Well I took the plunge. I elected the Vista 20p based on the amount of programming flexibility. I presently have everything setup and working just like I wanted with one exception. I ONLY want the x-10 signal to turn the lights in the house when I enter and the system WAS in an armed state. I cannot figure out how to achieve this.

I was able to very easily program an output (*80)turn on the light based on a zone list(*79) for a duration 5 (*177) when a door is opened (faulted) restored (fault cleared) alarm (when the buzzer is going off). Of the three (Trouble does not fit my situation, but I tried it too) the alarm trigger is the nearest to what I want, but I want it to turn the light on during the entry delay. Is there a way I can accomplish this?

Thanks in advance for the input.

 

"I want it to turn the light on during the entry delay. Is there a way I can accomplish this?"

You don't want to use the zone list submenu. You need to use the zone type. This one gives you the option of entering 32 -- Start of Entry Time as the activation condition.

 

Perfect, that did it. Thanks for the help.

Since that was so easy

I do have another question around x10 that just came up. I use an x10 device that will open and close my garage door. If the alarm is armed AND the zone is in a fault position for more than 5 min after being put in the armed state I want the alarm to send the X10 command to the device to change state. I only want it to do this if the system is in an armed state as it is reasonable to assume that I want the door open for hours on end if I am at home and the system is not armed.

I have a wireless sensor attached to the garage door. If the door is open the sensor is in fault. It seems like I would use the *87 menu and assign a "Misc Fault Delay" time to the zone to achieve the delay but I don't know where to go from there to meet the Armed part of the requirement. I would think based on the previous solution (which was by no means clear in the documentation) it would be back in the *80 menu using "System Operation 21 -Arming-away", but I don't know how to put the two together.

 

???

Well, unless you set the door as one of the odd zone types, like a vent zone or monitor zone, you won't be able to arm the system unless the door is closed anyway.

Essentially, you are trying to sneak a boolian logic program into the thing, and these devices really aren't that "smart"

There's really no way to add in a leading time delay to this mechanism.

The best I can think of is to simply send the trigger to close the door on arming.

 

That won't work because I exit from the garage door during the arming delay. What about the interior with delay. What type of options would that buy me if I assigned it that zone type? Or what if I kept it as a Perimeter but set it as normally open? Or change the sensor location to be at fault when closed and have set the system to auto bypass on fault.

Would do any of this help? I got lots of ideas, I just don't know enough about their relationships to put all the parts together. After all I am a systems guy, not a developer.
.

 

The zone type you probably want is "Vent". It's one of the options for the configurable zone types. It will let you arm the system with the door open, then when you close the door, the system will include it in the perimeter. Since it's a configurable zone type, you can also give it an delay independent of the regular entry/exit zone.

The point it, however, that the "automation" of this system is very limited. It is several generations back in terms of processing power and capability (this has a lot to do with the complications of the UL certification process, and the fact that security system designs tend to be very conservative).