Z-Wave - Experiences ?

keithclancy

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone else had experience of using Z-Wave ?

Basically I'm looking at doing the following:

1. Setting up OpenHAB on a Raspberry Pi with a Razberry Daughter Card to interface with the Z-Wave Equipment (and other non Z-Wave devices)

http://www.openhab.org/

http://razberry.z-wave.me/index.php?id=9

2. Install an OpenTherm Gateway (apparently there are no European Z-Wave Opentherm compatible thermostats)
http://www.opentherm-gateway.com/
Acts as a Catch between my Rehema Celcia Thermostat and Rehema Avanta Gas Boiler.
I have no external thermometer so I'm thinking I might just pull the data from the local weather station.
I'll probably use Wifi serial box or directly attach the Pi to it, not really sure but not a big deal either (depends on what ends up being the tidiest, thinking having the Raspberry Pi close to the boiler might be the best setup)

3. Install Z-Wave thermostats on the rads, I'm looking at Danfoss models as they seem to have the best reviews, although if anyone has other models to suggest I would be open as my radiator controls are not accessible since they are behind a rad cover.

4. Install a Z-Wave Energy monitor on the power to get live readings.

5. Get one or two of these:
http://x10modules.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=173&osCsid=89aeca3b512a02726be227987ea85b45
To put the house to sleep (turn off all the standby stuff when were away)

6. Z-Wave Smoke Alarm:
http://www.amazon.de/Eminent-EM6590-e-Domotica-Rauchmelder/dp/B003AJ9Q1C/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1389174545&sr=8-6&keywords=z+wave+rauchmelder

7. Have some LED RGB Lights coming that OpenHab also has a plugin for so they should be possible to control also.
http://www.amazon.de/IWY-RGB-Wei%C3%9F-Farbwechsel-Gl%C3%BChbirne-Controller/dp/B00EXOY9SS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1389174773&sr=8-9&keywords=iwy+led+wifi

The main thing with the lighting is to have a the possibility of adjustable lighting but also to have automated lighting when away to give the impression that someone is at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNe9AkQbfmc

Should also be controllable from an android phone, or possible to automate with an SMS gateway (e.g Smoke Alarm)

Any suggestions or tips would be Welcome, the cost savings aren't the biggest factor, partially a home hobby project

fclauson

Really interested in what you are looking to do but can we step back for a step

Is this a new build or a retro-fit - because in a new build the level of control you will need on heating dramatically reduces e.g. in ours we just have one heating circuit across the whole building with no thermostats and relay on the temp compensator plus the flow/return rates to make the decision on how much heat to add.

From a monitoring perspective I am using a web connected Arduino platform with DS1820 (dallas) temp probes (about €2 each ) - they do need to be hard wired but its a simple piece of cat 5.

I use Google docs to run a script to pull the data every 5 mins for logging.

keithclancy

fclauson wrote: »

Really interested in what you are looking to do but can we step back for a step

Is this a new build or a retro-fit - because in a new build the level of control you will need on heating dramatically reduces e.g. in ours we just have one heating circuit across the whole building with no thermostats and relay on the temp compensator plus the flow/return rates to make the decision on how much heat to add.

From a monitoring perspective I am using a web connected Arduino platform with DS1820 (dallas) temp probes (about €2 each ) - they do need to be hard wired but its a simple piece of cat 5.

I use Google docs to run a script to pull the data every 5 mins for logging.

Its a retrofit, the house is already pretty well insulated (Double Glazing all round, and foam insulated roof, except for the front door that I want to change but this is a planning office problem)

CAT5 isn't really an option as my wife would go mental.

The reason really to have individual controls on the radiators is that they are not easily accessible and there are different areas in the house that only need to be heated at certain times of the day.

E.G.
All zones inactive- 18 degrees
4.30pm Weekday Living Room and Kitchen 22 degrees, main bedroom 18 degrees.
9pm - 11pm Bedroom 20 degrees - Downstairs off.
6.45am 7.30 am, Bathroom, Living room + Kitchen 22 degrees, Bedroom off.

At the moment the Thermostat is in the living room, which means all the rads have to be manually turned on and off (which we don't do because its a pain in the ass)

With OpenHAB the Android app allows you to control remotely and create 'Scenes' so when we go on holidays I would just turn on the 'Holiday' scene and it would set the boiler to Front protection and disable all the non essential devices except for the Raspberry Pi, Fridge and Internet Connection.

