We just bought a home equipped with a vista-10se. I'm interested in converting it to be accessible over the internet. I'd much rather send an alarm to my smartphone over ip than pay some company to be intrusively involved in my life for $30/month.

Can someone point me to information on modifying an existing system so that I can connect it to my home PC? Once the system information is PC accessible it can be sent anywhere.

Thanks,

M

 

Hokay, you have to realize that this is actually a pretty basic system, and alarm systems haven't fully integrated into the computer age in many ways.

Ademco makes a serial interface module (4100sm) that works with some of it's panels that, while intended for a printer output, could possibly be used to generate the compute output you want, depending on your computer savvy, but it's _not_ compatible with a V-10se.

Basically to do what you want, you will need to look at a different panel.

 

I have a Vista 50 and that's exactly what I did. I have a Linux server connected to the panel via the 4100sm that "monitors" the alarm. It logs all of the activity in a database (MySQL) for historical purposes. I haven't added the code to page me when something happens yet, but that part will be cake compared to actually getting it connected and communicating.

 

I purchased my house back in April and had the same problem (10SE, but didn't want to pay for ADT to monitor me). The 10SE has very little expandability. I ended up replacing my 10SE panel/keypads with a 20PS system (really a SafeWatch 3000). The 20PS allows you to set up pagers that the system will call. There may be other solutions possible (like unsing an advanced home automation system to send an email to your IP phone), but I this works for relatively minimal cost/effort.

First, you'll need to know the number for directly leaving a message on your cell. This is not your cell phone's telephone number -- for me it's the number I call to check my messages. What you want is for outside callers (the alarm system) to have the option to "leave a numeric page". What you don't want is to directly call your cell phone: if you inadvertently picked up when the alarm was calling, you'd just get an earful of tones (without knowing what the message was).

Next, you'll need to script out the buttons to push to get through the automated system. For example, I need to press 5 to leave a numeric page, but I also have to wait pause to let the recorded voice transfer the call. It took some trial and error, but it works. When the system calls I get a message like 1011005 (alarm disabled in partition 1 by user 005).

Let me know if this will work and I can get the specifics out of my alarm's control panel.

 

I would like to self-monitor an ademco vista 10se system. It currently dials ADT, but I would like to change the dialer to call my home or cell. Is this possible to change the settings via the keypad?

 

The vista 10se has a pager feature, but it was designed to be a secondary dial out. I'm not sure if it will work without the primary dial number. I would advise recording the original settings before you try it. If it was installed by ADT, the installer code will be usually 6321.

Yes, you can alter the programming from the keypad (if it's not been installer locked with the software), but you will need at least the programming forms to keep track of what you are doing. (The vista 10se is another one that the installer manual and programming forms are two seperate publications).

 

Guys,

If you can have a network cable near the alarm panel you can try www.nextalarm.com.

They are a monitoring service that monitor over internet and you can arm, disarm and do all functions from the internet. They also provide SMS sent to pager.

Their service is $8.95 / month if you sign up for one year or $14 / month without contract.

All you need is a Contact ID enabled alarm system and a adapter ($50 ) to connect the panel to any internet based monitoring service.

I have their service and its great ... try it and you will like it ..

let me know if you have any questions.
Arvin