Vista 20p with Interface setup

****Hope I"m not double posting, not seeing my latest post and thus re-posting... ****


Hello Dan,


I may be repeating information to give context to others. From reading previous comments, I think alot of this you already know, but trying to give good context in my response for others who may benefit.


Terminals 8 and 9 are the High and Low (respectively) Terminals for the VISTA20P Zone1.  According to VISTA documentation, Zone 1 REQUIRES a 2000 OHM EOLR to provide constant resistance.


Basically, we want to wire this so there are 3 parallel/possible paths for electricity to flow between Terminals 8 and 9 on the VISTA. Which path is taken, depends on which paths are open/closed and which of the closed paths have the least resistance.  (Electrical current flows down the path of least resistance)


So, our 3 paths are defined and wired as follows:


PATH 1: VISTA 20P Port 8 <--wired--> 2000 OHM EOL Resistor <--wired--> VISTA 20P Port 9

 NOTE: This path seems a bit weird in that you are simply wiring the two terminals together WITH 2000 OHM resistor inline.


PATH 2: VISTA 20P Port 8 <--wired--> Relay1 NO  (NO1)  Normally Open, not Normally Closed as Nate demonstrated with a different panel/zone.

 VISTA 20P Port 9 <--wired--> Relay1 COM (COM1)


PATH 3: VISTA 20P Port 8 <--wired--> Relay2 NO (NO2) Normally Open, not Normally Closed as Nate demonstrated with a different panel/zone.

 VISTA 20P Port 9 <--wired--> Relay2 COM (COM2)


When both Relays are Open (normal), electricity cannot flow through the relays and thus will flow will travel through resistor, as no other pathways exist. 


When Relay1 closes, then electricity flows through relay1 where there is minimal resistance and does NOT flow through EOL Resistor.  The VISTA20P board detects the voltage change.  This is a momentary switch and after the 750ms the relay returns back to Normally open, forcing current to flow again through the EOLR and thus returning voltage back to the original reading.  The delay in Hubitat for Relay1 is set to 750ms, which satisfies the "AWAY" arm/disarm for VISTA.


When Relay2 closes, then electricity flows through relay2 where there is minimal resistance and does NOT flow through EOL Resistor.  The VISTA20P board detects the voltage change.  This is a momentary switch and after the 2000ms the relay returns back to Normally open, forcing current to flow again through the EOLR and thus returning voltage back to the original reading.  The delay in Hubitat for Relay2 is set to 2000ms, which satisfies the "STAY" arm/disarm for VISTA.


As you mentioned earlier, it's a bummer we have to use two physical relays for this purpose, as they are doing exactly the same physical function. The only difference is the software configuration in Hubitat setting a different delay time (750ms vs 2000ms). This is really a change needed from Hubitat to abstract logical device configuration from physical device.


My VISTA wiring for terminals 8 and 9 are pretty crowded, since there are now 3 wires in each terminal.  Be careful to make sure all 3 are making good contact with the terminal.  My first attempt one wire was NOT making good connection and VISTA declared the Zone as FAULTED.  I had to correct the connection and then reset the Zone (either via power cycling VISTA board or by deleting the Zone1 configuration in VISTA and re-adding it.  Without resetting the zone the VISTA appears to remember the previous faulted status and not re-initialize the zone.


Of course you can use only one Relay if needed, and you'll just have to set your relay delay in Hubitat to 750ms (AWAY) or 2000ms (STAY) and live with only one option.


Dont forget to reprogram Zone1 to Type 77 for KeySwitch in VISTA!!!


I can try to scribble up some diagrams later and post if it helps. Please let us know how it turns out.


Awesome, thanks, Jason. I would have never guessed to put that resistor between 8 and 9 but I'm also not an EE so most of this is black magic to me anyway :)

Do you think it would be possible to tie the COM and OUT wires of both relays together near the relay with a short loop of wire instead of up at the 8 and 9 terminals? 

Vista Terminal 8 --> EOLR --> Vista Terminal 9

RELAY 2 NO2 --> RELAY 1 NO1 --> Vista Terminal 8

RELAY 2 COM2 -> RELAY 1 COM1 -> Vista  Terminal 9

That's what I've done for my keyswitch on Zone 8 and it is working for me.

Great info here, I think a lot of people will benefit. I hope the Konnected team is paying attention and will get this added to the Konnected docs.

