This integration is being included in my submission to Shelly’s Smart Home Challenge 2025.
Triggering an Arm or Disarm action from Home Assistant
This integration aims to trigger the IQ 4 / Alarm.com alarm system to ARM or DISARM via commands from home assistant.
Components Utilized
- On the Alarm System side:
- IQ 4 Alarm Panel
- IQ Hardwire 16
- On the Home Assistant Side:
- Shelly 1 gen 4 (Zigbee mode)
Design Standards
- Must be all 12v DC to be driven off of common power (for eventual installation in a project box or equipment enclosure
- Uses Zwave and IQ Hardware (or various IQ compatible wireless sensors) for the IQ side
- Uses Zigbee and/or z-wave devices for the Home Assistant Side
Overall Configuration
Part 1: Configuring a Keyfob
On the IQ 4 panel, we utilize a sensor setup as a Keyfob to force the panel to arm or disarm. In this case, we are leveraging an open zone on the IQ Hardwire, however this could be a wireless sensor or open zone on a Hardwire PowerG.
Note: This is for proof of concept only! Actually disarming your system this way may open up significant holes in your security system and should be used with caution and planning. The Key Switch Option in the IQ can be modified to make this an ‘arm only’ connection which you should consider for enhanced security. Proceed at your own risk.
In our case, we have zone 2 on the IQ Hardwire setup as the Keyfob. Specifically with the Key Switch Option set to “Momentary Instant”. This allows the system to arm without a countdown delay, primarily for demo purposes. In real-life I might choose “Momentary Delay”.
Why Momentary instead of Maintained?
Configuring in this way allows for a change in arm status with just a momentary closing of the contacts on the zone terminals. If we had used “Maintained Instant” then the arm/disarm state would follow the open/close status of the contacts. While we could use this, it causes other issues - like if your source relay from Home Assistant loses power, it will default to “open” and arm your alarm! I found this annoying in my testing so I went with momentary, and added other logic (relying on the arm/disarm state from this integration: https://discussion.savethepanel.com/t/iq-adc-to-home-assistant-integration-arm-and-alarm-state/ ) to know if I’m arming or disarming the system.
Part 2: Configuring a dry contact switch in Home Assistant
To drive the keyfob we just configured, I’m using a Shelly 1 Gen 4 in Zigbee mode. The dry contact terminals are wired directly into the zone 2 terminals on the IQ Hardwire.
Since there does not seem to be a configuration on the Gen 4 in Zigbee mode to make this a momentary switch, I instead added an automation to Home Assistant to automatically turn the switch off 1 second after it being turned on, thereby making this relay into a momentary switch.
Now, when the Shelly relay is turned on, the system will switch arm states… If disarmed, it will arm, and vice-versa.
Part 3: Working out the kinks
First issue: some delay
The Keyfob has some level of delay - usually 1 second but sometimes as long as 4 seconds. Interestingly in Maintained mode, the delay was gone. I may have to rethink this in the future if put into production.
To alleviate this, I created some logic in HA to sense that an arm or disarm has been issued, and then waits for a corresponding change in arm state from the Shelly i4 (see this article: https://discussion.savethepanel.com/t/iq-adc-to-home-assistant-integration-arm-and-alarm-state/). During this time, the Home Assistant dashboard displays a “please wait, processing command” message so it isn’t confusing to the end-user.
Second issue: Knowing if you are arming or disarming (since its now a toggle of sorts)
I added automation and logic into Home Assistant to leverage the systems arm status from our i4 DC to sense state. So, if armed, the button on the HA Dashboard says “Disarm”; but if the i3 DC senses the system is already disarmed, the button on the HA Dashboard says “Arm”.
Home Assistant Configs
If anyone is trying this and has questions on the HA setup specifically, just let me know and I’m happy to help. Also, I’ll post a demo video of all these IQ4 / HA integrations in action soon.