Manually trigger intruder alert in SHM?

I shall describe my set up.

I used 2 Virtual Contact Sensor Switches (VCSS), 2 Routines, and integrated 1 Security routine.

  1. add VCSS2 to SHM as a contact sensor.
  2. Use VCSS1 as if it were a light/button.
  3. Create a routine that observes VCSS1 and automatically runs when VCSS1 turns on. The routine sets the state to “Panic” and sets SHM to armed-stay
  4. Create a routine that observes SHM’s armed state and automatically runs (after 0.05 seconds) when it goes to armed-stay but only if it is any mode except for “Panic”. The routine will turn on VCSS2 which the system will interpret as a contact sensor turning on.

With this set up when I activate VCSS1 SHM will think an intruder has just entered that house and will fire off the security routine.

[Some observations]

  • Seems like SHM doesn’t consider closing a contact sensor as an Intrusion which necessitates the second VCSS
  • the 0.05 delay between arming and running the routine in step 3 was a necessary step. The system takes time to arm itself completely and without the delay, the contact sensor is considered open before the ARMing is complete. I suppose the 0.05 minute delay could be shorter, but I haven’t tested how far. I just know that 0.01666 of a minute doesn’t work.
  • VCCS1 could have been replaced by a Virtual Light or an alarm.