Favorite Z-Wave brands

[hmjgriffon]

Right now I owned two of the Aeon LED bulb but I am having issue with the bulbs.

When I set a script to trigger a color, I wanted it to flash repeatly for a couple of seconds in the color I set it for like Green for front door, blue for video phone, and yellow for baby monitor etc The bulb would only dims on slowly then dim off slowly. It will not instantly come on or off.

I emailed Aeon support and they claimed that their bulb can do instant on or off. They said that the software Domoticz which I am currently testing with is at fault and the one that dimming on and off. not their bulbs

Aeon support posted about it on Domoticz forum some time ago but haven't gotten a response on it when I checked last time

I plan on giving a different home automatication software OpenHAB2 a try when I get some free time. I am using RaspPi 3 for my hub, that why I wanted to try domoticz first since it offer support for RaspPi but later found out that OpenHAB support RaspPi as well too

I'm interested to hear how open hab goes also, I'm using domoticz and it's pretty sweet but I'm open to other stuff, there doesn't seem to be a huge domoticz community, the few times I've posted on the forum I got little or nothing back lol. And if you're not awesome with Lua you're in trouble, and it seems like there is stuff that domoticz does in Lua that does not exist on any Lua sites I've looked at.

 

[TechBill]

You might want to consider this:
Fibaro RGBW Micro Controller Z-wave, Works with RGB/RGBW LED Strips - - Amazon.com
with some LED strip lighting

I actually had looked into strip lighting but We were afraid it won't be bright enough to alert us during daylight hours

Our goal is to install zwave wall switches in the room we use often like bedroom, kitchen, bathroom etc. and have two or three of this multi-color zwave bulb nearby

If a person approach to the front door, we wanted it to flash all room lights off and on during daylight hours and only on and half dimmed during evening hours then we would look at the nearest multi-color led or on our smartphone to see the reason of the alert and which sensors is triggering it

 

[JasonS]

You can dim with wink hub

maybe I did something wrong.. but here's what I got...

 

[hmjgriffon]

I can dim with domoticz but the dimmer modules I have only let me dim a little and if I go too low the lights flicker, I think that has more to do with the CFL bulbs though lol

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[logbuilder]

Right now I owned two of the Aeon LED bulb but I am having issue with the bulbs.

When I set a script to trigger a color, I wanted it to flash repeatly for a couple of seconds in the color I set it for like Green for front door, blue for video phone, and yellow for baby monitor etc The bulb would only dims on slowly then dim off slowly. It will not instantly come on or off.

I emailed Aeon support and they claimed that their bulb can do instant on or off. They said that the software Domoticz which I am currently testing with is at fault and the one that dimming on and off. not their bulbs

Aeon support posted about it on Domoticz forum some time ago but haven't gotten a response on it when I checked last time

I plan on giving a different home automatication software OpenHAB2 a try when I get some free time. I am using RaspPi 3 for my hub, that why I wanted to try domoticz first since it offer support for RaspPi but later found out that OpenHAB support RaspPi as well too

In my environment (HomeSeer and Insteon), I would be looking at ramp rate. In this environment I can set an instant ON/OFF or can ramp it UP/DN slowly. Mostly controlled by ramp rate however the default dim level would also come into play.

 

[CountZero]

The Fibaro look nice, in the video it show one mounted outdoor under the soffit too. I wondered if the blinking led when detected can be disabled.

I am thinking to use this one for our entranceway alert and outdoor temp reading

The blinking LED can be disabled on the Fibaro. It has several modes available as well as completely off.

And I believe the manufacturer recommends that if its installed outdoors its installed in a sheltered area. I have 2 so far and I really like them. Both are inside though. I know that the LUX sensor doesn't work really well outside as its too bright usually for the design of the sensor. But if you are using it for motion and temperature, it should work just fine.

I tried one of the Zooz 4 in one sensors and could not get it to work with my system reliably. I'm considering trying one of the Aeotec Gen 5 multisensors next, only because it allows you to plug it in via USB which allows more frequent updates. Not sure how I'm going to hide a USB Cable on the wall though. (Not interested in tearing up a wall just to hide a USB cable.)

 

[hmjgriffon]

The blinking LED can be disabled on the Fibaro. It has several modes available as well as completely off.

