Has anyone attempted to interface from HomeSeer controllers to the new Frontpoint security system Hub (which appears to be developed by Alarm.com)? I am interested in connecting a HomeTroller SEL PRO to the devices monitored by the Frontpoint Hub (e.g., motion sensors, glass break, window / door, etc.) - to include in an overall home automation & security application.
-
-
I explored this over a year ago when we got our Frontpoint system. The backend of Frontpoint as you note is all Alarm.com webwork and the hardware is all Qolsys. In fact Qolsys has hardware pieces that Frontpoint doesn't (yet?) support like a separate touch screen monitor with audio you can mount elsewhere in your house. I was able to work with Qolsys to set up this one though (we couldn't even hear the alarm in the kitchen go off from the bedroom upstairs...now we can with the extra monitor) and they filled me in on a few things. There is nothing in the firmware on the Qolsys (and therefore Frontpoint) side to allow for a secondary controller, either Frontpoint being the primary with HomeTroller the secondary or vice versa. You would need that for them to update each other on a device's status. And a given zwave device only can be registered with one controller/system at a time. Thus not possible have a HomeTroller connect to the Frontpoint zwave device directly (btw, some of them are not zwave..like the window and door sensors, the motion sensors and the glass break sensors--so no chance at all of HS talking to them. Their garage door controller, light controllers etc. are pure zwave sourced from other vendors.). And also not possible to have a HS controller talk to Frontpoint since as noted Frontpoint/Qolsys cannot be configured to be a Primary or to have a Secondary (there is no peer relationship in zwave controllers...HS does allow for primary and secondary controllers though..just not Frontpoint/Qolsys).
I did experiment with adding zwave devices into the Frontpoint/Qolsys system, but their firmware at this point is very rudimentary..on/off and that's about it. No If/then or tying motion detector to lights in room, e.g.. I ended up removing any zwave from Frontpoint entirely. The Frontpoint system controls motion detectors and window/door sensors and a temperature sensor---all non-zwave. In two cases I have HomeSeer motion detectors and Frontpoint motion detectors in the same room. Not by preference but by necessity.
What I _could_ see perhaps working is screen scraping from Frontpoint's web pages (aka Alarm.com) and issuing commands through there. But there wouldn't be any sort of mutual updating possible, at least that I could see.
Their new "hub" is not even screen capable...looks like a white brick to me...not sure why they switched.
I certainly would be interested if there was some way for the two systems to update and talk to each other, but not seeing it happen any time soon. I think too on the HS board somewhere there is a warning about alarm systems and primary/secondary limitations. Some of the older systems allowed for RS-232 interfaces or proprietary analogue ones...people wrote scripts and developed hardware for that. But not possible I think for Frontpoint/Qolsys. If you find something out though I'd be very interested.
Comment