Envisalink vs. Konnected Hubitat Integration

Prospective Hubitat user here. I have an Envisalink EVL-4 working well with an ancient DSC 864 panel. Has been working flawlessly with 60 active zones. I only need about 12 zones incorporated for HA use (some motion select motion sensors and a couple of contact sensors). Before I came upon Hubitat integration, I saw that Konnected touted integration with Hubitat and so ordered and am awaiting the arrival of a Konnected Pro Parallel kit as I wish to continue to use the DSC panel in parallel as it is UL approved for security as well as WAF.
It was mentioned that “Doug” no longer supports his Envisalink Integration and left due to “platform stability”.
A few questions:

  1. Should I cancel my Konnected order and just go with the Envisalink Hubitat Integration? This would seem to be “cleaner” as the Envisalink can access all my zones without any new wiring but is only an option for me if the Hubitat integration with Envisalink is more stable (or at least equally stable and responsive) compared with the Konnected Hubitat integration. Leads me to the next question...
  2. How stable, reliable and responsive is the Envisalink Hubitat integration for the DSC panel (I want to use Doug’s native integration without having to set up a rpi to minimize points of failure)?
  3. Does anyone have any insights as to how the Envisalink integration compares to the Konnected integration (that is, apart from WiFi derived issues since I would be using the ethernet connected wired Konnected Pro model if I don’t cancel my order)?
  4. Apart from the obvious zone limitation numbers (Envisalink accesses all 64 zones vs Konnected Pro’s only 12 unless I buy additional modules) and the fact that running Konnected Pro in parallel requires additional wiring to tap each zone I want Hubitat to monitor, are there any other considerations that I need to take into account (limitations or differences between the two integrations that I may not be aware of)?
  5. Are there problems that you have encountered with integrating either of these systems with Hubitat that currently have no solutions, and what are these limitations for each system?
  6. Finally, which integration do you recommend? Envisalink with Hubitat, keep Envisalink connected and add Konnected in parallel integrated with Hubitat?
    Thanks for any insights. I really appreciate any advice anyone can give me in comparing the two with regards to the pros and cons of each integration. What seems set however, is that I will be using Hubitat!

I'm in the same situation. Envisalink running well on DSC panel, but concerned there is not a clean supported integration with Hubitat. Considering the Konnected Pro.
Where did you net out? Any learnings or recommendations?

Hi @Ghuntz,
Back in Aug of 2020, I decided to try linking my Envisalink with Hubitat through Doug’s Hubitat/Envisalink interface which was no longer supported by him just to see if it would work. There was some question at the time whether I would need to utilize it with a RPi (which I did not wish to do) as some others had, of if it could successfully run on the HE Hub. I ordered the Konnected system figuring if I ran into any problems with the Envisalink integration I could always convert over to Konnected. I ended up cancelling my Konnected order as the Envisalink integration worked like a charm on the HE Hub (without the need for a RPi). I have never had any problems with the integration and have access to all 64 zones that can be used in Hubitat rules. The physical implementation is much (MUCH) cleaner than the extra hardware and wiring (jumpers etc) that would have been needed with Konnected due to the need to get several Konnected modules because of the number of zones (64) in my system. My system has been rock solid and reliable since its implementation in 2020. Granted it has only been 16 months of use but if Hubitat inadvertently does something to mess up the integration with one of their frequent updates (has not happened to me yet despite numerous updates over the last 16 months), I can always consider a move to Konnected if needed (I already had the Envisalink and was using it successfully so there was no risk in trying out the Envisalink/Hubitat Integration first as I had both). I am glad I did as it has been working flawlessly and all 64 of my zones show up as Hubitat devices that can be incorporated into my home automation routines while maintaining a UL approved purpose built security system. I can still remotely check my DSC security system remotely via the Envisalink EyezON weblink as well as through the Hubitat Dashboards, and the flexibility of using all my pre-existing wired security sensors in automation rules is great. Although Konnected seemed like a good product, I was very pleased to have been able to cancel my order as it would have been quite a substantial additional cost, both financially as well as the “cost” of the hassle of finding space to mount numerous additional modules in my security cabinets as well as the additional wiring mess of the modules to the DSC zone modules. Hope this info helps.

