Project Z-Wave (Home Automation)
- Thread starter Imy
- Start date
Yeah I found them very useful too. I used their 3-way + fibaro guide to wire up a downlighter to a 3-pin wall plug so I can do this testing.
I bought all my home automation gear from there as their prices aren't any worse than anyone else and they gave me a bulk buy discount too.
Their customer service has been great too so far. I spoke to a guy there called Mark Onions quite a few times through the online chat and via email and he was very helpful in providing pre-sales technical answers and sound advice. He's the one who suggested the momentary switch to me which as you say is the way to go for controlling an inline dimmer module.
The Fibaro dimmer documentation says it can dispatch events for single, double and triple clicks (up and down) so I'm hoping to be able to control more than just the attached lights with the same switch. By default single click up = turn on to last position and double click up = turn on full brightness.
Quick update:
Picking up these LightwaveRF On/Off sockets tonight hopefully for £19.99:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/remote-on-off-socket-kit-w-li-ion-powered-remote-control-13a-white/61649#product_additional_details_container
They normally sell for £35 ish. This means I'll now have something to test out the RFXtrx433 USB 433.92 MHz transceiver with.
I've also been doing bits and bobs on the mobile interface:
The design has been refined some more and I've added quick "scene" buttons. They are shortcuts basically which activate pre-defined settings affecting one or more devices.
Picking up these LightwaveRF On/Off sockets tonight hopefully for £19.99:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/remote-on-off-socket-kit-w-li-ion-powered-remote-control-13a-white/61649#product_additional_details_container
They normally sell for £35 ish. This means I'll now have something to test out the RFXtrx433 USB 433.92 MHz transceiver with.
I've also been doing bits and bobs on the mobile interface:
The design has been refined some more and I've added quick "scene" buttons. They are shortcuts basically which activate pre-defined settings affecting one or more devices.
Last edited:
This past week I've been working on creating an API for the RFXtrx433 transceiver so I could start controlling LightwaveRF kit and other ~433MHz devices through the mobile interface.
The coding was much lower level than the Z-Wave stuff as I had to communicate directly with the transceiver over the USB port. There was quite a bit to implement so that took up most of my time.
Not much change to the mobile interface. Just added 3 buttons for the 3 Siemens LightwaveRF On/Off sockets I bought. I liked them and the price is good so ordered another set of 3 yesterday.
I also wired-in a Fibaro inline-dimmer to my bedroom ceiling lights yesterday and am already benefiting from being able to switch it on/off from bed
. Unfortunately the lights are not the dimmable type but are due to be replaced soon hopefully.
The coding was much lower level than the Z-Wave stuff as I had to communicate directly with the transceiver over the USB port. There was quite a bit to implement so that took up most of my time.
Not much change to the mobile interface. Just added 3 buttons for the 3 Siemens LightwaveRF On/Off sockets I bought. I liked them and the price is good so ordered another set of 3 yesterday.
I also wired-in a Fibaro inline-dimmer to my bedroom ceiling lights yesterday and am already benefiting from being able to switch it on/off from bed
. Unfortunately the lights are not the dimmable type but are due to be replaced soon hopefully.
I've not had range issues with either Z-Wave or LightwaveRF. Everything works on the first attempt, however I do live in an apartment.
I am currently experiencing 2 bugs with my custom mobile app (web page) I have yet to look into:
It occasionally times out when trying to open it up (screen stays white). This suggests a connectivity issue with either my router, Pi WiFI dongle or the web server software (Lighttpd).
The 2nd bug is similar and again happens only occasionally. The app will open but the Z-Way API will take a while to return its first set of JSON data. It basically looks like it's hanging. It will eventually return the data then continue as normal.
Whether that's an issue with the hardware or the Z-Way API I don't know yet. I suspect the Z-Way software may not be as efficient as it could be. I may look into bypassing it and communicate directly with the transceiver.
One other thing. I currently have the multi-sensor directly paired to the hallway test light. It triggers on motion and at the moment takes a second or so for the light to turn on. I need to try powering the sensor via mains power to see if it'll react quicker that way.
I would be concerned with using 2.4GHz as it's quite a congested band these days.
I am currently experiencing 2 bugs with my custom mobile app (web page) I have yet to look into:
It occasionally times out when trying to open it up (screen stays white). This suggests a connectivity issue with either my router, Pi WiFI dongle or the web server software (Lighttpd).
The 2nd bug is similar and again happens only occasionally. The app will open but the Z-Way API will take a while to return its first set of JSON data. It basically looks like it's hanging. It will eventually return the data then continue as normal.
Whether that's an issue with the hardware or the Z-Way API I don't know yet. I suspect the Z-Way software may not be as efficient as it could be. I may look into bypassing it and communicate directly with the transceiver.
