Project Z-Wave (Home Automation)

[geuben]

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.

I don't understand this statement either.

The fact that Z-wave might not have the traction that LightWave has has no bearing on the Pi's ability to be used in this setup. The joy of the Pi is it's open enough for you to be able to swap out the radio technology for any you like.

Personally I prefer Z-Wave over LightWave. Not knowing if a message was recieved by a device can get really frustrating.

 

[Imy]

I am using both Z-Wave and LightwaveRF compatible transeivers with my Pi simultaneously and it's been coping fine since March/April 2014 with daily use, even when considering my custom app runs in near-real time (1 second polling) along with a number of background services I've written and have installed.

I got to say though the only reason I am using LightwaveRF at all is because some of the kit is much cheaper than the Z-Wave equivalent e.g. the door sensors and power sockets.

There are far more Z-Wave devices available and it is a more feature rich implementation as well as more secure. You can find more details on the differences in my previous posts in this thread as well as a slightly out of date but more thorough comparison here.

LightwaveRF is simpler to install though on the whole when it comes to lighting. Z-Wave relies more on in-line modules than replacement fascias although the benefit of that is you can use your existing switches or choose from hundreds of designs available.

While I have taken a highly custom and technical route with my own setup, high-end off-the-shelf solutions do exist for Z-Wave - if you got the cash. There's the highly polished Fibaro controller for example as well as many others to choose from. You are not limited to using one company's solution.

With regards to mobile apps, while there are a number of apps available for Z-Wave (different controller manufacturers have their own), the official LightwaveRF one doesn't seem all that. It's currently sitting on 2 out of 5 stars rating on Apple's App Store for the current version and only a slightly better 2.5 average across all versions.

 

[uchuff]

OK that's me ordered.

- RaZberry GPIO controller
- TKB On/Off Socket
- 2x Fibaro Universal Dimmer
- 1x Fibaro LED Bypass

If all goes according to plan should add a few more dimmers another On/Off socket and some motion detection shortly after.

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.

FWIW the numbers display how many one hop and two hop routes between the devices. Green is good and means there's more than one single hop route between the two.

 

[uchuff]

Kitchen under cabinet lights go on, kitchen under cabinet lights go off.

 

[dtokez]

I have put together a system based on arduinos. I started in the lounge and made a simple web interface for controlling the lighting - I have 12x 3w led down lighters in there and I can control the brightness each one independently. I also have RGB strips going around the room on each wall, hidden in a MDF rail - split into 24 channels. I have started making some preset modes for the lighting and I am now looking at expanding the system to some other rooms, using a master arduino with a ethernet shields sending commands to the nodes.

Luckily when we moved into our house I rewired it, and ran loooads of cat5e.

Would recommend a diy system, I have learnt a lot and it has cost me peanuts

 

[valve90210]

I have put together a system based on arduinos. I started in the lounge and made a simple web interface for controlling the lighting - I have 12x 3w led down lighters in there and I can control the brightness each one independently. I also have RGB strips going around the room on each wall, hidden in a MDF rail - split into 24 channels. I have started making some preset modes for the lighting and I am now looking at expanding the system to some other rooms, using a master arduino with a ethernet shields sending commands to the nodes.

Luckily when we moved into our house I rewired it, and ran loooads of cat5e.

Would recommend a diy system, I have learnt a lot and it has cost me peanuts

Sounds like a good system, any chance of a thread with a write up on what you've done, what hardware you've used etc?

 

[uchuff]

Would be interested to see that too.

 

[dtokez]

Sounds like a good system, any chance of a thread with a write up on what you've done, what hardware you've used etc?

I could do, pushed for time lately but maybe at the weekend I could sort something out. Basicly the hardware for each node is a arduino uno clone, a w5100 Ethernet shield and some custom PCBs that I had made. They each have 3 shift registers (74hc595) and mosfets on so I can control 24 outputs (8 per 74hc595), in full 8bit (or 256) levels . I'm using two of these boards for the lounge lighting as they can be daisy chained.

The arduino serves up a simple webpage, and uses GET commands to trigger the actions from the buttons.

