Home Automation, Lights and Locks.

[nayr]

Z-Wave operates on 915MHz ISM; instead of 2.4GHz and 433Mhz.. the former interferes with wifi and the latter interferes with my HAM radio.. I like the band it uses for HomeAutomation use.

The mesh network w/direct association is nice, associate a contact switch with a light switch and every time the door opens the light come on.. and since it dont have to go through a controller it works even if my automation controller is down and the response time is very respectable.

They are all interoperable thanks to standards, and do implement some basic security so its not just wide open plain text.. They also have alot of devices, even generic cheap ones and they all seem to work pretty well with eachother.. the more you have the more reliable things seem to get.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Z-Wave operates on 915MHz ISM; instead of 2.4GHz and 433Mhz.. the former interferes with wifi and the latter interferes with my HAM radio.. I like the band it uses for HomeAutomation use.

The mesh network w/direct association is nice, associate a contact switch with a light switch and every time the door opens the light come on.. and since it dont have to go through a controller it works even if my automation controller is down and the response time is very respectable.

They are all interoperable thanks to standards, and do implement some basic security so its not just wide open plain text.. They also have alot of devices, even generic cheap ones and they all seem to work pretty well with eachother.. the more you have the more reliable things seem to get.

did not know they work even without the controller, that's awesome, I'm going to research some (basic) blue iris integration to see if I can get zwave motions sensors to trigger blue iris.

 

[rnatalli]

I'm using Smartthings with Ecolink sensors, Kwikset locks, and GE switches all on Zwave. There's even a 3rd-party Blue Iris trigger and profile selector that works with ST. I don't use it, but it does exist.

 

[vc1234]

I use a small zwave network mainly for locks and thermos. I have two Yale locks which, while expensive, have been completely reliable. Likewise, RCSTZ45 thermostats.

Initially, I used zwave for lighting as well (started about 5 years ago) but not now. My main issue with zwave based lighting is lack of instant feedback due to the Lutron patent that presumably expired this year. Thanks to the misguided patent, 90% of zwave switches do not provide instant status. Thermostats, locks and other sensors do provide instant status because they do not violate the above mentioned patent.

There does not appear to be a reliable zwave automation controller on the market either. The closest you can get to is probably the UDI ISY and maybe homeseer. Of course, you can cobble up your own automation controller based on domoticz, openhab, home assistant, etc. However, this path is not suitable for someone who does not have a solid technical background in programming, hardware and maybe even RF EE.

On a related note, does anyone know if open zwave control panel or its equivalent in domoticz can modify lock user code if OZCP or domotics are used as a secondary controller ?

 

[Camit]

First thing you know about Smartthings it's mostly ran off the cloud and I would say ST is not very reliable. sometimes things work other days they don't, sometimes you have lights randomly turn off and on. However with that said Smartthings is very easy to use they also in my opinion at one of the biggest support forums,and compatible with the most devices.

Check out a app on IOS called SmartRules also check out core.

I would go with these locks there grade 1

Schlage Connect BE469NX CAM 619 Touchscreen Deadbolt with alarm & Camelot Trim, Satin Nickel Schlage Connect BE469NX CAM 619 Touchscreen Deadbolt with alarm & Camelot Trim, Satin Nickel - Door Dead Bolts - Amazon.com

 

[hmjgriffon]

Domoticz does everything the others do through an easy web interface, you CAN you scripts and stuff with it but the setup is super simple and I dunno what zwave lights you use but mine turn on instantly

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[vc1234]

Domoticz does everything the others do through an easy web interface, you CAN you scripts and stuff with it but the setup is super simple and I dunno what zwave lights you use but mine turn on instantly

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I am not talking about lights turning instantly but rather about the switch sending its status back to the controller without needing to poll it. Very few switches on the market can do that. Leviton Vizia RF+ and Cooper can, but they are ancient, at least 5 year old and pretty expensive in comparison to GE and other similar zwave switches. To my knowledge, there is not a single zwave plus switch yet that can provide instant status. Well, HS100+ claims to do that, but what they provide is what button was pressed, not the actual status, like the dimmer level.

 

[nayr]

Leviton patented the technology like a bunch of douche bags; nobody else is gonna offer that feature unfortunately until the patent expires.

honestly its not really a feature worth anything, so what you cant have something react off a light switch press.. unless you want to turn more than one light on with a single switch and its not already wired for 2-switches; not really a big deal.. it would be nice, but I dont really miss it.

 

[vc1234]

Yes, presumably the patent expired at the end of the last year, but I've not seen any new switches that would implement it yet.

I disagree on the feature usefulness: there might be a bunch of automation rules that one would want to trigger based on the dimmer level/switch status, especially security rules; multi-way switches with direct association without any additional wiring, as you mentioned. There are workarounds of course, but they introduce latency issues which may or may not be acceptable in any specific situation.

 

[rnatalli]

First thing you know about Smartthings it's mostly ran off the cloud and I would say ST is not very reliable. sometimes things work other days they don't, sometimes you have lights randomly turn off and on. However with that said Smartthings is very easy to use they also in my opinion at one of the biggest support forums,and compatible with the most devices.

