Z-Wave Compatible Yale Locks

[essem_9]

Hello Everyone,
I am new to this forum and linuxmce. Have spent the last month getting my feet wet with the system and I am absolutely loving it. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project. I have my core as well as diskless MD running with the fancy Follow-me media features. Also the Insteon PLM and Lamplinc were plug-n-play. I am now looking for locks. Did some research and did not find any concrete information. Following are some options:
1. MorningLinc Insteon controller with Morning Industry Deadbolt locks
2. Hari did mention the use of some cool RFID tag setup
3. Z-wave related locks (which apparently are not supported due to encryption)

I am a bit curious of the last option. Using an Aeon Labs USB Z-Stick and the Yale Locks (wwwDOTyaleresidentialDOTcom/en/yale/yale-USA/Real-Living/product-details/Keypad/touchscreen/) would it not be possible to manage the lock? Since the Stick has an inclusion controller, would it not take care of the encyption and LinuxMCE control the stick? Apologies for the lack of my understanding on the topic.

Are there any other solutions for locks with LinucMCE?

One last question, Insteon and Z-wave use different frequencies, but can there be any issues using the Insteon PLM and Z-Wave USB Stick on the same core?

Thanks in advance!

[merkur2k]

It is my understanding that the software driver must also be able to deal with the encryption.
I run an insteon plm and an aeon z-stick on my core, they work great together.

[essem_9]

Thanks for the information merkur2k!

[JaseP]

If LinuxMCE cannot communicate with the locks, you would need a secondary controller that can, or to set your Core as a secondary controller to the other z-wave controller. I have a MCV Vera with the Core acting as a secondary controller to the system. Lights came over when coping to the Core's Aeon Labs stick, but my Schlage locks do not show up. I might noot have set other things up right, though... My locks are still controllable through the Vera, though.

[essem_9]

Hello JaseP,
That's exactly what i am trying to understand. The Aeon Labs Z-Wave Controller is a USB stick which has an inclusion controller. Per the description one should be able to pair the USB stick with the Yale Lock. The USB stick can then be plugged in to the Core. Since the Core supports the USB stick I was hoping that the locks will show up in MCE (But I believe that is not the case)

I am guessing the Vera has a built in webserver and thus you can control the locks, right? I am not sure if that is possible with the Aeon USB Stick since it does not have a webserver and requires a host processor to control it.

Regards,
Shiv

[JaseP]

Yes, the Vera has a built in webserver. I have the Vera as primary and the LinuxMCE Core as secondary for z-wave control. The "security" z-wave devices, door locks, etc., ... require the z-wave security extensions. I don't know if LinuxMCE supports that (you have to ask one of the developers). But, as long as you create a scenario that calls up a scene or routine on the z-wave controller that does support security extensions, I think you should be able to lock or unlock doors, etc.

There's a Vera "lite" available at half the cost of the full unit. Research it. It may have the capabilities you're looking for.

[essem_9]

JaseP,
I now have the Vera lite. It is talking to my Yale lock (draining the battery with the Beta code). I can open and close the lock from Vera lite.

Vera lite is plugged in to my 192.168.80.0/24 network but LinuxMCE did not recognize it or configure it. I was initially running 8.10 release and now i am currently on 10.04 Beta. How is your Vera talking to LinuxMCE? Per their documentation, they have implemented DCE so it should be able to communicate with LMCE.

Do i need to plug an Aeon USB stick in my LMCE to communicate over Z-wave? I was hoping that is not required and all communication takes over ip.

Thanks in advance!

[JaseP]

My Vera is primary, LinuxMCE is secondary, as Z-wave is concerned. To effectuate this, you need a Z-wave controller that is recognized by LinuxMCE to make LinuxMCE a secondary controller as far as the Z-wave network is concerned.

You need a LinuxMCE compatible inclusion controller to to interface with the Vera as the secondary controller. Get a secondary Aeon Labs inclusion controller USB stick. Plug that into your core (USB extension cable helps). Follow the procedure for making a secondary controller enabled on a Vera system in the Vera documentation. Also, after adding the Aeon Labs stick to the Core, initiate the Wizards with Sarah... to recognize your Z-wave network (LinuxMCE as secondary controller).

You may need to rebuilt your Z-wave network on the LinuxMCE core after adding new equipment...

I've only deleted Z-wave equipment, from LinuxMCE so far. I Haven't added any new Z-wave stuff since switching to LinuxMCE 1004.

[Armor Gnome]

The Aeon Labs Z-Wave Controller is a USB stick which has an inclusion controller.

I personally have not had luck using the inclusion feature of the Aeon Labs USB stick.  I bought it second hand so it is possible that it is not functioning normally.  I only mention it because there is a possibility it is a device problem for others to look out for in their systems so that it could then be corrected.

In my setup I leave the Aeon Labs USB stick in the core at all times and to add a device I use a HA07.  This includes the new device and then transmits that addition to my USB stick.  For the price its a nice tool that I only have to pull out and add batteries to when I get a new z-wave device.  HA07 Master Controller

Thanks for the experience with the lock.  I am considering adding one to my system in the future and was not decided yet on the Yale or the Schlange/Link Bridge approach to locks.  It appears now from your experience that both Schlange and Yale will require additional handlers for inclusion into my z-wave network.  I knew Schlange did but was under the impression Yale did not.

[essem_9]

JaseP,
Thanks for the info. I have a borrowed Aeon USB which I will try and report back.

Armor Gnome,
I had successfully added the Aeon USB on my 8.10 system. The Aeon had the Yale Lock config but LMCE did not pick it up. Now I have all the components and I specifically bought the Vera for my Yale lock. Let's see how it works out.

[hari]

the lmce driver ignores the lock in the network config saved on the dongle. The encryption support is handled via a wrapper command class and AES encryption. But as there are no european devices available I did not look at it in detail.

[Marie.O]

hari,

GO AND GET STARTED! http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/new-products/z-wave-vision-deadbolt-door-lock-with-handle.html

[hari]

ah, nice posde, thanks for the link! Now we just need a sponsor who buys me one of them.

[davegravy]

I'd contribute $50 towards getting this for Hari, with the understanding that NA devices will get support.

[murcel]

ah, nice posde, thanks for the link! Now we just need a sponsor who buys me one of them.

Does anyone know how much it is? i would donate...