Next steps are to add some WiFi controlled relays for lamps, mains devices etc (will probably use esp8266 modules for this) and build a android app to replace the HTML stuff

 

[dtokez]

Quick screen shot of the way the control page for the lounge looks at the moment, each of the 12 buttons in the central grid represent a down lighter so I can have independent control, this is mainly while I'm working out preset modes etc I could improve it massively but my skills are more hardware then software based - the app will be much better

just found a photo of the hardware from when I was installing it

 

[uchuff]

Imy do you use the second switch option on any of your Fibaro dimmers by any chance?

One of the locations I'm popping a dimmer will use the second switch feature to remote control a TKB socket and I'm thinking I need to use the 2-way momentary switches that only have one "on" direction (K4885) rather than the 3-way (K4900) I have for elsewhere, can't see how it would be wired otherwise.

First time using the MK Grid Plus system, it's nice gear.

Have fired the same query to Vesternet but figured it might be worth asking as we have quite similar setups.

 

[Imy]

Been so busy lately. I'll try to answer everything I've missed.

OK that's me ordered.

- RaZberry GPIO controller
- TKB On/Off Socket
- 2x Fibaro Universal Dimmer
- 1x Fibaro LED Bypass

If all goes according to plan should add a few more dimmers another On/Off socket and some motion detection shortly after.

FWIW the numbers display how many one hop and two hop routes between the devices. Green is good and means there's more than one single hop route between the two.

Great; another person on here to share tips with Thanks for the info regards the numbers but it looks like they have changed the interface again as I don't see them anymore.

Have you had any issues with the Fibaro dimmers? One of mine seems to buzz a lot when dimmed. It has 5 spotlights attached but I don't believe it's a load issue as my other Fibaro dimmers are running 3, 4 and 8 spotlights perfectly fine. The noise also changes and gets reduced when you pull it out of the backbox. Some kind of interfearance perhaps - it is just below the consumer unit.

Kitchen under cabinet lights go on, kitchen under cabinet lights go off.

Pics please

I have put together a system based on arduinos. I started in the lounge and made a simple web interface for controlling the lighting - I have 12x 3w led down lighters in there and I can control the brightness each one independently.

Individual light control is very cool but didn't it add a lot to the cost? How do you plan to use that feature? Are you dimming or just on/off? Do keep us updated please

I could do, pushed for time lately but maybe at the weekend I could sort something out. Basicly the hardware for each node is a arduino uno clone, a w5100 Ethernet shield and some custom PCBs that I had made. They each have 3 shift registers (74hc595) and mosfets on so I can control 24 outputs (8 per 74hc595), in full 8bit (or 256) levels . I'm using two of these boards for the lounge lighting as they can be daisy chained.

The arduino serves up a simple webpage, and uses GET commands to trigger the actions from the buttons.

Next steps are to add some WiFi controlled relays for lamps, mains devices etc (will probably use esp8266 modules for this) and build a android app to replace the HTML stuff

Is Arduino stuff all as modular as it sounds? What's pricing like?

Quick screen shot of the way the control page for the lounge looks at the moment, each of the 12 buttons in the central grid represent a down lighter so I can have independent control, this is mainly while I'm working out preset modes etc I could improve it massively but my skills are more hardware then software based - the app will be much better

just found a photo of the hardware from when I was installing it

Really cool stuff. It'll take time before you know how you want things arranged. Keep everything in the UI quick and easy to access or else you'll just end up reaching for the light switch instead.

Imy do you use the second switch option on any of your Fibaro dimmers by any chance?

One of the locations I'm popping a dimmer will use the second switch feature to remote control a POPP socket and I'm thinking I need to use the 2-way momentary switches that only have one "on" direction (K4885) rather than the 3-way (K4900) I have for elsewhere, can't see how it would be wired otherwise.

First time using the MK Grid Plus system, it's nice gear.

Have fired the same query to Vesternet but figured it might be worth asking as we have quite similar setups.

Yeah I tried asking them about that too when I first started but they didn't have the switches at the time to test it out. A 3-way for sure won't allow you to do what you want. You're going to have to experiement I think. What I did instead was in my bedroom, associate the Fibaro dimmer with the POPP dimmer socket so when I dim the main light, the table lamp dims with it at the same %.

