An easier way to add an alarm system to Homey?

Ideas & Suggestions
1

Currently it seems Homey is a bit lacking in the ability to integrate an existing security alarm system.

There is it seems no built-in alarm framework equivalent to Smartthings SHM but there is Heimdall which seems an excellent replacement for that. This leaves the second half of the requirement which is the means to actually talk to the alarm panel.

Here things are sadly it seems a mess. There does not seem to be much available in a complete working state - at least on the app store and nothing at all to work with Envisalink or Konnected modules.

Based on the solutions I have seen via github it seems that technically it is possible to construct such apps for Homey. However I have no great desire to write one from scratch myself.

I therefore wonder if the following approach would be a simpler one and immediately add support for a number of alarm panel brands and models?

Home Assistant a free open source smart home software server already has existing apps for a number of panels including Envisalink modules.

It is possible to link Home Assistant to other smart home platforms using MQTT and this includes linking to Homey. Therefore would a simpler approach be as follows?

  1. Setup Home Assistant with an app to talk to your alarm panel e.g. Envisalink for DSC or Honeywell
  2. Setup MQTT on Home Assistant
  3. Setup MQTT on Homey
  4. Install Heimdall on Homey and have it use the alarm panel via the MQTT link
2 Likes
2

Any updates on this anyone?

1 Like
3

i found this topic for using MQTT with Risco alarm system, but it is not suited for Homey. Wondering if someone else has something connected from Homey with Risco alarmsystem panel ?

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AFAIK there is no standard or even promoted MQTT topic structure for alarm panel integration - but MQTT is a viable solution if one credible proposal was created. HA does have a go at this but for me itā€™s lacking.

I publish my alarm panel(s) to MQTT but itā€™s a ā€˜works for meā€™ implementation and I have no desire to support that topic structure for others. Mine is for a dual system Texecom / Galaxy . Itā€™s quite an undertaking to service all the plethora of options panels provide.

Kevin

5

ok, good to hear it can be done. i might have a look at the HA solution when i got the time and from there see what is possible with Homey.

having homey running with domoticz aside now so maybe one of them can handle the alarm system. I know a bit about Texecom but i have Risco Lightsys here and not having a clue at the moment how much work.

hopefully the cloud api of Risco will make it somewhat easier perhaps. It helps to know that people got their alarm systems connected.

6

Hello!
This is exactly what I struggle with.
My alarm panel is a more ā€œmodernā€ solution than the average, because it can send/receive data using the http GET/PUT method, that is, I can query the current status of a particular sensor from the panel with a Homey scriptā€¦ But because of the high number of sensors it overwhelms Homey.
Thatā€™s when I realized what would happen if I used an alarm panel communicator (SIA, or ContactID, etc.), set Homey as a secondary remote monitoring center on the alarm panel, and process the incoming data. What do you think? How are your projects doing in this matter?
Tamas

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I donā€™t want to believe that no one has thought of this yet, even though I think the Homey pro is a real Swiss army knife. There is also a pet feeder, drinker, egg hatcher, etc. but there is no universal integration of the existing alarm system.
All the simplest alarm systems have a communicator capability with a standard protocol.
Why do I have to reinvent the wheel.
I am surprisedā€¦

Tamas