BTW - you must be a seasoned board poster since it looks like you had the forethought to copy your reply to the clipboard before hitting the button. I had the same thing happen to me, I posted something, it didn't show up, so I posted again, then my original post showed up. This board has some quirks.

Cross-posting this here from the SmartThings forum

SmartApp to help arm/disarm Vista panels using the Konnected interface kits - SmartApps & Automations - SmartThings Community

I made something to help me arm/disarm my Vista panel since it doesn't have a way to explicitly disarm the system. This was throwing off my automations and sometimes the system would get armed instead of disarming or doing nothing when the system had already been disarmed by someone at the panel.

SmartThings/STKonnectedKontrol.groovy at main · dwiller11/SmartThings (github.com)

I've got Konnected hooked up to my vista 20P with the interface kit... and now connected to smart things.  Now I have hooked up a relay to use as a keyswitch in unused Zone 07.  and it actually WORKS!  I can arm and disarm the system via smartthings on my android phone.  Here's the problem..  The vista keypads say FAULT 07 - in other words, it shows a fault in the zone with the keyswitch.  I have wired with, and without a resistor, no difference, and I also fully power cycled the panel, also didnt help.  Any ideas? 

congrats on getting it working. Is it showing a fault on zone 7 all the time?


I had this issue on my keyswitch zone too but it went away when I stopped looking at the panel ;)

Well, the fault has been on for a couple hours so far.  Maybe it will go off over the next days or two?

Are you using the NO (Normally Open) outputs on the relay(s)?

YES - normally open

Solution found - moved Keyswitch to Zone 1, and used as NC, not NO...

Next problem - using the Vista Programmable output pins as "triggers" to remotely see status.  I can see the wiring and programming instructions  just fine, but not clear how in Smartthings I would actuall view alarm status?

yeah, the documentation is really lacking on how it all goes together. Unless I'm missing something, the way you do this is to configure two zones on the Konnected panel as contact sensors like a door. One "door" will be for the burglar status and the other for armed vs disarmed. You do this in the Konnected app.

You can invert the zone in the Konnected app to read as open or close when armed/disarmed and burglar status depending on whether you think open means armed or disarmed. So for example, when you arm the system, output 17 will do it's thing and show up as an open door in SmartThings.



Yes, you set it as a “door” or window and it will be open or closed. So when my alarm is not active its closed, so the alarm is disarmed. THen when I activate the alarm it turns to open. I have to automation in smart things set to “if alarm status is open change alarm to armed away” 


I however have not figured out how to get the siren to actually trigger the alarm being used. So i have half of what you are asking about. Which i think is output 17....for me 18 burglar status doesnt work. 

I've got my Konnected hooked up to my 20p, and via smartthings and sharp tools, actually working well!  With one exception (seee attached photo)... When my Alarm Status is turned off... the photo shows the open lock, as I want... but the WORD in the lower right says "closed" - I'd rather it said OPEN.  I was thinking that is simply toggling one setting in the Konnected APP... is that correct?  At this point, I cant figure out how to connect to the Konnect Wifi network... as it isnt showing up! 

Hi Jason H. - is it possible that you can take some pictures of your relays and the overall configuration inside the Alarm box ?


I'd love to see what it looks like to compare.



I everyone, I'm really trying to follow along and get my pro board integrated with my current system, but boy this seems to be a monumental nightmare for those of us who are not from the EE field.  That being said, here's my problem.

 

What I have

 

Home Assistant server (Ubuntu - 

Vista 15p  -  No zone 7 and 8 (this board do not have those soldered with slots)

Konnected Interfact board with 6 zones

Konnected pro board with ethernet jack

@2 - relay switches

 

What have I done

 

a.  followed all Konnected instructions to get the boards configured (Done)

b.  Created the integration for the Konnected boards in Home Assistant (lots of trial/error but fun)

c. Home Assistant configuration and YAMLs so far

Configuration.YAML

default_config: 

 

 

frontend: 

 

 

  themes: !include_dir_merge_named themes

 

 

# Text to speech 

 

 

default_config: 

 

 

tts: 

 

 

  - platform: google_translate

 

 

group: !include groups.yaml 

 

 

automation: !include automations.yaml 

 

 

script: !include scripts.yaml 

 

 

scene: !include scenes.yaml

 

 

alarm_control_panel: !include alarm_control_panel.yaml

 

 

#konnected: !include konnected.yaml

Is this file required

 

 

 

Alarm_control_panel.yaml

- platform: manual

 

 

 name: Alarm

 

 

 code: !secret alarm_control_panel_code

 

 

 disarm_after_trigger: false

 

 

 arming_time: 30

 

 

 delay_time: 20

 

 

 trigger_time: 400

 

 

 disarmed:

 

 

 trigger_time: 0

 

 

 armed_home:

 

 

 

 

Automation.yaml

Too large to paste, however, It appears to work.

