Overview

The LS30 project is open source burglar alarm control and monitoring software for the Scientech LS-30 wireless alarm system.

The Scientech LS-30 is an advanced wireless Home/Business Alarm Controller which supports many types of sensors, can control various types of devices, and has computer interfaces for USB and Ethernet.

With my code you can:

Arm and disarm your alarm system
Read the current settings and program the device
Monitor all the attached devices (PIR sensors, door switches etc)

There must be a lot of interesting things which can be done with this device and the right software. What could your computer do if it is told when there is an intruder nearby? Can you think of some benefit for knowing and logging every time a sensor is triggered, even when the unit is disarmed? How many times a day is your fridge door opened? Attach a door sensor and find out!

The LS30 project is the work of Nick Andrew (nick@nick-andrew.net) and is not associated with Scientech Ltd or any distributor or vendor of the LS-30 device. I wrote it for 3 main reasons:

I need a way to control and monitor my unit from Linux
To open up access so others can benefit from and contribute to the work
To explore the limits of what can be done with this device in home automation and unexpected applications.

How it works

The LS-30 unit has an optional Ethernet interface which listens on TCP port 1681. This allows reading and changing settings, and it reports all events which occur, even when not armed.

My software includes a daemon which connects to that port and then listens on one or more addresses for connections from clients. Client code includes programs to read and write the settings, arm and disarm the unit, and watch all the messages the unit sends.

The kinds of messages the unit sends are:

Sensor triggered (such as a PIR (Passive Infra-Red)
Door switch open or close
Smoke sensor triggered
Use of a keypad or remote-control keyfob
Device test transmissions
Periodic self-test status
Received transmissions from non-registered devices.

The LS-30 Ethernet interface comes with a Java program called LifeSOS which only runs on Windows. LifeSOS has some broken bits and doesn't support automation at all.

My LS30 software will run on any computer which uses perl, so its native execution environment is Linux, Mac OS X and other unix-like systems but perl can be installed on Windows, so LS30 should work even there.

Features

Arms and Disarms the unit
Reads and sets most of the internal settings
Decodes around 90% of the protocol
Supports IPv4 and IPv6
Clients and servers automatically reconnect after disconnection
Device event logging daemon
Sensor analysis (graphing activity levels)

Overview

How it works

Features

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