Skip to main content

Vanderbilt SPC smart home integration, free and open source

Vanderbilt SPC integration for Gladys Assistant

Vanderbilt SPC alarm panel through the SPC Web Gateway: areas, set, zones, live events.

View on GitHubAll integrations

Your Vanderbilt SPC alarm panel (formerly Siemens SPC) in Gladys, through the SPC Web Gateway of Lundix (a separate software, installed on a computer of your network, which talks to the panel), without any cloud:

  • each area of the panel becomes a Gladys device: mode (unset, part set A, part set B, full set, alarm), armed, alarm, and four buttons: full set, part set A, part set B, unset;
  • each zone becomes another: its state (opening, motion, smoke, water leak or plain input), trouble (tamper, fault, short, cut, masked, offline), inhibited or isolated, alarm;
  • the link to the gateway.

The areas and zones are read every minute, and the events of the panel arrive through the websocket of the gateway (while it is open, a zone that opens usually shows within a second).

This integration has never been tested with a real panel. This first version was written from the pyspcwebgw library and the spc integration of Home Assistant, and tested only against a fake gateway. Several points are assumptions, listed under "Limits". Tell on the Gladys forum what works and what does not.

Unofficial integration, not affiliated with Vanderbilt nor Lundix.

False alarm. Setting an area while someone is inside (a scene set wrongly, a press by mistake) can raise a false alarm: sirens, and a call of your monitoring company if you have one.

Configuration​

  • Address of the SPC Web Gateway: the IP address of the computer that runs it (192.168.1.10); a port may follow (192.168.1.10:8088, 8088 by default). Prefer the IP address (a .local name does not resolve inside the container of the integration) and give it a fixed address in your router. The integration talks plain http to the gateway on your network: keep the gateway on your local network. The websocket is assumed at ws://<address>/ws/spc (not checked on a real gateway).
  • User name / password of the gateway: only if your gateway asks for them; leave both empty otherwise. They are sent only to the gateway, and only when it asks (it answers 401 with a challenge): Digest when it offers it (the password itself does not travel). The password is kept by Gladys in its database, never shown again, never in the logs. A password refused by the gateway stops the reads (no new read by itself, even after a restart) until you enter other credentials or press Test the connection (one try); a set still makes one try per press, and a success lifts the stop. The integration remembers that refusal with an 8-bit marker only, from which no password can be found back.
  • Allow Basic authentication: off by default. With Basic, the user name and the password are readable by anyone listening on your local network, at every read (every minute), and they can unset the alarm. Without this option, a gateway that asks for Basic gets nothing and the status says so. Once Digest worked with the gateway, a later request for Basic is not answered (another device at the address could be reading the password): the reads stop and the status says so, until you check the gateway and press Test the connection.
  • Allow unsetting (disarming) from Gladys: off by default. See below.
  • Zone kinds (optional): how some zones show, by their number, e.g. 5:opening, 12:motion (opening, motion, smoke, leak, input). By default the type of the zone on the panel decides: alarm zone: motion (as Home Assistant), entry/exit: opening, fire: smoke, water: leak, the others: input; unused zones are not shown. A kind changed for a zone already created shows after Update in the Discovery tab (until then its states go to the feature it has). Entries not understood are counted in the status, not shown back.
  • Language of the devices: names of the features and modes, and of the areas and zones without a name on the panel.

The devices appear in the Discovery tab once the gateway was read.

Commands​

Every command is a button (never a switch): "turn everything off", a voice assistant or a scene on switches cannot unset the alarm.

Setting (full set, part set A, part set B)​

Setting is the protective command. It needs no option and no read made before: it works from the start of the integration, while the reads of the gateway fail and wait, while a read is running (it has its own connection; a read that received nothing for 1 s is cut) and while a refusal of the credentials is kept (one try per press). Pressing it withdraws the unset commands of the same area that have not left yet, including one whose connection is not up yet.

