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  3. Using mysensors for alarm build?

Using mysensors for alarm build?

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  • B bp_968

    I've been digging and digging for a way to setup a DIY alarm with wireless sensors. It seems that of the options out there I either have to hack together something not intended to be an alarm (openHAB, etc), or use something i'm not totally comfortable with (privateeyepi, which is free but requires internet access so it can "call home"... why does it need to do that?!).

    My problem is any of the off the shelf solutions (even the more DIY focused ones) end up costing 30-50$ per sensor even for window sensors and I have 14+ windows/doors to protect!

    I haven't seen any projects or info about using a wireless/wired bridge setup but am wondering if anyone has done that and if it would be workable? Basically what I'm thinking is you could use the NRF24 (or whatever) sensor builds from mysensors.org and have them talk to a "master" arduino near the alarm hub/console/etc. Then just run direct connections from the pinouts on the arduino to the alarm. Then as far as the alarm is concerned the sensors are directly connected to it. Of course the problem with the idea is at the moment I can barely write a loop to flicker an LED! Guess re-learning C is the priority at the moment (I took it in school 20 years ago).

    Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms?

    I'm open to other radios then the NRF24 series, I just happen to have 4-5 of them already. I also have a handful of the ESP8266 modules and two of the Particle boards (Spark Core and one of the newer Particle models).

    Thanks for any help or suggestions!

    bp

    RJ_MakeR Offline
    RJ_MakeR Offline
    RJ_Make
    Hero Member
    wrote on last edited by
    #2

    @bp_968 Just my opinion, but you really need to re-consider building your own security system. If you are truly trying to "protect" your property, you should think about using professional equipment. From my understanding DSC security systems are very reliable and affordable.

    RJ_Make

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • A Offline
      A Offline
      ahhk
      Hardware Contributor
      wrote on last edited by ahhk
      #3

      Protecting your "home" starts first at the boundary. An alarm-system is the absolutly last option - the bad guy is already "in da house" then. Think about

      • fences
      • hedges
      • lockable windows (dont let the keys in the locks)
      • good neighborhood
      • motion-sensors and bright lights...
      • sticker on the windows (e.g. "house is protected")
      • a dog (?), too.
      • dont post on FB that you are on holiday

      If you do a lot of those things, the internal alarm system can be very simple: Just put some movable motion-sensors in the corridor and important rooms in the ground floor and connect them to a very loud siren outside, to the smoke-detectors inside and to all the lights, rolling shutter you have....just let the house go crazy :D. There is really no need for a "professional" alarm-system for a private (single-family) house in my opinion.
      greetings

      Andreas

      B 1 Reply Last reply
      2
      • B bp_968

        I've been digging and digging for a way to setup a DIY alarm with wireless sensors. It seems that of the options out there I either have to hack together something not intended to be an alarm (openHAB, etc), or use something i'm not totally comfortable with (privateeyepi, which is free but requires internet access so it can "call home"... why does it need to do that?!).

        My problem is any of the off the shelf solutions (even the more DIY focused ones) end up costing 30-50$ per sensor even for window sensors and I have 14+ windows/doors to protect!

        I haven't seen any projects or info about using a wireless/wired bridge setup but am wondering if anyone has done that and if it would be workable? Basically what I'm thinking is you could use the NRF24 (or whatever) sensor builds from mysensors.org and have them talk to a "master" arduino near the alarm hub/console/etc. Then just run direct connections from the pinouts on the arduino to the alarm. Then as far as the alarm is concerned the sensors are directly connected to it. Of course the problem with the idea is at the moment I can barely write a loop to flicker an LED! Guess re-learning C is the priority at the moment (I took it in school 20 years ago).

        Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms?

        I'm open to other radios then the NRF24 series, I just happen to have 4-5 of them already. I also have a handful of the ESP8266 modules and two of the Particle boards (Spark Core and one of the newer Particle models).

        Thanks for any help or suggestions!

        bp

        YveauxY Offline
        YveauxY Offline
        Yveaux
        Mod
        wrote on last edited by
        #4

        @bp_968 Have a look at this post. Regarding door/window sensors it might be close to what you're looking for.

        http://yveaux.blogspot.nl

        1 Reply Last reply
        1
        • TD22057T Offline
          TD22057T Offline
          TD22057
          Hardware Contributor
          wrote on last edited by
          #5

          I think it's a great idea. Who cares whether it's the perfect security or not - it's a useful and fun project to build.

