House alarm upgrade

No contact - just a Pay As You Go SIM with credit that doesn't disappear at the end of the month. Running cost of mine around £1.50 year.

GiffGaff SIMs are PAYG with the credit never running out. You only have to use the number (sending a text message will do) once every 6 months(?). I have a third party GSM module in my bell box that is programmed to send me "I'm still alive and working" text message every two weeks and if the alarm is triggered it will send an appropriate text to any number(s) programmed in its memory. The former message(s) satisfies the need to use the SIM every 6 months.

My GSM module can be fully programmed via text messages from a mobile phone. It can also send interactive text messages - for instance I query the received signal strength and it returns an instant text message with the figure.

With GiffGaff you can subscribe to a (monthly) data/phone/text package that does expire on a monthly basis but this is optional. These additional monthly packages are called Goodybags/Databags but you really don't need them for a SIM in an alarm. Just put some ordinary credit, say £10, on the PAYG SIM and the appropriate fee is deducted from this credit for the texts sent (5p per text).

I also keep a throw away phone in my car with a GiffGaff SIM with £15 of credit for emergency use. I just have to remember to make one phone call on it every 6 months to keep the SIM alive. The same credit has been on that phone/SIM for at least 3 years.

That sounds interesting so the module is in the bell box itself? Do you have the make / model of the gadget by any chance? Assume there is a "permanent" live feed to the bell box?

It was fitted very many years ago and an early version similar to....

I have a Texecom Premier Elite alarm which has a wired connection to the Internet. This gives me complete control over the alarm and disagonotics from anywhere I can get an Internet connection. I get emails if there are issues.

Note the warning in this latter document that this does NOT support a 3G only network.

A quick search suggests that there may be similar products from other manufacturers that may have more functionality.

I'd go for this one myself. Much more convenient to be able to check the camera to see if it?s a false alarm or not and plenty of bandwidth with the new fiber service so you can get a decent moving image from the camera.

I get email reminders when it's going to expire and a 'we missed' you after I do.

I think the O2 321 PAYG tariff might be cheaper than GiffGaff, if not calling another GiffGaff phone etc (depending).

Cheers, T i m

I'm about to put something similar together using a ESP32 SIM800L:

If you have VoIP, then they will offer some form of adaptor that will present an interface that looks just like an analogue phone line[1], and will respond to tone dialling in the same way the real line does. So chances are the modem in the alarm would be unaware of the change.

They will normally take any sim, so it could be a PAYG one - so long as it makes some kind of call at least once every six months to keep the number "connected"

There are - although research the security carefully and make sure the setup is done well, since there are loads of "security" systems out there making camera feeds available to anyone able to google!

Like the idea of using and ESP32. I have done a bit of development using them so would be nice to include. How do you plan on integrating it with the alarm system? Would be super cool to be able to control the the alarm via ESP32 too

Hi Tim,

You inspired me to do a little Googling on the ESP front. Not sure if you have seen this.....

thanks

Lee.

Hi Lee,

No, I hadn't (so thanks).

Sounds good. ;-)

In answer to your previous questions:

I have played a little bit with one and got it working (phone app activated WiFi webserver) but was more interested in the very 'remote' features of something that could send a text upon some specific change of status.

You could be handy to know then as the software side really isn't my thing. I can copy and paste bits and sometimes join bits together and make them work but only if I'm lucky. ;-(

FTF I didn't really got that far and step one was going to be a stand alone thing to just notify me of any movement in the back garden (for starters / testing etc), 'manually' linked to a remotely viewable CCTV system.

Sure, and I have seen several commercial systems that can do such but they never seem to tick all the boxes or be affordable if they do.

I was hoping (amongst the millions of other projects I have on the go) to be able to put together a reliable, versatile and resilient system that I could fix myself rather than just having to chuck a panel away and buying another one and having to put up with it's shortcomings.

Cheers, T i m

The software side of things I am fine with. The software architecture of the ESP32 is much better than the ESP8266. It is the hardware side that I am less comfortable with. Also, know very little about house alarms. The link I sent to the company website seems to have a board that you wire into the existing alarm system which allows the existing one to trigger the alarm. The board somehow piggybacks on this and gets notified when the alarm is tripped and also somehow enables the alarm to be set/ disabled via the board. The product selection wizard seems to talk about having a free keypad connection on the alarm.

The installation videos for this seem to give some clues. Looking at the Honeywell one they clip some "T Clips" on to 4 wires in control panel and that seems to be alarm integration done. Alternative is to wire into the keypad.

Could be handy then. ;-)

Ok.

Hardware, electrics / electronics or all?

The thing is, there are so many, ranging from the very simple to the highly sophisticated it might be tricky to know the operational details on all. However, if you think of them like a 4/ engine that hasn't really changed for 100 years, alarms can be quite easy.

Basically you will generally have a central box where (historically) all the wiring would join and with a key then keypad to enable it. Wireless has removed most of the wiring (to sensors and the like) and then you go 'smart' where you can manage it on an app (like HIVE heating etc).

I did build a Maplin Electronics alarm kit but then bought a commercial one for reasons I can't remember. It has a remote keypad in the bedroom so you can set / unset various zones when in bed and get audible / visual indication if a zone is tripped (inc the external doors).

I would be looking for something as a base to provide the basics, wired and ideally without a microcontroller and with a circuit diagram. ;-)

The one I say you took out their 'panel' and wired in the new replacement, plus the GSM module if you wanted?

That bits is easy (with the ESP32 / GSM module and your coding). ;-)

I have played with the outputs of an ESP32 over WiFi and BT so know that works as well. Not sure how you would do it via texts though but I'm sure you might. ;-)

That is also possible (and you can get Arduino based keyboards). However, a RFID fob might be easier, if you are there, with a physical keyswitch as a backup / override?

Cheers, T i m

Good point.... it is the electronics side I am less comfortable. I understand what everything does but then designing a circuit with the right things in the right place not so good.

My thinking here is that the software to control the alarm, detect a triggered sensor, manage zones etc etc. is quite involved and is clearly critical to the solution. Unless there is some ESP32 opensource code out there this my be an initial step too far. As a first step it would be easier to let the existing alarm do all of that (that's what it was designed and tested for) and then interface the ESP32 to that. Initially detecting when an alarm is triggered - I assume that something like assuming the ESP is another siren and writing the code to detect the event and do something (e.g. send SMS). As mentioned no idea what the wiring for this would look like. Next step would then be to try and arm/ disarm it using the ESP32. I assume this is a bit like the ESP being a keypad but assume there is some protocol between the keypad and main unit.

If you are able to figure that bit out for my (and yours?) alarm I am happy to figure out the SMS coding bit :)

Yes I have done the Wifi connection with ESP32 before and getting it to run a web server so you can interact with it. Have also dabbled with their ESPNow protocol.

As an initial step was assuming the existing keypads would be used to arm/ disarm but yes moving to something else subsequently would be a good idea. Depending on how the other bits go, in theory there would be all sorts of options e.g. a tablet on the wall, an SMS from the phone, mobile app etc etc.

If you are keen to collaborate and go down the path together, let me know. :)

I have some ESP32's but not one with the Sim card so would have to source one if we do look at this.

thanks

Lee.

Yes code looks straight forward. Will try and order the ESP you recommend today.

Not sure how I get your email address on here though as probably easier to flip to email?

Cool. It was actually the one recommended by the author of the project but if you are going to start with something I think it makes sense to start with a semi-known. ;-)

I thought they appeared at the top of all postings but I've PM'd you in any case.

Cheers, T i m