Honeywell Vista 4232CBM (Residential) vs 4232CBM (Commercial)

[ferbor]

 

Hi everyone,

Sorry to come back on this topic but I could not resolve it yet and I am stuck with a newly bought CA-10 which I cannot use until I solve this issue. I cannot migrate from version 2.10.6 to 3.0 due to lack of full compatibility of my Honeywell Vista 128BPT with 3.0

My security panel is currently integrated using the 4232CBM model an working perfectly on 2.10.6 with Control 4 driver. I have 2 partitions, the first one with 123 zones and the second one with 3 zones.

On this topic https://www.c4forums.com/topic/30494-30-honeywell-vista-128-bpt-houselogix-driver/page/4/#comments there has been some discussions on the best way to connect it to Control 4 3.0 and apparently the only way is using the HSIM module. I have already asked my dealer to buy it so that we can give it a try (not sure why he is taking so long to import it), but I am not completely sure it will work perfectly with the zone status reporting on real time, this is way I am coming back on this issue now that a commercial version of the 4232CBM driver has been released.

On 3.0 there are two drivers from Control 4, the 4232 CBM (Residential) and the new (may 2020) 4232 CBM (Commercial).

4232 CBM (Residential):

We tried it at home and everything works, including the zone status reporting, the only problem for me (remember I have only 2 partitions of the 8 supported by 128BPT) is that it "reads" up to Zone 89.

4232 CBM (Commercial):

As the driver documentations mentions it does NOT support for the Zone status.

My doubts are:

a) Why the 4232 CBM Residential can work perfectly with the 128BPT (Commercial) except for this issue of the limited Zone quantity. Is it really so difficult to increase this limit?

b) Why the 4232 CBM Commercial cannot even read 1 Zone from the Vista Panel?

c) On the 4232 CBM Commercial driver's documentation it mentions "Note that Zones page in Composer Pro and Navigators are not supported in this release of the driver". Does this mean that there will be another release of the driver which will support it?

 

Thanks!!

Regards

 

 

 

 

[mstafford388]

While I don't know the ins and outs of why, I do know that the driver team at Control4 made a conscious decision at one point to not support the 128 panels due to some features not working, and last I knew they had no plans to remedy this, which isn't surprising given them relatively small amount of them being integrated.  I don't have any experience with the commercial 4232 to help you there, but I wouldn't anticipate any new drivers to help any issues when it comes to a 128 panel.  

[Neo1738]

You could just not integrate the security until this gets remedied and use your CA10.

[ferbor]

20 hours ago, mstafford388 said:

While I don't know the ins and outs of why, I do know that the driver team at Control4 made a conscious decision at one point to not support the 128 panels due to some features not working, and last I knew they had no plans to remedy this, which isn't surprising given them relatively small amount of them being integrated.  I don't have any experience with the commercial 4232 to help you there, but I wouldn't anticipate any new drivers to help any issues when it comes to a 128 panel.  

Hi mstafford388,

Thanks for your comments!

It would be really a pitty that a I need to change my Security panel on a 5 year home when this panel was supported by Control4 when I took the decision on which panel to use. Anyway, I do not want to enter on a discussion on Control's commercial policies, but more on the technical aspects of these two drivers.

I take note that you mention that "some features where not working" but this is the strange part, since the Residential version of Driver had all the features working perfectly with the only exception of the partion and zone quantity limits. I can arm, disarm, bind motion sensors so to turn light on, bind contact sensor to report opn/ close status, etc. Are these limits self imposed by Control 4 due to some license/ commercial reasons or is it a technical limitation? If I would have a 128BPT panel with let us say 1 partition and 60 zones, the "Residential" driver would work perefectly.

Hoping my dealer can buy the HSIM (it seems SnapAV only sells it in USA) so that I can give it a try.

Thanks!

[ferbor]

19 hours ago, Neo1738 said:

You could just not integrate the security until this gets remedied and use your CA10.

the question is if it would be remedied at some time or not. As you can see from the other comment some people think this would not be the case.

Thanks!

[msgreenf]

I have a bug report that's over one year old and accepted by control4 for remediation on the Vista 128 panel and it still hasn't been fixed

[Neo1738]

On 7/29/2020 at 4:49 AM, ferbor said:

the question is if it would be remedied at some time or not. As you can see from the other comment some people think this would not be the case.

Thanks!

I was thinking if you already have a CA10 you might as well use it.

[DLite]

On 7/29/2020 at 1:49 AM, ferbor said:

the question is if it would be remedied at some time or not. As you can see from the other comment some people think this would not be the case.

Thanks!

