K9571 10/03

VISTA-128BP/VISTA-250BP
Home Automation Setup Guide

ADEMCOs VISTA-128BP/VISTA-250BP control panels, well known for providing industry-leading security,
also support Home Automation. Dealers and integrators can interface the VISTA-BP Series panels with 3rd
party Home Automation company hardware and software. This offers the end-user a complete turnkey
solution that combines security with lighting and output control.
The VISTA-128BP/VISTA-250BP control panels easily interface with Home Automation hardware via the
ADEMCO VA8201 Alpha Pager Module/RS232 I/O port or the 4100SM Serial Interface Module. The control
panels versatile protocol allows the end-users to arm and disarm one partition, control outputs, and view
system status.
Today, the VISTA-128BP/VISTA-250BP control panels are compatible with Crestron automation hardware
and software solutions. The control panels open protocol will soon be compatible with ELAN, AMX, and
HAL Home Automation hardware and software systems.

Equipment Required
The following ADEMCO equipment is required to interface with Home Automation software:
N 1 VISTA128BP OR VISTA250BP Control Panel
N 1 VA8201 Module OR 4100SM (both include one 4142TR Trigger Cable)

Connections for Home Automation Control

The following diagrams show the connections needed to interface the ADEMCO Control Panel and the
VA8201 or 4100SM with 3rd party Home Automation hardware. Please see the important notes following
the diagrams.

VA8201 ALPHA PAGER MODULE

GREEN
RED

DATA/
POWER

SPLICE

BLACK
ORANGE

SERIAL
OUTPUT

AUTOMATION EQUIPMENT
(RS232 INTERFACE)
BROWN

TO PHONE
RJ11
TO LINE
RJ11

23

26

27

28

29

30

J8
AUX
PWR.

TIP RING TIP RING

HANDSET INCOMING

AUX
GND.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

GREEN
RED
BLACK

(ZONE 9)

EARTH
GROUND

BROWN WIRE
FROM 4142 TR
TRIGGER CABLE

CONTROL PANEL

Figure 1: Wiring the VA8201 for Home Automation Control

APM-002-V0

GROUND

BROWN

OUT 6

GREEN

OUT 5

RED

GROUND

8 + PWR
7 - (GND)
6 RXD
5 NOT USED
4

NU

9
8

BLUE

4100SM
SERIAL
MODULE

4142TR CABLE (SUPPLIED WITH 4100SM)

GROUND

NOT USED

YELLOW

3 TXD

GREY

BLACK

CONTROL PANEL

VIOLET

IN 3

2 NOT USED
1 DTR

IN2
PRINTER DTR
RED

BLUE

WHITE

23

J8 CONNECTOR

TO
AUTOMATION
EQUIPMENT
(RS232 INTERFACE)

(ZONE 9)

AUX GND.

AUX PWR.

4100SM-013-V1

Figure 2: Wiring the 4100SM for Home Automation Control

Important Notes:
N For information regarding Crestron equipment and software required for interfacing to ADEMCO
controls, contact Crestron at 1-888-CRESTRON (273-7876).
N The outputs of the VA8201 Module and the 4100SM are serial (RS232) outputs.
N The distance between the VA8201 or the 4100SM and the Control Panel cannot be further than the
length of the 4142TR Trigger Cable.
N The distance between the VA8201 or the 4100SM and the 3rd party Home Automation hardware can
be up to 50. If shielded wire, wire in conduit, or Cat 5 unshielded is used, the maximum distance is
25.
N Zone 9 on the Control Panel can no longer be used as a protection zone.

Programming the Control Panel for Home Automation Control

For detailed information concerning the control panels programming procedures, refer to the VISTA128BP/VISTA-250BP Programming Guide.
Programming for the VA8201
05 Enter 1 to view all zone faults/restores;
enter 0 to view only events enabled in field
170

Programming for the 4100SM

05 Enter 1 to view all zone faults/restores;
enter 0 to view only events enabled in field
170

14

14

Enter 1 for Home Automation Control

(cannot use both a serial printer and Home
Automation)

Enter 1 for Home Automation Control

(cannot use both serial printer and Home
Automation)

170 Event Log Types (1=enable; 0=disable)

170 Event Log Types (1=enable; 0=disable

230 Enter 1 to enable the VA8201

NOTE: Fields 14 MUST be set for Home

Automation Control.

NOTE: Fields 14 and 230 MUST be set for

Home Automation Control.