          I'm planning on something like this in the long term (tons of other projects first and I already have an Ademco alarm w/ hardwired sensors everywhere). There are lots of ways you could build an alarm system. You could have an Arduino serial gateway passing sensor messages to a Raspberry Pi and then code up the alarm logic in any language you like on the pi (Python is much easier than C). Since the pi has internet access, it can send emails and run a web server to show alarm status. Or for hardwired alarms without MySensors, a pro-mini and a few input shift registers is probably enough to run a complete alarm system. Or for a MySensors (wireless sensors) build, you could buy an Arduino Mega and put the alarm code in that.

          Remote keypads could either be wireless w/ MySensors messages (ok) or wired with serial or I2C communication (better). I'd love to have a Mega with one of the Itead Nextion touch screens for my alarm keypads. Maybe with a motion sensor that only turns on the display when you're near it. Then the keypad could double as a weather display, general my sensors controller (lights, etc) as well as an alarm keypad.

          1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • A ahhk

            Protecting your "home" starts first at the boundary. An alarm-system is the absolutly last option - the bad guy is already "in da house" then. Think about

            • fences
            • hedges
            • lockable windows (dont let the keys in the locks)
            • good neighborhood
            • motion-sensors and bright lights...
            • sticker on the windows (e.g. "house is protected")
            • a dog (?), too.
            • dont post on FB that you are on holiday

            If you do a lot of those things, the internal alarm system can be very simple: Just put some movable motion-sensors in the corridor and important rooms in the ground floor and connect them to a very loud siren outside, to the smoke-detectors inside and to all the lights, rolling shutter you have....just let the house go crazy :D. There is really no need for a "professional" alarm-system for a private (single-family) house in my opinion.
            greetings

            Andreas

            B Offline
            B Offline
            bp_968
            wrote on last edited by
            #6

            @ahhk said:

            Protecting your "home" starts first at the boundary. An alarm-system is the absolutly last option - the bad guy is already "in da house" then. Think about

            • fences
            • hedges
            • lockable windows (dont let the keys in the locks)
            • good neighborhood
            • motion-sensors and bright lights...
            • sticker on the windows (e.g. "house is protected")
            • a dog (?), too.
            • dont post on FB that you are on holiday

            If you do a lot of those things, the internal alarm system can be very simple: Just put some movable motion-sensors in the corridor and important rooms in the ground floor and connect them to a very loud siren outside, to the smoke-detectors inside and to all the lights, rolling shutter you have....just let the house go crazy :D. There is really no need for a "professional" alarm-system for a private (single-family) house in my opinion.
            greetings

            Andreas

            @ahhk said:

            Protecting your "home" starts first at the boundary. An alarm-system is the absolutly last option - the bad guy is already "in da house" then. Think about

            • fences
            • hedges
            • lockable windows (dont let the keys in the locks)
            • good neighborhood
            • motion-sensors and bright lights...
            • sticker on the windows (e.g. "house is protected")
            • a dog (?), too.
            • dont post on FB that you are on holiday

            If you do a lot of those things, the internal alarm system can be very simple: Just put some movable motion-sensors in the corridor and important rooms in the ground floor and connect them to a very loud siren outside, to the smoke-detectors inside and to all the lights, rolling shutter you have....just let the house go crazy :D. There is really no need for a "professional" alarm-system for a private (single-family) house in my opinion.
            greetings

            Andreas

            Done, done, done, done(lots of police in the neighborhood too), done, not done, don't have one, don't ever post stuff like that on FB. I strongly suspect I have something else you didn't list (because you can't sadly) based on your use of the words "hedges" and "holiday". That's actually the main point behind wanting the alarm, to wake me up if someone breaks in while we are asleep. As long as an alarm goes off and wakes me up then anyone stepping foot in the bedroom is getting shot. Such things are exceedingly rare around here thankfully, of the three I've read about in the past 5 years 2 of them ended very badly for the home invader and one ended badly for the (unarmed) homeowner.

            Anyway, the nerd factor of being able to see the status of all the windows and doors, the temp and humidity and if lights are on in each room, etc all also play a factor in my wanting to build something like this. It sounds fun ;). I've already built a security camera around a PI and that is pretty cool and useful to see who's at the door.

            The problem with motion sensors is the cats and the house is a ranch so "ground floor" is just outside our bedroom and also a high traffic area (even at night, say to use the john without waking the spouse). A dog would be fun just to piss off the cats. Though it's unfortunate you can't really have say a panther or leopard instead. A dog would bark but the big cat would just hide and wait for the free meal.. ;). (The problem being that at some point it's not unlikely the cat would look at you the same way, as a free meal..)

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • sundberg84S Offline
              sundberg84S Offline
              sundberg84
              Hardware Contributor
              wrote on last edited by
              #7

              Hi!

              I have set up my home-security system where MySensors is included.
              I run two raspberry Pi - one with Domoticz + MySensors GW and one as FTP server.

