My only slight issues is the lag for messages, but I am watching this thread for updates on others with a similar problem.

Thanks

1 Like
1643

Ah yes thats what I was looking for. I was just trying to do it with tasmotizer. Thank you

1644

Hi all,

I’ve posted a couple of weeks ago regarding my panel. Today my USR-232 arrived and I decided to give it a go.

In my previous post mistakenly I suggested that my panel is a Powermaster 10, however, by removing the plastic cup I realized that my panel is a Powermax Express (see below). So first question, is this panel compatible with the integration? The Wiki page introduction suggests that is but it is not included in the supported panels list below.

Powermax express
Powermax express2511×2441 1.57 MB

I checked the manual and as it seems the BBA mark above the connection pins stands for Broadband so I believe those are the pins that I need to connect my USR-232. However, when I connect the pins and more specifically the RX (1st row 4th pin) to the USR TX the alarm panel immediately shuts down and it powers up only if I remove the pin. Any ideas why this is happening?

Thank you again.
Stefanos

1645

Did you go back in to the integration options and enable the B0 message processing (as it now knows that you have a PowerMaster panel it will enable these options). It’s “experimental” and may make things worse but give it a go. Leave the 2 time settings at their default, just tick the enable setting. Also did you enable the setting in your panel to keep the PIRs and sensors alive i.e. stop them going to sleep I think it is. Someone else with a PowerMaster may help you with the exact setting.

1646

In the manual for the Express for the mobile capability

it clearly states that it can communicate using the Powerlink module.
“PowerMaxExpress can also communicate using broadband/ADSL using a Powerlink module”
This HA integration pretends to be a powerlink module to interact with the panel and so your panel should be OK. Although I admit that this panel is not one of the common types and so it should work, according to the manual, and the connector looks like it’s correct.

For the pin connection, are you connecting it like this, notice that this diagram is upside down to your panel picture so what do you mean by 1st row 4th pin?

image

Hope all goes well
:slight_smile:

1647

When I say 4th pin first row I mean the pin marked in red square below. This is the pin connection that I used (of course TX goes to RX and RX to TX).
scheme 1

Do you think that this should be upside down like the following?
scheme 2

I will give it a try this morning and see if it works.

1648

Yes, if you notice the gap in the black connector wall, your bottom diagram is the same as the diagram I posted.

It looks like you have connected Tx off the gadget to 3volts on the panel, hence why it may have shorted out your panel. It may have also broken the gadget. :frowning:

1649

Ah yes good point I didnt noticed that the notch was reversed. The alarm panel is working fine so if any damage done will be with the USR. I will try to see if it is still alive otherwise I will order a new one thats an easy fix.

Thanks Dave for the help.

1650

I’ve been tinkering again and I have added a new capability … well sort of, let me explain.

Just so you know from the start, I have not changed the code in any way so you do not need to update the code for this, keep reading.

I have been investigating the ability to set off the siren from within Home Assistant. Initially I found this and I bought one from the chap who makes and sells the hardware (his service and delivery are very good although both he and I are in the UK).

I started looking at his code on Github for the device and I reverse engineered it and tried both MQTT and direct JSON integrations. I got the MQTT working as far as I could, but it just didn’t give the same level of capability and at least on my system there were a few seconds delay in sensor triggering to Home Assistant via a MQTT Broker. I would either need to ask for improvements or look at other options.

Anyway, I started looking at other options and came across ESPHome and I have to say that I am impressed with it. It is simple but very effective. Unfortunately it couldn’t directly connect the serial UART to the wifi capability but I then found this ESPHome Issue

It is not part of the core ESPHome capability but it can still be used, so I used it. I ended up buying another Wemos D1 R2 from Amazon to build my tailored ESPHome install (every ESPHome install is tailored, that’s how it works).

I have created and tested this installation on my PowerMax Pro and it works well. The only part I’m not keen on is the wifi connection as my existing set up is Ethernet wired. But I’ll leave it and see how it goes, it’s been running all day (12 hours) and it seems OK. I tried triggering the siren earlier today and it worked.

