Hello, I’ve been spending a lot of time researching whether it is possible to create automation based on both alarm state/status outside of the ADC site.
Basically, I have some non Z-Wave lights and plugs that I’d like to trigger when the alarm has been tripped along with my Z-Wave switches, which are already automated in ADC.
My wall switches are made by Inovelli and so I would also like to take advantage of their scene/status ability based on the alarm state (armed/disarmed). From my research, it does seem doable to get the armed/disarmed state via Home Assistant, but I am not sure it’s possible to determine if the alarm has actually been triggered.
I came across this old support thread: Alarm.com states which mentioned using open collector terminals on a GC3 panel with a wired Z-Wave device such as a MIMOlite.
I have an IQ 2 Panel which seems to have just a single open collector terminal: “The Qolsys IQ Panel 2 has an open collector output, which automatically activates upon any alarm on the panel. When activated, it provides a short to ground.”
It seems like I would be able to attach a MIMOlite in a similar fashion to get the alarm status, but I know basically nothing about open collector programming, so I have no idea if that would work or not?
The Qolsys IQ Panel 2 has an open collector output, which automatically activates upon any alarm on the panel. When activated, it provides a short to ground.
So this is a little deceiving, the Qolsys panel does not have a programmable open collector output.
What it does have is a single relay terminal intended for Siren control which will trip whenever the siren does. There would be no way to determine what kind of alarm occurred or use any other state like you could potentially do with GC3.
You could however use it to determine when any alarm occurs. For something like the Mimolite, you would use another Z-wave controller (whatever system you want to know when an alarm occurs) and wire the siren output relay right into the Mimolite input trigger.
You wouldn’t even connect the Mimolite to Qolsys, it would just be a wired relay.
You could however use it to determine when any alarm occurs
Yes, I think that should be fine. I don’t really care about what the type of the alarm is (although that would be a nice bonus addition), just that I can trigger off the alarm when it occurs.
You wouldn’t even connect the Mimolite to Qolsys
Just to be clear here, you mean I wouldn’t connect the Mimolite to the Qolsys as a Z-Wave device? But it would however still be physically connected from the siren output relay to the Mimolite input trigger. Then the Mimolite would be learned/monitored by an additional Z-Wave controller (in my case, a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant).
Just to be clear here, you mean I wouldn’t connect the Mimolite to the Qolsys as a Z-Wave device? But it would however still be physically connected from the siren output relay to the Mimolite input trigger. Then the Mimolite would be learned/monitored by an additional Z-Wave controller (in my case, a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant).
Yep, that’s correct. It would just be physically connected to the relay in the panel terminal block, but not learned into the Z-wave network.
So if you need an input voltage, use a separate power supply and run the positive or negative side through the siren relay. It will close when an alarm occurs.
I use the internal connection on the ecolink door/window sensor. It reports a reverse state but I can deal with it with templates in home assistant. Works great.
Yeah, now that I’ve hooked it all up, I think the Mimolite is doing the same thing. Because the sensor is apparently “on” when it is idle, and when the alarm is activated, the sensor actually turns off