Hubitat doesn't have the concept of an alarm panel (ie disarmed/armed/alarm), only an alarm sounder/siren (ie off/siren/strobe/both), hence for the sake of making some features accessible in SmartThings I repurposed the sounder/siren attributes. This meant it was easier to pull into integrations. Obviously SHM is the exception, but comes with some other complexities around sync.
I have separately built an add-on that allows you to trigger the alarm via a relay, which adds to the confusion around terms of "turning on the siren".
Combined with the fact that visonic doesn't report sirens to an external device (as far as I'm aware) there's lots if reuse if the same terms.
As for your comment about things not updating do you see messages in the logs about status updating and it being out of sequence? I'd be surprised if the alarm was not sending the required messages....
Thanks cjcharles for the response, very much appreciated. Don't worry about the sirens, as long as those are triggered by Visonic, then I'm good. On Vera though, I was able to see these, that's why I was curious.
About this refresh problem, See the log after I click "Alarm Arm Home"
Interesting, looks like you have a few sensors that I havent tested with. Can you send me a copy of your Alarm Status page on the ESP webpage please? Maybe do it via PM so I can debug sensor IDs.
@cjcharles - I wondered if you could help me, please? I’ve recently migrated all my Z-Wave devices from Vera over to Hubitat over the Christmas period and was keen to see if I could also find a way of enabling my Visonic Powermax+ alarm to function with the Hubitat device (in a similar way I had with my Vera setup) – when I came across this post. Firstly, thanks for sharing – it’s much appreciated.
I have followed all your instructions on Github and managed to get the HSM working properly with my Visonic alarm as expected. All the functions as per the attached screenshot work except for “Sound the Alarm Options” which I haven’t yet enabled.
I then installed Habitat Package Manager and downloaded your Alarm Bridge driver to my Hubitat device. After creating a virtual switch I’m then presented with several commands much like those screenshots’ others have posted – for completeness I have attached a copy of my screenshot. However, the Arm Away, Arm Home, Arm Night and Both commands don’t seem to function. The Alarm Arm Away, Alarm Arm Home, and Alarm Disarm all work which is great.
Once I create the child devices, I’m then presented with 3x generic component switches that don’t work. I wonder if they are mapped to the commands that don’t work for me listed in the previous paragraph? Please see the attached screenshot. Everything else seems okay and all the door and PIR sensors are created. My challenge is that I can’t seem to create a dashboard tile that allows for any interaction with the virtual Visonic switch I’ve created. The only tile which offers up any functionality it the ability to provide a status reading based on the attribute template. I’ve tried the HSM template which presents all the functions I would like, but nothing seems to work. Is there something I’m missing? Additionally, when I had Visonic working with Vera, I could also arm and disarm sensors to alarm the system in bypass mode, so that certain zones would not trigger the alarm if there was movement captured or a door opened. Is this also possible using your virtual switch? It’s a very useful function when you have pets as I do.
Something very strange happening with your child switches there. It seems to have taken the integer equivalents of the characters rather than the characters themselves. Can you open the log page, then remove them and recreate them, would be curious to see the messages. I expect something has changed on Hubitat side and I need to update code to deal with it.
EDIT: Please try the updated code on Github as I think I have now fixed this
As for the bypass stuff, its probably not hard to add... Do you store the bypass information in the alarm itself, or do you have to select the bypass zones every time you arm? (I dont use this functionality so never implemented it, but again the commands should be ready I just need to present them to the user interface).
@cjcharles - Good news, the new updated code you uploaded on Github works as advertised. I tested it quite exhaustively last night. Thank you so much for your efforts, its much appreciated.
With regards to the bypass, yes you store the selected zones in the alarm just before it’s armed. The alarm will then announce verbally that it’s arming in bypass mode when its being armed, and the exit countdown begins. In principle, the alarm should remove the bypass zones once the alarm has been disarmed, so that by default all zones are active again for the next time its armed. Though, based on my experience, this is time dependant i.e the alarm typically clears the bypass zones after a few hours of being inactive. Using Vera, I was able to enable or disable all zones using a sensor switch – which would then arm the alarm in bypass mode. It would be ideal if your code could support this functionality.
Additionally, would you also be able to modify your code so we can arm the alarm in instant mode? I’m currently going straight to the ESP to do this at night, and I would ideally like to setup a rule in Hubitat to do this automatically. This is useful for us as we don’t expect anyone to enter our property at night, so I would prefer the alarm to go off instantly as soon as one of our doors is opened - despite an entry delay being applied to the zone. It’s also useful for us when we’re away for several days or on holiday, so again the alarm goes off as soon as a door is opened i.e. all entry delays are disabled. During normal operating conditions and having children myself, I would set the alarm in the conventional way so that the entry delay in enabled in concert with the interior follower zones. This then means the alarm can be disarmed without it being set-off via a remote 2-way keypad panel in our hallway.
I have a similar situation (although I have Powermaster instead of Powermax), Visonic connected to Vera that I would like to switch to Hubitat. So how did you do this unrolling?
I've almost finished the coding on bypass features - they were easier to integrate and it was a bit more motivational than battling powermaster. Once that is done I'll try and get back to powermaster!
I'm actually kinda surprised so many folk are hanging on to their Powermax units with the much improved technology in the Powermaster.
Both are pretty old now and there's a lot of Powermaster kit out there that can be gotten pretty affordably.
I guess it's a credit to Visonic that the old stuff is still alive and serving it's purpose. Interesting that somehow you don't hear about the death of old Visonic hardware due to that period of cheap poor quality Chinese capacitors that were the death of many a box (routers etc) as old as that Powermax stuff.
Dubious about new owner Tyco wanting to keep the Visonic DIY kit as "rock solid" as it once was.
I have some time off coming up so I can finally finish powermaster integration properly. Ive now also tested instant arm and bypass functionality so can release that at the same time!
The main benefit is that the system is entirely offline, so new ownership shouldnt matter much so long as you have bought the hardware!
At least T-Mobile hasn't shut down their GSM yet. It's past due for when they said they would.
Shame shame shame on Tyco for Visonic not making a communications module with the requisite 5G capability. I mean seriously. When people are still running stuff as old as Powermax.... it is likely pure greed that they didn't at least keep the Powermaster series up to date with the cellular evolution.
The only explanation is that the achievements of Visonic were undercutting Tyco's main security lines so they bought them and squashed the innovation that was GREAT STUFF for the DIY channel.
Those contracts with Xfinity/Comcast were way too juicy.