Protocol for Home Automation Control

The following tables describe the message packet formats for Arm/Disarm, Zone Status, Output Control, and
System Event Notification messages between the control panel and the Home Automation software.
Message Packet Format Components
The table below describes the different components of a Message Packet format. A typical message packet
format contains the following components: NNMSD00 CC (CR-LF)
NOTES: Messages contain printable ASCII characters with the exception of the Terminator.
All hex values are entered in upper case only.
Message Packet Components
Component

Symbol

Character
Length

NN

Indicates the total length of packet including all characters

minus terminator. Legal values are hex 00-FF. Permissible
characters are ASCII 0-9 and upper case A-F.

Message/Packet
Type

Upper and lower case alpha characters a-z and A-Z. Lower
case is for commands to the panel and upper case are
responses from panel.

Sub-Message/
Packet Type

Upper and lower case alpha characters a-z and A-Z. Lower
case is for commands to the panel and upper case are
responses from panel.

0 or more

00

Two ASCII characters reserved for future development. Only

current legal character is numeric 0.

The hexadecimal 2s compliment of the modulo-256 sum of

the ASCII values of all characters in the message excluding
checksum itself and terminator. Permissible characters are
0-9 and upper case A-F.

Packet Length

Data
Reserved

Checksum

CC

Terminator

(CR-LF)

Definition

ASCII characters of data associated with the command/

packet type. Any printable ASCII character is permitted.

Message Terminator. ASCII characters consisting of

hexadecimal 0x0D and 0x0A.

ARM and DISARM Messages

The table below describes the typical commands used to ARM and DISARM a control panel partition, query
the panels arming status and receive back the panels status report.
ARM/DISARM, Status Query, and Panel Status Report Messages
Action
Arm Away
Arm Home
(Stay)
Disarm
Arming Status
Request
Arming Status
Report

String

Example

0EaaDDDDDD00CC (CR-LF)

User 2, User Code 2345, sending Arm Away:

0E0223450039 (CR-LF)

0EahDDDDDD00CC (CR-LF)

User 3, User Code 7898, Sending Arm Home (Stay):

0Eah037898001F (CR-LF)

0EadDDDDDD00CC (CR-LF)

User 1, User Code 1000, sending Disarm:

0Ead01100000044 (CR-LF)

08as0064 (CR-LF)
10ASDDDDDDDD00CC (CRLF)

Arming Status Request:

08as0064 (CR-LF)
With 6 partitions assigned, partitions 1-4 Armed
Home, partitions 5 not assigned, and partitions 7-8
Armed Away: 10ASHHHHDDAA0081 (CR-LF)

Zone Status Messages

The table below describes the typical commands used to query the control panel for a Zone Status and the
zones partition. NOTE: The system can provide the status for zones 1 to 96 only.
Zone Status Request and Report Messages
Action

String

Definition

Zone Status
Request

08zs004B (CR-LF)

The panel responds with a Zone Status Report.

Note: This message should be sent only when an initial
connection is made with the panel. It is not intended for use
as a polling command. The panel can be programmed to send
System Notification Messages concerning zone status.

Zone Status
Report

68ZSD00CC (CR-LF)

The panel sends this message in response to a Zone Status

Request. The data portion of this message is 96 characters
(one character for each zone in order). Each character is the
sum of all applicable status values, expressed in hexadecimal
using ASCII characters 0-9 and A-F.
Status

Values

Closed

Open

Trouble

Alarm

Bypassed

Example: a Zone Status Report for a system in which Zone 1

is Open, Zone 2 is Open, in Trouble, and Bypassed, and the
rest Closed, would begin 68ZS1B00
Zone
Partition
Request

08zp0004E (CR-LF)

Zone
Partition
Report

68ZPD00CC (CR-LF)

The control panel responds with a Zone Partition Report.

The panel sends this message in response to a Zone Partition

Request. The data portion of this message is 96 characters
long, one character for each zone in order. The value will be
from 0-8, with 0 meaning no partition assignment.
Example: a Zone Partition Report for a system in which Zone
1 is assigned to Partition 2. Zone 2 is assigned to no partition,
and Zone 3 is assigned to Partition 8, would begin68ZP208

Output Control Messages

The table below describes the typical commands used to turn on and off output devices (Relays, X-10)
connected to the control panel and the status query and subsequent report message from the panel.
Control Panel Output On/Off Commands and Status Reports
Action

String

Definition

Output ON

0AcnDD00CC (CR-LF)

Example: turn on Control Panel Output 1: 0Acn0105 (CRLF)

Output OFF

0ACFDD00CC (CR-LF)

Example: turn off Control Panel Output 1: 0Acf0105 (CRLF)

Output Status
Request

08cs0062 (CR-LF)

The VISTA panel will respond to this request with a Control

Panel Output Status Report for all 96 outputs

Output Status
Report

68CSD00CC (CR-LF)

The VISTA panel sends this message in response to an

Output Status Request. The data portion of this message is
96 characters long, one character for each control channel in
order. The value will be U (UNPROGRAMMED), 0 (OFF), or 1
(ON).
Example: With control channel 1 OFF, channel 2 ON,
channel 3 UNPROGRAMMED, and channel 4 OFF, the message
would begin 40CS01U0.