Just to say that you don’t have to use it to trigger the Siren, you could just use it to connect the visonic integration to your panel.

Essentially both capabilities are built in to the same ESPHome build on the Wemos and can be used independently:

  • Connect to Ethernet and provide for the visonic integration. You do not need to set up the ESPHome integration in Home Assistant
  • If you do set up ESPHome in Home Assistant then it gives you access to the relays to trigger the Siren.
  • If you learn about ESPHome you could set up other remote sensors

I have updated my Wiki to describe what I did, if anyone else gives it a try then let me know.

As I said, I have reverted all my code back and removed MQTT, it’s back to the release I last uploaded to Github.

Last comment to Rob, thank’s for the moral support this week, I finally sorted it. Apparently it matters which Wemos pin is allocated to Tx and which to Rx on the UART, obvious really and I got them the wrong way around. That’s why it worked for about 9 minutes and then stopped. But all working now.
:slight_smile:

2 Likes
1651

Hi Dave (and everyone else)

I’m having a curious issue, and i’m not entirely sure as to what the source of the problem is, so i’m hoping someone where could have a good idea.

I have a powermaster 33 alarm, that i would like to add into home assistant using you powermaster Component.

What i have done this far:
I used the NodeMCU method, and that one is wired up and working using the method in the wiki.
Guide from Wiki for connectivity

I then added the plugin using HACS, and configured it using the following settings:
Method: Ethernet
Language: EN
no exclusions
Download code (tried both 5650 and AAAA)
not syncing time and not forcing standard mode
tried with both Force Auto Enroll for panels other than Powermax+

On the next page:
Typed and overwrite code
tryed pretty much every setting in different combinations.

And when all comes to all, it works, for a short time.

So, what happens now is that it finds all 18 entities of the alarm, i find all the sensors, i can arm and rearm the alarm, i can see status of all sensors and everyone is happy… for somewhere between 30 seconds to 3 minutes. after that, the sensors vanish, and if i look in the developer tools, the status keeps changing from Standard, then Standard plus or powerlink… everytime it is “lost” i seems to renogotiate the link type. Later it changes to “downloading”, and after a while all sensors are back and happy, for the next short time.

I’m not loosing connectivity to the nodeMCU, that one is stable (or well, i can’t see that i’m loosing connectivity, so it’s my assumption that HA agrees with me on that)

Just for the sake of it, i tried building a new HA just to ensure that there wasen’t any of the other parts of my installation that caused this issue, but even on a clean HA, i get the same behavior.

On another note, that alarm after this has been connected has started saying the following on the display:
“System Problem - PLNK. KOMM AFBR.”

Right now, i have tried configuring with no download code, to leave it in standard mode, but i would really appreciate any advice on what i could try to do.

currently, i can see the following in the developer tools on the alarm panel:

code_format: null
changed_by: None
code_arm_required: false
Panel Mode: Standard
Protocol Version: 1.0.4.2
Watchdog Timeout: 0
Download Timeout: 0
Panel Last Event: None
Panel Last Event Data:
Zone: 0
Entity: null
Tamper: false
Siren: false
Reset: false
Time: ‘2020-01-01T00:00:00.0’
Count: 0
Type:
Event:
Mode:
Name:

Panel Alarm Status: None
Panel Trouble Status: None
Panel Siren Active: false
Panel Status: Disarmed
Panel Status Code: 0
Panel Ready: No
Panel Alert In Memory: No
Panel Trouble: Yes
Panel Bypass: No
Panel Status Changed: No
Panel Alarm Event: No
Panel Armed: No
Power Master: No
Panel Model: Unknown
Panel Type: null
Model Type: 0
Client Version: 0.6.4.4
Exception Count: 0
friendly_name: Visonic Alarm
supported_features: 7

Next consideration, is if it was worth getting the panel upgraded, it is 4 years old, so i guess there could be a firmware upgrade for it, but i have no clue if that is going to help.