 

Secrets.yaml

My code for alarm

 

 

 

 

 

d. With all the above configuration (YAMLS) I can see activity in Home Assistant – if I open a door the entity show open.

d. Performed the vista setup and programming for outputs 17 and 18

e. connected cables to 17 and 18 on Vista board and zones 1 and 6 on the Konnected integrated board

f. Installed @2 relay switches – connected power to pro board and open/comm to vista zone (here is where it gets tricky – Vista 15p – I only have zone 1, 2 or 6 available it appears

 

 zone 1 – seems to not work properly for *56 programming and 77 switch config (tried configuring now get fault 09)

 zone 6 – gives an constant fault message

 zone 2 – are all of my exterior doors – (moved Front door and garge door to zone 2 because of the limitations identified in Konnected documentation and video or zone 1 special purpose)

 

Where do I go from here!  I’m stuck and not sure what the next steps are.  How do I get these relay’s to work.  HELP!!!!

I'm very excited to say that based on the info in this discussion, I've been able to wire up Zone 1 on my vista panel for the keyswitch on a newly purchased Konnected Pro board + 2 interface modules!  Without this discussion and the explanation by everyone here, I wouldn't have been able to get this far.


Although everything appears to be correctly functioning, I do however have a question about whether I'm utilizing everything correctly.  I've programmed Trigger 17 & 18 to follow the armed and alarm status as described in the Konnected instructions.  Also, with the 2 interface modules, each one has a 1 channel relay (correct me if I'm wrong?) and I've used the relay on 1 interface module for the armed-stay function, and the other interface module's relay i've put the armed-away function. 


With this, I feel like everything I wanted from the system is now into the SmartThings platform, except for the disarm function.  For a while now, I was unsure if there was a way to generally "disarm" (i.e. using the shorter contact time to disengage the alarm) because this would require a 3rd relay / output that the Konnected board does not have (the two available are already used by arm-stay and arm-away).  Until recently,  I saw a note indicating that re-activating the "arm" function will actually disarm the system.


  • Is this the only way to "disarm", short of repurposing one of the relays (and obviously lose the functionality of either "arming" functions)?

The other thing I wanted to point out is:

  • Trigger 17 & 18 are programmed to follow the "armed" status and the "alarm" status.
  • The two relays are programmed to "arm-stay" and "arm-away".
So within the SmartThings app, it seems like at a glance there are a few spots where it is very easily perceptible to point out whether the system is armed or not.  I had a brilliant idea and was thinking maybe I could program the trigger that follows the "armed" status and use that trigger to follow a wireless motion sensor zone, which the Konnected boards don't natively do.  At least this gets me 1 wireless zone instead of none.  Is this possible?

This is what I meant by various sites to tell what armed status …

I went for it and now have the main 2nd Floor wireless sensor monitored instead of having the arm status. Works like a charm.

Last item on my list, I don’t suppose there’s a “device” that houses all the functions of the Konnected board? What I mean is something like a dashboard that has the number pad shown, with all the status of sensors, a time log of when/which sensors/contacts triggered, etc.

I think this is the last step in my quest to replacing my previous alarm system integration (Alarm Decoder).

Hi J Tang, Is it possible to provide a pic of your relay setup ?


I have the two interface boards but must have missed the instructions whereby I used them each for the relays.  I'm going to go back to the relay setup and see what I missed.

Hi J Tang,


I have a few questions  and may have had the light bulb turn on (as dim as it is).   

    a.  Do you have the interface module that contains the relay built on ?  

    b.  when you connect 17 and 18 outputs - do you have one of those outputs on either of the interface boards ?    

    c.  If you have the interface board with the relay, do you have to connect both interface boards GRND and VERF to the Vista ports for voltage reference ?


There was something you said about the relays that peeked my interest in these boards then I discovered "RELAY" on the damn board.  None of the darn documentation says anything about a damn relay on the konnected board.


If possible, please poste a pic of your relay/board if combination or individual relay connectivity.

Any idea what I've configured incorrectly - see attached file for connections on my boards.