Options to arm/disarm guest house in separate Area

[MattAZ]

I have been reviewing these forums for the past 2 months and have found most of my answers but I have one series of questions that I cannot find the answer to.

I have a 3,000 sf home with a 1,000 sf guest house that will be a separate Area (partition) on an Omnipro II. I know that a minimum of one console (keypad) is required per system, but I cannot determine if one console (keypad) is required per Area (partition). If the answer is yes I will have to trench and install conduit and wire to the guest house. If the answer is no I hope I can come up with a wireless solution.

I had planned for everything in the guest house to be wirelessly connected to the Omnipro II including door contacts, window contacts, thermostat, motion detectors, and glass break detectors (all HAI wireless devices). Wireless range is not a problem as the guest house is parallel to my house and separated by about 8'. Wifi is exceptionally strong so I don't perceive any problem with signal strength for my HAI wireless devices.

However, how can I wirelessly control the arming and disarming of this separate Area? Will the HAI Snap-Link software or Haiku allow me to install an iPad or iPod that ONLY controls the guest house? Can a 4-button wireless keypad be setup to arm/disarm (I would set it up to require a multiple button combination that was not labeled as such to avoid a perpetrator shutting it down) ONLY the guest house? Finally, can the remote keyfob be used to arm/disarm ONLY the guest house?

These are the extent of the options I believe may work. I would prefer the iPad or iPod approach because it could serve multiple HA functions for the guest house but I don't know if it can be configured to be dedicated to one Area. I do NOT want guests controlling functions in the main house. Are there any other options I have not mentioned?

By the way this is my first post. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Matt

 

[InspiredTim]

The keyfob and wireless keypad can be programmed to do only the guest house. Snaplink control can't be limited to 1 area only. If Haiku can't do it, than you could use a bitwise box to send serial commands to the Omni and create a GUI for the guest house.

 

[edselrt]

Bitwise box + ipad is an expensive solution if it can only do a one way serial communication to omnipro panel. I know a Hai driver is in the works but who knows when its available.

Haiku is your best bet as of now

 

[InspiredTim]

There is two way serial. Just not publicly available. Some techs have been working on it.

 

[lupinglade]

The next version of Haiku will be able to run in a specific area and only show/control items in that area.

 

[MattAZ]

Thank you to everyone for the input. I plan to go with the key fob for now for simplicity (I already have a separate guest house key that I might as well connect to the key fob to give to guests who stay with us). This did spark some follow-up questions?

Without a keypad to "beep" indicating that the alarm is armed when one enters the guest house, how can I implement some sort of indicator that the system is armed if my guests are using the key fob? My thoughts include an LED light on the exterior of the guest house that illuminates to indicate the system is armed (what is the easiest way to do this from the OmniPro II wirelessly?). Could I have the lights in the guest house that are being controlled by the OmniPro II flash once when the system is armed and twice when the system is armed? I could also control the wall mounted light next to the door to flash appropriately based on the alarm status, if this is possible. Anyone else have a good solution given that these will be guests who could perhaps be a little technically challenged so simpler is better.

Long-term plan is to drop in an iPad inside the guest house to run a future version of Haiku that is able to be locked down to the specific Area.