Its request is tried again every 250 ms until 3.5 s after the press while it does not reach the gateway (on an HTTP 5xx answer, one more try only), then the area is read back until 4.3 s:

  • the area shows the mode: done;
  • the gateway accepted it, but the area does not show it yet: Gladys answers "sent and accepted, not yet shown", and the area is read again 5, 20 and 60 s later. It is not sent a second time (one exception below: an older unset of Gladys still in flight): the panel may be in its exit time, a zone may be open, or someone inside may have cancelled it at the keypad. If the area still does not show it after 60 s, the status of the integration says so;
  • the gateway answered an HTTP error 4xx: "refused by the gateway", not sent again; it reports a failure (status other than success) and the area does not show the mode: "refused by the panel";
  • the request did not reach the gateway (or got no valid answer): Gladys says so. It is sent again (3 times at most, within 2 minutes of the press, also after a restart) only on a fresh read of the area that shows it exactly as it was read before the press (mode, last set time, last unset time; that read less than 150 s before the press, the fresh read started after the press) and with no set or unset event of the panel since the press. When the gateway gives neither time, the websocket must have been open since the press. Otherwise it is dropped and the status says so.

A set pressed while an unset of Gladys of the same area is on the wire and not answered yet may be overtaken by it. Once that unset is answered, the area as read right after it becomes the reference: the set is sent again once only if a later fresh read shows the area still exactly so (mode, last set and unset times) and, since that unset left, the panel reported no set or unset event other than one unset (that of Gladys) and one set (that of this set): any other one, a keypad action even within the same second, cancels the new send. An unset answered before the set was pressed cannot overtake it: nothing is sent again then.

A part set is not sent over a full set read at that moment (nothing is sent: the area stays fully set) and not over the other part set (refused: full set, or unset first). To know it, a part set reads the area first (1.2 s at most); when that read fails, it is sent only if the last state read was "unset" (which may be up to a minute old), and while an unset of Gladys of the area is uncertain it is sent without this check. A full set is not held back by this.

Setting is refused in these cases only:

  • the configuration of Gladys is not read yet (asked again), the address is missing or not valid, or the configuration changed while the command was running;
  • the gateway asks for credentials none were given for, asks for Basic while it is not allowed (or after Digest worked), or for an authentication the integration does not know;
  • another panel answers at the address (see below);
  • a part set while the area is in the other part set;
  • a part set while the state of the area can be read neither now nor from the last read ("unset");
  • earlier sets of the same area took its whole time (3.5 s);
  • an unset of Gladys asked after it left first.

The gateway or the panel may also refuse it (HTTP error, failure reported, a zone open): Gladys then says so.

Unsetting (disarming)​

Off unless you tick Allow unsetting (disarming) from Gladys.

No code is asked. Once the option is ticked, any user of Gladys, any scene, the mobile app and a dashboard on a tablet at the entrance can unset an area. Do not put the unset button on a dashboard reachable from the entrance.

Then an unset command:

  • is refused while the serial number of the panel has not been read since the start of the integration (a read every minute);
  • reads the area and the serial number of the panel first (by 2.5 s) and decides on what it reads: the serial unreadable or another one, nothing is sent; the area unreadable, nothing is sent; already unset, nothing is sent, unless a set of Gladys may still apply;
  • checks the option and the set commands asked meanwhile again right before its request (a set asked after it withdraws it, also while its connection is not up yet);
  • at most 6 per area and per minute, one at a time per area;
  • is confirmed by a read of the area (by 4.3 s), else Gladys says "sent, not yet shown" or "sent, no answer" and the area is read again 5 and 20 s later. It is not sent again by itself.

Identity of the panel​

The serial number of the panel is learnt at the first read and kept, and read again at every read. If another panel answers later at the same address (a DHCP change, another gateway), nothing is published nor sent, and the status shows the serial number met. If it is yours (a panel replaced), press Use the panel that answers.

Status and buttons​

  • The status of the integration tells whether the gateway answers, the number of areas and zones, whether the events arrive live (and the HTTP status of the websocket when it is refused), the use of Basic, and what became of a set that is not shown (for 1 hour at most, until the area is set).
  • Test the connection: reads the configuration again, makes one try despite refused credentials (at most every 10 s), forgets that Digest worked only after a stop on a Basic request following it (Basic still needs its option), reads the gateway when the pace allows it (not more than once a minute), then reports.
  • Failed reads are tried again every minute at first, then 2, 4 and 5 minutes apart; the websocket 15 s to 5 min later. A websocket refused by the gateway's authentication (401) is not tried again until the configuration changes: the reads every minute go on.

