Vista 20P Integration

Hi everyone. I am not actually a new user of Indigo but I never used it to its full potential in the past. I had installed a few Insteon light switches in a prior home and mainly used it to turn on the porch light and some basement lights that my kids always left on. We moved into a new house and I'm looking to install more automation this go around. Like my prior setup I have some Insteon light switches and a Honeywell Vista 20P. This time I have both the VAM module for the 20P and the IPDataTel BAT. I'm wondering if either of these can be used to interface to Indigo. I'd like to utilize the sensors as well as the armed status in my automation scheme. I know there is a USB adapter for the Vista panel but I'd prefer to use the WiFi or z-wave in the VAM or the Ethernet interface of the BAT. I couldn't find any information on the forums so I'm asking here for ideas.

Thanks

Nobody has any ideas.

I'd be willing to write a plugin if I knew where to start. I do industrial automation and have programmed in a lot of languages but for automation it usually is a PLC language.

There's a plugin guide on the main indigo website with sample plugins you can look at. It's all Python based which is fairly simple (even I, a complete numpty, have been able to pickup the basics without much effort). I've noticed that most people when writing their first plugin tend to get started then post on the forums with particular questions as the project progresses.

... I have some Insteon light switches and a Honeywell Vista 20P. This time I have both the VAM module for the 20P and the IPDataTel BAT. I'm wondering if either of these can be used to interface to Indigo. ...

The ipDatatel protocol is closed. It connects the BAT directly to the ipDatatel "cloud" service. I have not sniffed the packets, but I would be almost certain they are encrypted. Further, the BAT does not listen on any ports, so there is no way to contact it with your own process. You might be able to hack an interface to the ipDatatel web server and watch for events in the log. But, a) I'm not sure that would even work, and b) it would have a lot of latency.

I do not know the VAM. But, just based on Honeywell's description it seems to be a home controller and may just treat the alarm panel as something to be managed. It might also be possible to configure the panel to see the VAM as a Relay and send control messages to it. Good luck on that

If you really want to use the 20P as an input for Indigo I suggest you look at AlarmDecoder.com and their ad2* products. You'd probably want the ad2pi or the ad2usb and your own Pi. You can then use the ad2usb plugin to connect to the Pi over your LAN and get the interface you are asking for. BTW, since the ad2* interface, like the BAT, sits on the alarm panel's bus you can use both at the same time without conflict -- in fact, that is how my system is setup.