Alarm Panel?

[jyoung58]

I see in the wiki that Lmce supports Ademco panels. I dont find much info on it? Which panels actually work? and what is need to get them connected to Lmce? Any help would be great. thanks in advance

[1audio]

You should only need a serial cable. it should be on the plug and play list. But a check with the Pluto guys could get us a more complete answer. I'll rattle a cage and try to get an answer in a few days.

[jyoung58]

Thanks for the quick response. I work for a alarm company so i can do some testing if needed. The only serial interface i see online is a Ademco 4100sm. Anyone had any luck every getting a panel online?

[blackoper]

I was getting ready to purchase an alarm panel and was wondering exactly what models are fully plug-n-play as well. I really like the Caddx NX-8E but the wiki entry is incomplete.. just wondering if it is fully supported.

[tschak909]

why do you want an alarm panel anyway?

-Thom

[teedge77]

id hazard a guess he wants it for an alarm.....but...just a guess....were you trying to say theres a better way?

[tschak909]

well...yeah... the linuxmce core.. + an orbiter IS essentially the alarm panel... just connect the needed pieces via GC100 or ZWave, or X10, or INSTEON, or 1-wire, or whatever.. it doesn't matter.

-Thom

[teedge77]

what if you have wired sensors already installed throughout the house? wouldnt an alarm panel be one of the needed pieces connected to the gc100?

[Matthew]

Thanks for the quick response. I work for a alarm company so i can do some testing if needed. The only serial interface i see online is a Ademco 4100sm. Anyone had any luck every getting a panel online?

Does that mean that the Ademco 4100sm is the only model you know of that looks like it could directly interface to the LMCE? Any panels with ethernet, or some really cheap ones with serial? Are there any that can interface to Insteon, X10 (reliably) or any other HA interface?

[tschak909]

what if you have wired sensors already installed throughout the house? wouldnt an alarm panel be one of the needed pieces connected to the gc100?

depending on the sensors, you'd probably just use the relay pads...

-Thom

[teedge77]

ok. maybe you should write up a way to do it in the wiki, as an alternative to an alarm panel.

where the relay pads? on the gc100? how many are there? i looked and all i see are the contact closure sensors and those are 45 bucks a piece. plus the cost of the gc100.

[jyoung58]

I mentioned the 4100sn because it is the only serial interface that i know about. Not sure if it even works. I currently have a vista 128 instaled and running with touchscreen keypads so i want to keep it up and running. Still no one knows how to inteface it with lmce? or any burg panel?

[totallymaxed]

why do you want an alarm panel anyway?

-Thom

Well of course your right... a core equipped with z-wave, Insteon etc and enough of the right kinds of sensors etc could be made to do most if not all of the things a dedicated alarm system would do. However there is some good logic in distributing 'mission critical' functionality like this to dedicated hardware... what happens when you take your Coree offline or it crashes etc? If you have a stand alone, but interfaced, alarm panel then your home is still protected in this mode. This is also true of z-wave/Insteon... if my Core fails in some way i still want to be able to  walk to a wall switch and turn on a z-wave light.

So I think lightweight security can be achieved with multi-purposing say z-wave PIR's... sometimes they are used for security other times they are used to softly tunr on the lights when a small child gets out of bed in the middle of the night etc etc. But hardware alarm panels with interfaces that allow LinuxMCE to get 'state' information from the panel and also to change and set the panels modes is proably what is needed for a more complete security installation.

[Matthew]

why do you want an alarm panel anyway?

-Thom

Well of course your right... a core equipped with z-wave, Insteon etc and enough of the right kinds of sensors etc could be made to do most if not all of the things a dedicated alarm system would do. However there is some good logic in distributing 'mission critical' functionality like this to dedicated hardware... what happens when you take your Coree offline or it crashes etc? If you have a stand alone, but interfaced, alarm panel then your home is still protected in this mode. This is also true of z-wave/Insteon... if my Core fails in some way i still want to be able to  walk to a wall switch and turn on a z-wave light.

So I think lightweight security can be achieved with multi-purposing say z-wave PIR's... sometimes they are used for security other times they are used to softly tunr on the lights when a small child gets out of bed in the middle of the night etc etc. But hardware alarm panels with interfaces that allow LinuxMCE to get 'state' information from the panel and also to change and set the panels modes is proably what is needed for a more complete security installation.

And this is also the critical consideration in whether a home can meet some security standards with a LMCE installation. Some housing developments (and commercial buildings) have specs that these dedicated panels are already certified to meet (or meet by matching specs). I wonder whether interfacing them through Asterisk, even if over POTS or TDM (and certainly questionably over SIP/IAX/VoIP) would meet those certification requirements.

But now that we have someone from the alarm industry to ask, I'm curious whether those are formal specs/certifications, or just the building developer's judgement? Who's liable when an alarm system fails because its specs were inadequate? Is there a way to get LMCE certified as a product, so architects/contractors/upgraders design it into a building as the alarm subsystem?

[totallymaxed]

why do you want an alarm panel anyway?

-Thom

Well of course your right... a core equipped with z-wave, Insteon etc and enough of the right kinds of sensors etc could be made to do most if not all of the things a dedicated alarm system would do. However there is some good logic in distributing 'mission critical' functionality like this to dedicated hardware... what happens when you take your Coree offline or it crashes etc? If you have a stand alone, but interfaced, alarm panel then your home is still protected in this mode. This is also true of z-wave/Insteon... if my Core fails in some way i still want to be able to  walk to a wall switch and turn on a z-wave light.

So I think lightweight security can be achieved with multi-purposing say z-wave PIR's... sometimes they are used for security other times they are used to softly tunr on the lights when a small child gets out of bed in the middle of the night etc etc. But hardware alarm panels with interfaces that allow LinuxMCE to get 'state' information from the panel and also to change and set the panels modes is proably what is needed for a more complete security installation.

And this is also the critical consideration in whether a home can meet some security standards with a LMCE installation. Some housing developments (and commercial buildings) have specs that these dedicated panels are already certified to meet (or meet by matching specs). I wonder whether interfacing them through Asterisk, even if over POTS or TDM (and certainly questionably over SIP/IAX/VoIP) would meet those certification requirements.

But now that we have someone from the alarm industry to ask, I'm curious whether those are formal specs/certifications, or just the building developer's judgement? Who's liable when an alarm system fails because its specs were inadequate? Is there a way to get LMCE certified as a product, so architects/contractors/upgraders design it into a building as the alarm subsystem?

On that last point I dont think there is... because it isn't an 'alarm system'. We have spoken to many interested parties in the security & fire alarm industries and to get the ISO certifications  for LMCE would be virtually impossible both from a hardware and software perspective. However as providing a connection from LMCE to the panel adds value and means that LMCE has a way to manage and control with debasing the systems certification Also LMCE can then be used in a purely passive mode that just monitors the state of the alarm system and its sensors or in a more interactive mode where LMCE can arm/disarm the system or any zones within it etc etc.