Using this guys extreme example as a guideline:
http://www.hekkers.net/domotica/

Although he is not using OpenHAB.

fclauson

keithclancy wrote: »

)

CAT5 isn't really an option as my wife would go mental.

I had the advantage of a new build

Curious Geroge

I'm actually talking with electrician at the moment. I found the zwave products very expensive and looking at the Philips Hue connected stuff for the coloured lighting and the belkin wemo light switches for automating lighting through wifi.

The problem is that the belkin wemo light switch is 120v 60hz for US market and electrician isn't a fan.

Very interested to know the approach people took with this.

tedimc

I haven't done a whole lot of research yet, but have bought a Loxone mini server. It takes a series of inputs & outputs and can use extension blocks if more is needed. My plan is to wire 220V switchs (with built in motion detection) back to the fuse board and then supply the main lights I want automated from the triggered outputs.

It also handles temperature sensors and can be used to replay the lighting activity of a house when the owner is away.

It has a web console for changing the configuration and seems to be relatively straight forward to use.

DeeJunFan

Well the good thing about Z Wave is you don't need any cat 5. (Bad thing is the Zwave compatible devices are much more expensive)

Lots of good reports about the Vera Controller. There are a number of Irish and UK sites that sell Specific UK based Zwave switches etc. My advice would be dont buy any Zwave products from outside the EU as the Frequency of the Z wave network is different and would not be compatible with an EU based Zwave controller.

The Vera controller also seems to have a fairly good community behind it. There are lots of Free plugins that have been developed to work with additional equipment.

Curious Geroge

Wondering if anyone had any more info on the Z-Wave experiences. I am about to purchase the light switches for the house and looking at the Z-Wave compatible switches so I can control my lighting. Between that and a couple of motors for the curtains, not alot else at the moment so one Vera controller should suit me. I'll have CAT 6 cabling to all switches so wondering if I'm going in right direction?? If I used a Rasp with my own app, can anyone recommend switches that would be touch enabled so I have manual usage and remote usage ie: turn on/off via the switch or on/off via app on phone.

DeeJunFan

Curious Geroge wrote: »

Wondering if anyone had any more info on the Z-Wave experiences. I am about to purchase the light switches for the house and looking at the Z-Wave compatible switches so I can control my lighting. Between that and a couple of motors for the curtains, not alot else at the moment so one Vera controller should suit me. I'll have CAT 6 cabling to all switches so wondering if I'm going in right direction?? If I used a Rasp with my own app, can anyone recommend switches that would be touch enabled so I have manual usage and remote usage ie: turn on/off via the switch or on/off via app on phone.

You will need to have 3 wires available at your switches for most Zwave switches (apart from dimmers)

You don't need cat 6 at the switches for Z wave. The Protocol is wireless

Curious Geroge

DeeJunFan wrote: »

You will need to have 3 wires available at your switches for most Zwave switches (apart from dimmers)

You don't need cat 6 at the switches for Z wave. The Protocol is wireless

Thanks DeeJunFan, what are the 3 wires ? and is it 3 wires per light I wish to switch on/off/dim ?

DeeJunFan

Curious Geroge wrote: »

Thanks DeeJunFan, what are the 3 wires ? and is it 3 wires per light I wish to switch on/off/dim ?

Its the 3 wire system, it means you have a Neutral wire at your switches as well as the live and switched live.

Most Zwave switches contain a power unit that runs the wifi receiver/repeater. You will need a neutral supply to ensure the switch itself can be powered.

The dimmer switches are different as they can pull power even when the light is dimmed to 0.

Most houses in Ireland would have a 2 wire system but i would assume as you have CAT6 to your switches you would also have Neutral.

Curious Geroge

DeeJunFan wrote: »

Its the 3 wire system, it means you have a Neutral wire at your switches as well as the live and switched live.

Most Zwave switches contain a power unit that runs the wifi receiver/repeater. You will need a neutral supply to ensure the switch itself can be powered.

The dimmer switches are different as they can pull power even when the light is dimmed to 0.

Most houses in Ireland would have a 2 wire system but i would assume as you have CAT6 to your switches you would also have Neutral.

