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Custom Component for integration with Home Assistant
Visonic produce the Powermax alarm panel series (PowerMax+, PowerMaxExpress, PowerMaxPro and PowerMaxComplete) and the Powermaster alarm series (PowerMaster 10 and PowerMaster 30). This Home Assistant Component allows you to control the alarm panel (arm/disarm) and allows you to use the Visonic sensors (movement, door contact, ...) and X10 devices within Home Assistant. Please note that after extensive work, the original PowerMax Panel is not able to be used as it does not support the Powerlink protocol that this component relies on. Also the Visonic 360R Alarm Panel is not fitted with an RS232 connection and cannot have a Powerlink3 fitted, it is therefore not compatible with this HA Component.
This is what my sensors look like
And I have 2 cards in Lovelace, they look like this
You have a choice, you can connect to your Visonic Alarm Panel using RS232, USB or Ethernet (Wired or Wireless)
The PowerMax/Master Alarm Panels provide an internal panel connector that is labelled as the Control interface, the PC interface or the RS232 interface, this interface directly supports a TTL logic level based RS232 protocol. Visonic do not provide a specification of the RS232 protocol and, thus, the Component uses the available protocol specification given at the domoticaforum. The binding implementation of this protocol is largely inspired by the Vera and OpenHab plugins.
The panels internal RS232 interface can be connected to an RS232 9 pin "DB9" Type connection on the machine running Home Assistant. However, note that the panel interface is an RS232 connector that uses TTL logic signal levels and not "proper" RS232 voltage levels. The Visonic PowerMax serial interface is not installed by default but can be ordered from any PowerMax vendor (called the Visonic RS-232 Adaptor Kit). This adaptor kit makes the TTL logic levels on the panel connector in to "proper" RS232 signal levels. I have never tried this and I don't know of anyone that has. If you do it like this you're pretty much on your own.
You do not need the Visonic RS-232 Adaptor Kit if you use a USB interface with TTL RS232 logic levels. You can then connect the USB cable to a Windows PC, a raspberry pi, or any other linux capable device such as some NAS devices. If you run Home Assistant on any of these devices it will likely appear to the operating system as a USB device but many of the RS232 to USB devices come with drivers to install that make it appear like a serial device in some way (e.g. on Windows it appears as a COM port)
If you want to connect your panel to your home ethernet network then you have 2 further options, this is option 1. This option uses a small Linux based device such as the raspberry pi to run the ser2net program to turn it into a network connected device.
Install ser2net on the linux device. edit the ser2net config file like this:
10628:raw:600:/dev/serial/by-id/usb-FTDI_FT232R_USB_UART_A700eRHw-if00-port0:9600 8DATABITS NONE 1STOPBIT
Be sure to change it to the proper serial port (/dev/ttyUSB0 in most cases). After editing, restart the ser2net service.
Now setup the component in Home Assistant like the ethernet setup, using the raspberry pi IP as IP address and 10628 as the port. Of course you can use any other port you like, but be sure to also change it in the ser2net config file also and to restart ser2net. There are users that have this setup and can help in the forums, one main advantage is that you can use the WiFi capability of the raspberry pi.
If you want to connect your panel to your home ethernet network then you have 2 further options, this is option 2. I can help a bit more with this set up as that is what I have. I have a device that connects to the RS232 TTL interface inside the panel (without using the Visonic RS-232 Adapter Kit) and creates an Ethernet TCP connection with a web server to set it up. I bought this
There is a newer version out called a USR-TCP232-E2. There is also a wifi version available like this that's a bit more expensive but essentially it's the same. Although you will need to also buy an aerial for it remember!
This allows you to connect your alarm panel to your Ethernet home network. There is a webserver running on this and you need to set it up for TCP in STA (station) mode as transparent. The RS232 side is 9600 baud, disable control flow i.e CTS/RTS, no parity and 1 stop bit. In the HA configuration file you set the IP address and port for this device. I suggest that you avoid port numbers below 1024 as they tend to be special.
One user has also been successful in using an iTach IP2SL and using its PoE capability to power it.
You do not need to buy anything else apart from 4 wires. For some panels you can buy a connector with a cable that you can use to make it easier. I bought an "IDC 10-pin ribbon cable" for my panel but remember that the panels and connectors can be different. I then split the wires to use the 4 that I needed.
