CBUS compatible alarms UK

Hi All

Do you have any recommendations for alarm panels available in the UK that CBUS compatible?


Thanks
Warren

 

COMFORT is available over here...
www.cytech.biz

 

Thanks for that my concern was comfort may be a bit over the top when I already have touch screens and logic capability.

Are there any other options in the UK market like the clipsal alarm unit?

 

All alarms are C-Bus compatible. All you need is a C-Bus coupler in the alarm box and some relays from the alarm supplier.

The rest is just coding.

That convenience of having the C-Bus operating system in a board is not the only solution. You can regulate all functions with basic relay signals.

 

Yes and no. Whilst for basic functions you can integrate using relays and bus couplers there are other things that won't work using this method. For example how would you use a touch screen to arm or disarm a panel using relays and a coupler, in a method that is reasonably secure? I know I wouldn't want a simple line from a relay to be used for this purpose as it would be too easy to tamper with it.

Whereas with a panel that connects directly to C-bus and supports the alarm application it should be so much easier to impliment not to mention for the user to actually use.

Guess the question to the OP though is what do you want to acheive by connecting an alarm panel to C-bus? From that it is possible to work out the best system or 'integration' method.

 

I myself, and I speak to how I do things, will never disarm a panel from C-Bus. The C-Bus protocol is not encrypted and disarming by this method is basically as good as leaving the door open. But that is my opinion.

Given that I am interested in the Challenger system then it remains possible in that system to arm and disarm by
- proximity
- number plate on the car
- mobile phone
- ethernet
- remote connection

Any alarm in production today can be made to disarm in 3 different ways;
- fire code
- input relay
- radio signal to input box (encrypted rolling)

I think remote disarming is a huge problem. But I don't say this as a rule to others.

If I would use a remote disarming function then I would probably want a GSM / Mobile phone / Application reply code. The phone would ask if the disarming function is CORRECT and only disarm on the reply.

Thus far, no limitations I can see. I realise that the Touch screen gives a pin-code lock prior to accepting inputs but I recall that in NSW (AU) the devices used to disarm a security panel must conform to the security standard of the alarm panel and only such methods approved by SOME insurers are deemed acceptable disarming methods.

In close scrutiny, I recall that Minder was not an alarm panel in NSW. IT did not comply with those regulations. Before developing the "total" integration concept" further it should be restated that history teaches good lessons.

 

Suggest you read the protocol file (below) on the c-bus security application to see what information can be passed from security panels that support the security application and c-bus devices. Quite an interesting read, there is much more to it than arming or disarming a panel.

http://training.clipsal.com/downloads/OpenCBus/Security Application.pdf

As for disarming from c-bus, which is what you seem to have concentrated on, you seem to be basing your opinion on using group levels to arm or disarm, which as you have correctly stated is not overly secure. Though will admit in my place I have a function that uses this method in-conjunction with a Home Minder. But moving forward I believe that touchscreens have an inbuilt "application" that can emulate a keypad, this is different from password protecting pages or inputs. I believe it passes the entered key presses onto the panel (which must support the security application) which then makes the disarm decision as it normally would. So in this sense it is no different nor inherently less secure than an RS485 keypad, that for the most part don't use encypted communications. Don't know the specific details etc, just read about it in the help files and kept it in the back of my mind for the future. Clearly though there is still the issue of what happens in power failure, something that isn't an issue with RS485 keypads as generally the panel will keep them alive.

In any case, my point is still the same, that is there are many integration functions that can be done using relays and bus couplers as you have suggested, but there are also many other functions that may be of use to a c-bus network that really need a native c-bus connection to work. Horses for courses really.

So really what solution to use all depends upon what one is trying to do, hence why I asked what the OP was attempting to get out of integrating a panel to c-bus.

 

Thanks Guys, an interesting discussion.

It would have been nice to provide an interface from the cbus touchscreens but to be honest the main use I was looking for was executing sequences based on events such as arm/disarm and alarm condition.

As proposed by tobex i think that would be easily achievable with a bus coupler and would give significantly more options when it came to choosing a system as the only option I can find currently in the UK is Comfort.

 

Hi sorry for the thread hijack but what equipment would be needed or what function would the alarm need to have to allow it to recognise number plates

 

It would need a NPR kit (number plate recognition) which runs on PC or embedded linux. For example it is now available on speeding cameras as an embedded system.

The kit costs very little and I have seen it listed with Altech http://www.altech.com.au/ It is a security product made available through IT channels.

To my understanding you would need to code an output as such. The system allows for outputs.

 

My bias is always dictated by the bias of insurance companies. Their bias is always the one that changes and flips all over the place. So in the future we might do better and think better about this concept than we have in the past. That is always possible when BigBrother allows it.

To date I have not heard of DES Ecrypted systems being hacked. There is no such thing as a Challenger hack. Only a backdoor installed by the installer.