Alarm with Custom Arm Modes

[RobbieF]

Hi All

Does anyone know if there is an integrated Alarm that can do custom arm modes that will appear on the Control4 interface for selecting?

I currently have a DSC alarm, and want Arm modes more than just "Stay" / "Away"?  

[RobbieF]

Sorry - should have give an example... 

arm perimeter being one example.

[eggzlot]

I use custom buttons to do this with my DSC alarm.

I create a macro that recreates what you need to press on the DSC keypad.  example you want to skip a zone - so the macro would be press *, press 1, press zone #, press *, press #, press #, press # press away.  that would skip a zone and put on away - I have my glass breaks like that so if I have someone coming to fix gutters or work on the roof or something I could turn off glass breaks while still keeping windows armed.   

on my interface i have those 4 corners with drop down custom buttons.  I have 4-5 alarm modes outside of stay/away and I have the 4 options right there to pick.  works perfect every time.  again I have 4-5 examples of this type of programming

[RobbieF]

That’s awesome - thanks for sharing!

[eggzlot]

1 hour ago, RobbieF said:

That’s awesome - thanks for sharing!

no problem

with the driver I have for the IT-100 it is fairly easy.  I just put a line of coding in for every key stroke needed on the panel assuming you were doing something direct on the panel.  I put in I think a 250 millisecond pause between presses just to make sure they are doing in proper sequence.  is it needed I dont know, but I did it anyways.

so
press *
250 millisecond delay
Press 1
250 milli delay
Press X

you get the idea

[South Africa C4 user]

If you bypass lots of zones, I would suggest upping the 250ms to 500ms and putting a 5 second delay I between each of the bypass commands... my experience has been that this is great but the IT100 is quite slow to respond after the buffer is full.

[BraydonH]

Sorry but isn't your example of "arm perimiter" the same as arm to stay mode? Stay mode is the perimiter. Away mode arms the interior as well . Never really had a use for a custom arm mode. I guess to disable glass breaks in stay mode but really that's not a big issue 

[South Africa C4 user]

What I have done (which is not quite the same as you are asking but may prove useful) is as follows:

I have created custom buttons (I have used a checkbox from Alan’s driver but there are numerous options) for each zone on the security page. When these are checked, I bypass the relevant zone. When they are unchecked, I leave the relevant zone in play (as per the mode chosen). I’ve found this very useful for 2 purposes (when I’ve had a broken sensor, this allows me to bypass it from anywhere in the world, easily and semi-permanently and when we want the alarm on but access through one zone - e.g. we may want to leave our bedroom balcony door open on a hot night but still arm the system).

The following is useful to consider:

1. You can either do the bypasses based on the check boxes before programmatically arming the system which will then only work if you arm via a Control4 custom button, experience button, keypad , schedule or other programmed action; or,

2. If you want this to bypass irrespective of how the system is armed (including via a DSC remote, the DSC keypad, the Control4 security keypad as well as the methods outlined in 1 above) then the secret is to set up a macro to run whenever the security system disarms or after the checkboxes have been changed.  The macro decides what zones to bypass and bypasses them.  Then when you next arm the system, the zones are already bypassed.

One last point to consider is that if you follow option 2, the best way to deal with setting bypasses after changing the checkboxes is to activate a timer (say 1 minute) after changing a checkbox and when the timer expires run the macro.  This allows you to change as many checkvpboxes (bypasses) as you want without flooding the IT100 with commands.  You also need to clear all bypasses before setting the new ones when the timer expires.  This step is not needed after disarming the system as all bypasses are cleared automatically when a DSC system is disarmed (at least, that is my experience).

 

[RobbieF]

That is an even better extension of what I was thinking or considering, and a great example of the additional functionality / logic can bring to an integrated system.  As always, thanks a ton!  I'm going to try implement this on the weekend, and will share my findings.

Thanks!

[RobbieF]

17 hours ago, BraydonH said:

Sorry but isn't your example of "arm perimiter" the same as arm to stay mode? Stay mode is the perimiter. Away mode arms the interior as well . Never really had a use for a custom arm mode. I guess to disable glass breaks in stay mode but really that's not a big issue 

If I have perimeter beams around the outskirts of the garden, and only want these armed, but still want access to the BBQ area, and to move anywhere within the house.  Stay mode I generally arm everything except the second floor corridor and bedrooms.   Does that make sense?

[BraydonH]

Ahh I see, I have never actually done outside security or installed perimiter beams. Sounds like an awesome system you have installed.

Like others have said you will need to use custom buttons for custom arming modes.

I would ask what DSC driver you are using? I dont install DSC myself and we use Paradox with the Cinegration driver. In my opinion the cinegration driver is as good as a security driver can currently be within C4's current Security Proxy.

