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    Zone Status and Alarm Memory for CADDX Zones

    There is a problem with the CADDX system. Once an alarm enters the "alarm memory" state, we (those of us on the JDS Users newsgroup) can not figure out how to reset it, except to wait for future alarm events to mysteriously overwrite them.

    I had four CADDX security zones in Homeseer showing as "Alarm Memory" when clear and as "Faulted" when faulted. This would make it hard for me to have events triggered on these devices, since I'd have to have it look for a variety of states to match against the "clear" state.

    I manually used the CONTROL page in Homeseer to select the devices and change them from "Alarm Memory" to "Clear". Then I faulted and cleared the zones and saw that they did indeed go back to "clear". This worked even for zones that are in the CADDX panel's current "alarm memory". I am not sure if at some point the CADDX will rebroadcast the alarm memory status of those zones, or whether Homeseer will continue to treat them as "clear"/"Faulted".

    I would almost prefer to have Homeseer only show "Clear" or "Faulted" or "Bypass", since none of the other states are meaningful to me, and since the other states seem to complicate things tremendously when creating events around security devices.

    I suppose I could write a script that periodically goes through all of my security zones and does some "if alarm memory, then set to clear" for each zone. It could do whatever actions are necessary for reacting to "alarm memory" zones.

    RJ, how are the zones set to "alarm memory" and how is this state cleared? Is there some command from the Stargate that clears the alarm memory condition to the plug-in? This is a little troublesome, since those commands could be sent from the Stargate when Homeseer is not running or something else. I don't see an option for polling security devices, so the only way to update them might be manually, as I suggest above? The need is clear - my panel only showed 2 alarm memory zones, yet I had four listed in Homeseer, so clearly they don't update and refresh over time?

    Tim

    #2
    Hi Tim-

    Security is handled on the Stargate through event notifications. Like relays, variables, etc., when a security zone changes state, the Stargate sends out an event notification. This only contains the bits that have changed on a zone, thus if a zone is "Faulted", and then "Clear", all I see from Stargate is "This zone is no longer faulted."

    We don't have a CADDX here, and I don't know what Alarm Memory is exactly. There is no documented way to poll the Security status, so I don't see polling as an option. Can you see if while changing a zone's status to "Alarm Mem" or "Cleared" HomeSeer misses a change? If so, then send me a debug log and I will try to find out what is going on.
    -RJ (HomeSeer Tech)

    Comment


      #3
      RJ,
      When I use zone status to trigger an event in SG, the only information that I use is its fault state. If HS can detect "Faulted" and "Not faulted" and report that, that would be the most useful. Other info is in the "nice to have" category for me, with "Alarm memory" at the bottom of the list.

      If others need additional information I'm sure they will let you know.

      Mike
      Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
      HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

      HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

      Comment


        #4
        Hi Guys-

        Can you give the attached build a try? Click on a security device on the status page, and you will see some new options that allow you to configure your visible values. The plugin will then ignore changes for values that are not visibile (i.e., if you hide Alarm Memory, it will ignore Alarm Memory changes)

        EDIT: Use the HomeSeer updater to obtain the latest version of the plugin
        Last edited by RJ; October 24, 2006, 04:55 PM.
        -RJ (HomeSeer Tech)

        Comment


          #5
          Thanks for the effort RJ.

          But this isn't working for me. I selected to have the security device respond to everything except Alarm Memory. But now the device that has an alarm memory just shows as a blank status - no matter whether the zone becomes faulted or cleared.

          I'm guessing that Caddx only sends an Alarm Memory status to Stargate for this zone, therefore HomeSeer will never know anything else.

          Mark
          Mark

          Comment


            #6
            It works well for me. I have not seen any alarm memory zones come back. Before RJ's fix, I simply manually set those zones to clear, and since then, I haven't seen any peep about alarm memory.


            The fix seems to work. I only wish there was a way to review the settings, or see what they are. I used the "apply to all zones" button, which is great. But I have no way to confirm what my settings are. It would be nice if the current settings were shown in the pull downs, so you could leave them as is or pull them to new values.

            Mark, try manually setting the alarm memory zones to clear. If that doesn't work, re-enable alarm memory, then clear them, then disable alarm memory. Perhaps if you disabled that bit, the zones are stuck in that state. It would work both ways - can't get set there, can't set un-set either?

            Tim
            Last edited by timlacey; October 22, 2006, 02:16 PM. Reason: note to Mark

            Comment


              #7
              Tim-

              I want to make sure I understand this. So when you have a zone with "alarm memory" in Caddx, what do you see on your HS status for that device? I have a blank.

              Then you say you are manually setting the device status in HS to "clear". After that - are you able to see that same zone toggle from "clear" to "fault" and back to "clear" again in HS when you open/close the door/window?

              Mark
              Mark

              Comment


                #8
                Hi Guys-

                I'm no expert on CADDX, but here is what happens in the plugin.

                All devices are imported as "Clear". Whenever a zone changes status on the CADDX panel, the Stargate sends out a message that indicates (a) Which bits have changed and (b) what theychanged to. So, if your zone becomes faulted, I see a message that says : Fault bit changed to faulted.