 

[dtokez]

Individual light control is very cool but didn't it add a lot to the cost? How do you plan to use that feature? Are you dimming or just on/off? Do keep us updated please


Is Arduino stuff all as modular as it sounds? What's pricing like?


Really cool stuff. It'll take time before you know how you want things arranged. Keep everything in the UI quick and easy to access or else you'll just end up reaching for the light switch instead.

Individual light control didn't add anything to the cost mate, Im using 3w MR16 bulbs - most of the ones on the market use driver IC's that have a ADJ pin that is not used, basically you can PWM this pin and it will adjust the brightness of the bulb, I connected a wire to each of these pins so I can have full control over the brightness, can have full on, full off or anywhere in between the only niggle is that I had to run power and a separate signal wire to each bulb, but I was rewiring the house anyway

Yes the arduino stuff is very modular, and there are many examples / libraries to help with the programming side of things. Pricing is very cheap if you use clones off the bay - Uno's are about £3-4 and the ethernet shields cost me about £5-6 each. That is about all I have had to buy really - the other odd components I have used I mostly had lying around - but the cost was negotiable anyway. Even the PCBS that I had made in china only cos me about £15 for 10.

Thats it mate, will take time as there are so many different configs. At the moment i'm working on some small wifi controlled units for wireless stuff that I don't want to hard-wire into the network, lamps, tv etc - the esp8266 modules cost about £2 each

 

[Imy]

I might look into Arduino when I get the time. It seems a bit more involved on the hardware front but worth it for the lower cost by the sounds of it.

I had no idea you could do that with MR16 bulbs; sounds very similar to fan control inside PCs. I'm invested heavily into GU10s now though.

I've decided to do my own post update in parts else it's going to take forever. To start with I have updated post #2 with all the things I've purchased and their costs. I'll discuss room sensors in my next update.

 

[dtokez]

I didn't know about the drivers in the bulbs either, but I have a tendency to take stuff apart to see how it works lol. Its a cool little hack that saves a lot of other hardware if you want to control their brightness. Like you say its the same concept as pc fan speed control. I would definitely recommend looking into arduino stuff, I have made loads of projects based around them

 

[uchuff]

Thanks for the info regards the numbers but it looks like they have changed the interface again as I don't see them anymore.

Ditto. I think maybe as part of version 2?

Have you had any issues with the Fibaro dimmers

Have only set one Fibaro dimmer up yesterday and yes, have had an issue, although it's not either of the ones you mention.

I am having issues with the dimmer more or less falling asleep. It works when first powered up then coming back to it after a while the switch can be unresponsive, fiddling about can get it working again. Initially I thought maybe a wire was loose but they are all good.

From a little Googling it seems S2 can be buggy on 2.2 firmware devices. One suggested fix is to change param 10 to 0, disabling the soft dim up/down when switching on or off. Only just made the change so will see. Annoyingly those threads are from 2013 so not sure if/when there will be a proper fix.

Pics please

Will get some up of the various things I do. At the moment not much to show, yesterday was setting up my first dimmer which meant ripping out the original 1960s wood back box. Conveniently a 35mm metal box fits pretty much exactly in the hole it left, just a little fiddling to get the wire in the right spot.

I should probably have said "Worktop lighting" rather than "Under cabinet" I think. I have some Ikea OMLOPP LED worktop lighting plugged in to a TKB socket in the under stairs cupboard we put in.

Plan is to set up a dimmer in the kitchen with the first switch controlling the main ceiling light and and use the second input to switch on that plus another set on the other side of the room. It should be a nice upgrade for us without too much disruption.

Currently there is a single light fixture in the middle of the room, with 4xGU10 spotlights in it (just changed from 4x50W Halogen to 4x5W LED). The single light works great to light the room, good for looking in cupboards etc, but wherever we're stood chopping we have our back to it.

It would be a pain to change to spots as the rooms above are laminate or tiled floors. The house is all brick and only a few areas are being redecorated, so hoping Z-Wave will be a big win by avoiding too much disruption, in addition to the automation / iOS interface aspects.

