Premise Caddx help?

First I just wanted to say that the increased activity on the forums here has been great to see and it has motivated me to pick up Premise again.  Keep up the great work, everyone!

I have a Caddx NX-8E, but the on-boad serial port failed after a lightning storm, so it's hooked up with the Automation Module.  Anyway, I can get Premise to see the panel.  Port Status is Opened, Firmware says 2.00, Communication Error box is empty, and Partition 1 Status accurately reflects the ready/not ready status of the panel... All of which to me suggests a good connection.

My problem is that I can't seem to get my doors and windows to reflect their open/closed status.  I bound a Door Sensor to zone 12 (each door/window has its own zone in my system), but opening/closing the door does not change the DoorOpened state.  If I bypass the door's zone via the alarm keypad, that does show up in the DoorSensor's snapshot.

I'm not sure what direction to go to troubleshoot this, so if anyone has any suggestions, that'd be great.

Thanks again!  Can't wait to see how the new jQuery UI stuff shakes out!

Only Zones? That's a very selective failure mode.

The CADDX driver is a "Native Driver" meaning it is a DLL file and none of its source code is visible; we have no ability to observe its internal operations or change its operating behaviour.

I doubt it will make any difference but try binding an NX-8E Zone to a SecurityZone object instead of a DoorSensor and see if makes any difference.

I think possibly more got damaged in your board.

It's been a while since I looked at my NX8e with the DL-900 software. Will it show zone status when connected to the panel?

Ok, did some testing. I don't see anywhere in the DL900 software to see individual zone status. Can you point me in the right direction? If I open up the Diagnostics window in DL900, I do see all sorts of The Matrix-y text go scrolling by as I trip different zones. So it seems that data is being received by the PC's serial port. And in Premise, the partition's SecurityState and SecurityReady fields update in real-time when the panel is ready / not ready to arm. And when the panel is ready, I can hit the StayArm check box, and it arms the panel in stay mode, like it should. The things that aren't working are individual zone status and disarming. For disarming, I tried entering both my regular arm/disarm code and the master programming code, but both get rejected as invalid. It just seems strange that, as 123 said, there are such specific failures. It's like I have something configured incorrectly, but I've gone over the programming settings for the Automation Module several times and they match what is specified in the help file for Premise. *shrug*

Anyway, the other question I have is... Assuming I get the zone status stuff sorted out, I don't see where I can bypass zones from Premise. Right now, when we head up to bed, if we have some bedroom windows open, we manually bypass them so that we can arm the panel in stay mode. Half the purpose of this whole exercise for me is to be able to control the panel remotely, so it'd be a bit of a drag if there was no bypass capability. Anybody have any ideas on that?

Thanks again for your help, everybody.

nauticus25 said:

Ok, did some testing. I don't see anywhere in the DL900 software to see individual zone status. Can you point me in the right direction? If I open up the Diagnostics window in DL900, I do see all sorts of The Matrix-y text go scrolling by as I trip different zones. So it seems that data is being received by the PC's serial port. And in Premise, the partition's SecurityState and SecurityReady fields update in real-time when the panel is ready / not ready to arm. And when the panel is ready, I can hit the StayArm check box, and it arms the panel in stay mode, like it should. The things that aren't working are individual zone status and disarming. For disarming, I tried entering both my regular arm/disarm code and the master programming code, but both get rejected as invalid. It just seems strange that, as 123 said, there are such specific failures. It's like I have something configured incorrectly, but I've gone over the programming settings for the Automation Module several times and they match what is specified in the help file for Premise. *shrug*

Anyway, the other question I have is... Assuming I get the zone status stuff sorted out, I don't see where I can bypass zones from Premise. Right now, when we head up to bed, if we have some bedroom windows open, we manually bypass them so that we can arm the panel in stay mode. Half the purpose of this whole exercise for me is to be able to control the panel remotely, so it'd be a bit of a drag if there was no bypass capability.

Click to expand...

Like I said in my above post, I don't know if the DL900 does show zone status.

As far as your arming, you already have interior zones specified for your stay mode, but want more based on manual bypass input?