                What the new version (attached above) does is allow you to ignore certain states. Basically, if you don't care about the "Alarm Memory" bit, set it to "No" and it will be removed.
                -RJ (HomeSeer Tech)

                Comment


                  #9
                  I have also one zone with alarm memory.
                  I think the plugin is doing what we want him to do: reflect perfectly the status given by caddx/Stargate.

                  Still, this can be problematic when scripting, or to have conditions depending on this zone status.
                  I cannot have McsMovement or BLRadar detect the changes of these values and will test further for this.

                  I have just made some tests and I can see that the device value of security devices is changed like this:
                  Devicestring= clear devicevalue=0
                  Devicestring= faulted devicevalue=1
                  Devicestring= Alarm memory devicevalue=8
                  Devicestring= Alarm memory, Faulted devicevalue=9

                  I guess we could then script like this:
                  if devicevalue=0 or devicevalue=8 then ...


                  But, what are the other values(3,4,5,6,7...) used for ?

                  Thanks
                  Pierre, on his way to the caddx manual to clear the alarm memory.
                  Visit zee e-maison : http://www.e-maison.com

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Faulted zones not logging

                    I have downloaded the HS and the SG plug-in to try the latest build. I think I'm seeing the same thing that Mark reported.

                    I tried selecting 'Yes' to zone fault and 'No' to the other three. First, I do not seem to be able to apply the selection to all zones, but it seems to save it for the zone I've selected. However, the dropdown boxes clear after I click the SAVE button. If I then fault the zone, there is no indication in the log. It's almost as if the act of clicking save, actually erases the selection.

                    I haven't done an extensive test, but all devices seem to have been imported correctly and all of the non-security devices appear to be logging as I would expect.

                    Is there something else I need to do?
                    Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
                    HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

                    HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Hi Guys-

                      Uncle Michael-
                      The not saving is normal. This wasn;t implemented in version 2488, but for user clarity I will implement it in a future version. The values are saving correctly, check a device value trigger to verify this.

                      Pierre-
                      Other Values are used with other bits. Here is the bit layout used on CADDX:
                      Faulted = 1
                      Bypass = 2
                      Trouble = 4
                      Alarm Memory = 8

                      In your case, since you are only monitoring Faulted and Alarm Memory, the plugin monitors any combination of these. Cleared = 0 = Neither, Faulted = 1 = Faulted Only, Alarm Memory = 8 = Alarm Memory Only, Alarm Memoy, Faulted = 9 = Both.

                      So, 2 would be Bypass only, 3 would be Bypass and Faulted, etc. This is the best way for the plugin to manage values, becasue the values will not change if you monitor different bits on different zones. Bypass and Trouble bits set will always be 6, whether or not you monitor alarm memory. The purpose of being able to remove certain values was simply a matter of clarity for the user.
                      -RJ (HomeSeer Tech)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RJ,

                        So, I guess we could just test like this:
                        if value is odd then zone is faulted, if value is even zone is not faulted.
                        Right ?

                        Pierre, (never found how to clear alarm memory)
                        Visit zee e-maison : http://www.e-maison.com

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RJ,
                          Thanks for the quick reply. I'm still having a problem with the security devices, I think.
                          1) The status screen shows all zones as 'Clear' even when one is faulted. Refreshing the display has no effect.
                          2) Faulting a zone results in no entry into the log.
                          3) An action triggered by a zone fault does not occur when the zone is faulted.

                          I need to do something more to make HS aware of zone faulting. What do you suggest?

                          Update:
                          I think I may have been clicking buttons in the wrong order. I can now make a zone show up as faulted in the status screen (item 1, above), but still not being logged or triggering an event.

                          Mike
                          Last edited by Uncle Michael; October 27, 2006, 08:01 AM. Reason: New information
                          Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
                          HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

                          HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

                          Comment


                            #14
                            More info

                            Well, I've continued to explore, and the problem (as I expected) is in the operator. I was using device status instead of device value for the security zones. Oops!

                            The faulted zones still do not show up in the log, but do seem to work as event triggers now. Sorry for the confusing post.
                            Mike____________________________________________________________ __________________
                            HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.548, NUC i3

                            HW: Stargate | NX8e | CAV6.6 | Squeezebox | PCS | WGL 800RF | RFXCOM | Vantage Pro | Green-Eye | Edgeport/8 | Way2Call | Ecobee3 | EtherRain | Ubiquiti

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Hi Guys-

                              Pierre- That would be correct. Faulted is 1, so an odd value indicates faulted. Try something like this:

                              Code:
                               Sub Main() 
                               
                              ' Example to check device values
                              ' A1 is the code of the device to check
                               
                              If hs.DeviceValue("A1") And 1 then ' Faulted
                              hs.writelog("JDS", "A1 is Faulted")
                              End If
                               
                              If hs.DeviceValue("A1") And 2 then ' Bypass
                              hs.writelog("JDS", "A1 is Bypassed")
                              End If
                               
                              If hs.DeviceValue("A1") And 4 then ' Trouble
                              hs.writelog("JDS", "A1 is Troubled?")
                              End If
                               
                              End Sub
                              Uncle Michael- Glad to hear all is working! Please let me know if you have any other troubles.
                              -RJ (HomeSeer Tech)

                              Comment

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