Hi DeeJunFan; you seem to be more aware than myself. I'm in the middle of a new build so all options are open to me. For a single light been switched by a single switch, I was planning on bring the light and the switch back to the main distribution box where a cat 6 cable would also be place (not sure if the cat 6 is needed at the light switch?). The light switch could switch on the light or the cat 6 could switch on the light. Would some sort of junction box be available that would allow this (and allow for dimming also) ? For the rooms I am looking to do this, there would be 2 possible light sources (rope light in the ceiling and 5 amp wall lights). This may be more of a KNX setup or would it also suit Zwave

DeeJunFan

Curious Geroge wrote: »

Hi DeeJunFan; you seem to be more aware than myself. I'm in the middle of a new build so all options are open to me. For a single light been switched by a single switch, I was planning on bring the light and the switch back to the main distribution box where a cat 6 cable would also be place (not sure if the cat 6 is needed at the light switch?). The light switch could switch on the light or the cat 6 could switch on the light. Would some sort of junction box be available that would allow this (and allow for dimming also) ? For the rooms I am looking to do this, there would be 2 possible light sources (rope light in the ceiling and 5 amp wall lights). This may be more of a KNX setup or would it also suit Zwave

The choice is really yours then at this point. The setup with CAT 6 to each switch is more in line with KNX but they have a proprietary bus cable that you would need to use as far as i know. In my research i found that KNX was also much more expensive (switches/relays etc and also needs programming)

If you go Zwave the actual switching protocol is wireless so you will only need to have power to your switches (Make sure you have a Neutral wire to each switch).

For me anyway Vera seems quite straighforward to setup and configure and i plan to integrate it into a larger home automation system linuxMCE at a later date which can simply find your vera network and import all switches etc. This then uses CAT 6 to send your media around the house and uses Vera to control your Zwave network.

For me Zwave is the much more user-friendly and low-cost option. Of course it would depend on your budget and how comfortable you are with setting up configuring these types of systems.

To add more confusion there is also another system/protocol recently launched for the Irish market called Insteon it uses wireless and power line communication. Only issue is that there are more limited selection of switches available.

Both insteon and Zwave produce a mesh network were each switch you install is able to route messages to other Zwave devices so the more you have the better your network communication will be.

Curious Geroge

DeeJunFan wrote: »

The choice is really yours then at this point. The setup with CAT 6 to each switch is more in line with KNX but they have a proprietary bus cable that you would need to use as far as i know. In my research i found that KNX was also much more expensive (switches/relays etc and also needs programming)

If you go Zwave the actual switching protocol is wireless so you will only need to have power to your switches (Make sure you have a Neutral wire to each switch).

For me anyway Vera seems quite straighforward to setup and configure and i plan to integrate it into a larger home automation system linuxMCE at a later date which can simply find your vera network and import all switches etc. This then uses CAT 6 to send your media around the house and uses Vera to control your Zwave network.

For me Zwave is the much more user-friendly and low-cost option. Of course it would depend on your budget and how comfortable you are with setting up configuring these types of systems.

To add more confusion there is also another system/protocol recently launched for the Irish market called Insteon it uses wireless and power line communication. Only issue is that there are more limited selection of switches available.

Both insteon and Zwave produce a mesh network were each switch you install is able to route messages to other Zwave devices so the more you have the better your network communication will be.

That's a good point; vera is very cool. I might do my wiring and do terminal connections at this point and use Zwave switches to get me off and running (allowing change down the road). When it comes to switches though, can you tell me where you got yours and how they work. I was only going to do the downstairs living areas and maybe external front lights for now.

This is the one I was looking at
http://www.vesternet.com/z-wave-tkb-dual-paddle-wall-dimmer

Is this a manual switch to switch on 2 lights and is there one that can be used for dimming lights ?

DeeJunFan

It will only switch on local light. The second paddle can be programmed to turn on a group of lights or trigger a scene.

There are other switches on verternet that only require 2 wires and can dim.

(cant post links)

BobMcBob

If you are cabling cat 6 to the switches then a wired system would be better than z-wave. Am going down this route myself, but thought knx was too expensive. Came across idratek system, which is a lot lower cost, though it is a full automation system so need to put a sensor module (pir, light, temp) in each room and reed switch to each door. The other system to consider is loxone. These seem to be more affordable options to consider

The main thing is that the electric wiring for the lights is in a star shape ie all brought back to the fuse box.

