evl-mqtt-bridge

This project/module provides a bridge between an envisalink alarm module and mqtt. It allows the alarm to be monitored and controlled. In addition, it can send sms messages when events are reported by the alarm.

When the envisalink module reports events this micro-app can translate those events to messages posted on configured topics. It also provide functions that can be used to send commands to the alarm by posting mqtt messages on an configured mqtt topic.

My initial use case is to use with with this project AlexaMqttBridge in order to allow me to disable the alarm though Alexa. It also allows me to get arm/disarm sms messages as the envisalnk service did not seem to be able to send sms messages to my voip phone number.

Installation

Install by running:

npm install evl-mqtt-bridge

or

npm install https://github.com/mhdawson/evl-mqtt-bridge.git

then copy lib/config.json.sample to lib/config.json and fill in the configuration for the envisalink, mqtt and sms setup as described in configuration section.

Configuration

The configuration file has the following main sections:

• evlConfig
• mqtt
• sms
• notify

evlConfig

This section is used in order to configure the connection to the alarm system. The bridge uses this project to do the communication with the envialink board: NodeAlarmProxy.

The evlConfig section is simply passed to that project so the configuration values are as defined in that project.

mqtt

This section is used to configure the mqtt server and how events will be bridged to mqtt topics.

The parameters are as follows:

• mqttServerUrl - url of the mqtt server to connect to. This can either start with tcp:// or mqtts://. If it starts with mqtts:// there must be a subdirectory in the lib directory called mqttclient which contains ca.cert, client.cert, client.key which contain the key and associated certificates for a client which is authorized to connect to the mqtt server.

• controlTopic - the mqtt topic on which the bridge will listen for commands to be sent to the alarm.

• rawZoneTopic - the mqtt topic on which a message is posted for each zone update sent by the alarm. The message is simply the zone followed by the code sent by the alarm in the format of zone:code. For example 6:650

• rawPartTopic - the mqtt topic on which a message is posted for each partition update sent by the alarm. The message is simply the code sent by the alarm in the format of code.

• topicMap - The topic map is an object with one or more fields. The name of each field is either a string in the form of X-code (where X is the zone nubmer) or part-code. The value for the field is an object with a topic and message field which are the topic to which the message is posted to when zone or partition update is received that matches the field name. By adding entries to the topicMap you can configure the bridge to post a specific message on a specific topic when an update is received from the alarm. For example:

  "topicMap": { "6-609": {"topic": "house/alarm/zone/6", "message": "on"},
                          "6-610": {"topic": "house/alarm/zone/6", "message": "off"},
                          "part-655": {"topic": "house/alarm/part", "message": "disarmed"}
                        }
  

Raw commands can be sent to the alarm by posting the string for the command on the controlTopic. In addition the brige supports the following 'friendly name' commands:

• arm - arms the alarm. The bridge includes a work around to wake the panel if an error occurs while arming. This is necessary if panel blanking is enabled.

• disarm - disarms the alarm. Requires a user code following the string 'disarm'. For example: disarm1234.

sms

The bridge can be configured to send sms messages when the alarm reports partition events.

The sms configuration entry is an object with one or more fields. The name of the field is the event reported by the alarm or one of the friendly names alarm, arm or disarm. If the value for the field is true then an sms message will be sent when that partition event is reported by the alarm.

For example:

"sms": { "arm": true,
         "alarm": true,
         "disarm": true }

notify

This section configures the information required to send notification messages. The fields are:

• mqttSmsBridge - element with the following sub-elements:
  • enabled - set to true if you want notifications to be sent using this provider.
  • serverUrl - url for the mqtt server to which the bridge is connected.
  • topic - topic on which the bridge listens for notification requests.
  • certs - directory which contains the keys/certs required to connect to the mqtt server if the url is of type mqtts.
• voipms - element with the following sub-elements:
  • enabled - set to true if you want notifications to be sent using this provider.
  • user - voip.ms API userid.
  • password - voip.ms API password.
  • did - voip.ms did(number) from which the SMS will be sent.
  • dst - number to which the SMS will be sent.
• twilio - element with the following sub-elements:
  • enabled - set to true if you want notifications to be sent using this provider.
  • accountSID - twilio account ID.
  • accountAuthToken - twilio auth token.
  • toNumber - number to which the SMS will be sent.
  • fromNumber - number from which the SMS will be sent.

For example:

"notify": {
  "mqttSmsBridge": { "enabled": true,
                     "serverUrl": "mqtt:10.1.1.186:1883",
                     "topic": "house/sms" }
}

TODO

I have not yet hooked up the micro-app UI. Likely just to be a simple UI to allow you to observe the events flowing through the bridge.