You connect it in to your Visonic alarm panel like this
I connected the 3.75v pin on the panel to the Vcc (3.3v) on my device, gnd to gnd and Tx to Rx, Rx to Tx. 4 wires and that's it. It just worked!
Some users have found that they only have 5 volts available and they need 3.3 volts and so need to use a DC supply regulator (with 2 10uF Capacitors) to generate the 3.3 volts and then they also need a logic level shifter between the 5 and 3.3 volt TTL levels.
Different panel firmware versions uses different baudrates. This needs to be set in either the Ethernet/RS232 connection or the USB/RS232 connection. I believe that these are:
17.133 and below - baudrate is 9600 18.XXX and above - baudrate is 38400
| Panel Type | Panel Model | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (21) | Powermax | This doesn't work with this component, it doesn't support a Powerlink Hardware Module |
| 1 (47) | Powermax+ | This will work but needs to be Manually Enrolled (please set force_autoenroll to 'no') |
| 2 (22) | Powermax Pro | This will work but needs to be Manually Enrolled (please set force_autoenroll to 'no') |
| 3 (22) | Powermax Complete | This will work and will auto enroll |
| 4 (17,71,86) | Powermax Pro Part | This will work and will auto enroll |
| 5 (18,79) | Powermax Complete Part | This will work and will auto enroll |
| 6 | ||
| 7 (32,68,153) | Powermaster 10 | This will work and will auto enroll. You may need to disable the battery saver in your PIR sensors to get motion triggers when the alarm is disabled. |
| 8 (6,53) | Powermaster 30 | This will work and will auto enroll. You may need to disable the battery saver in your PIR sensors to get motion triggers when the alarm is disabled. |
Note: Panel Type 6 is unknown.
The Panel Type determines the main panel model, the number in brackets I assume to be a sub-type that you can see in HA as the "Model Type" and "Panel Name" Attributes.
This component will not work with the Visonic 360r Panel.
This Component currently connects to the panel and it creates an:
- HA Sensor for each alarm sensor
- Alarm Panel integration Entity "alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm" so you can look at the internal state values
- HA Switch for each X10 device
- "alarm_control_panel" badge so you can arm and disarm the alarm.
- An HA service to bypass/rearm individual sensors
- Retrieve the event log and save to an xml and/or a csv file
As of version 0.2.0 I have changed the control flow and introduced a new mode "Standard Plus". You know which mode you are in by looking at the Entity "alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm" and the attribute "Mode".
You do not need to use the Master Installer Code from your panel. To connect in Standard Plus and Powerlink mode, the Component uses a special Download Code. This defaults to "5650" (for those with ASCII knowledge this is hex for the characters VP for Visonic Panel I believe), but you can set it in the configuration file.
This is the basic mode where the alarm panel provides an indication of its state and the information about the sensors and X10 devices. However, not all information is available for the Sensors, critically the sensor type is missing. You can arm and disarm the panel by either setting the override_code in the HA configuration file or by entering the code each time manually. The EPROM data is not downloaded from the alarm panel.
As per Standard mode, but in addition the EPROM data has been obtained from the panel. This provides more detailed information about the sensors and X10 devices and it also provides the user code for the panel. You can arm and disarm the panel without entering any user code as the HA Component already knows it. You do not need to use the override_code in the HA configuration file.
As per Standard Plus mode, in addition the interaction with the panel is more robust with continual "Powerlink Alive" messages from the Panel. From a functionality view point, there isn't much difference between Standard Plus and Powerlink. There is a more detailed status message from the panel that provides siren status.
It tries to connect in Powerlink mode by default (unless you set force_standard to 'yes').
If the Component connects in Standard Plus or Powerlink mode then it automatically gets the user codes from the panel to arm and disarm. If the Component connects in Standard mode then you must provide the user code to arm and disarm. You can either use 'override_code' in the HA configuration or manually enter it each time. Some panels allow arming without the user code.
I have worked on the control flow for release 0.2.0 (instead of copying the control flow from other plugins used in other devices) and have altered it so it is more reliable for my panel, I believe that it removes some (or all?) of the timing dependencies. For those interested in the startup control flow.....