BmB

Curious Geroge

BobMcBob wrote: »

If you are cabling cat 6 to the switches then a wired system would be better than z-wave. Am going down this route myself, but thought knx was too expensive. Came across idratek system, which is a lot lower cost, though it is a full automation system so need to put a sensor module (pir, light, temp) in each room and reed switch to each door. The other system to consider is loxone. These seem to be more affordable options to consider

The main thing is that the electric wiring for the lights is in a star shape ie all brought back to the fuse box.

BmB

Hi BmB, just to get it wired correctly is my main concern right now. When you say "main thing is that the electric wiring for the lights is in a star shape ie all brought back to the fuse box. " - The light switch goes to fuse box and the light socket goes to fuse box and are both joined there for manual operation. When a system is decided, these 2 wires would go into the "system unit" ? Is a CAT 6 needed at the switch or socket point ?

BobMcBob

Had a long reply, but seems not to be posted :-(

Will see if I can find it and repost.

Very quickly need to think what exactly you want the system to do before you can figure out the wiring.

Can't post more now as on the mobile

BmB

BobMcBob

The main thing is figuring out what you want the system to achieve, then deicide which one suits this best at the budget allocated, there are a lot of different solutions out there. Currently in the process of designing the wiring and layout of my own house.

1. Sensor module in each room (most rooms will have one module combining humidity, light, temp and PIR sensor) connected with cat 5 cable. These can be wired 'free form' ie can wire from one module to the next in a chain if needed.

2. Door reed for internal doors, 2 core cable back to a module (these will be recessed into the door and the frame so not visible)

3. Each lighting circuit wired back to a consumer unit - there are DIN rail modules that control 4 light circuits and can be dimming. Will wire back to 2 places - plant room on the ground floor and store room on the first floor to minimise the wiring

4. Momentary / retractive light switches 2 core wire to a sensor module. This is to allow the use of 3rd part switches for asthetic reasons

Can connect up to many other inputs in my case the smoke alarms, floor temp probes, IP CCTV, flow and return to underfloor heatin, temp of DHW as well as ouputs - heating manifolds, boost to the HRV.

This should allow significant control, not only will it switch on the lights when you enter a room, but can check the light level in the bedroom and the time so it it is the middle of the night and you enter the en-suite it can check that the bedroom light is off and switch on the en-suite light on a dimmed level, but if the bedroom light is on it will switch the en-suite on full.
It will boost the HRV based on the humidity, if the smoke alarm is activated - it will switch of the HRV.

I am wating for the final plan to get a price back, so not sure how much will happen at the start but I am having the wiring set up. I am hoping it will be fairly reasonable - eg the DIN to control 4 dimmable light circuits is £98 (ex VAT) whic

You should only need cat-5 for the home automation. Leave the Cat-6 for data and HDMI distrubution.

Hope that helps

BmB

Curious Geroge

Thanks Bob

BobMcBob wrote: »

1. Sensor module in each room (most rooms will have one module combining humidity, light, temp and PIR sensor) connected with cat 5 cable. These can be wired 'free form' ie can wire from one module to the next in a chain if needed.

Sense its in each room; is this for lighting in most rooms and the humidity for bathrooms and switching on the hrv boost? Is it Cat-5 cable from the sensor back to the electric circuit board?

BobMcBob wrote: »

2. Door reed for internal doors, 2 core cable back to a module (these will be recessed into the door and the frame so not visible)

For the alarm? or switching on/off lights on opening a door?

BobMcBob wrote: »

3. Each lighting circuit wired back to a consumer unit - there are DIN rail modules that control 4 light circuits and can be dimming.

Basic question here but by lighting do you mean the light socket and the switch make up a circuit? and the light switch goes to the circuit and the light socket goes to the circuit? Also, do you have a link to the DIN rail?

BobMcBob wrote: »

4. Momentary / retractive light switches 2 core wire to a sensor module. This is to allow the use of 3rd part switches for asthetic reasons

Any link of the one your looking at?

BobMcBob wrote: »

Can connect up to many other inputs in my case the smoke alarms, floor temp probes, IP CCTV, flow and return to underfloor heatin, temp of DHW as well as ouputs - heating manifolds, boost to the HRV.