              • In domoticz i use the security panel which is controlled with our cell-phones (location services)
              • I have motion detectors from MySensors reporting movement.
              • If my house is armed Domoticz and motion is detected i get a notification, siren on and so forth...
              • Siren and lights are MySensored.
              • I also run three IP cams reportion motion and adding pics/video to my ftp.
              • I hope these can be used to detect motion in Domoticz in the future.

              Its a fun project - but not so safe as a pro system.
              For example i dont have battery backup if power fails.

              Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
              MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
              MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
              RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz

              lvidal07L 1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • sundberg84S sundberg84

                Hi!

                I have set up my home-security system where MySensors is included.
                I run two raspberry Pi - one with Domoticz + MySensors GW and one as FTP server.

                • In domoticz i use the security panel which is controlled with our cell-phones (location services)
                • I have motion detectors from MySensors reporting movement.
                • If my house is armed Domoticz and motion is detected i get a notification, siren on and so forth...
                • Siren and lights are MySensored.
                • I also run three IP cams reportion motion and adding pics/video to my ftp.
                • I hope these can be used to detect motion in Domoticz in the future.

                Its a fun project - but not so safe as a pro system.
                For example i dont have battery backup if power fails.

                lvidal07L Offline
                lvidal07L Offline
                lvidal07
                wrote on last edited by
                #8

                @sundberg84 What did hoh use to set up your siren? I'm working on my own home security project as well.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • sundberg84S Offline
                  sundberg84S Offline
                  sundberg84
                  Hardware Contributor
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #9

                  @lvidal07 At the moment (5 months later) im using RFLink and 433mhz firealarms.
                  They go both ways - fire => update on Domoticz and push notise. IntruderAlarm => starts firealarm.

                  But at that point I worked on something like this from petewill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNsar_e8IsI&index=9&list=PLGzVpwPAKnPZ6F4fY8AevfVmcHdJFpKma

                  Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
                  MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
                  MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
                  RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz

                  lvidal07L 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • sundberg84S sundberg84

                    @lvidal07 At the moment (5 months later) im using RFLink and 433mhz firealarms.
                    They go both ways - fire => update on Domoticz and push notise. IntruderAlarm => starts firealarm.

                    But at that point I worked on something like this from petewill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNsar_e8IsI&index=9&list=PLGzVpwPAKnPZ6F4fY8AevfVmcHdJFpKma

                    lvidal07L Offline
                    lvidal07L Offline
                    lvidal07
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #10

                    @sundberg84 Thanks for the info. Any reason for the switch?

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • sundberg84S Offline
                      sundberg84S Offline
                      sundberg84
                      Hardware Contributor
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #11

                      @lvidal07 I extended my HA to both MySensors and RFLink/433mhz. There is a manufacturer of firealarms which are good and cheap using 433mhz,

                      Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
                      MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
                      MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
                      RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz

                      fetsF 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • sundberg84S sundberg84

                        @lvidal07 I extended my HA to both MySensors and RFLink/433mhz. There is a manufacturer of firealarms which are good and cheap using 433mhz,

                        fetsF Offline
                        fetsF Offline
                        fets
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #12

                        @sundberg84 said:

                        There is a manufacturer of firealarms which are good and cheap using 433mhz,

                        Care to give a link ? :innocent:

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • sundberg84S Offline
                          sundberg84S Offline
                          sundberg84
                          Hardware Contributor
                          wrote on last edited by sundberg84
                          #13

                          www.nexa.se

                          Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
                          MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
                          MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
                          RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • BartEB Offline
                            BartEB Offline
                            BartE
                            Contest Winner
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #14

                            Hi, i also did build a rflink to MySensors gateway on which all interesting 433Mhz message are translated to MySensors message.

                            e.g. my RFLINK<->MYS presents my weather station (LaCross WS2300) data, klik-aan-klik-uit RC and my Flamingo firealarms

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • fetsF Offline
                              fetsF Offline
                              fets
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #15

                              thanks both of you

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                              • sundberg84S Offline
                                sundberg84S Offline
                                sundberg84
                                Hardware Contributor
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #16

                                @BartE Haha, that flamingo alarm looks exactly like my Nexa alarm... :)

                                Controller: Proxmox VM - Home Assistant
                                MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - W5100 Ethernet, Gw Shield Nrf24l01+ 2,4Ghz
                                MySensors GW: Arduino Uno - Gw Shield RFM69, 433mhz
                                RFLink GW - Arduino Mega + RFLink Shield, 433mhz

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • lvidal07L Offline
                                  lvidal07L Offline
                                  lvidal07
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #17

                                  Thanks as well. I decided to go with this alarm, http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/252094388277?dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2F252094388277, probably more than I needed to pay, but I liked the idea of a strobe alarm.

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