Again, any suggestions would be highly appreciated, and i admire you for the time you are spending on making this integration :slight_smile:

1652

There’s no way to update the firmware (as far as I know). Visonic strictly limit who can perform firmware updates.

Could you please create a debug log file like this and upload it to pastebin/dropbox and leave a link here. I’ll take a look through.

1 Like
1653

Yea, i know, which is why i’m not the biggest fan of this solution, since it requires me to send it to a shop to who are to make the upgrade (and reset the device in the process) - money i could spend on something else instead :slight_smile:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuPv-yeXP33MhJJ_uJ7d_iAHQiTkIA?e=6dczXm

Sorry about that, i didn’t see the debugging part before i wrote my other reply. It should be added now. :slight_smile:

I cleaned the log, and armed and disarmed it a few times, the error arrived at 01:11:03 in the log file, or well, that is what i expect to be the issue.

I really appreciate that you are taking time to look into this.

1654

I’ve taken a look through your log file and it’s not good news I’m afraid.

You have a panel type and firmware that I’ve not seen before. PanelType is 10 which I assume is a PowerMaster 33 and it’s a Model 71. Your firmware version is newer than any of the other firmware versions that I’ve seen before.

The message that provides me with the EPROM data from the panel is not formatted correctly so I believe there to be a bug with the visonic firmware itself. This message already works for all other panel types and it’s been used for several years without any issue. I ask the panel to send me a 128 byte page of the EPROM and it is only sending me between 124 and 127 bytes. I do not currently account for this in the code, as I said, all other panel types send me the correct 128 bytes.

At 2021-02-21 01:11:03 there were more then 10 CRC errors on the message to retrieve the EPROM page so my integration restarted the connection as it believe there to be a problem.

I try to download the EPROM every 90 seconds until it succeeds. When you tried to arm/disarm the panel, you did it during one of my attempts to download the EPROM again and so some of your requests were refused with this in the log file “Not supported when downloading EPROM”.

I have a few options to fix it but they all seem to be a bodge to circumvent what I believe to be a visonic firmware bug. Can you try deleting and re-installing the integration and using “Force Standard” to make sure that works while I have a think about it.

1 Like
1655

If i recall right, they upgraded the firmware back when i ordered the panel, i think it was due to support for the app or something like that - but that was in 2016.

But on the bright side - we now know there is a “new” combination :smiley:

I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but the panel is a EU version, i don’t know if that could explain some of it. But as far as i know the only difference on the versions are the frequencies used for communicating with the sensors.

So let’s say it’s a bug, in that case, it could make sense for me to pay for the upgrade of the firmware. Atleast that way we will learn if it is a bug, of if they have changed the way they communicate, either way, i guess it’s good to know for the future? Or what do you think?

I have an test instance i can configure it on, so there i can pretty much do everything you ask :slight_smile: I will configure it now and return with the logs as soon as possible.

and again, thank you for your time on this issue, it is really appreciated.

1656

Shouldn’t make any difference as far I can tell, as you say the frequencies are different. My integration mimics the visonic powerlink2 / powerlink3 operation and I don’t think they make a difference with them for the different parts of the world.

That’s up to you I guess, but even if you didn’t upgrade then there’ll be other users that use this integration with that firmware version.

Thankyou

Just for completeness, as I’m a glutton for detail

Taking the PDU at 2021-02-21 01:05:11 as an example. A 3F (hex) PDU from the panel is used to download the EPROM data.

0d 3f 00 00 80 (127 bytes of EPROM data) f2 0a 0d

That 0x3F PDU is normally a variable length message as follows:

  • 0x0D - the PDU header
  • 0x3F - the message type
  • 0x00 - the Index reference
  • 0x00 - the Page reference
  • 0x80 - the data length, this is important as I ask for a length of 0x80 so this is correct
    0x80 is 128 in decimal
  • The Data - this should be 128 bytes of data
  • This is where it goes wrong as the panel only sends 127 bytes of data
  • 0xF2 - this is a valid checksum but for the 127 byte PDU
    Because I expect 128 bytes I use this as the last byte of data instead of the checksum.
  • The 0x0A should be the PDU terminator but it is taken as the checksum
  • The 0x0D is actually the PDU header of the next message so it throws the link with the panel out of sync.