Re CCTV, will a power and data cable be enough to each point?

I am trying to find a way to switch on the front lights and the hall lights as I pull up to the house. I was thinking of trying to find a way for the phone to trigger them or just put a sensor in the driveway to detect "anyone" and switch them on.

BobMcBob wrote: »

You should only need cat-5 for the home automation. Leave the Cat-6 for data and HDMI distrubution.

Will CAT 6 carry HDMI ?

BobMcBob

1 Sensors
This will be cabled back to control area ie node zero. My understanding is that this is often beside the electric board, but doesn't have to be (though there will be cables from the node 0 to the electric board)

2 Door reed
This is for presence detection - there is some intelligence built into the system, so it likes to know if a door is open or closed to help this. The reeds and shock sensors on the windows and external doors can be used as an alarm.

3 Lighting
So in a room with a dimmible pendant light, this is connected directly back to the electric fuse board (on the din rail) so each light will have a seperate cable back. The light switch is not directly connected to this light,but rather connected up to the home automation circuit. As the switch is now a low voltage switch (ie not connected to the 240v mains, you can place the switch within the bathroom.
The cables to each sensor can be daisy chained from one to the other. Will know more about the exact layout when I get the wiring diagram back in a few days.

4. Switches
Looking at the click mini grid system, available at the local lighting shop also on-line. The OH approves, they are reasonably priced and have extensive range of module (Cat-5, TV, HDMI, Speaker, USB charging, Sat etc). MK grid are another

5. CCTV
HAven't looked too much at this, but the is POE - power over ethernet cameras availabe with POE switches, feed all the CCTV cat-5 cables back to the POE switch and this should cover both (i stand to be corrected on this)

6. Driveway
External PIR might work, but false alarms a problem. Have read about a magnetic sensor buried into the drive being for this

7. HDMI
HDMI Matrix can ouput HD over single Cat-6 with IR, they start at ~1300 sterling, so something for later, people seem to recommend at least 2 cat-6 per TV (min 1 cat-6 and 1 cat-5)

PM sent with a link to the system

BmB

Sorry can't figure out multiquote this late at night

DeeJunFan

BobMcBob wrote: »

7. HDMI
HDMI Matrix can ouput HD over single Cat-6 with IR, they start at ~1300 sterling, so something for later, people seem to recommend at least 2 cat-6 per TV (min 1 cat-6 and 1 cat-5)

You can also use HDMI Baluns to send HDMI over 2 cat 5, one cat 6 or 2 cat 6 depending on the balun. You will need one transmitter balun and one receiver with cat cable in between.

They are around 35-40 each

Frank Tp

I spotted this thread but it seems old and may not be active any more....
If it is then I've just completed a new build and have a node zero install ( all tech hidden) with matrix switch, Sonos, patch panels, pud, and the works... - will img to share the good, Baden and ugly.
I've also a growing wave install mainly with Fibaro, Everspring and TKB all hooked to a Home Center 2 controlling lights, sockets with metering, gates and garage doors, with a myriad of occancy and temp sensors. Not an expert on this side by any stretch my again willing to share my experiences, warts and all ...

DeeJunFan wrote: »

You can also use HDMI Baluns to send HDMI over 2 cat 5, one cat 6 or 2 cat 6 depending on the balun. You will need one transmitter balun and one receiver with cat cable in between.

They are around 35-40 each

Curious Geroge

Frank Tp wrote: »

I spotted this thread but it seems old and may not be active any more....
If it is then I've just completed a new build and have a node zero install ( all tech hidden) with matrix switch, Sonos, patch panels, pud, and the works... - will img to share the good, Baden and ugly.
I've also a growing wave install mainly with Fibaro, Everspring and TKB all hooked to a Home Center 2 controlling lights, sockets with metering, gates and garage doors, with a myriad of occancy and temp sensors. Not an expert on this side by any stretch my again willing to share my experiences, warts and all ...

Hi Frank, sounds like you've managed to get the whole house completed. Very interested to know how you did it all. I have mine wired and so far only configured up the patch panel and one fibaro dual relay installed to control the 2 set of lights but have'nt hooked that up to a smarthings hub yet. Purchased the fibaro smoke alarm but did'nt look into it enough as I have 4 in the house and they are mains wired so not compatable with the fibaro one so its no good unless i replace all 4 and have the electrian back.

