Using one set of PIR sensors to control Heat Genius and an alarm system

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  • Andorin
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Nov 2014
    • 3

    Using one set of PIR sensors to control Heat Genius and an alarm system

    Hi folks,

    I'm wondering if any of you good folks have any ideas on how to do the following:

    I am installing two systems into my house:

    1) Heat Genius, to set temperature in rooms of the house based on my usage patterns
    2) A burglar alarm, must be grade 2 certified

    Both of these systems rely on having PIR sensors in most rooms of the house. For the Heat Genius system, they normally use Z-wave sensors which also have temperature and luminance sensors. The security system PIR sensors are just that.

    What I do not want, is to have two separate PIR sensors in each room. So I am trying to find a way to either:
    a) Have one sensor that can talk to both systems
    b) Have one sensor which talks directly to the alarm system, which then passes the message onto IFTTT, which in turn passes the message onto the API for Heat Genius

    No company that I speak to seems to be aware of how to do this though (although I strikes me as a fairly obvious thing to try and do). Does anybody in the community have any ideas on how to (cost-effectively) do this?

    As an aside, I would also really like it if arming the alarm would then trigger a program which would turn lights on/off throughout the house. So if a system could work with that as well I'd be over the moon.

    Thanks for your thoughts!
  • Vangelis
    Automated Home Guru
    • Sep 2009
    • 131

    #2
    Originally posted by Andorin View Post
    Hi folks,

    I'm wondering if any of you good folks have any ideas on how to do the following:

    I am installing two systems into my house:

    1) Heat Genius, to set temperature in rooms of the house based on my usage patterns
    2) A burglar alarm, must be grade 2 certified

    Both of these systems rely on having PIR sensors in most rooms of the house. For the Heat Genius system, they normally use Z-wave sensors which also have temperature and luminance sensors. The security system PIR sensors are just that.

    What I do not want, is to have two separate PIR sensors in each room. So I am trying to find a way to either:
    a) Have one sensor that can talk to both systems
    b) Have one sensor which talks directly to the alarm system, which then passes the message onto IFTTT, which in turn passes the message onto the API for Heat Genius

    No company that I speak to seems to be aware of how to do this though (although I strikes me as a fairly obvious thing to try and do). Does anybody in the community have any ideas on how to (cost-effectively) do this?

    As an aside, I would also really like it if arming the alarm would then trigger a program which would turn lights on/off throughout the house. So if a system could work with that as well I'd be over the moon.

    Thanks for your thoughts!
    Going with the Alarm system PIR feeding into Heat Genuis - you would check to see what interface your Alarm system has eg RS232 / Ethernet etc. Once this was established, you could use the likes of a Raspberry Pi to to the interfacing locally (as opposed to the Cloud)

    Alternatively if you wanted to go with a ZWave PIR (with all the other sensing options), you could try the Fortrezz (I think) Mini (thingy) which basically will convert a ZWave signal to dry-contact (for your alarm). Problem is (and I am not sure about this) can you have one ZWave Tx locked into two Zwave RX's??

    Vangelis

    Comment

    • toscal
      Moderator
      • Oct 2005
      • 2061

      #3
      is the alarm system wireless or wired.
      If wired could you also run parallel cabling to the PIR and then to the heat Genius. Not too sure if this would actually work in reality as it all depends on if the PIR is a true contact closure or not.
      If wireless then many systems have an adapter that will convert these to a wired signal. Its normally a small box with either 4 or 8 wired contact zones. Each contact zone is linked to a wireless sensor.
      Don't know if any of these suggestion are possible in practice but might be worth investigation further.
      IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
      Renovation Spain Blog

      Comment

      • Andorin
        Automated Home Lurker
        • Nov 2014
        • 3

        #4
        So the heat genius doesn't take wired input. It's sensors normally input through Z-wave, but it will soon have an API that will I believe take input over the internet or via Z-wave from a control device.

        The main problem as far as I can see so far, is that while most alarm systems do give output through RS232, the communication protocol used for this is unknown for most systems. The only integrated systems that I can find are between Texecom and Luxone (which then requires spending ~£500 on the control system) and Visonic and Vera (and the Visonic system is wireless, and I want a wired security system).

        Does anyone know of any other control panels for which interfacing with control system is already sorted out?

        Many thanks.

        Comment

        • Vangelis
          Automated Home Guru
          • Sep 2009
          • 131

          #5
          I currently run Cytech's Comfort Alarm System which has a whole host of interface options

          Some HA users have had good experience with DSC Alarms, which although are US based, will run EU freq's for ZWave etc

          Vangelis

          Comment

          • TokyoRed
            Automated Home Lurker
            • Mar 2015
            • 2

            #6
            Hi - I am trying to solve the same problem, did you find a solution? Would like to reuse HG PIR for home security. Thanks!

            Comment

            • Andorin
              Automated Home Lurker
              • Nov 2014
              • 3

              #7
              Originally posted by TokyoRed View Post
              Hi - I am trying to solve the same problem, did you find a solution? Would like to reuse HG PIR for home security. Thanks!
              I'm still slowly making progress on this.

              I've imported a DSC 1864 Alarm system from Canada. Using an EnvisaLink card to communicate with a VeraEdge Z-wave controller, the PIRs from this alarm system can then talk to the Vera.

              The next step is still a bit in limbo. I rung up heat genius a while back and explained what I wanted to do. One of their engineers explained that they are currently implementing an API which will take occupancy/temperature data over the internet. So once the API is implemented, my plan is to just have Vera pass on occupancy data to the Heat Genius.

              For temperature I've been thinking of running cheap temperature probes into the light socket voids whilst I'm doing rewiring to get neutral cables to light sockets. This part is still just an idea though.

              Comment

              • TokyoRed
                Automated Home Lurker
                • Mar 2015
                • 2

                #8
                Originally posted by Andorin View Post
                I'm still slowly making progress on this.

                I've imported a DSC 1864 Alarm system from Canada. Using an EnvisaLink card to communicate with a VeraEdge Z-wave controller, the PIRs from this alarm system can then talk to the Vera.

                The next step is still a bit in limbo. I rung up heat genius a while back and explained what I wanted to do. One of their engineers explained that they are currently implementing an API which will take occupancy/temperature data over the internet. So once the API is implemented, my plan is to just have Vera pass on occupancy data to the Heat Genius.

                For temperature I've been thinking of running cheap temperature probes into the light socket voids whilst I'm doing rewiring to get neutral cables to light sockets. This part is still just an idea though.
                Thanks for the quick reply Andorin. I'm new to this, buying a house and looking to retrofit with Heat Genius (or similar) and security top of my list. Problem is I need an alarm of some kind straight away so might buy a cheapish alarm system for now and plan things our properly.

                Comment

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