So what now..

[talisman]

First of all - it's great to see a european z-wave forum!

So when I renovated my house, I also put a number of z-wave devices in, with the idea of domotica later on.
Right now I have 6 Homepro Dimmers and a Horstmann thermostat.
So with a bit of free time on my hands I ordered the Homepro ZCU201 USB controller and downloaded the trial version of Homeseer.
I installed the driver for the USB controller, but had no luck in connecting to it with either Homeseer's setup, or their Z-tool, and after reading about the problems ppl are having with this device regarding stability, I sent it back.

Basically I would love some recommendations regarding z-wave USB controllers (right now I am looking at the seluxit ViaSens).

Also, I was wondering if anyone had experience with Superna's domotica software, besides Homeseer's.

thanx in advance!

[Esteban]

Welcome talisman,

Indeed the interface you bought isn't the most trouble free one, good thing you could return it and get another one. The interface the most used here on the forum at the moment is the Aeon Labs Z-stick.

http://www.ezhome.nl/index.php?main_pag ... cts_id=242

There are some other models available as well, just do a search in the forum and it should turn up some other available models.
#Update: http://www.domoticaforum.eu/topic.asp?T ... 3089#22749

Ciao,
Esteban

[talisman]

Thanks for the suggestion Esteban!

So do I still need a separate inclusion device, or will the USB controller do this as well? (Or is this process no longer necessary?)

Also, I assume I can use a USB controller and separate simple remote control (which I am also yet to purchase - suggestions are welcome!) to control the same z-wave network or can I only have a single controller? I would use the remote control to do simple things like turn everythig off at night, but the USB control to do the more complex schemes.

Cheers,
Elco

[mhn]

Hi.

I have at Micasaverde stick (Aeon) and a Tricklestar.

I like them both.

The Tricklestar just works. Nice and easy.

The Aeon has a + and a -

+ The include button.

- A blinking blue led that can light up a room at night.

They both work with a driver, that makes a COM port. Both work with Homeseer.

Micasaverde has a lot of problems with the Aeon stick. But I don't know if it is Vera or the stick, that has a problem.

Regards
Morten

[mhn]

The Aeon stick has an inclusion button. I think it is the only one, with that function. You need inclusion.

You can use both unless you buy a Logitech Harmony.

There might be a little mingling to set it up, and there can be problems with activating things on your master. But light can be controlled.

I have a lot of controllers around my house.

I like the Innovus/QEES stuff.

I have a duwi remote. I like that too, but it will not be able to control scenes om a master, so I will not buy anymore of those.

Regards
Morten

[talisman]

Thanks MHN!

Well at least I can go for the Aeon Z stick knowing it will do what I need. Once I ge that all working I suppose I'll hunt around for a decent remote control!

I can live with the blinking blue button as it will be stuck in the back of my home server which will be reasonably out of sight

Scenes are like more complex macro's right?

Cheers!
Elco

[mhn]

Scenes is like macros, but not necessarily complex.

Scenes in software is no problem. But making a remote button activate a scene is a big problem.

Regards
Morten

[talisman]

Ah I see!

So what I gather from reading on the forum is that remote control and USB controllers exist separately, and you can't for instance relay commands from the remote to a scene in the Home automation software via the USB controller? - i.e. treating the remote as just another z-wave device on your network? Or is that because z-wave devices need to be static considering they form a mesh network etc ?

Cheers,
Elco

[mhn]

In theory you can do it. But i real world there are a lot of problems making it work.

Micasaverde Vera says it can do it, but I haven't been able to yet.

The only way my Z-Wave can do it at the moment is via an Innovus proprietary code. http://www.homee.dk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=76

I use that a lot, so my House Control will be hard to replace.

The new QEES products will have ACC (Association Command Configuration) witch should make it possible in (new) standard Z-Wave.

[EzHome]

Scenes are saved in a scenecontroller like a remote or a batt. powered device. There are several ways to push the data from the scene into the scenecontroller.
The best way is to do it the ACC way.

So a scene controller can operate without a primary controller (Homeseer, Vera, Qees Master etc), the primary master is needed just to set everything into the same house code and to operate with timers and events.

So some things are handled by the primary controller and some things by scenecontrollers.

Let's make z-wave EZ

[talisman]

Thanks for the input and information sofar! I have my lights working on a simple schedule in the trial version of Homeseer that all of that is really promising!

My next issue is the following - I also have a Z-wave thermostat (a horstmann thermoplus as2-rf) which is a 2 piece thermostat solution: a battery powered controller which is located on the wall in the living room, and the receiver device which is located in a closet where it controlls an electronic valve which is connected to my city heating unit(stadsverwarming). The problem is I can't find a way to add this to the Z-wave controller stick like I did the lights (there are instructions how to add it to the thermostat controller unit, but this doesn't work for the z-wave controller stick). I assume the wall mounted controller also acts as a z-wave controller, and maybe it can only have 1?

I tried both the stick on its own and using Z-tools on a UMPC - no luck!

Was I being naieve in thinking because the thermostat used the z-wave protocol to communicate between the receiver and controller it would work with all other z-wave stuff?

Cheers,
Elco

[edek]

Elco,

did you ever manage to get the Horstmann thermostat to work? I'm also looking for a z-wave thermostat. Another solution would be exchanging all radiatorvalves with Danfoss thermostat valves, pretty expensive, I would need to replace 10 valves.

[hkmod25]

Thanks for the input and information sofar! I have my lights working on a simple schedule in the trial version of Homeseer that all of that is really promising!

My next issue is the following - I also have a Z-wave thermostat (a horstmann thermoplus as2-rf) which is a 2 piece thermostat solution: a battery powered controller which is located on the wall in the living room, and the receiver device which is located in a closet where it controlls an electronic valve which is connected to my city heating unit(stadsverwarming). The problem is I can't find a way to add this to the Z-wave controller stick like I did the lights (there are instructions how to add it to the thermostat controller unit, but this doesn't work for the z-wave controller stick). I assume the wall mounted controller also acts as a z-wave controller, and maybe it can only have 1?

I tried both the stick on its own and using Z-tools on a UMPC - no luck!

Was I being naieve in thinking because the thermostat used the z-wave protocol to communicate between the receiver and controller it would work with all other z-wave stuff?

Cheers,
Elco

E-mail to me (ses@tronika.no) request about AS2-RF info so will I send back to you some Extra Info doc. that can probably help you to include this device into 3-parts controller network...