And I believe the manufacturer recommends that if its installed outdoors its installed in a sheltered area. I have 2 so far and I really like them. Both are inside though. I know that the LUX sensor doesn't work really well outside as its too bright usually for the design of the sensor. But if you are using it for motion and temperature, it should work just fine.

I tried one of the Zooz 4 in one sensors and could not get it to work with my system reliably. I'm considering trying one of the Aeotec Gen 5 multisensors next, only because it allows you to plug it in via USB which allows more frequent updates. Not sure how I'm going to hide a USB Cable on the wall though. (Not interested in tearing up a wall just to hide a USB cable.)

Watched a review that said when you plug in the USB it makes the temp read even more off from heat

 

[TechBill]

Watched a review that said when you plug in the USB it makes the temp read even more off from heat

Aeotec? I read somewhere that you have to manually enter an tempature offset for first time before it give an accurate reading

 

[TechBill]

The blinking LED can be disabled on the Fibaro. It has several modes available as well as completely off.

And I believe the manufacturer recommends that if its installed outdoors its installed in a sheltered area. I have 2 so far and I really like them. Both are inside though. I know that the LUX sensor doesn't work really well outside as its too bright usually for the design of the sensor. But if you are using it for motion and temperature, it should work just fine.

I tried one of the Zooz 4 in one sensors and could not get it to work with my system reliably. I'm considering trying one of the Aeotec Gen 5 multisensors next, only because it allows you to plug it in via USB which allows more frequent updates. Not sure how I'm going to hide a USB Cable on the wall though. (Not interested in tearing up a wall just to hide a USB cable.)

Thank for i he information, I think I will get one Fibaro to try out and get more later if I like it

 

[Zeddy]

I use Fibaro, I found that they had a little more polish on their firmware than the Aeon labs. For example I have window roller shutters and tried the Aeotec tubular motor controller, whilst it did work it would leave power connected to either the up or down winding through the shutter limit switches. If the shutter limit switch failed the motor would stall and burn out creating a fire. The Fibaro Roller shutter V1 would disconnect the motor after it stopped at it's open or closed position. It also had a feature which let me open the shutter say 50% by working out the travel time based on the current draw, something the Aeotec didn't.

Saying that there was one thing that annoyed me between the version 1 and 2 of the Fibaro roller shutter module, V1 would pause for .5 of a second if you changed directions mid operations, the V2 just seems to throw the motor in reverse, not ideal.

 

[CountZero]

Watched a review that said when you plug in the USB it makes the temp read even more off from heat

That would be a problem. For me the whole point of plugging it in would be to accurately track temperatures more frequently. (I'm hoping to get better temp data in a couple of rooms to allow me to better control the thermostats to keep the temp more consistent in the house.) I'll have to look into the heat issues further. Thanks!

Thank for i he information, I think I will get one Fibaro to try out and get more later if I like it

I really liked the price on the Zooz. I really wanted it to work for me as the Fibaro seems to be at the higher end of the pricing curve for multi sensors. That being said, I have no complaints about the Fibaro. Its really tiny, so far it seems to kick data to the hub right on schedule, its ZWave Plus which makes it a little lighter on the battery usage, and it only takes 1 CR123 battery vs. the Aeotec that takes 2 CR123 batteries if its not plugged in.

I'm using it in a kids room, so turning off the LED was pretty important for me.

 

[hmjgriffon]

That would be a problem. For me the whole point of plugging it in would be to accurately track temperatures more frequently. (I'm hoping to get better temp data in a couple of rooms to allow me to better control the thermostats to keep the temp more consistent in the house.) I'll have to look into the heat issues further. Thanks!



I really liked the price on the Zooz. I really wanted it to work for me as the Fibaro seems to be at the higher end of the pricing curve for multi sensors. That being said, I have no complaints about the Fibaro. Its really tiny, so far it seems to kick data to the hub right on schedule, its ZWave Plus which makes it a little lighter on the battery usage, and it only takes 1 CR123 battery vs. the Aeotec that takes 2 CR123 batteries if its not plugged in.

I'm using it in a kids room, so turning off the LED was pretty important for me.

you can always wire up a bunch of these. One Wire Digital Temperature Sensor - DS18B20 - SEN-00245 - SparkFun Electronics

 

[Camit]

I installed a bunch of lutron caseta dimmers on my wink network and fuckin hate that with wink you can only turn on and off.. no option to dim the lights.
so next project will be a new controlling hub.

Watch this video...