You're going to have to experiement I think. What I did instead was in my bedroom, associate the Fibaro dimmer with the POPP dimmer socket so when I dim the main light, the table lamp dims with it at the same %.

Thanks. Not fully decided yet whether I want everything on one switch or main lights on one switch and under cabinet & ancillary lights on a second but that is does sound like a good option if we go for the former. There's a TLC down the road that has the K4885 switches at a reasonable price so will likely grab a couple to test.

 

[Imy]

I'm using 45mm backboxes for mine. The electrical wire comes in from the top so I have the dimmer module with connections facing up and radio wire facing down and out of a knock-out at the bottom of the backbox.

I've never had the issue that you mention with any of my 6 Fibaro dimmer modules. Here are the settings taken from the one in my bedroom; hopefully they will help:

Nº 1 - Parameter no.1 - Activation/Deactivation
ALL ON active ALL OFF active

Nº 6 - Parameter no.6 - Sending commands to control devices assigned to 1-st association group (key № 1)
commands are sent when device it turned on and off

Nº 7 - Parameter no.7 - Checking the device status before sending a control frame from the key no. 2
Device status is not checked

Nº 8 - Parameter no.8 - The percentage of a dimming step at automatic control
1

Nº 9 - Parameter no.9 - Time of manually moving the Dimmer between the extreme dimming values
5

Nº 10 - Parameter no.10 - Time of Automatic moving the Dimmer between the extreme dimming values
4 seconds

Nº 11 - Parameter no.11 - The percentage of a dimming step at manual control
1

Nº 12 - Parameter no.12 - Maximum Dimmer level control
99

Nº 13 - Parameter no.13 - Minimum Dimmer level control
2

Nº 14 - Parameter no.14 - Switch Type
Roller blind switch (UP/DOWN) - two switch keys operate the Dimmer

Nº 15 - Parameter no.15 - Double click option (set lighting at 100%)
Double click enabled

Nº 16 - Parameter no.16 - Saving device state after power failure
the Dimmer saves its state before power failure

Nº 17 - Parameter no.17 - The function of 3-way switch, provides the option to double key no. 1
the function of 3-way switch is disabled

Nº 18 - Parameter no.18 - The function of synchronizing the light level for associated devices
function disabled

Nº 19 - Parameter no.19 - Assigns bistable key status to the device status
[On/Off] device changes status on key status change

Nº 20 - Parameter no.20 - The function enabling the change of control impulse length
110

Nº 30 - Parameter no.30 - Alarm of any type (general alarm, water flooding alarm, smoke alarm: CO, CO2, temperature alarm)
ALARM FLASHING – the device periodically changes its states to the opposite, when it detects an alarm within 10 min

Nº 39 - Parameter no.39 - Active flashing alarm time
600

Nº 40 - Parameter no.40 - Updating the dimming level without the input from the switch
99

Nº 41 - Parameter no. 41 - Scene activation functionality
deactivation of functionality

 

[uchuff]

I just fed the antenna out from behind the grid frame and tucked it along the bottom edge so it's just sat behind the plastic cover. Seems ok.

Thanks for the config. Did you grab those from the "Old" Expert UI? I've only just started poking around in that.

I think I need to fix the fact no "Device Description Record" is loaded for the dimmer.

 

[Imy]

I'm using v2.0.1-rc12 which is the latest.

If the Expert UI is not working as it should be for you (perhaps after a recent update), try to do Ctrl+F5 to force reload the newest javascript includes. They aren't changing the names of the javascript files between updates so your browser may have cached the ones from an older version.

Yeah and get the Device Description Record set. I think it uses that to work out the configuration options to display.

 

[uchuff]

Nº 7 - Parameter no.7 - Checking the device status before sending a control frame from the key no. 2
Device status is not checked

Think that might have been it. Default is 1 (Device status is checked) which might have been confusing it.

EDIT: Yep, that seems to have done it, it's been back to having the soft on/off enabled and the switch hasn't stopped responding yet.

 

[Imy]

Great