Frank Tp

Hi curiousgeorge,
Glad to ( try to) help........

Let me divide what I did into 2 parts.
1) The wired, all back to the patch panel /noðe zero, tech hidden part. The only parts visible are the Tv's on the walls, 2 wall mounted tablets, ( one up and one down) In ceiling speakers and some sensors.

All cables back to utility room - cat 6a, 55 cables from rooms and garage, all Satellite cable, all in ceiling speakers cables
audio/music - 10 Sonos zones + 2 x 4 channel behringer rack mounted power amps ( for my Sonos connects)
video - 4x4 matrix (HD Anywhere, 2k), HDMI over cat
power distribution - 1 IEC and 1 UK PDU
3 keystone patch panels with RJ45 and F-type connectors.
8 port 24 v PoE units for tablets and sensors and 4 x 48v POE units for cameras
Net gear 24 port switch
Various cable managers
Blu cube in ceiling speakers
2 raspberry pi ( for fun)
AirPort Extreme, airport express and d-link routers
4 trendnet 3mp cameras.
All mounted in a 15U rack and a separate 6U rack for network gear, patch panels

2) the z wave part

More detail on # 2 since you mentioned the Fibaro relays
My controller is the home Center 2. I had both the Vera lite and Vera edge and one was worse than the other. U15 was workable, U16 looked better but performed worse. U17 (which came with the edge) was terrible. I've no experience with the smartthings hub so can't comment there. My z wave is purely for automation and not a substitute for an alarm as there is no battery back up if you loose power to the house. I selected a Siemens SPC4320 for my alarm as it is networkable.

My experience is that Z wave mesh is definitely impacted by concrete walls and metal boxes with dead nodes appearing a lot but the more powered nodes you install the more stable the network gets. I tried to eliminate batteries where I could by running as many devices of adapters or from PoE. All my light switch boxes were ~50mm deep with a couple of extra mm from plaster and I had the electrician wire all my light switches with neutrals.
I tried to limit the manufacturers I added to my system to improve predictability....
This is what I've running so far....
Fibaro relays x 10
Fibaro contact x 2
Fibaro dimmers x 9
Fibaro universal binary sensors ( I'll use this along with 1-wire temp probes to get the room temperatures, each room has at least 2 network points) next project.
Fibaro home Center 2
Swiid inline switches x 9 ( great units, better than plug in modules for lamps)
everspring sensors ( 2 types) x 10
TKB switches/dimmers x 9
Mini mote remotes x 2
Popp plug in switch ( not used)
Philip pan01 x 1 ( metered relay) used for rack power control in utility room
Aeotec multi sensor x 1
Aeon home energy monitor ( haven't got this working very well so far)

The house has satin chrome switches down stairs ( from click/deco) and I added some 3 way retractive switch and momentary switch modules to match to get the dimmers working properly. Upstairs in the bedrooms/ensuites I user the TKB switches which work great.

At this stage the z wave network is very stable even though I get the odd glitch. The devices I have selected all work well with the home Center 2 and inclusion/exclusion is very easy. ( this was like a black art with the Vera)
I can access it all remotely on phone and PC. The Fibaro tablet app is good but could be much better.
I need to bring my diagrams and notes up to date. I had a full drawn out plan up front for all aspects and modified this along the way. If you haven't started this then I would advise it.

The next step for the a wave is to start creating the scenes which will run the automation high I believe is where the true value is.

I hope this helps understand what I've done. Feel free to ask specific questions on this thread or PM me as well.

It has taken up a huge amount of time and I had a very good and very willing to help electrician which would have made this 10 times harder or wouldn't have ended up looking as good /clean.
I did look at control 4 as an overlay and still may consider this but it's expensive and I'm unsure about the added value this would bring. For now I'll worth with home Center 2 app that allows me to control most of my equipment ( Sonos, IP cameras, The newer TV's, etc)

I managed my goal of hiding all the tech and I must say it has been worth it... but I still have many many hours work ahead of me to make it truely work. In many ways I've created a smart home test bed for me and the kids when they get older ( some play golf, this is what floats my boat..) that I'll add to it and change things around. I'm looking at PV panels, etc.
For me the most important part was running all the cables at the time the house was built and run twice as many of you can. It's relatively cheap compared to the rest of the system or doing it later and with out that a lot if what I've done would be impossible.

