Z-Wave dongle for Europe - READ THIS

[colinjones]

Juan - to my knowledge there are no suppliers here at all, and no AU version of any Z Wave product. Its very annoying because the only material difference from EU would be the RF frequency, which is a trivial change. Even with EU power connectors we could just use a simple adaptor as the voltage and frequency are the same.

Although I'm not particularly interested in going down this path, i suppose you could import the EU version, ignore the RF frequency issue (illegal, but its still very close to the AU range) and use a socket adaptor for the power connection.....

[darrenmason]

I gave up looking.

The only technology I found with support for Australia is PLC-BUS and X-10. The PLC-BUS stuff is good and certainly presents a better option than X-10 but of course it is not wireless. I intend to order some more PLC-BUS stuff for the next lighting integrations.

Regards
Darren

[colinjones]

Darren

1) Are you already using PLCBUS?
2) How do you find the speed (esp for dimming transitions of multiple lights)?
3) Who is you supplier, and what are the prices like?
4) How easy is it to set up with LMCE? I have never done any HA and am hoping for a simple pnp experience!

Could you please list the devices you have used to setup? As what controller(s) do I need...

[totallymaxed]

Hari - doesn't really answer my question, I'm not interested in a US version... What is EU specific about the EU version? Just the RF frequency? (230v/50Hz is effectively "worldwide" except N.A. not just Europe, so that isn't an issue) is there anything else specific?

The issue is the frequency used not the mains voltage in terms of the Seluxit Home Controller. The frequency used for ZWave in Australia/New Zealand is 921.42MHz which is different to the US and also to Europe. The choice of this frequency means that none of the EU or US ZWave kit will work with kit designed to work at 921.42MHz.

Clearly for ZWave kit that controls a voltage then its the frequency and the mains voltage that need to meet local standards/regulations.

Andrew

[colinjones]

Andrew, that's kind of what I was saying in the previous post. Interoperability with equipment designed for 921MHz isn't really an issue, as there isn't any of this equipment... hence the problem! What I'm saying is, as the voltage/system frequency of AU is the same as EU/UK, the equipment will work here (EU controllers and devices), we just need to break the law transmitting on the wrong frequency.... frankly I'm not concerned about that, the mindless stupidity of the Australian/NZ authorities choosing a different frequency and thus locking out all the EU equipment we could otherwise have made use of, deserves it!

[totallymaxed]

Andrew, that's kind of what I was saying in the previous post. Interoperability with equipment designed for 921MHz isn't really an issue, as there isn't any of this equipment... hence the problem! What I'm saying is, as the voltage/system frequency of AU is the same as EU/UK, the equipment will work here (EU controllers and devices), we just need to break the law transmitting on the wrong frequency.... frankly I'm not concerned about that, the mindless stupidity of the Australian/NZ authorities choosing a different frequency and thus locking out all the EU equipment we could otherwise have made use of, deserves it!

Sure if your happy to not comply with the local frequency regulations then your in business as long as you stick with EU/UK rated hardware.

We're just testing the Tricklestar USB ZWave stick and their nice simple remote which are available in EU & US variants. These are supported by the new ZWave driver and so are options for you to possibly look at.

The remote should be available in the next week or so and the USB stick in about a month. See http://www.tricklestar.com

All the best

Andrew

[colinjones]

Thanks Andrew, will take a look...!

[darrenmason]

Darren

1) Are you already using PLCBUS?
2) How do you find the speed (esp for dimming transitions of multiple lights)?
3) Who is you supplier, and what are the prices like?
4) How easy is it to set up with LMCE? I have never done any HA and am hoping for a simple pnp experience!

Could you please list the devices you have used to setup? As what controller(s) do I need...

1) yes, although the controller is not operating at the moment as I have recently (actually its been weeks now ) moved it to the CORE instead of my Dev MediaDirector as part of a cleanup
2) The speed was fine, although from memory dual lights dimmed sequentially when the whole room was controlled (have to check this at home ....)
3) I bought them online from Automation@home (x10-hk.com). Prices were pretty good (they are on the website), they have Australian plug versions and they were extremely quick on delivery (quicker than coming from Australian suppliler)
4) It is not PnP at the moment but pretty straight forward. I wrote a wiki page on it when I first set it up. Once the controller is working, adding lights is the same as with any other system.

Regards
Darren

[totallymaxed]

Would you happen to know if these are available in Britain?

Thanks.

you can order them directly from Seluxit. They are quick and responsive. There is a rebate for quantities over 10. Maybe totallymaxed wants to resell them :-)

best regards,
Hari

We do resell the Seluxit Home Controller and other UK compliant ZWave hardware by the way ;-)

Andrew

[hari]

Darn.... i was hoping to get my hands on the EU Z-wave usb controller to try out over here (Australia).
Does anyone know a good supplier in Australia that has the Z-wave controllers?

Cheers
Juan

The frequency is different in the EU vs the US (vs AU/NZ vs HK).

[hari]

What I'm saying is, as the voltage/system frequency of AU is the same as EU/UK, the equipment will work here (EU controllers and devices), we just need to break the law transmitting on the wrong frequency.... frankly I'm not concerned about that, the mindless stupidity of the Australian/NZ authorities choosing a different frequency and thus locking out all the EU equipment we could otherwise have made use of, deserves it!

sorry colinjones, no offense intended, but what you are saying is crap. There are good reasons why different frequency bands are assigned to specific services and usages. Even if this is low power, _pretty please_ do not mess with the spectrum, that already killed people in the past.

The AU/HK frequencies were added with the latest chip revisions and SDK version. There should be devices soon.

best regards,
Hari

[hari]

2) How do you find the speed (esp for dimming transitions of multiple lights)?

speed is crap in comparision to Z-Wave.

br, Hari

[colinjones]

Hari - My comments were intended to be facaecious and ironic because of my irritation caused by the inconvenience of the decision.

Yes, of course there are good reasons why these decisions are made. I have read the Australian spectrum management plan - there is occasional part time usage of that part of the spectrum for military purposes.

But to respond to your point that it has been added to recent chips and there will be something available soon - no, your confidence is misplaced. That is why it is so irritating when we don't follow some established standard from a larger market. NObody wants to design equipment for a market as small as Australia. So whilst it is encouraging that future equipment may have chips that allow operation in AU, it still requires someone to produce a version that has AU power connectors and still locks us out of all the existing equipment. For the sake of some part time military band that almost certainly isn't actually used any more.

[hari]

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Tricklestar_300ZW-EU-W

this controller works very nice, has the latest library versions. Only caveat, one has to add the usb id to the z-wave device template or manually add the z-wave device to the installation.

best regards,
Hari

[gram04]

as this seems to be unclear to some users (even when stated in the wiki):

for Z-Wave installations in Europe ONLY the _Seluxit viaSENS HomeController_ is fully supported with plug and play: http://www.seluxit.com

best regards,
Hari

is it this product ?
http://www.zwave4u.com/products/en/Control/PC-Adapters/Tricklestar-USB-Adapter.html

i cant find any products called viaSENS homecontroller