alarmbuddy

Name: alarmbuddy
SKU: 20517
Price: 30.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.50 (3 reviews)

(3 Reviews)

Simple ESP32-S2 board which can read up to 12 inputs

Designed by Greg's Tinker Town in Canada

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Simple ESP32-S2 board which can read up to 12 inputs

Alarm Buddy This is an ESP32-S2 board which can read up to 12 inputs. It can be programmed with custom software, or flashed with esphome to integrate easily with Home Assistant. I have disconnected m…

Alarm Buddy

This is an ESP32-S2 board which can read up to 12 inputs. It can be programmed with custom software, or flashed with esphome to integrate easily with Home Assistant.

I have disconnected my old alarm system, and now monitor it using Home Assistant, and can trigger various notifications (lights, horn, etc) using smart switches flashed with tasmota!

This product is a fully assembled PCB including headers for up to 12 inputs. All units are flashed with esphome.

Documentation

In order to maintain a single location for updates, all documentation can be found on the main readme on GitHub

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Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (3.00)

Shipping: (5.00)

Communication: (5.00)

Jile | Nov. 8, 2023

Very Neat Board

It took a bit to figure out due to the amount of cables to the old board. I have 2 door sensors, 3 motion sensors, and a glass breaking sensor.

Because the new board doesn't provide power to the motion sensors I left the power lines connected to the old board. They used the same cable to connect the old board to power as the sensors and just connected 2 wires to each of the +/- ac inputs. So I was able to move two of them to the Alarm Buddy to be able to power both at the same time. To help with anyone else that might run into the same issue below is my breakdown of the old board and what I did with it.

The setup was super easy, connected to it's wifi, then entered in the details of my home wifi and it showed up right away. Named and labeled the sensors and it was good to go!

AC +, AC -: Originally had 2 wires for + and - on the old board, moved one each to the new board.

AUX +, AUX -: Left connected to the old board, this is how I powered the sensors.

Bell +, Bell -: Disconnected and capped. Assuming it was for an alarm bell somewhere.

Red, Blk, Yel, Grn: Disconnected and capped. This was for the panel at the front door.

Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5, Z6: Moved over to slots 1-6

Com: 1 for each zone that was put in pairs into 3 com spots on the old panel. Twisted them into 2 groups of 3 and put them in each of the 3.3V sections on the new panel.

Ring A, TIP B: Disconnected and capped. I think this was for the telephone line connection but not sure.

Michael | April 3, 2022

Simple but very effective!!

I wanted something to replace the 35 year old alarm system in my house with. Not so much for the alarms, but to get alerts to Home Assistant when doors or windows are opened in my house.

I purchased on 2022-03-24 and received on NJ, USA on 2022-04-02

In a single afternoon I was able to solder on the included caps, mount the PCB in a printed enclosure, flash it with ESPHome, and get it integrated with Home Assistant. I powered the PCB off of my alarm system's included 19VAC power supply and wired up my inputs without the EOL resistors that used to be used.

There are a few things I needed to figure out from the source. If you need to do the same, make sure you check which version PCB you get. (mine was v3, but latest in the repo was v5.)

- Mounting holes are 71 mm x 49 mm
- Negative on the caps are on the right side.
- The programming port is FTDI standard with GND closest to the bottom.
- DTR pin (5th from bottom) is connected to GPIO0 in case you need to short to GND to flash firmware.

Greg's YAML file for ESPhome works perfectly. Just dropped in my SSID and password and it flashed and appeared in Home Assistant. My house only has 4 zones, but I've already added a few other sensors to some of the unused pins, so I appreciate the versatility of this PCB.

Jarad | July 29, 2020

Pick Three: Simple, Inexpensive, Easy to Use

This board is about as simple as it gets: ESP32 strapped to an AC-DC converter and some terminal strips. And that's exactly I wanted. The developer has done a great job of communicating quickly and clearly, is open to suggestions, and seems to have a real passion for his projects. The documentation is a little sparse, but I expect it's because the developer has a target audience in mind that knows how to read schematics, PCB layouts, program an ESP32 and use ESPHome.

I recommend this board to anyone who has used ESP32 before and has some basic electronics knowledge.

How could this board be better? I've discussed a few of these with the developer:
- Power input modules, instead of fixed. Modules should support 16-24VAC like most alarm systems use, but also have a 12VDC option. Possibly even a battery backup module.
- Power output modules for accessories: Since this product is intended to replace the brains of a security system, it should have power output available for accessories. In my system, that's 12VDC.
- u.Fl connector for external antenna. Many security system enclosures are made of steel. It would be better to be able to position the antenna for the ESP32 outside of the enclosure in those instances.
- Power indicator LED. I was left wondering many times, after applying power, whether the thing was on. Just something small and not very bright is fine.

All that being said, the items above are more of a wishlist, rather than a requirement. The board, as it stands, works well for my purposes.

Thank you for making this!