System Event Notification Messages

The control panel can be programmed (field 05) to send system event notification messages when certain
events occur. The 12-character data field of this message is divided into six 2-character sub fields. A typical
packet format is as follows: 14NQDDDDDDDDDDDD00CC (CR-LF). The table below describes the
different components of a System Event Notification Message Packet format. Example: Zone 14 Open at
10:23 AM on February21 is sent as: 14NQ2B14231021020038 (CR-LF)
NOTES: Messages contain printable ASCII characters with the exception of the Terminator.
All hex values are entered in upper case only.
The messages are reported in real time.
System Event Notification Packet Format
Component

Symbol

Format

Event Type

TT

0X00 0X30 (Data in the TT position will

be one of the report types that appears in
the System Event Types table below)

Zone or User
Number

ZZ

00 95 (0 referenced: Zone or User 1 is

00)

Minutes

MM

00 59

Hours

HH

00 23

Day

DD

01 - 31

Month

XX

01 - 12

System Event Types (TT)

Code

Type

Code

Type

Code

Type

00

Perimeter Alarm

10

RF Low Battery
Restore

20

Alarm Cancel

01

Entry/Exit Alarm

11

Other Trouble

21

Other Bypass

02

12

Other Trouble Restore

22

Other Unbypass

03

13

23

Day/Night Alarm

14

24

Day/Night Restore

04

Interior Follower
Alarm

05

15

Arm-Stay/Home

25

Disarm

26

06

Fire Alarm

16

07

Audible Panic Alarm

17

08

Silent Panic Alarm

18

09

24-Hr. Auxiliary

19

27
28

Arm

Fail To Disarm
Fail To Arm

29

0A

1A

Low Battery

2A

0B

1B

Low Battery Restore

2B

Faults

1C

AC Fail

2C

Fault Restore

1D

AC Restore

2D

0C

Duress Alarm

0D
0E

Other Alarm Restores

1E

2E

0F

RF Low Battery

1F

2F

165 Eileen Way, Syosset, NY 11791

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Copyright 2003 Honeywell International Inc.

.l
K9571 10/03

Troubleshooting the 4100sm

** Mounting distance of 4100sm is limited to length of 4142tr cable. **
This cannot be extended. The cable between 4100sm and Home automation pc can be
made using the pin out below.
Voltages:
Terminal 6 to ground, sets idle at 800mVdc, goes to 6Vdc upon transmission from panel. Terminal 3
to ground, sets idle at 4Vdc idle, pulses by +1Vdc upon transmission from PC, if not check the
zone voltage. Make sure that there is 4vdc from terminal 23 (zone 9) to ground.
Communications protocol must be set for the following:
1200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit.
Pin Out:

Troubleshooting the VA8201:

* No data transmission but systems arms and disarms.
Fix: Check fields 05,14,1*70
* No response to Rs232 commands.
Fix: Check fields 1*69,2*30
* Panel transmitting data to home automation, home automation data not affecting panel.
Fix: Check voltage on terminal 23, pager module pulls zone from 12VDC to 400mVDC.
Check power to pager module.
* Panel showing Pager Off line.
Fix: Pager module green wire not connected to zone of panel (terminal 23).
There may be no power to pager module. Also check terminal 23, zone 9, to ground
makes sure there is 4vdc there. If there is not then it will also show pager off line.
Voltage Checks:
Green wire to panel ground should read 400mVDC and raise to 0VDC on transmission.
Brown wire of J8 (from panel) to panel ground should read 600mVDC and raise to 0VDC on
transmission.
If any problems occur, also verify that in zone programming, zone 9 has been disabled.
Communications protocol must be set for the following:
1200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit
Wiring:
The VA8201 cannot be any further from the panel than the distance of the trigger cable. This is a
limitation of the driver on the panel. The home-auto pc itself can be up to 50' from the VA8201.
Pin Out:
This is the pin out for the Db9 to Db25 in the event a cable may need to be made. Recommended
wire: Cat 5 unshielded, if shielded or in conduit then the 50
distance would be reduced to 25.
DB9 DB25 Name
1
8
DCD
2
3
RxD
3
2
TxD
4
20
DTR
5
7
SG
6
6
DSR
7
4
RTS
8
5
CTS
9
22
RI
RxD, TxD, SG, and DSR are the only pins used by the VA8201.