- At component start, it checks the "Force Standard" user setting. If set it goes directly to Standard Mode and stays there.
- If "Force Standard" is not set then it tries to Download the EPROM data from the panel.
- If this fails immediatelly then it keeps retrying every 4 minutes.
- If it fails part way through the download there is something more seriously wrong and it goes to Standard Mode and stays there.
- The Download step itself takes about 40 seconds on my panel,
- When EPROM Download succeeds is goes to Standard Plus mode.
- I get Standard Plus Mode within a minute or so of starting HA.
- I expect that most people will be happy to get it to Standard Plus mode.
- It then starts trying to Enroll as a Powerlink device,
- Trying every 4 minutes.
- It can't try too often as the panel just blocks the communication, thinking that it's an attack I think, so 4 minutes seems OK
- I get Powerlink Mode within 2 minutes of starting HA
- Sometimes it fails the first time (fails to Enroll) and it works the next time around, so about 5 minutes after starting HA
In other words, the Component continues to try and do the best it can and doesn't give up like previous versions. Previous versions attemped Powerlink enrollment (3 times) and if that failed did not then attempt to Download the EPROM. It now does it the other way around and keeps trying. If I get problems with it trying too often then I may need to limit it.
This is an example from my configuration.yaml file:
visonic:
device:
type: ethernet
host: !secret visonic_ip
port: !secret visonic_port
motion_off: 120
language: 'EN'
force_standard: 'no'
sync_time: 'yes'
allow_remote_arm: 'yes'
allow_remote_disarm: 'yes'
exclude_sensor: [2,3]
exclude_x10: [1]
panellog_logentry_event: 'yes'
panellog_csv_add_title_row: 'yes'
panellog_xml_filename: 'panel_log.xml'
panellog_csv_filename: 'panel_log.csv'
panellog_complete_event: 'yes'
# force_numeric_keypad: 'yes'
# override_code: '1234'
# download_code: '9876'
# arm_without_usercode: 'yes'
You can also have a USB (for RS232) connection:
device:
type: usb
path: '/dev/ttyUSB1'
The default settings if you miss it out of the configuration.yaml file:
| Name | Default | Description | List of values |
|---|---|---|---|
| motion_off | 120 | The time to keep the zone trigger True after it is triggered. There will not be another trigger for that sensor within this time period. | Integer Seconds |
| language | 'EN' | Set the Langauge. 'EN' for English, 'NL' for Dutch or 'FR' for French. | 'EN', 'NL' or 'FR' |
| force_standard | 'no' | Determine whether it tries to connect in Standard Plus & Powerlink mode or just goes to Standard. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| force_autoenroll | 'yes' | Determine the ability for this Component to autoenroll prior to the panel type being known. Powermax+ panels cannot autoenroll and need to set this to 'no'. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| sync_time | 'yes' | Attempt to synchronise the time between the device you run HA on and the alarm panel. Powermax only, not Powermaster. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| allow_remote_arm | 'no' | Determines whether the panel can be armed from within HA. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| allow_remote_disarm | 'no' | Determines whether the panel can be disarmed from within HA. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| override_code | '' | If in Standard mode, then this is the 4 digit code used to arm and disarm. See note 1 below | 4 digit string |
| download_code | '5650' | This is the 4 digit code used to download the EPROM and to Enroll for Powerlink. | 4 digit hex string |
| arm_without_usercode | 'no' | If the Panel is Disarmed, then Arm without the usercode (not all panels support this). See note 2 below. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| force_numeric_keypad | 'no' | Display the numeric keypad to force the user to enter the correct code (in any Mode). The only exception is the use of arm_without_usercode. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| exclude_sensor | [] | A list of Zone sensors to exclude e.g to exclude zones Z02 and Z03 then use [2,3] | [1,2 etc] |
| exclude_x10 | [] | A list of X10 devices to exclude e.g to exclude devices X02 and X03 then use [2,3]. For PGM use 0 in the list. | [0,1,2 etc] |
| panellog_logentry_event | 'no' | Generate an event within HA for each panel log entry (potentially hundreds). | 'no' or 'yes' |
| panellog_xml_filename | '' | If this is set to something other than an empty string, create an xml file with the content of the panel event log using an xml template (Note 3 and 4) | '' or 'validpath/filename.xml' |
| panellog_csv_filename | '' | If this is set to something other than an empty string, create a csv file with the content of the panel event log (Note 4) | '' or 'validpath/filename.csv' |
| panellog_csv_add_title_row | 'no' | If creating a csv file, then do or do not include a title row at the top | 'no' or 'yes' |
| panellog_complete_event | 'no' | Generate an event within HA at the end of the log retrieval. As this could take tens of seconds, this HA event marks the end. | 'no' or 'yes' |
| panellog_reverse_order | 'no' | Reverse the order of the entries in the saved file(s) | 'no' or 'yes' |
| panellog_max_entries | 10000 | Retrieve at most this number of log entries. For example, set this to 1 to get the most recent, etc... | Integer |
Note 1: If in Standard Plus or Powerlink mode then this is not used. If in Standard mode and the override_code is not set then you will have to enter your 4 digit code every time you arm and disarm. It depends on how secure you make your system and how much you trust it.