Limits​

  • Not tested with a real panel or gateway (see above). These points are assumptions taken from Home Assistant and pyspcwebgw, to be checked:
    • the path of the websocket (/ws/spc) and the authentication of the gateway (Digest or Basic, only when asked);
    • what an area reads during the exit time of a set;
    • the answer of the gateway to a set refused by the panel (a zone open): { "status": "failed" }, an HTTP error, or a success without effect;
    • whether the last set time of an area moves for a part set;
    • the answer to a set on an area already fully set;
    • the serial number (sn) of the panel on every firmware;
    • the size of the list of zones with 512 zones (1 MB at most is read).
  • No outputs, no zone inhibition or isolation, no event log in this version.
  • Values older than 2.5 minutes are not published (the link shows off).

Configuration settings​

These are the settings Vanderbilt SPC asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
How it workssectionNoGladys talks to the SPC Web Gateway (Lundix software, installed separately) on your network, without any cloud: it reads the areas and zones of your Vanderbilt SPC panel every minute and receives its events live. Each area becomes a device (mode, armed, alarm, and buttons: full set, part set A, part set B, unset), each zone another (state, trouble, inhibited or isolated, alarm). Unofficial integration, not affiliated with Vanderbilt nor Lundix. Never tested with a real panel: see the documentation.
Address of the SPC Web GatewaystringYesThe IP address (or name) of the computer running the SPC Web Gateway; a port may follow (8088 by default). Plain http on your network.
User name of the gatewaystringNoOnly if your gateway asks for one; leave empty otherwise.
Password of the gatewaysecretNoOnly if your gateway asks for one. Sent only to the gateway, only when it asks: Digest when it offers it (the password itself does not travel); Basic only if allowed below. Kept by Gladys in its database, never shown again, never in the logs. A password refused by the gateway stops the reads until it is changed or "Test the connection" is pressed (a set still makes one try per press).
Allow Basic authenticationbooleanNoOnly if your gateway offers Basic and not Digest. With Basic, the user name and the password are readable by anyone listening on your local network, at every read (every minute); with them, the alarm can be unset. Off by default. Once Digest worked, Basic is not answered any more (until "Test the connection").
CommandssectionNoSetting an area (full set, part set A or B) needs no option: it is the protective command. The cases where it is refused are listed in the documentation (credentials, another panel, a part set over the other one or over an area that cannot be read...); the gateway or the panel may also refuse it. A set the gateway accepted is not sent a second time (except once, overtaken by an older unset of Gladys, nothing changed since). Setting while someone is inside can raise a false alarm (sirens, monitoring company). Unsetting (disarming) is off unless you tick the option below. Every command is a button, never a switch: "turn everything off" cannot unset the alarm.
Allow unsetting (disarming) from GladysbooleanNoNo code is asked: once ticked, any user of Gladys, any scene, the mobile app and a dashboard on a tablet at the entrance can unset an area. Do not put this button on a dashboard reachable from the entrance. Off by default.
Zone kinds (optional)stringNoHow some zones show, by their number: opening, motion, smoke, leak or input, e.g. "5:opening, 12:motion". By default from the zone type of the panel (alarm: motion, entry/exit: opening, fire: smoke, water: leak, others: input). A change shows after "Update" in Discovery.
Language of the devicesselectNoNames of the devices without a name on the panel, of the features and of the modes.

How to install Vanderbilt SPC in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: Vanderbilt SPC appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/lm1lc3n7/gladys-vanderbilt-spc:0.1.2), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/LM1LC3N7/gladys-vanderbilt-spc.

Vanderbilt SPC requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

Vanderbilt SPC is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by LM1LC3N7, not by the Gladys core team.

Subscribe to the Gladys Assistant newsletter

A few emails per month about new releases and project news. Sent by Pierre-Gilles Leymarie, founder of the project. Unsubscribe anytime 🙂
Last updated on