Just received my unit and looking for help adding a Nutech Alarm Decoder AD2Serial. I am transitioning over from Vera and this is holding me back from completing the change.
Can anyone provide a turial on how to get this working to monitor my alarm system? I have looked over the enire forums with no luck.Thanks
How did it connect to Vera?
This looks like an RS232 interface to a DSC or Vista panel. Not saying it couldn't be connected with some intermediate hardware and some custom code, but unlikely to be simple or cost effective. You'd probably need some sort of telnet to rs232 interface and then a custom driver or app or both on HE.
The good news is there are options available that will work just fine. If you want to retain the panel guts and functionality Envisalink is a good alternative. Konnected is also an option if you want to salvage the wired sensors but don't necessarily want the panel itself.
Envisalink is basically a telnet interface that connects to your alarm panel as if it were another keypad. On the HE side the driver talks to the Envisalink box via telnet. There are two options for installation. The first runs natively on HE and is a bit of a pig, but it works fine. The second option runs using Nodeproxy in a Docker container, so it requires some intermediate hardware but that can be pretty much anything running Docker. I personally use the first option with a Vista 20 panel and it works really well. You will need your panel's installer code (or just reset it to the default).
If your definition of "monitor" is more limited, like you just want to know if the alarm is sounding, there may be simpler methods.
Thanks for the quick reply.
On vera there is a plugin which works like a virtual keypad. very simple to set up and use. have been using it for over 8 years and works perfectly.
I think Hubitat seems like a great solution for allot of people but seems i bit more diffcult to set up than Vera. I also think the support community here is much better. Its been diffucult for me to decide on which platfrom to stick with.
BTW please take a moment to read these two documents... ok, more than a moment. Setting up your mesh right the first time (even when coming from Vera) will save you LOTS of headaches later on.
https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=How_to_Build_a_Solid_Zigbee_Mesh
https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=How_to_Build_a_Solid_Z-Wave_Mesh
Actually I meant how did it physically connect? Did Vera have a serial port?
A fair assessment all around. I started with Wink (yeah I know), then SmartThings (yeah I know), and then settled here. Best HA move I made.
I think with HE you do pick up some complexity and with it a learning curve but with that you get a LOT of flexibility and all sorts of new friends.
Thanks for the info.
I allready read the article and all my zwave devices work perfectly. The 3 issues I am having are
1-IP camera support
2-Myq garage door opener support
3-Alarm decoder support
Seeems like these are my major roadblocks in order to get the system working like i had before with Vera.
The alarm integration with Envisalink really does work quite well. I have many automations tied into my alarm panel and I use the alarm sensors with HE even when the system is disarmed. I don't have my cameras integrated other than through IFTTT. I'll be swapping out my Arlos next spring for something hard wired with more intelligence and there are integrations available for what I want to do, which is basically some AI recognition. I don't have a garage so I can't speak to MyQ.
I certainly agree with your comments. That is the main reason i took the plunge. The community here is incredible and the system seems to have more flexibility and is more furure proof.
But the wife is driving me crazy to get the system working like it use too. Spouses think that we just snap are fingers and it all works.
Well the good news is she's a fan of automation and wants it to work. What I get is "why do we need all this automation" as Alexa is telling us that the basement freezer temperature is slowly rising because SOMEONE didn't close the door all the way. Or more to your use case, we all left the house 20 min ago and no one remembered to set the alarm, so it's gonna go ahead and arm itself. We need all this automation to compensate for human failure and to save a couple thousand dollars of filet mignon and frozen pizzas.
@user3340 I quickly read this thread and don't believe you ever answered @brad5's question about how your AD2Serial alarm decoder connects to your Vera. Alarm Decoder makes several products and many of us have them integrated with HE but this depends on how it connects. I have an old AD2Pi "hat" that is connected via Arduino and then to HE. Alarm Decoder also has a "network appliance" that is basically the AD2Pi hat on top of a RPi and it uses Wifi to communicate to HE and there is a community driver for that.
There is a community driver for this, though no longer maintained by the developer. I ended up ditching that integration and went completely local via this button and a dry contact relay:
Here is a long thread discussing local options for MyQ
Was the AD2Serial connected to your alarm panel and then to an always-on computer and then you opened the virtual keypad on your computer to communicate with Vera? Do you know the protocol?
I have an AD2Pi that was rock solid after some initial issues but it is not hooked up currently because I moved in March. I cannot remember the details because it was 2 1/2 years ago that I installed it. Unfortunately, the community app for it that was ported from SmartThings is no longer supported because @dman2306 is no longer part of this community. I remember that I had to set up something for the AD2Pi to send messages to the app in HE but I don't remember the protocol.
Hi Guys,
Please excuse the fact i am not a computer programmer and some areas might be a little confusing and hard for me to explain correctly.
The way i set it up years ago is one end of the AD2Serial Board goes to the panel via ethernet cable. The other end has a serial to usb converter and connects to vera via USB. Vera has a plugin that creates a virtual keypad and makes it all work. Its a very simple setup. All that is really needed is the Nutech AD2 serial board.
Hope this explains.
Hi, just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on how i can get the system working. This seems to be my last piece of hardware before i can move over from Vera. Thanks
Without knowing the protocol that Alarm Decoder uses to communicate to Vera, I'm not sure how to know if there is a way to eventually communicate with HE.
As much as I have confidence in my AD2Pi, I can't recommend you switch to that when the community integration is no longer maintained. I don't know if it's even available from GuitHub any more.
Have you asked your question on Alarm Decoder's Community Page about people who have left Vera and moved to other home automation hubs? You can't be the first.
Hubitat doesn’t have a USB interface so this won’t work like Vera. You will need another device like an Arduino or RPi with USB to translate the serial connection to Hubitat updates.
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Download the Hubitat app