BraveSirRobbin said:

Like I said in my above post, I don't know if the DL900 does show zone status.

Click to expand...

I misread your first post... Thought you meant you knew that DL900 showed zone status, but were asking what mine showed. Sorry about that.

BraveSirRobbin said:

As far as your arming, you already have interior zones specified for your stay mode, but want more based on manual bypass input?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand your question... I don't think I want to reconfigure zone types based on what I'm bypassing, but I'll be the first to admit that I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm pretty new to this and the Caddx manual isn't exactly written for laymen.

Anyway, regarding bypass, this is how I have things configured: Entry doors are zone type 3 (entry/exit delay 1), glass breaks and downstairs windows are zone type 6 (instant), and the motion detectors and upstairs windows are zone type 5 (interior follower with auto-bypass enabled). I left the upstairs windows as type 5 so that we could have them open while at home without tripping the alarm. Right now the nightly ritual is to stand at the keypad, check that downstairs windows are closed, and manually bypass any upstairs windows that are already open, which we have to do otherwise we aren't able to arm the alarm. Then we arm-stay. What I'd like to be able to do is (assuming all doors and windows are closed downstairs) do all the bypassing from Premise without having to stand at the alarm's keypad.

I had a peek at the manual for the NX584 Automation Module. What caught my eye was that this device requires configuration. You can set its communications speed and specify which parameters it reports to the external Home Automation device.

I checked Premise's Help and, sure enough, the included CADDX documentation describes how to configure an NX584. Did you complete this step?

If not, here is where you need to go:

1. In Builder, select Help > Contents
2. Do either of the following:
   1. Enter CADDX in the Search tab.
   2. Navigate to Device Setup > CADDX > NetworX and select NetworX NX-8e Panel

In the documentation, steps 1 through 3 describe how to configure communications and, given that you are receiving data, these steps can probably be skipped (but confirm them). Steps 4 and 5 configure what the NX-8e will transmit to Premise and that's where you need to focus your attention.

I browsed the CADDX driver's properties and the Zone object has a Bypass property however it is read-only. This property cannot be used to bypass an individual Zone.

The Partition object has two properties whose names suggest they perform some sort of bypass function:

• BypassInteriors - Bypass interior zones
• GroupBypass - Designated group of zones will be bypassed

These properties are Momentary Booleans which means they are triggers (they don't describe something's state, they just activate it). Click GroupBypass and it will cause "Designated group of zones will be bypassed".

I believe you can configure your second-floor bedroom windows in a "designated group of zones" (via the NX-8e's keypad) and then trigger the GroupBypass property to bypass them. Trigger it again to unbypass the group.

DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about CADDX alarm panels. Everything you read below is based on reading the manuals and making an educated conclusion.

On page 6 of the NX-8e Installation and Startup manual it states:

Group Bypass - A designated group of zones can be programmed to bypass by pressing [Bypass]- [0]-[Bypass]-
[Bypass] prior to arming. (See locations 111-169, pages 33-37) NOTE: For UL installations, this feature shall be
disabled.

On page 33, I believe the zone parameter that includes a zone in the "designated group of zones" is found in Segment 2, Option 6:
6 = On if Zone Type is included in the group shunt.

Given that you can activate a Group Bypass from the Nx-8e's keypad, you don't need Premise unless you want Premise to automatically perform this operation according to a schedule.

123 said:

The Partition object has two properties whose names suggest they perform some sort of bypass function:

• BypassInteriors - Bypass interior zones
• GroupBypass - Designated group of zones will be bypassed

These properties are Momentary Booleans which means they are triggers (they don't describe something's state, they just activate it). Click GroupBypass and it will cause "Designated group of zones will be bypassed".

I believe you can configure your second-floor bedroom windows in a "designated group of zones" (via the NX-8e's keypad) and then trigger the GroupBypass property to bypass them. Trigger it again to unbypass the group.

Click to expand...