 

I would assume that Cinegration's DSC driver is just as good. Hopefully your using that one

https://www.drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/security-systems/dsc-it-100-control4-integration-driver/

 

Domosapians makes ones and sells it on DriverCentral.io but as I am not a DSC guy I am not sure which driver is superior. I can tell you Cinegration does make a fine security driver though.

[South Africa C4 user]

51 minutes ago, RobbieF said:

That is an even better extension of what I was thinking or considering, and a great example of the additional functionality / logic can bring to an integrated system.  As always, thanks a ton!  I'm going to try implement this on the weekend, and will share my findings.

Thanks!

Good luck... let us know how it goes.  My best advice is use longer delays than you think are necessary. I found that once 4 or 5 bypasses we’re being executed, the delays required seemed to increase exponentially.

[RobbieF]

I don't have perimeter beams just yet (Using outdoor PIR's), but it's my plan to do Perimeter beams.  On that note @South Africa C4 user - Can you recommend any perimeter beams that work with C4 (I assume you have some?)

Also - One other question; has anyone setup a bright blue LED that can be seen on the outside of the house to indicate the alarm is on?  Or any other type of exterior type of alerting......

[South Africa C4 user]

I do have perimeter beams but have no idea what make they are . My alarm installer put them in and connected them to my DSC system. They work great but no idea what they are!

My alarm installer also put an LED up outside the house.  My understanding is that it was a standard item for the DSC alarm system. It shows as green when disarmed and ready to arm, flashing green when disarmed but not ready to arm, red when armed and flashing red when the alarm has gone off. Works well and your alarm installer should know where to get this.

[South Africa C4 user]

2 hours ago, BraydonH said:

Ahh I see, I have never actually done outside security or installed perimiter beams. Sounds like an awesome system you have installed.

Like others have said you will need to use custom buttons for custom arming modes.

I would ask what DSC driver you are using? I dont install DSC myself and we use Paradox with the Cinegration driver. In my opinion the cinegration driver is as good as a security driver can currently be within C4's current Security Proxy.

 

I would assume that Cinegration's DSC driver is just as good. Hopefully your using that one

https://www.drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/security-systems/dsc-it-100-control4-integration-driver/

 

Domosapians makes ones and sells it on DriverCentral.io but as I am not a DSC guy I am not sure which driver is superior. I can tell you Cinegration does make a fine security driver though.

I’m using the Domosapiens driver. Simply because the Domosapiens driver was the first driver that worked on the new security proxy for DSC. It is great and rock solid although I understand that the Cinegration driver is more feature rich (although nothing you can’t do via programming anyway).

[RobbieF]

2 minutes ago, South Africa C4 user said:

I do have perimeter beams but have no idea what make they are . My alarm installer put them in and connected them to my DSC system. They work great but no idea what they are!

My alarm installer also put an LED up outside the house.  My understanding is that it was a standard item for the DSC alarm system. It shows as green when disarmed and ready to arm, flashing green when disarmed but not ready to arm, red when armed and flashing red when the alarm has gone off. Works well and your alarm installer should know where to get this.

Thanks - In this case I am the Alarm installer - The DSC's are actually SUPER easy to configure using the DSL5 software, It's just finding the info that's a little hard......

[South Africa C4 user]

Aha! I hear you! Good luck!

[DLite]

@South Africa C4 userI know this is a super old thread, but I am currently trying to solve the exact same "broken sensor" problem you noted, and I love your solution!  Would you mind explaining how you coded the macro that issues the bypass commands?  Do you literally have an "if" statement for each checkbox that then triggers the relevant bypass command?  Or are you doing something different?  I'm hoping you have an elegant solution that would avoid 100 "if" statements!

Thanks

[South Africa C4 user]

11 hours ago, DLite said:

@South Africa C4 userI know this is a super old thread, but I am currently trying to solve the exact same "broken sensor" problem you noted, and I love your solution!  Would you mind explaining how you coded the macro that issues the bypass commands?  Do you literally have an "if" statement for each checkbox that then triggers the relevant bypass command?  Or are you doing something different?  I'm hoping you have an elegant solution that would avoid 100 "if" statements!

Thanks

Sorry to say... this required an if statement for each checkbox. I did ultimately create a macro for the bypass routine, but it was still 4 or 5 lines of code for each zone, something like:

if zone1 checked then

        BypassZone = 1

       Execute AlarmBypassMacro

       Delay 10 seconds

If zone2 checked then

      Mix, stir, repeat

[DLite]

3 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

Sorry to say... this required an if statement for each checkbox. I did ultimately create a macro for the bypass routine, but it was still 4 or 5 lines of code for each zone, something like:

if zone1 checked then

        BypassZone = 1

       Execute AlarmBypassMacro

       Delay 10 seconds

If zone2 checked then

      Mix, stir, repeat

That makes sense.  Thanks for

clarifying.