Anyway hope this helps.
-frank

Curious Geroge wrote: »

Hi Frank, sounds like you've managed to get the whole
house completed. Very interested to know how you did it all. I have mine wired and so far only configured up the patch panel and one fibaro dual relay installed to control the 2 set of lights but have'nt hooked that up to a smarthings hub yet. Purchased the fibaro smoke alarm but did'nt look into it enough as I have 4 in the house and they are mains wired so not compatable with the fibaro one so its no good unless i replace all 4 and have the electrian back.

17larsson

Hi Frank,
Is there a reason you went for the wireless Fibaro option rather than a wired system like Loxone?
I would have thought if the house was being re-done it would have been better to use a wired system.
Do the batteries in the devices need to be changed often?
Is the wireless option cheaper than a wired system?

Frank Tp

i chose z wave for the new house as I had some experience with it from before and wanted to do more than just lighting. (sonos audio.matrix video distribution, etc) I had heard about Loxone and similar systems but didn't know much about the technology or its reliability. Adding z wave to a 'traditional system' meant that if it all went pear shaped I could revert back easily. I also think the z-wave has turned out a little cheaper but that more of a result than a central design decision.

All of the fibaro / philio relays and dimmers as well as the TKB switches I used for my lighting are all mains powered so no batteries. I have two fibaro contact sensors (gate and garage door open/closed status) and these will have to be changed. published lifespan is 2 years but we'll see how that goes. Some of my sensors can be batt or usb and i've used usb adapters for these. Some of my other devices are a mix and most of these are a shot in the dark for now.

17larsson wrote: »

Hi Frank,
Is there a reason you went for the wireless Fibaro option rather than a wired system like Loxone?
I would have thought if the house was being re-done it would have been better to use a wired system.
Do the batteries in the devices need to be changed often?
Is the wireless option cheaper than a wired system?

TeaServer

Hi Frank,

I'm in the process of setting up a Z-wave system myself. I've got a couple of Fibaro dimmers up and running, working well for now. (I don't have the luxury of neutral at the switch and re-wire is not an option right now!)

Can I ask where you purchased your Zwave equipment? There does not seem to be a lot of places to choose from, especially when it comes to UK/Ireland sockets.

Also, have you got your heating/hot water on some sort of automated system? I'm trying to decide the best way to go on this front too.

Any advise would be great!

Thanks
/T

Steve

Also interested in how you got on, I tested some similar RasPi based automation systems a year or or two ago and the biggest problem was they couldn't survive power cuts - as in they corrupted the linux based SD card and it meant re-imaging them.

watou

I use openHAB 1.7.1 on a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, but I boot an external USB 2.0 hard disk so it doesn't wear out the flash memory of the microSD card (search "adafruit raspberry pi boot usb external disk" for a howto). openHAB can be connected to most home automation devices and protocols, as well as cloud-based APIs for weather stations, thermostats, etc. It does Z-Wave very well (with an external USB Z-Stick), and is only lacking the security classes currently for use with door locks. The primary developer of the Z-Wave binding and contributors are constantly adding support for more devices, but already the library is fairly large and sort of Europe/UK-centric.

Curious Geroge

watou wrote: »

I use openHAB 1.7.1 on a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, but I boot an external USB 2.0 hard disk so it doesn't wear out the flash memory of the microSD card (search "adafruit raspberry pi boot usb external disk" for a howto). openHAB can be connected to most home automation devices and protocols, as well as cloud-based APIs for weather stations, thermostats, etc. It does Z-Wave very well (with an external USB Z-Stick), and is only lacking the security classes currently for use with door locks. The primary developer of the Z-Wave binding and contributors are constantly adding support for more devices, but already the library is fairly large and sort of Europe/UK-centric.

I'm looking to pickup a NAS at the moment; I wondered could I install openHAB on it ?

watou

Curious Geroge wrote: »

I'm looking to pickup a NAS at the moment; I wondered could I install openHAB on it ?

I know people run openHAB on Synology Diskstations. Search Synology in the openHAB Google Group. Also, the nice new openHAB forum is at community dot openhab dot org.