ZWave Add Controller

Revision as of 22:22, 4 January 2009

--todoal: Show the add zwave controller screen

When you want to add a handheld Z-Wave controller, go to Vera's setup page choose the "Devices" tab, and click the "Add ZWave controller" link or button. You will have 60 seconds to bring the handheld controller to within 3 feet (1 meter) of Vera and then to press the buttons on the handheld controller to add the controller to an existing ZWave network. This process is different for each handheld controller, and is often given different names. A chart of some popular ZWave handheld controllers is shown below along with the steps to add the controller to Vera, and what the process is called. Vera shows the status and progress in blue at the top of the page, starting with: "Running: Job is waiting: Ready...", which means Vera is waiting for your handheld controller to start.

Scene Assignments for controllers

Normally handheld controllers are battery operated, and, to save battery life, they do not allow Vera to talk to them to configure them except at the moment that Vera is adding them to the network. Many handheld controllers are programmable. For example, most have one or more button to activate "Scenes" or channels. Vera can help you configure your controller, such as assigning scenes to the buttons. To do this, you must first choose "Add ZWave controller" to add the controller to Vera's ZWave network, so Vera knows about it. Then you can use Vera's web UI to configure the controller and assign scenes. And then you will go back to "Add ZWave controller" again, and repeat the process of adding the controller, because Vera can transfer these scene assignments only while the controller is being added. It's okay to add the controller multiple times like this. The controller will not appear multiple times in Vera's device list. Vera knows that you already added the controller, and, so when you add it again, Vera will simply use that opportunity to update the controller with scene assignments and configuration. The only time you will have the same controller added more than once is if, after adding the controller to Vera, you press the buttons on the ZWave controller to 'reset it'. This clears out everything in the controller, including the unique ID Vera gave it. So that means if you then re-add the controller again, Vera will think it's a new controller and add it again, and you'll have the same controller listed twice in Vera's device list. It's easy to get rid of the old controller though; click the '+' button next to it and then click 'Permanently remove dead node' to remove it from Vera's ZWave network.

The step by step instructions for assigning scenes to your handheld controller are:

1. Create the scenes in Vera's web UI. See Scenes for instructions.
2. If the controller is not brand new, or if you have already paired ZWave devices to it or used it with another ZWave controller, press the buttons on the controller to do a "Reset" of it to clear out all the old data. See the chart below for help.
3. Click the "Add ZWave controller" button on Vera's device tab, and add the controller. See the chart below for help.
4. After the device is added, it should show up on Vera's Unassigned devices page. If not, click the "Devices" tab again. You will need to pick a room for the controller. Although most handheld controllers are battery operated and can be used throughout the house, Vera requires you to assign each device to a room. This is just to keep Vera's way of keeping the device list organized, and does not in any way limit what rooms you can use the controller in. It's just for your benefit to keep the device list manageable. So pick the room the controller will most often be stored in, and click 'Continue'.
5. Find the controller on the Device list, and click the '+' button next to the controller. Then click 'Custom ZWave Settings'
6. Click 'Add Scene assignment'. In the 'Key' field, type a number to indicate which key on the handheld remote you want to assign a scene to. Some handheld remotes only have 1 scene button, so just put in '1'. Others have more than one, so put in the number of the button. Then choose the scene you want assigned to that button. Repeat this for all the scenes you want to assign to buttons.
7. When you are all finished, click the red 'Save' button to save your changes.
8. After your changes are saved, you can click 'Continue' and then go back to the 'Devices' tab and choose "Add ZWave controller" again. Do this just like you did the time before in step 3. Now when Vera re-adds the handheld controller, Vera will transfer the scenes to it.

--todoal: screen shot of 'add scene assignment', and also of controller with the '+' button pressed and showing the 'custom zwave settings' button.