GW Firmware Updates

Recently, there have been a few noteworthy updates to the GW firmware, primarily from the new GW owners. As always, the latest version 1.5.4 is available on the GitHub  releases page.

Here are some key changes:

• Automatic republishing of zone states to MQTT after reconnecting to the MQTT server. This is useful when updating Home Assistant (HA).
• The lwIP network library has been updated to stable version 2.2.0.
• mDNS has been added, both as a client and resolver. The GW is now accessible at http://ohs.local, eliminating the need to search for its DHCP-assigned address.
• A test alert feature has been added to the web interface, making it easier to verify that all alert paths are properly configured directly from the browser.
• A new alert path has been introduced. Now, all alerts can be propagated to the MQTT topic /OHS/alert and subsequently consumed in HA.
• The shell, accessible via USB, now allows for resetting the web admin user to its default settings.
  

 

 

Alarm State Machine / Group Zones Example

Just to update of gateway configuration page,  I've created a state machine diagram showing arm/disarm cycle.Also here is an example of my own groups (Garage, House) and zones (PIR, reed) setting for ground floor. You can see here how authentication unit is attached to particular zone. Only these zone is then set up with authentication delay. That is, when someone trips these zones there is time allowed for the person to authenticate. All other zones in house group trigger the alarm state immediately. You can read more about it in zone's setting.

 

Page alert

Another option named page alert is now functional in firmware 1.7.5. What it does, it takes telephone number and ring it for 15 seconds, then hangs up. It is efficient way to inform you about urgent alerts along with SMS, or as separate alert. But it is meant only for high importance alerts, since it needs to wait for GSM modem to dial, ring and hang up. It is processed at last in alerting thread, but stop processing of alerts for long time, especially when there are more then one telephone number to page/call.

Email alerting

Some time ago email alerting was added, along to SMS, to send email to predefined contacts. I have been thinking what would be easy to achieve it for me, but also for other users. And although I have small server running at home, I have opted for service available for free online. I have found nice service offered by smtp2go.com, they have free plan service for 1,000 emails per month or 25 emails maximum per hour. That would be sufficient for any even heavy usage for a single gateway. Service is available on port 2525 and they ask for user credential encoded by base64. Simple enough to add into existing alerting thread. Just fill email user and email password in Global section and choose which type of alert is to be send via email. No fancy text is sent through email, just subject with same info as for SMS, and it is send to all recipient that match as single email. It works fast enough and seems efficient for alerts that have less importance.