Note 2: This is only used when in Standard mode. Some panels will arm without entering the 4 digit user code but some will not. So if your panel does not need a user code to arm then set this to 'yes' in your HA configuration files.
Note 3: This creates an xml file from the xml template defined in a file called 'visonic_template.xml'. There is a default 'visonic_template.xml' file with this custom component that it uses unless it finds the file in the following directory locations, in order: templates, xml, www, '.' (where '.' is your configuration directory). The dictionary variables entries total and available are passed in to the jinja2 xml file for processing. Take a look at the default file and you should see what I mean.
Note 4: Be careful with the filename path, especially putting a leading "/". By default, if you do not specify a path, the file is created in your configuration directory.
Put the files in your custom_components directory that is within your HA config directory. I have included the python library REQUIREMENTS in visonic.py but in case that doesn't work you would need to install some python libraries yourself:
sudo pip3 install pyserial
sudo pip3 install python-datetime
sudo pip3 install pyserial_asyncio
In Standard Plus & Powerlink Modes, I try to set the device class correctly by default however I don't know if a particular perimeter sensor "magnet" is on a door or window for example. By default I set all:
- "PIRs" to device_class "motion"
- "magnet" to device_class "window"
- "wired" to device_class "door"
You can change this in your customize configuration like this for example
"binary_sensor.visonic_z04":
friendly_name: 'Kitchen Door'
device_class: door
The Component responds to some of the built in HA Alarm Panel Services. The first 3 are HA built in, the 4th I have added.
In all 5 services the "code" service data is optional, depending on the mode that we're connected as i.e. in Standard mode then you will need to set the code.
| Name | Description | Example Service Data |
|---|---|---|
| alarm_control_panel.alarm_arm_away | Arm the panel away | "entity_id":"alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm" |
| alarm_control_panel.alarm_arm_home | Arm the panel home | "entity_id":"alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm" |
| alarm_control_panel.alarm_disarm | Disarm the panel | "entity_id":"alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm" |
| visonic.alarm_sensor_bypass | Bypass/Arm individual sensors (must be done when panel is disarmed). | "entity_id":"binary_sensor.visonic_z01", "bypass":"True" |
| visonic.alarm_panel_eventlog | Retrieve the panel event log and process it. | |
| visonic.service_panel_reconnect | Reconnect following a previous problem. |
The Component generates these events on the HA event bus. Events are part of HA and I generate an HA event for many things such as changes in the panel or sensor states. My implementation for sensor states is really basic. For Panel events though release 0.3.6.0 includes the detailed panel state data. To see them in action in your own HA, go to “Developer Tools”, “Events” and in the bottom where it says “Listen to events” paste alarm_panel_state_update and click “start listening”. Then do things with your alarm, trigger sensors, arm and disarm, you should see what I mean.
| Name | Description | Event Data |
|---|---|---|
| alarm_panel_state_update | An HA Event is sent through HA for various panel and sensor events | condition (see 1 below) |
| visonic_alarm_panel_event_log_entry | When the event log is being downloaded, an HA event for every panel log entry (if enabled in config) | see 2 below |
| visonic_alarm_panel_event_log_complete | When the event log from the panel has been downloaded (if enabled in config) | None |
Note 1
The data associated with the event is { 'condition': X } where X is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10
- 0 is a problem with the component itself, this is usually a communication failure with the panel
- 1 is a zone update
- 2 is a panel update
- 3 is a panel update AND the alarm is active!!!!!