This is what should happen, where XX is a valid checksum

0d 3f 00 00 80 (128 bytes of EPROM data) XX 0a

The problem is that this is different each time, sometimes the panel sends 127 bytes of data, I looked at another of the 0x3F messages and it was 124 bytes of data. If it tolf me that it was only sending 127 bytes then I could cope in the software but it lies.

I could make a special case in the software for your panel type, if I do would you be willing to give it a try. Are you able to replace the files in the /config/custom_components/visonic directory or have you installed it using HACS?

1 Like
1657

Point taken :slight_smile: For me, the best solution would be if we could make this version work, but if not, then it could make sense with an upgrade. And if that doesen’t work either, then atleast we will know.

I will have to educate it in honesty :stuck_out_tongue:

but first of all, sorry about the delay, but had some things to attend to :slight_smile:

but, just to sum up:
I have revertet back to an empty HA on my test enviroment, and installed basics (SSH, samba, file editor) in it, then i installed the components for visonic manually (to ensure that we could update manually like you wrote the below quote).

it is configured to allow for it to arm/disarm and with force standard activated.

I tried to read your explanation and i think i get that you wrote above, however, when i tried to see if i could read the log file, i have to admit that i failed :slight_smile: I could not see the same errors as in the other installation, so hopefully you have more luck.

The log can be found here:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuPv-yeXP33MhJMGAq_Vi29uluHHlw?e=HgYSpQ

That would be fantastic :slight_smile: i have now installed it manually and as such are able to replace files manually aswell. So no HACS on the test HA.

Please let me know if i can help in any way or if you want to try something - thanks for all the efford and help so far :slight_smile:

1658

I have updated and uploaded a code change to Github.
Some of the data within the services and events have changed and I haven’t yet updated the wiki. For the coders amongst you, I have created an Abstract Interface to the low level python code that interacts with the panel. As part of this I have created enumerations instead of passing strings everywhere. I have also tidied up the events and services processing and made some tweaks, especially to the Arm/Disarm Home Assistant service.

For most users, please don’t use this release unless you’re keen on testing alpha/beta releases as I haven’t finished fully testing it on my own system.

Now on to the PowerMaster 33 Model 71.
Please consider this a test release only for a PowerMaster 33 to try and get it working.
martinta89 - could you please give this release a try on your panel. It contains some test code that should check the 0x3F PDU and try to process it if it is shorter than it should be.

Give it a try and let me know
:slight_smile:

1659

Hi Dave,

Just upgarded through HACS from 0.5.0.0.0 to 0.6.4.4.4 and having a few issues;

I have tried and copied your siren trigger automations but I’m not getting any notifications, I use to get a notification to my mobile that I configured by changing the action

Also when an alarm siren is triggered I am getting the notification on the frontend but it no longer tells me where this has been triggered, it use to state what has been triggered somewhere?

basically without looking constantly at the frontend I can’t see if anything has been triggered…is there a way to alert me on my homescreen?

1660

Hi,

I’m not sure what you mean. Did you use the automation before updating to 0.6.4.4?
Have you “ticked” the appropriate settings in the new configuration? Try going to the integrations page and for visonic select “options”. There’s a drop down box with reasons why the siren would be sounding for your system, have you set this correctly?

For that version of the integration nothing in the event data has changed that I can think of.
It might be useful if you could post the automation that you’re having trouble with.

You would need to add a new automation that created an audible notification (or you might have sound turned off on your phone, sometimes the simple solution is the right one :slight_smile: )

Please post the automation and I can look at it, is it exactly the same as that on the integration wiki?