Section 8 – Automation Communication Formats
8–3
8.4 ADEMCO
8000
Because of the additional features and program capabilities of the MX8000 receiver over its predecessor the
9000 receiver, it was necessary to develop a new automation protocol.
ADEMCO 8000 protocol addresses these needs. The following sections describes the three different types of
data blocks (system message, heart beat message, and call message) that the ADEMCO 8000 will send to the
automation computer, and the components of these data blocks.
Each of these types of data blocks is preceded with an AE header block. At the end of each message is an
"End of message indicator" (<$0D> or carriage return) preceded by a Validation Byte (or V-Byte used for
error-checking). See Section 8.4.5.
8.4.1 AE Header Block
The header block consists of 18 bytes of data and precedes all of the data blocks.
The following is an example of an AE header.
Example:
<Identifier><Date><$22><Time><$22><Rec#><$22><Ref#><$22>
Table 8–3 describes the components of an AE header block.
Table 8–3: AE Header Block Components Description
Character Description Acceptable
Values
<Identifier>
Message type identifier.
$02 System Message
$03 Heart Beat Message
$26 Call Message
<Date>
Date information, consisting of six ASCII bytes. MMDDYY format where
MM = Month, DD = Day,
YY = Year.
<$22>
Separator N/A
<Time>
Time information, consisting of six ASCII bytes
HHMMSS format, where
HH = Hour, MM = Minutes,
SS = Seconds.
<$22>
Separator N/A
<Rec#>
Receiver ID number.
01-99
<$22>
Separator N/A
<Ref#>
Reference number, consisting of four ASCII
bytes.
0001-9999
(0000 is reserved for link tests.)
<$22>
Separator N/A
8.4.2 Call Message Block
A call message is generated any time a control panel calls into the receiver. This type of report will be the
most frequent message block received by the automation computer from the receiver.
Embedded in this message are the account number, time/date stamp, specific event information, along with
any other miscellaneous information such as, caller ID, listen-in, etc.
The following is a generic example of a call message block:
Example:
<AE header><Fmt#><LC#><Panel Data><V-byte><$0D>
Table 8–4 describes the components of a call message block.
Table 8–4: Call Message Components and Description
Character Description
Acceptable
Values
<AE header>
AE header block of data.
See Section 8.4.1.
<Fmt#>
Dialer format number containing three ASCII digits.
See 8.4.2.1.
<LC#>
Line Card number containing two ASCII digits.
00-99
<Panel Data>
Contains account number, time/date stamp, caller ID
information, listen-in, reason for call, zone number, etc.
See 8.4.2.2.
<V-byte>
Validation byte.
See Section 8.4.5.
<$0D>
End of message indicator (carriage return).
N/A