 

[CountZero]

you can always wire up a bunch of these. One Wire Digital Temperature Sensor - DS18B20 - SEN-00245 - SparkFun Electronics

I'll have to take a closer look at those and figure out an easy way to retrieve and track the data. Thanks!

 

[hmjgriffon]

I'll have to take a closer look at those and figure out an easy way to retrieve and track the data. Thanks!

lots of walkthroughs of people hooking them up to raspberry pi's and you can run as many as you want on the same connection.

 

[brad2388]

I don't have any z-wave devices but there are several that I am interested in. I currently have about 30 Insteon devices. Mostly lighting control but there are sensors too (door/motion). There are some holes in the Insteon product line when it comes to sensors. I see a lot more selection in the z-wave category.

My HA software is HomeSeer3 running on the same server as BlueIris4 under Win10 home. HomeSeer works well with z-wave devices and plays nicely with BI4.

I have a question about z-wave interfaces/hubs. If I were to add some z-wave sensors, my thinking is that I only need to add a z-stick (USB) to the Win10 server. Aeotec as well as HomeSeer both make products at a reasonable price. Is that all I need?

Would you buy homeseer again? Im too running bi3. Would be interested in doing this as well.


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[Zeddy]

lots of walkthroughs of people hooking them up to raspberry pi's and you can run as many as you want on the same connection.

I have two DS18B20 sensors hooked up to a Fibaro universal binary sensor to monitor my solar hot water system with a max of 4. One does ambient temp and the other does the temp right at the thermostat. You can adjust how often it sends temperature. Only draw back is, it's not battery friendly. I had it on one of those Energiser lithium 9 volts and it lasted less than 24 hours. At the moment I have it hooked up to the 24v output of my house alarm.

 

[logbuilder]

Would you buy homeseer again? Im too running bi3. Would be interested in doing this as well.


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I absolutely would buy HS again. Blue Iris also.

Reasons:

1. I am on a metered satellite for my internet. It is relatively slow, has some latency, less than 100% reliable, and has a monthly data cap. So for those reasons, a HA system that relied on the cloud was not going to work for me. Also, I didn't want to put the reliability of my system into the hands of another group that managed the remote infrastructure.

2. I'm an old tech guy. My preference is to have more control over my systems rather than being limited to what someone else decided I would need to do. With HS, I am able to write my own trigger events, create my own scenes and decided what actions I want to happen. Very flexible and powerful.

3. I wanted an open hardware platform so that it could grow and be able to accommodate addition technologies in the future. HomeSeer on Win10 gives me the environment I feel comfortable with.

4. Integrating home automation and camera based security was very important. I had done it about 10 years ago using WebcamXP and PowerHome. It was just too early to get a stable environment and I had to kludge the interfaces together. Today with HomeSeer and Blue Iris, they fit together nicely and both are very stable under Win10. HomeSeer can trigger Blue Iris and Blue Iris can trigger HomeSeer.

5. HomeSeer has this notion of plugins to interface to other technologies. Want Insteon, get the plugin. Want z-wave, get the plugin. The plugins are written by community members and they have the ability to get compensated (via licensing) for their work. Make the best plugin for Insteon, you make more money. There are many plugins available. I'd guess over 100. For this reason, I believe that HomeSeer will be able to support most any new technology that gains traction and followers. Recently I got interested in Arduino controlled sensors. The first thing I did was to verify there was a plugin for Arduino. There were two to choose from so I'm confident I can interface and Arduino based device to HomeSeer should I ever want to. Much more to learn about Arduino first. And.... to come up with some real use cases.

6. My house is very remote so any idea of a remotely monitored system (ie. ADP) would have been no value plus it would have cost me monthly. I pay no monthly fees other than for the internet which I would have anyway.

7. I wanted for me to be able to monitor and control remotely. HomeSeer has an addition app development environment that lets you design a mobile app (phone or tablet) that integrates well with HomeSeer devices. I have built my own app and am pleased with it.

So, that is a long winded explanation of why I like HomeSeer. Hope it helps.

 

[jward101]

I'm testing an Aeotec multisensor and Fibaro door sensor at the moment just to get familiar with Home Assistant.

They weren't joking when they said the learning curve was steep but feeling very comfortable and even with the limited zwave hardware we get here in Australia it still makes for some great home automation.

Also looking to integrate devices on rf433 as well.