LinuxMCE Forums
General => Users => Topic started by: chrisbirkinshaw on May 13, 2008, 12:19:45 pm
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I am about to buy some new HA kit and am either going to go with ZWave or PLCBUS. What's putting me off PLCBUS is that apparently it is only 2 times faster than X10. I heard though that you can program the units to respond to 5 scenes, so turning on 4 lights will be 8 times faster than X10. Is this scene triggered by a normal address command, like B10, from any device? Does this mean that LMCE supports them?
Is there something similar for ZWave and is it supported?
Regards,
Chris
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both drivers don't support scenes or groups at the moment. I'm just working on a new ZWave driver. We have to see how we can integrate that support into lmce in a sane way.
best regards,
Hari
ps: i have some european PLCBUS parts for sale (EU Schuko plugs)
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So is Zwave the interface most likely to end up with scenes/groups support?
I found this site with some of the kit on, the best selection in fact I've seen so far for the EU market, but it's still pretty expensive:
http://www.smarthus.info/
Chris
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So is Zwave the interface most likely to end up with scenes/groups support?
yeah, for sure. The controller download even gives group names.
I found this site with some of the kit on, the best selection in fact I've seen so far for the EU market, but it's still pretty expensive:
http://www.smarthus.info/
Chris
the EU ZWave prices are still very high. If you buy a USB controller do yourself a favor and get the Seluxit viaSENS HomeController.
best regards,
Hari
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I have read posts on this forum saying that it is not possible to do 2-way comms using z-wave due to licensing restrictions. What features are supported in your driver? If I send a light on command how sure can I be the light is on?
Also what is your personal opinion on zwave's chances in the EU?
Chris
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I have read posts on this forum saying that it is not possible to do 2-way comms using z-wave due to licensing restrictions. What features are supported in your driver? If I send a light on command how sure can I be the light is on?
there are work arounds. The licensing issue was not with two way comms but the light switch telling the system when it was toggled locally. The zwave workaround is to send a node information frame. We can then ask the switch for the actual state.
For a light on command you get an ack from the controller itself when the command was sent and the response from the device as another frame.
Also what is your personal opinion on zwave's chances in the EU?
it supports many devices and there are more vendors every day. I'd say it will be the dominant protocol over the next years.
best regards,
Hari
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Also what is your personal opinion on zwave's chances in the EU?
it supports many devices and there are more vendors every day. I'd say it will be the dominant protocol over the next years.
best regards,
Hari
I totally agree with Hari. Z-wave has too much momentum now... just look at all the European products... Merten have literally 100's of items in their Connect product line... and then there are smaller companies like Seluxit who are releasing quality innovative products too.
Andrew
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Does anyone make a slimline wall controller (battery powered) for zwave? Something like 4-8 buttons, 5-10mm thick etc?
I am looking for something to replace my X10 stick-a-switch remotes (unreliable).
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Does anyone make a slimline wall controller (battery powered) for zwave? Something like 4-8 buttons, 5-10mm thick etc?
I am looking for something to replace my X10 stick-a-switch remotes (unreliable).
iirc you can configure all 4 touch points for some merten battery powered transmitters.
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Groups are readily supported in Insteon as well. I'm sure Dan would and I definitely would like to coordinate to implement Insteon scenes as well.
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Does anyone make a slimline wall controller (battery powered) for zwave? Something like 4-8 buttons, 5-10mm thick etc?
I am looking for something to replace my X10 stick-a-switch remotes (unreliable).
iirc you can configure all 4 touch points for some merten battery powered transmitters.
Do you know an EU reseller? The Merten central radio controller looks pretty interesting too. It also has ethernet so I wonder what protocols it supports for comms.
Thanks,
Chris
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Hi.
Does anyone know if there exist zwave wall switches that are powered with 220v instead of a battery?
I´m looking into zwave instead of plcbus above damand but lack a thermostat like the Danfoss Radiator Termostat (RA PLUS).
/niz23
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Hi.
Does anyone know if there exist zwave wall switches that are powered with 220v instead of a battery?
I´m looking into zwave instead of plcbus above damand but lack a thermostat like the Danfoss Radiator Termostat (RA PLUS).
/niz23
Yes both Merten & ACT have those ;-)
Andrew
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Does anyone make a slimline wall controller (battery powered) for zwave? Something like 4-8 buttons, 5-10mm thick etc?
I am looking for something to replace my X10 stick-a-switch remotes (unreliable).
iirc you can configure all 4 touch points for some merten battery powered transmitters.
Do you know an EU reseller? The Merten central radio controller looks pretty interesting too. It also has ethernet so I wonder what protocols it supports for comms.
Thanks,
Chris
There are plenty of companies stocking Merten in Germany and Scandinavia. We are able to supply Merten Connect in the UK as part of a Dianemo installation.
Andrew
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Hi.
Does anyone know if there exist zwave wall switches that are powered with 220v instead of a battery?
I´m looking into zwave instead of plcbus above damand but lack a thermostat like the Danfoss Radiator Thermostat (RA PLUS).
/niz23
There are two versions of RA Plus, the Z-Wave version is the RA Plus-w, see the Danfoss website on the product at www.raplusw.com, the standard RA plus is a programmable thermostat.
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Groups are readily supported in Insteon as well. I'm sure Dan would and I definitely would like to coordinate to implement Insteon scenes as well.
Speaking of that...
Pete, I think I found an easy way to implement Scenes (Groups Commands) in LMCE, Let me run it by you...
You already know I spider the network.
when I see new devices, I add them, and read their database.
I then store the database in the CONFIGURATION devdata added (by code) to the device itself.
From that point on, I only read the database delta. If it's changed, I redownload the database.
Now, Since I have all the databases in the configuration, finding groups is easy.
Here's my proposal:
create a NEW DEVICE (eg. SHOWTIME Lighting). Treat that DEVICE as an independant light...
That will, in turn, allow GROUP functionality in Insteon networks without having to 'warp' DCE Message Interceptors...
What do you think?
I know this is getting off topic, sorry guys.
All the best,
Dan
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Presumably this would mean that I could attach a group to a transmitter rocker switch, and assign no lights etc to that group but just use this to get messages into LMCE? So with a bit of ruby code we could have wall switches which turn music on, change the volume etc? That would be really cool!
My own idea is that in each room I have a double rocker. The first controls the lights in the room, and the second controls music playback. Tap up once to increase volume, tap up twice to skip song, tap up three times to pause, etc.
Chris