Controlling Envisalink with Siri

[mklips0]

Hi everyone,

I've been able to connect my Envisalink 3 to HomeKit so that I can do things like arm and disarm the system with Siri or any of the various HomeKit apps on the App Store. This means you can tell Siri something like, "Hey Siri, I'm leaving" and it will automatically arm the panel. I published my code on github in case anyone else is interested. At the moment, this only works with Vista panels (not DSC), but I invite anyone who has a DSC panel to extend the code!

Screenshots are available on the homebridge-envisalink github page (see below).

In order to set this up, you will need to have a machine running at home as a server - preferably Linux or OS X based. I am told that this should work without a hitch on a raspberry pi as well if you don't have a home server already. In addition, be aware that (like all HomeKit accessories) you need to have an Apple TV at home connected to Wi-Fi if you care about being able to control the alarm panel away from home. However, if you do not have an Apple TV, everything will still work while your iOS device is on the same Wi-Fi network as your home server.

There are three components to set up to get this to work:

1. Homebridge (github link), a server which acts as an (unofficial, unsupported) HomeKit bridge
2. EnvisaKit (github link), which is my own command-line tool for sending commands to the security panel through the Ademco TPI
3. homebridge-envisakit (github link), my plugin connecting HomeBridge to EnvisaKit

It should be as simple as setting up these three things on your server one by one. I have screenshots and the latest setup steps described on the homebridge-envisakit project page... I find this setup to be really useful, but I am hoping that others are able to put the code to good use as well!

[Cobra]

Wow, that sounds neat. I have DSC and I'll have to take a look.

Have you tried it with iOS 9 and newer? It's claimed that HomeKit no longer needs the Apple TV for external access, but maybe this requires some other HomeKit device?

[Francis975]

DSC EVL3 interactions seem to be well covered in https://github.com/oehokie/NodeAlarmProxy
It's just the question of time for us to make the connection, right?

[mklips0]

It's claimed that HomeKit no longer needs the Apple TV for external access, but maybe this requires some other HomeKit device?

Some HomeKit devices offer remote connectivity through a third-party system, but that's outside of the HomeKit framework. Currently the only remote access into the "real" HomeKit ecosystem is via an Apple TV.

DSC EVL3 interactions seem to be well covered in https://github.com/oehokie/NodeAlarmProxy
It's just the question of time for us to make the connection, right?

That's really cool! Yeah, someone would just need to write a homebridge plugin that uses that module. I would love to myself, but unfortunately without a DSC panel to test with myself, I would have no way to test anything myself.

[Francis975]

As fas as Homebridge (and the HAP-NodeJS underneath) it works great from iOS 9.2. I'm using Siri and Elgato Eve to test and have an Apple TV and can see and adjust the demo devices under HAP-NodeJS, when on the house WiFi and when on the go and on 4G.

[Cobra]

Good news, I will have a look. I was looking for a way to test out Siri integration, thanks for posting here.

[tekuonline]

Hello, this is great.
I tried everything u said and i was able to control panel from cli, i also have home bridge detecting my panel and it shows up on app. But when i send commands through app or Siri i get the error message that says envisakit command failed(127 ) undefined. any help appreciated.

Also what does this commands mean?
$ virtualenv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Thank You.

Here is my error log:
[Honeywell Vista 20P] Getting current state via command: undefined status -j
[Honeywell Vista 20P] Envisakit command failed (127), errors = /bin/sh: 1: undefined: not found

[Honeywell Vista 20P] Getting current state via command: undefined status -j
[Honeywell Vista 20P] Envisakit command failed (127), errors = /bin/sh: 1: undefined: not found

[Cobra]

Also what does this commands mean?
$ virtualenv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install -r requirements.txt

It looks like you need python to use EnvisaKit. virtualenv and pip are python tools.

[Cobra]

Thank you for posting this. I'm working on using DSC and have a couple basic arm and disarm commands working with Siri. It's great to see some voice control working!

[tekuonline]

I am still stuck with this undefined while running through app or Siri.

Any help is Appreciated!

Thank You.

[Honeywell Vista 20P] Getting current state via command: undefined status -j
[Honeywell Vista 20P] Envisakit command failed (127), errors = /bin/sh: 1: undefined: not found

[Honeywell Vista 20P] Getting current state via command: undefined status -j
[Honeywell Vista 20P] Envisakit command failed (127), errors = /bin/sh: 1: undefined: not found