Awesome. I had a sneaky suspicion something like Group Bypass would be the answer, and there it is. Thanks for that! I have gone over steps 4 and 5 for the NX584 a few times just to make sure I have the settings right. Perhaps because I have the NX-8E, it's not expecting to have to deal with a NX584 and something's getting mixed up there. Who knows. I think I may try the on-board serial port one more time just to confirm it's fried, then throw in the towel and get a new mainboard. I'm not really looking forward to re-wiring everything, but I think I'll be able to back-up my programming with DL900 and re-load it on the new panel, which will save a bit of time.

Thanks again for your help!

I wrote a CADDX plugin for Housebot years ago, and while never coming accross anything specific like that, there is a fair bit of config to double check.

I actually wrote into my script to check the CADDX settings and flag "ok" or "this needs to change to this". It made it easy for the folks that used the script... they could see instantly what was not set right.

I also recall some differences between the 584 and the onboard seial. i think there are settings to make sure zone & partition events get pass properly to the 584.

Tim

I installed the trial version of Homeseer last night to see what would happen. In my brief testing, it seemed to work pretty well. All zones showed up, and although status wasn't pushed live to the IE browser, upon refresh, tripped zones showed up as such. And they were individually bypassable. I think the group bypass mentioned by 123 is a better solution, but didn't have time to explore how to do that in Homeseer last night.

Anyway, the bottom line was that since Homeseer seemed to function okay, I think my problem is how I'm configuring Premise. Or configuring the Caddx to talk to Premise. The only real difference I noticed between the two was that Homeseer requires ASCII communication, whereas Premise seems to prefer binary.

If anyone has successfully used a Caddx with Premise, I'd love to hear about it. I'm assuming that since the Caddx is the only panel even listed in the help file, it ought to work pretty well.

FWIW, in my expeditions through Google land I ran across the documentation for the serial protocol for the Caddx. It seemed pretty interesting, but slightly over my head:

http://www.diysecurityforum.com/index.php?topic=28565.0

nauticus25 said:

.. I'm assuming that since the Caddx is the only panel even listed in the help file, it ought to work pretty well.

Click to expand...

It's the only one listed in the help file because it is the only native driver you have installed on your Premise system.

Each native driver can (optionally) append its own help information to the main help file. Unload the driver and it's help info will be removed as well. Add another security panel driver (Ademco, HAI) and you'll see its help info appended to the main help file. This behavior does not apply to drivers written as Modules, only native drivers.

Enjoy using Homeseer. It's a mature product with a comprehensive selection of drivers.

I'll give it a try over the weekend and let you know.
Tim

123 said:

It's the only one listed in the help file because it is the only native driver you have installed on your Premise system.

Each native driver can (optionally) append its own help information to the main help file. Unload the driver and it's help info will be removed as well. Add another security panel driver (Ademco, HAI) and you'll see its help info appended to the main help file. This behavior does not apply to drivers written as Modules, only native drivers.

Click to expand...

Well that's pretty spiffy. Here I thought I was special because I was using the only panel listed in the help file. Heh heh.

123 said:

Enjoy using Homeseer. It's a mature product with a comprehensive selection of drivers.

Click to expand...

I'm having fun figuring out Premise, and while Homeseer does work with the Caddx, it's price is waaaay out of my budget. So, I'm sticking here. More troubleshooting this weekend. Thanks for your continued assistance!

Timoh said:

I'll give it a try over the weekend and let you know.
Tim

Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to it! Thanks!

I didn't get around to testing CADDX on Premise on the weekend... The wife was out and I was baby-sitting (apparently it's not baby-sitting if it's your own kid). Since my CADDX is configured for Housebot, I need to some reconfig to get it working on Premise.
I'll keep you posted.
Tim

Timoh said:

I didn't get around to testing CADDX on Premise on the weekend... The wife was out and I was baby-sitting (apparently it's not baby-sitting if it's your own kid). Since my CADDX is configured for Housebot, I need to some reconfig to get it working on Premise.
I'll keep you posted.
Tim

Click to expand...

No worries. I appreciate you even offering to try it out. My son still takes afternoon naps, so that's usually my time to "play". My next troubleshooting step is to try to translate some of the serial communication using Premise's Port Spy. There's definitely lots of chatter when I trip a zone, so I'm curious to see what the panel is transmitting and how Premise is responding. I don't suppose copy/pasting this into Google Translate will help. ^_^