Indigo Domotics

Hi,

We just moved to a house with a PC-1616 alarm and RFK5500 keypad. Now I am thinking about integrating the alarm with my Indigo setup.

Does the plugin support EnvisaLink EVL-4?
I read on the forum that the previous version EnvisaLink 3 didn't send the LCD text updates to the plugin. Is it the same issue with this version?

Thanks!
Peter

The documentation on the says it's "already compatible" with many assorted things via the "TPI" (third-party interface), so that sort of suggests yes, and the forum posts (e.g. http://forum.eyez-on.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2027) I was able to find suggest the EVL-4 is a drop-in replacement for the EVL-3. But I'd really like to hear some confirmation before I commit to a purchase.

Sorry, I've only got the EVL3 so can't comment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did anyone end up purchasing the EVL-4, and does it work?

rhanson wrote:

Did anyone end up purchasing the EVL-4, and does it work?

I bought one and it works. Haven't done anything advanced with it, just got the communication working between the envisalink and the Indigo plugin with the DSC zones showing their status.

Peter

The EVL-4 works great with the plugin and should work just like the EVL-3. It does not support virtual keypads, i.e. the alarm panel does not push updates of the LCD display to the plugin. However, it supports many other things that the older serial interface cannot handle, e.g. zone bypass.

So the alarm system in the house I just bought seems to be old and needs to be replaced. This is from an alarm installer that I trust. He'd like to put in a newer DCS system, but the last house I had had an Ademco panel, and I'm confident about getting that kind of panel connected via the AD2USB module to indigo...

The DSC panel would need the newer EnvisaLInk EVL-4, which I'm prepared to purchase, but before I get the green light to this upgraded alarm panel and spend the money for the EVL-4, any ideas or suggestions about whether this is going to be an uphill battle to learn? I'm assuming connecting the panel thru ethernet to Indigo is pretty straight forward, but is there any "show stoppers" I should be aware of?


I was able to arm and un-arm the ademco panel thru indigo, and if there was an intrusion, Indigo would text me, usually well before the alarm company could actually call me. I don't quite understand what the advanced operations MIGHT be, but would be happy to explore them in time... but mainly trying to get a feel for how hard integrating the new DSC panel might be into Indigo, and getting some basic functions working....

And lastly, does the plugin work with the latest version of Indigo, and would the AD2USB device connect directly to the new DSC panel and work with the plugin?

There is no learning curve with the EVL-4 but of course it takes some time to get the DSC programmed.

The EVL-4 gets hardwired into the DSC panel and then connected via ethernet to your router. The EVL-4 can be registered with EyezOn as a redundant feature, and again this is easy. The setup in Indigo to communicate with EVL-4 is very easy too. As long as your DSC panel is properly programmed with correct zone types and partitions, the programming in Indigo is straightforward.

The plugin gives you a lot of control over your alarm system and basically integrates all those sensors you have into your Indigo setup. If you read the "Installation and Information" section you can get an idea that there is much more than arm/disarm and getting notifications. about intrusions. You can also setup visual control pages so you see which zones are open, when they were opened last etc.

And yes, the plugin works with the latest Indigo version and no, the AD2USB device will not work with the plugin.

I use EVL-3 with my DSC system. It works flawlessly with Indigo and was a breeze to set-up. I am able to monitor DSC zones (door/window sensors, motion sensors, leak sensors, smoke sensors, etc), arm & disarm my system, all from Indigo and/or control pages. If I were to do it all over again, I would not hesitate to use DSC and EVL-3 (or EVL-4). I had it connected to my Vera for years and switching to Indigo was a breeze.

Thanks guys.

Just a note the system was installed yesterday morning, and by yesterday afternoon, I had it all set up in Indigo.

this was super simple...

Amen to that. I love that Indigo is stable, reliable, supported, and so easy to set up Plugins, devices and scenes. Worlds apart from some of the past HA hubs I've used.

By the way, I got some pretty ignorant tech support guy from Smarthome on the phone the other day . He said their devices are only guaranteed to work with their Insteon Hub and he cannot promise they will work properly with third party apps like Indigo. It look me some time to have him replace a defective device since he blamed Indigo for not properly supporting it (which is of course totally nonsense). Hope this is not a new trend from Smarthome...

I'm curious, what specific module were you talking to the Smarthome support representative about?

What LCD message does the EnvisaLink won't show exactly? My keypad only shows the time and it's off by an hour half of the year, other than that some random numbers that are supposed to be the zones but the guys who check if I'm alright will tell me over the phone which is it anyway. :/ I don't think it can show anything, it's really old looking, with the '80s alarm clock-type blocky segmented numbers and next to a black framed, flush-screen iPad for Indigo control looks even older, like a big calculator attached to the wall. Do the "messages" refer to the zones' status...um...statuses?

I'm sure it must be at least 7 years old but I asked the monitoring company and my board for some reason is current and compatible with EnvisaLink and the ethernet and serial interfaces from DSC but now I'm a little apprehensive about this messages thing--could you guys elaborate a little? If I open a door or window will it show it's open? Can it query the sensor or does it need to catch the signal and won't update until the next occurrence, or not update at all?