- 4 is a panel reset
- 5 is a pin rejected
- 6 is a tamper alarm
- 7 is an EPROM download timeout, go to Standard Mode
- 8 is a watchdog timeout, give up trying to achieve a better mode
- 9 is a watchdog timeout, going to try again to get a better mode
- 10 there has not been any data received from the panel at all within the timeout period. Check your hardware.
I may add more information to the event later if required
Note 2
The list of parameters for each log entry
- current
- total
- date
- time
- partition
- zone
- event
- alias: Alarm Armed So Turn Lights Off
initial_state: 'on'
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm
to: armed_away
action:
- service: script.alarm_armed
- alias: Alarm Disarmed So Email Me
initial_state: 'on'
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: alarm_control_panel.visonic_alarm
to: disarmed
action:
- service: script.alarm_disarmed
Of course you'll have to write your own scripts!
- Partitions, it assumes a single partition
- The compatibility of the binding with the Powermaster alarm panel series is probably only partial.
Extra Hidden Functionality
There are 2 extras that I include in the release
If you connect to your panel using USB then you can plug that USB in to your Windows PC and use the Visonic Remote Programmer software directly Download the software here The user manual is here You'll find the login username and password in the user manual.
This is a recent addition, you can use the "Powermaster Remote Programmer" (PRP) from a Windows PC to connect to your panel if using the Ethernet option
- Download and setup com0com on your PC with a Virtual RS232 connection using COM1 and COM2 (assuming these aren't existing real devices on your Windows PC)
- Run bridge.py from a command prompt and connect to COM1 like this
python3 bridge.py -address 192.168.X.Y -port YourPort -usb COM1
- Run PRP and connect to COM2
You can then use PRP with your panel, the bridge command prompt displays the messages going to/from the panel
The bridge can also be used to connect to COM ports together like this
python3 bridge.py -coma COM1 -comb COM2
Disable the Component in HA (or disable HA altogether) and use the test.py script from a command line like this
python3 test.py -address 192.168.X.Y -port YourPort
On Linux: python3 test.py -usb /dev/ttyUSB1
On Windows: python3 test.py -usb COM1
It will perform like it does in HA but from the command line. Note that the other settings from the configuration can be changed by editing test.py Also note that if you have just installed python3 on to your Windows PC then it may be missing a few libraries. Use "pip3 install libname" to install them.
OK, so you've got it partially working but it's not quite there.... what can you do.
The first thing to say is that it's a PITA to get it in to Powerlink mode from within HA. I believe the problem is to do with timing issues and the way HA works with asyncio. Is this ideal, No. Do I have a choice, No. From experience, if the panel isn't doing what you think it should then leave it alone for a few hours. I believe, although I am not sure, that it has some kind of antitamper in the software for the RS232 interface and it stops allowing Powerlink connectivity.
-
I try to get it in to Standard Plus or Powerlink mode but it only goes in to Standard mode
- Check that force_standard is set to 'no'
- If you have had anything connected to the panel in the past that has been in Powerlink mode then Do a Full Restart (see below what I mean *).
-
I try to get it in to Powerlink mode but it only goes in to Download mode
- Has it been like this for less than 4 minutes, then wait as it can take a long time with some devices and panels
- So it's more than 4 minutes, OK. Do a Full Restart Sequence as defined below.
- If there are still problems then set your logger to output debug data to the log file for the visonic components and send it to me. In your configuration.yaml file do it exactly like this so I only get logged data from my Component:
logger:
default: critical
logs:
custom_components.visonic: debug
custom_components.visonic.pyvisonic: debug
custom_components.visonic.alarm_control_panel: debug
custom_components.visonic.binary_sensor: debug
custom_components.visonic.switch: debug
custom_components.visonic.__init__: debug
(*) Full Restart Sequence for Powerlink:
- Stop HA
- Restart the panel: Restart your Visonic panel by going in to and out of installer mode. Do not do any panel resets, the act of exiting installer mode is enough.
- Wait for a couple of minutes for the panel to restart
- Start HA.