BTW, there is a great thread on Envisalink Integration where I got a lot of help and my questions answered. @lewis.heidrick was especially helpful in helping sort out some initial coms questions with the integration and I am particularly indebted to him for his expertise, kindness and patience in helping me out as a newbie to HE. This is a great community.

I'l also running the Envisalink integration with HE and HSM, but with a vista20 panel. It works well. I've had a couple of issues with integration but the community has been helpful sorting them out and all the issues I found were fairly easily resolvable. I do have a couple of RM rules that check to make sure HSM and the vista panel are in sync, but that's really about it. One nice thing about it is that it leaves your existing alarm panel completely intact and useful. I still have my local alarm company service and monitor my alarm.

Brad supports the Envisalink integration. I think he personally uses the Raspberry PI version. The App is in a steady state so I don't think that any updating needs to take place.

Thanks for the detailed response. Its encouraging to see the integration has been stable for you across multiple platform updates, as that was one of my concerns, based on description that it is no longer supported. But it sounds like there are folks still running the original integration that have similar experiences as yours.
I'm new to HE, and readily admit this is a bit intimidating. I'm still trying to figure out how to best navigate the support community and finding the correct thread/latest information.
From what I can tell it looks like the Envisalink Integration instructions (for DSC Panel) are located here: [https://community.hubitat.com/t/release-envisalink-app-driver-for-vista-ademco-honeywell-alarm-via-smartthings-nodeproxy/9726 ]. Then follow the link under Option 1 which takes you to a github page by bdwilson. Can you confirm that is the correct place?
Also, several people mention using Hubitat Package Manager in their Envisalink threads, but I don't see reference to that in these instructions.
Sorry for the newbie questions. I have installed another user app and drivers which worked well using HPM, so just want to make sure I'm heading down the right path.
Thanks again.

If you do a keyword search in HPM for "envisalink" it will pop up

Thanks found it - fingers crossed :slight_smile:

Really more straightforward than I thought it would be. The trickiest part was programming the panel for the envisalink board and hoping I didn't mess it up enough to have to call the alarm company to come fix it.

Also handy not to worry about contact sensors on outside doors!

I am also using Envisalink with Doug’s Envisalink/native Hubitat interface (Option #1 ). It is working fine on a Vista 20P panel. This integration uses telnet and is a bit chatty. I believe this is why many use this with a rpi. I did not want to invest the time in learning to setup a rpi so what I did was install this integration on a dedicated C7 hub and linked the 2 hubs using Hubconnect. The only thing I have running on the second hub is the Envisalink integration. Hubconnect allows HSM to be integrated between the 2 hubs.

I use the integration with RM to arm/disarm the system and it has worked fine without issues. I do not monitor the individual zones, so I am not sure how well it does this.

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I've done the integration both ways. I prefer using a raspberry pi even though my pi skills are lacking. I found it to be a little faster as in around 10ms. I have a Vista 21ip with around 60 zones. Each sensor I put on it's own zone so I could use each zone as a separate device. Looking back on it, breaking out each sensor was probably overkill. Each of the window zones could have probably stayed in their zone group, but splitting out all the doors was definitely useful.

Thanks again! Integration went smoothly using HPM and option 1 for my DSC Panel. All sensors came over and tested fine. I can't get the motion sensor to work for automations in either armed or in disarmed mode. I can manually force it active on device page and rules see it, but not in HSM. Also still working through HSM arm modes for Away, Night and Stay and trying to match those to DSC arming types. Will take some tinkering and testing, but overall pretty cool. I also see what you mean by Envisalink being "Chatty"
Thanks again for the insight and help.

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