One other thing. I currently have the multi-sensor directly paired to the hallway test light. It triggers on motion and at the moment takes a second or so for the light to turn on. I need to try powering the sensor via mains power to see if it'll react quicker that way.
I would be concerned with using 2.4GHz as it's quite a congested band these days.
Yeah my router can analyse channel usage and there are currently 14 other 2.4GHz stations in range. I'm on a channel on my own but if each of those 14 decided to do the same thing, every channel would be in use. Bluetooth devices also use the same band.
IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) has provisions for collision avoidance, one of which requires each device to be capable of 2-way communication so acknowledgements can be sent.
A lot of home automation devices are either receivers or transmitters (not both) for cost reasons so it's not possible for them to send or receive acknowledgements. It's one of the reasons I went with Z-Wave as each device can send and receive data. I'm using LightwaveRF devices where keeping the cost down is more important than having two-way communication. I created a MySQL database to track on/off states of the sockets I bought to help mitigate the issue.
Can't say I spent long looking at Zigbee. Are the devices mostly one-way like LightwaveRF or two-way like Z-Wave?
IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) has provisions for collision avoidance, one of which requires each device to be capable of 2-way communication so acknowledgements can be sent.
A lot of home automation devices are either receivers or transmitters (not both) for cost reasons so it's not possible for them to send or receive acknowledgements. It's one of the reasons I went with Z-Wave as each device can send and receive data. I'm using LightwaveRF devices where keeping the cost down is more important than having two-way communication. I created a MySQL database to track on/off states of the sockets I bought to help mitigate the issue.
Can't say I spent long looking at Zigbee. Are the devices mostly one-way like LightwaveRF or two-way like Z-Wave?
Ah, may have been worth looking at abit more then!
zigbee is bi-directional and creates 'mesh' networks between each other, you can select which are monitors/passive/co-ordinators etc..
so yeah they will listen to your commands and report what they are currently doing back to you.
ive been playing with zigbee radiator actuators and fan coil controllers, the fan coil controller is rather good.
zigbee is bi-directional and creates 'mesh' networks between each other, you can select which are monitors/passive/co-ordinators etc..
so yeah they will listen to your commands and report what they are currently doing back to you.
ive been playing with zigbee radiator actuators and fan coil controllers, the fan coil controller is rather good.
Z-Wave is mesh based too. Any mains powered device can act as a message forwarder but battery powered devices can only be on the end of a mesh path. This is the current state of my mesh:
I haven't looked up what the numbers mean but that dark green colour means it can communicate directly with the other node so basically every node can communicate directly with every other node directly at the moment.
In that case then the only differences I can think of (aside from the devices available) are the relatively uncongested frequency Z-Wave operates on, its greater range and power efficiency.
I haven't actually seen many Zigbee devices and the ones I did were very expensive. Where did you buy yours from?
I think I read a while back that some Zigbee devices have issues working with Zigbee devices from other manufacturers which is about when I stopped reading about it.
I haven't looked up what the numbers mean but that dark green colour means it can communicate directly with the other node so basically every node can communicate directly with every other node directly at the moment.
In that case then the only differences I can think of (aside from the devices available) are the relatively uncongested frequency Z-Wave operates on, its greater range and power efficiency.
I haven't actually seen many Zigbee devices and the ones I did were very expensive. Where did you buy yours from?
I think I read a while back that some Zigbee devices have issues working with Zigbee devices from other manufacturers which is about when I stopped reading about it.
Last edited:
Well it's been a while since I've done an update. Progress on new features has been slow-going as I had to re-write a lot of stuff to get around certain issues, some of which were previously mentioned.
Here's where I'm at now:
Alternative skin:
As you can see I've added a 2nd screen which is probably not going to be of much use to most people but I was eager to implement a screen navigation system. You don't see any navigation because it is entirely swipe based and there are no page titles either. This means I can still use 100% of the screen space for actual content.
I've upgraded the sliders so now the current value is displayed inside the handle instead of on the end of the slider. For usability reasons, when you try to move it, you get a larger circle popup above it so you can see the adjustment value (see first screenshot).
I've also added a 2nd skin design which I may set as the "day" skin and the grey skin as the "night" skin. If I add more skins I may set them to switch randomly on application open.
Here's where I'm at now:
Alternative skin:
As you can see I've added a 2nd screen which is probably not going to be of much use to most people but I was eager to implement a screen navigation system. You don't see any navigation because it is entirely swipe based and there are no page titles either. This means I can still use 100% of the screen space for actual content.
I've upgraded the sliders so now the current value is displayed inside the handle instead of on the end of the slider. For usability reasons, when you try to move it, you get a larger circle popup above it so you can see the adjustment value (see first screenshot).
I've also added a 2nd skin design which I may set as the "day" skin and the grey skin as the "night" skin. If I add more skins I may set them to switch randomly on application open.