Check out a app on IOS called SmartRules also check out core.

I never had my lights go on and off randomly, but ST does display annoying glitches every so often. Have thought about checking Domo out.

I'll check out SmartRules, thanks.

 

[tangent]

The newer model of ST while still heavily tied to the cloud does continue to function when the sun come out (no cloud\).

 

[Camit]

The newer model of ST while still heavily tied to the cloud does continue to function when the sun come out (no cloud\).

Not sure I understand your post. ST uses the cloud you can run a few things local but it's very limited. I have the Second generation hub. If you go to Smartthings forum you can see the loads of complaints about the about the reliability. Not saying I don't like ST I have 3 other hubs in my basement, but I'm not using them so I have choice, every hub has it problems.ST promises a lot of things I remember when I first got my hub and they said they would have Bluetooth turned on a lot of ....waiting and waiting and waiting .... still no Bluetooth .
They also said one day we could run a lot things local and again that very limited you can do some lights with certain apps.

 

[nayr]

Domoticz + Z-Stick been doing me good, everything always fires off as expected.. but setup/configuration is a bit more involved.

but my Z-Wave network is large and healthy, when I was first building it sometimes things would not trigger but that went away once I had good basic coverage throughout the house

 

[Camit]

Domoticz + Z-Stick been doing me good, everything always fires off as expected.. but setup/configuration is a bit more involved.

but my Z-Wave network is large and healthy, when I was first building it sometimes things would not trigger but that went away once I had good basic coverage throughout the house
View attachment 14992

Does everything on your network run local (zwave)

 

[nayr]

yes, everything runs off my hardware off my network.. has zero internet dependencies.

 

[tangent]

Not sure I understand your post. ST uses the cloud you can run a few things local but it's very limited. I have the Second generation hub. If you go to Smartthings forum you can see the loads of complaints about the about the reliability. Not saying I don't like ST I have 3 other hubs in my basement, but I'm not using them so I have choice, every hub has it problems.ST promises a lot of things I remember when I first got my hub and they said they would have Bluetooth turned on a lot of ....waiting and waiting and waiting .... still no Bluetooth .
They also said one day we could run a lot things local and again that very limited you can do some lights with certain apps.

The 1st gen hub was basically useless without internet, 2nd gen saw some improvements. I'd still rather run homeseer or domoticz.

Smart Things biggest advantage is it's large user base.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I don't understand, I've got two dimmer modules in my living room right now, I can turn both lights on it off with one dummy switch or with them independently and there is no lag or issues

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[nayr]

right now domoticz is pulling the switch status, probably every 30s or so.. if you try to create a reaction say: If Lights On and its cold outside then turn on Fireplace it will do it, but it'll take at least 30s for domoticz to realize the light switch has been turned on and start reacting.. the more devices you get you start to have to increase polling intervals or else your network will overload because your polling faster than all the devices can report... Domoticz suggests a pulling interval 2x that the number of devices you have at least..

The leviton patent was for broadcasting the switch change via direct association.. ie, you hit the button Domoticz gets a signal pushed to it without the polling so the reaction can be instant.. this allowed you to associate switches with other Z-Wave devices and have the switch control more than just lights wired up to it... a leviton z-wave dimmer you can pair up with every other z-wave dimmer in the house and use like a master dimmer.

the patent really fucked up the usefulness of Z-Wave Switches; if its expired and other manufacturers can start implementing it w/out licensing it from Leviton then tha'll fix really the only issue with the Z-Wave eccosystem... Leviton screwed Z-Wave over when they pulled that shit and refused to license it to competitors.

 

[hmjgriffon]

right now domoticz is pulling the switch status, probably every 30s or so.. if you try to create a reaction say: If Lights On and its cold outside then turn on Fireplace it will do it, but it'll take at least 30s for domoticz to realize the light switch has been turned on and start reacting.. the more devices you get you start to have to increase polling intervals or else your network will overload because your polling faster than all the devices can report... Domoticz suggests a pulling interval 2x that the number of devices you have at least..

The leviton patent was for broadcasting the switch change via direct association.. ie, you hit the button Domoticz gets a signal pushed to it without the polling so the reaction can be instant.. this allowed you to associate switches with other Z-Wave devices and have the switch control more than just lights wired up to it... a leviton z-wave dimmer you can pair up with every other z-wave dimmer in the house and use like a master dimmer.

the patent really fucked up the usefulness of Z-Wave Switches; if its expired and other manufacturers can start implementing it w/out licensing it from Leviton then tha'll fix really the only issue with the Z-Wave eccosystem... Leviton screwed Z-Wave over when they pulled that shit and refused to license it to competitors.

Well, you can set domoticz to poll only certain devices more often so that might not be too bad, agreed though, too bad zwave isn't like GPL or something lol I guess If I need that functionality in one or two cases I'll rig something up.

 

[rnatalli]

I may have to check out some other options as it has been a while Will check out Domoticz, but also HomeSeer and Indigo (Mac).