Galaxy Dimension Internal Serial Port

[goncall]

Looking at - at least

[Guest old-hand]

and the rest..

Well

[ashields]

All of the pre sales documentation says the Dimension has a built in rs232 which I was convinced was on the screw terminals on the board as I can't think of anything else that would have TX,RX,CTS and RTS signals. I don't actually want it for monitoring (ADT are doing that via POTS) as such but for passive integration with other systems (lighting controllers etc). As for software I will write that myself, I'm initially thinking of using a Lantronix serial terminal server on which I'll install some code to send out UDP broadcasts in response to the incoming SIA protocol messaging, that way multiple devices can alter their behavior in response to the alarm and sensor states without actually having to connect anything else to the panel.

This was all very easy on the panel at my last house but that was a rather more sophisticated system that I installed myself, here the wife wanted police response so I need to work with whatever kit ADT can install, I went for the Dimension rather than the G2 they originally proposed in the hope that it would be more expandable, although to be honest it was a bit of a wild guess due to the general lack of information available from Honeywell.

you will need a 232 i/f and the pc will also need alarm monitor and galaxy gold, are you on digi or redcare/dualcom l cant remember who you lose the digi if you fit a 232 ,you can get manager gold or whatever its called now but it costs

[goncall]

As for software I will write that myself,

This was all very easy on the panel at my last house but that was a rather more sophisticated system that I installed myself,

you dont our help then,were just alarm engineers..

[ashields]

Hmm, I'm just a software engineer - different skill set, I was hoping to find somebody with admittedly very specific experience of the RS232 port on this particular panel in lieu of proper documentation from the manufacturer.

you dont our help then,were just alarm engineers..

[james.wilson]

as you have noted it will send sia (upto level 4) and you will need the protocol if your going to develop something.

If using direct sia then you will need to open your serial port.

problem with doing this this way (if it is indeed enabled) and it not be able to communicate it would have gone into COMM FAIL

You will need to emulate a reciever and send the relevant kiss offs after a succesful serial read.

You might have a better chnace of using the microtech format. Also if you do this you can use a program (available from honeywell / adt) called alarm monitor. This will recieve signals till you sort your application out.

to be honest it may be eaiser to use the event monitor and hook into its db rather than try to emulate a sia reciever.

James

[ashields]

Thanks, I'll look into the microtech format.

However, as you say, if I need to successfully emulate the event monitor to prevent a COMM FAIL there's no chance I could develop that against a live system without annoying ADT and I don't think the wife would be too impressed if I bought another panel just for r&d!

Also I don't think I like the potential of anything as complicated as a PC failing and triggering a call to the monitoring station.

I may just have to get ADT to give me a relay output for full set once I've decided what I'm going to do about my lighting control system and then connect some additional PIR's for room occupancy to that.

as you have noted it will send sia (upto level 4) and you will need the protocol if your going to develop something.

If using direct sia then you will need to open your serial port.

problem with doing this this way (if it is indeed enabled) and it not be able to communicate it would have gone into COMM FAIL

You will need to emulate a reciever and send the relevant kiss offs after a succesful serial read.

You might have a better chnace of using the microtech format. Also if you do this you can use a program (available from honeywell / adt) called alarm monitor. This will recieve signals till you sort your application out.

to be honest it may be eaiser to use the event monitor and hook into its db rather than try to emulate a sia reciever.

James

[james.wilson]

there are a few ouputs on the dimension and if all you need is open close or a few sensors then id definetly look at the relay route.

i to have a gal at home and it is possible to do what your saying, i wrote one... but i did have the protocol and a dev panel