I have a Honeywell Vista 250 panel, which is pretty much the same as yours, and I faced the same issue as you in upgrading to OS3.  I solved it by installing a HouseLogix Security Integration Module (HSIM).  It works great with the Honeywell panel.  Programmatic arming is nearly instant, and open/closed sensors update quickly on C4. (There is one finicky feature of the HSIM with Honeywell relating to sensor opening updates when multiple sensors are open.  The long and short of it is that it can take up to 30 seconds to register one sensor closing when others remain open, but this is not a deal-breaker for me.)

As an aside, I thought HouseLogix hardware had been abandoned, but C4 supported the install and answered my dealer's installation questions with no problem.

 

[ferbor]

37 minutes ago, DLite said:

I have a Honeywell Vista 250 panel, which is pretty much the same as yours, and I faced the same issue as you in upgrading to OS3.  I solved it by installing a HouseLogix Security Integration Module (HSIM).  It works great with the Honeywell panel.  Programmatic arming is nearly instant, and open/closed sensors update quickly on C4. (There is one finicky feature of the HSIM with Honeywell relating to sensor opening updates when multiple sensors are open.  The long and short of it is that it can take up to 30 seconds to register one sensor closing when others remain open, but this is not a deal-breaker for me.)

As an aside, I thought HouseLogix hardware had been abandoned, but C4 supported the install and answered my dealer's installation questions with no problem.

 

Thanks Dlite for your comments! That isf good news for me. My dealer confirmed today that they were able to buy the HSIM in USA and will be sending it to Argentina next week hopefully. I am not sure when they will be able to install it since here the quarantine due to COVID19 is very strict and only essential workers are allowed to do so.

I am not sure if I understand correctly the strange behaviour you mention. I have 50 windows at home, and I am using 50 zones for the contact sensors for the windows itself and 50 zones for the security blinds on each window. The remaining zones are basically motion sensors around the house, and 6 more contact sensors for my outside doors and garage gates. 

At night all the zones, except the inside motion sensors are activated (not bypassed). In this scenario I do not care whether a zone delays 30 seconds in closing in Control4, I am only concerned here in the opening.

In the day, the alarm is not activated but I have bound the garage gates and exterior gates contact sensors to Control4. In this scenario I need that the opening and closing of these zones is reflected immediately for security reasons. Since all the contact sensors on the windows plus some motion sensors around the house will be opened, does this mean that the closing of one of these garage gate zones will delay to show the closing in Control4?

Anyway, for the time being it is the only option I have to be able to migrate to 3.X so I must have to survive with this until COntrol4 releases some update to the 4232 Commercial driver or I migrate to a DSC NEO (not a fan of doing this.

Good to know COntrol 4 supported on this hardware installation!

Thanks!

[DLite]

12 hours ago, ferbor said:

Thanks Dlite for your comments! That isf good news for me. My dealer confirmed today that they were able to buy the HSIM in USA and will be sending it to Argentina next week hopefully. I am not sure when they will be able to install it since here the quarantine due to COVID19 is very strict and only essential workers are allowed to do so.

I am not sure if I understand correctly the strange behaviour you mention. I have 50 windows at home, and I am using 50 zones for the contact sensors for the windows itself and 50 zones for the security blinds on each window. The remaining zones are basically motion sensors around the house, and 6 more contact sensors for my outside doors and garage gates. 

At night all the zones, except the inside motion sensors are activated (not bypassed). In this scenario I do not care whether a zone delays 30 seconds in closing in Control4, I am only concerned here in the opening.

In the day, the alarm is not activated but I have bound the garage gates and exterior gates contact sensors to Control4. In this scenario I need that the opening and closing of these zones is reflected immediately for security reasons. Since all the contact sensors on the windows plus some motion sensors around the house will be opened, does this mean that the closing of one of these garage gate zones will delay to show the closing in Control4?

Anyway, for the time being it is the only option I have to be able to migrate to 3.X so I must have to survive with this until COntrol4 releases some update to the 4232 Commercial driver or I migrate to a DSC NEO (not a fan of doing this.

Good to know COntrol 4 supported on this hardware installation!

Thanks!

Yes, you won't have a problem with tracking zone opening.  This is a pretty minor problem for me, but I have seen some people on the forums offer cases where it becomes a big deal.

Let me give a quick example of the issue, just so you know.  I use my sensors to trigger commands for my HVAC -- when windows or doors are open, I shut off the HVAC in that particular room.  Suppose one window is open in the living room and another is open upstairs in the bedroom. C4 then shuts the living room and bedroom HVACs off.  Now, when the living room window closes, it takes 30 seconds for C4 to register the closing, because there is another zone still open.  This causes a 30-second delay in the time it takes for C4 to turn the HVAC on again in the living room.  Again, this is no big deal for me, but I know some people use their sensor openings and closings to trigger very time-sensitive commands.  As long as you are not planning to do something like that, the HSIM should be a good solution for you.  I hope it works out!