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 5,586
- Location
- Stone, Staffordshire
Looking good. I much prefer the sleeker LighwaveRF replacement sockets as opposed to the clunky looking z-wave plugin in dimmers.
I've subscribed
I've subscribed
They do look good yes but there are some things to bear in mind when it comes to those LightwaveRF replacement sockets.
First of all they are for lighting only really. People have killed them by plugging in other things. Check out the reviews on Amazon.
More importantly for me, they don't transmit their current status as they only contain a receiver and not a transmitter. While it's possible to track changes using a database (as I have done with the LightwaveRF pass-through sockets), dimming is a far more flaky prospect.
They also don't work as well with LED bulbs, requiring a higher minimum load than my Z-Wave dimmers (both inline and plug-in).
Last but not least, the LightwaveRF network is very insecure. It is a trivial matter for someone to listen for the signals and replay them to take control over your devices. It is infact how I got my app working with the LightwaveRF plug-in sockets - by listening to the messages the paired remote was sending and replicating them through my own transmitter.
Not a huge issue now but perhaps if it becomes more popular it will be so be careful where you use them. It's a bit like your broadband router not having a password for WiFi.
First of all they are for lighting only really. People have killed them by plugging in other things. Check out the reviews on Amazon.
More importantly for me, they don't transmit their current status as they only contain a receiver and not a transmitter. While it's possible to track changes using a database (as I have done with the LightwaveRF pass-through sockets), dimming is a far more flaky prospect.
They also don't work as well with LED bulbs, requiring a higher minimum load than my Z-Wave dimmers (both inline and plug-in).
Last but not least, the LightwaveRF network is very insecure. It is a trivial matter for someone to listen for the signals and replay them to take control over your devices. It is infact how I got my app working with the LightwaveRF plug-in sockets - by listening to the messages the paired remote was sending and replicating them through my own transmitter.
Not a huge issue now but perhaps if it becomes more popular it will be so be careful where you use them. It's a bit like your broadband router not having a password for WiFi.
Last edited:
Thanks again for posting such a detailed thread, it's great.
The Almond+ finally shipped but not much in the way of home automation currently and it's not clear if they intend to support things like the associations required to get the second switch on the Fibaro dimmers hooked up.
So, I'm thinking of ditching it and getting a dedicated controller, either the Vera Edge or go the Raspberry Pi route (I have had a Pi since launch I've never really used for anything). Are you still rocking the Pi setup? Working well for you? I like the idea of the JSON API.
The Almond+ finally shipped but not much in the way of home automation currently and it's not clear if they intend to support things like the associations required to get the second switch on the Fibaro dimmers hooked up.
So, I'm thinking of ditching it and getting a dedicated controller, either the Vera Edge or go the Raspberry Pi route (I have had a Pi since launch I've never really used for anything). Are you still rocking the Pi setup? Working well for you? I like the idea of the JSON API.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Dec 2005
- Posts
- 17,316
- Location
- Bristol
Looks really good mate.
I keep meaning to update this. I can't believe my last post was in April! I will try to do a big update this week or next.
From a hardware perspective, I've done most of what I want to in my apartment and I have added a number of new screens and features to the phone app also.
Yes it's still all running off a Pi, however I upgraded to the B+ model recently after busting the SD card slot on the old one.
From a hardware perspective, I've done most of what I want to in my apartment and I have added a number of new screens and features to the phone app also.
Yes it's still all running off a Pi, however I upgraded to the B+ model recently after busting the SD card slot on the old one.
Nice one, would be great to read.
I think I'm going to jump in and grab a Razberry and some sensors, do you have the Pi in some sort of case? I do have one for it somewhere I think but not sure if it will fit with the daughter board attached.
Initial kit likely to be a few Fibaro dimmers and a couple of Z-Wave sockets I think, maybe a motion sensor.
I think I'm going to jump in and grab a Razberry and some sensors, do you have the Pi in some sort of case? I do have one for it somewhere I think but not sure if it will fit with the daughter board attached.
Initial kit likely to be a few Fibaro dimmers and a couple of Z-Wave sockets I think, maybe a motion sensor.
the Pi is gonig to be woeful at all this. In fact, z-wave in general seems to have slacked right off compared to the likes of LightWave, whose App alone is far advanced. I can see this aging very quickly, sadly, as I'm all for it.
What makes you say that about the Pi? Imy seems pretty happy a year in. There seem to be lots of happy Razberry users.
Lightwave doesn't seem as fully featured or secure, however they seem to be going for ease of use. For sure Z-Wave isn't there ease of use wise for non technical installation.
Lightwave doesn't seem as fully featured or secure, however they seem to be going for ease of use. For sure Z-Wave isn't there ease of use wise for non technical installation.