Remote chirp and remote burglary activation via portal

[tomedjo]

Is there a way to “chirp” my Honeywell Vista20 alarm remotely? If we happen to see a shady character on camera approaching our house, we would like to chirp the external sounder to let them know we are aware of them before they actually break in.

Sure, we could disarm the system and go into Walk Mode and it will chirp, but there’s no way we should be disarming our system with this guy approaching the house. So, is there a way to do it while staying armed?

We could remotely activate a full-blown burglary alarm and deal with the police and all. Definitely would do this if the guy didn’t stop. But this would be a distant second choice. We could activate the burglary alarm via one of the A-D front buttons. However, these buttons are in use for everyday things using relays, so we’re hesitant to have one of them programmed for burglary – too great a chance of careless fingers hitting the wrong button. So, the question is – is there a way to remotely activate a burglary alarm without using one of the four front buttons. Perhaps a code of some kind would work. Press and hold *# on the keypad is supposed to work, but not sure it would work through the portal.

Please advise.

[GrandWizard]

If you can figure out a way to do it from a keypad and you can't do it from the portal let us know. I will add a feature request for you. Usually adding a new keycode doesn't take too long for the portal guys to implement.

[tomedjo]

Great!

Still working on the chirp coding, but for now please ask the Portal folks to set up a way for Honeywell Vista20 owners to replicate the "press and hold * and # for two seconds."

Thanks. I will get back to you if I can figure out some coding for the chirp.

[tomedjo]

GrandWizard,

Portal Alarm Activation:
Thanks again for your offer to have the Portal folks program the “press and hold *and # for two seconds” to activate a Panic Alarm remotely. We’re sure they have priority tasks, but could you give us a ballpark guess as to how long this might take? Thanks.

Chirp via Portal:
I’ve come to the conclusion that Honeywell didn’t consider the eventuality of cameras when they designed the Vista20p. No big deal, as I think I’ve figured out a way to get done what I need. I plan to use a relay and Honeywell’s “2-second close” to squawk the external sounder for these 2 seconds. This is certainly longer than I would like or consider needed to get the message across to the shady characters approaching the house. Nevertheless, it will be better than nothing.

Thanks much.

[GrandWizard]

Our Honeywell people have come back and asked why this would be necessary. As far as they know it is just for local keypad configuration and that would not be of much good from the portal.

Can you give us a "use case" that we can go on?

Thanks

GW

[tomedjo]

GrandWizard,

Portal Alarm Activation:
I believe this would be a valuable tool for your customers. Sure, Honeywell designed it to be keypad initiated, but that doesn’t mean it should only be from a keypad. If you look out your window and see a guy using a crowbar on your door to gain entry --- you would go ahead and push and hold * and # to initiate a panic alarm. Sounds like a good idea. In addition, nowadays, lots of people have security cameras and even ones that notify us of motion outside our houses. This is today’s world and if I’m on a beach somewhere and I see that same guy in my cameras at my door using a crowbar on it, I would very much like to set off the panic alarm. Yes, I have more than average physical security, but I don’t think I should have to wait until he actually breaches the perimeter before the alarm goes off. I believe that anyone with cameras would very much appreciate this feature.

I suppose that Honeywell might think that a keypad initiated Panic Alarm deserves a stronger police response, as opposed to the numerous hardware-related false alarms. But, either way, this Panic Alarm is triggered by the person that lives there and they believe it to be a valid emergency. Whether it is in the way we build our security systems or in the way we operate them, we are still responsible for them. Honeywell shouldn’t be allowed to take this away from us.

Just my thoughts.

Thanks again!

[dcuste]

I think the standard vista 20P programing special function key B causes a zone 99 alarm the same as using *# with audible alarm. Anyway, this is the way mine was originally programed. I just tested it by going to my mobile eyez-on portal and then to selected code, and entered B sequence. It worked exactly the same as entering the *# command on the keypad.

What I am trying to tell you is that there is no need for eyez-on to change anything for you to remotely get a *# response from your alarm system. Just try entering a B sequence. If that doesn't work for you, then look into programing your system so that your special function B key, activates zone 99.

[tomedjo]

dcuste,

A "press and hold * and # to activate a panic alarm" would be the only way some of us could use this feature. Yes, Function B was originally programmed as a zone 99 and this does work through the Portal. However, as people also use these Function Keys for everyday things to turn on and off devices or open gates or whatever, even if Function B isn't in use we would greatly prefer to avoid false alarms by not having a Panic Alarm on the button right next to one that we push 10 times a day. Someone will eventually have careless fingers and accidentally push it. Honeywell set up programmable Function buttons and provided "press and hold * and#" for this very situation. It would be a shame not to utilize it. My apologies for not making this clear in my initial post.