ZWave Add Controller

Revision as of 03:32, 1 August 2009

With most Z-Wave devices, you add them to Vera's Z-Wave network by clicking the 'Add other Z-Wave devices' on the 'Devices' tab in Vera's menu and following the instructions where you remove Vera's black Z-Wave dongle and carry it to your Z-Wave device. But, battery-operated handheld controllers are special cases. To add them you leave Vera's black dongle connected, bring them to Vera, and chose the 'Add Z-Wave Controller' option instead. In general, when adding these handheld controllers, there are a few more steps, as explained below. Most in-wall controllers that are connected to your house's electricity (i.e. not battery operated) can be added like any other Z-Wave device and do not need to be treated like the battery operated controllers. (See Supported controllers/gateways below for a list.)

There are two ways you can get your Z-Wave handheld controllers and scene controllers to control other Z-Wave devices:

Method #1 is the traditional Z-Wave method where you program a scene into the remote control. All Z-Wave remotes and scene controllers have their own built-in way of doing this. Vera can help with this process: After you add the controller into Vera you can have Vera transfer the scenes to the controller for you.

Method #2 allows you to create scenes within Vera, which can do anything and control any device, and you can assign an event so the scene is triggered when a button on the controller is pushed. This gives you unlimited possibilities with your scenes. You can even add user notification so that when a button on a handheld controller is pressed, you get an email or text message.

With either method, the first step is to add the controller into Vera.

Adding battery operated handheld controllers to Vera

Add Z-Wave 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 Z-Wave controller" link or button. You will have 60 seconds add the controller to an existing Z-Wave network, by bringing the handheld controller within 3 feet (1 meter) of Vera and pressing the buttons on the handheld controller. This process is different for each handheld controller, and is often given different names. A chart of some popular Z-Wave 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.

If you cannot add the controller to Vera, it's possible the controller is already part of another Z-Wave network. In this case, you must first reset the controller before you can add it to Vera. Instructions for resetting some popular controllers are shown below.

Adding in-wall scene controllers to Vera

As mentioned above, in general you can add these devices like any other Z-Wave device and don't need to use the 'Add Z-Wave Controller' link.

Method #1: Traditional 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 add the controller to Vera's Z-Wave network, so Vera knows about it, as explained above. Then you can use Vera's web interface to configure the controller and assign scenes.

For in-wall scene controllers which are not battery-operated, Vera can transfer the scene assignments at any time. But battery-operated handheld controllers, to save battery life, only let Vera transfer the scenes when they are being added. So, after the scene assignments are set up, you will need to go back to "Add Z-Wave controller" again, and repeat the process of adding the controller. 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 update the controller with new 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 Z-Wave controller to 'reset' it. Resetting 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. If this happens, it's easy to get rid of the old controller; click the '+' button next to it and then click 'Permanently remove dead node' to remove it from Vera's Z-Wave network.

Note that Method #1 uses traditional Z-Wave scenes, and most Z-Wave controllers cannot control anything but lights. If you want more flexible scenes, look at Method #2 below.

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

1. Create the scenes in Vera's web interface. See Scenes for instructions.
2. If this is an in-wall scene controller, add it like any other Z-Wave device and skip to step 5.
3. If it's a battery-operated remote controller which is not brand new, has already been paired with Z-Wave devices, or used with another Z-Wave controller, press the buttons on the controller to do a "Reset" to clear out all the controller's old data. (See the chart below for help.)
4. Click the "Add Z-Wave Controller" button on Vera's "Devices" tab, to add the controller. (See the chart below for help.)
5. 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 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'.
6. Find the controller on the "Devices" list, and click the '+' button next to the controller. Then click 'Custom Z-Wave Settings'. (See Z-Wave configuration options for a full explanation of this page.)
7. Click 'Add Scene assignment'. In the 'Key' field, type a number to indicate which key/button on the handheld controller you want to assign a scene to. (Some handheld controllers only have 1 scene button, so just put in '1'.) Then choose the scene you want assigned to that button. Repeat this for all the scenes you want to assign to buttons.
8. When you are finished, click the red 'Save' button to save your changes.
9. If this is a battery operated controller that you added with the "Add Z-Wave Controller" link, then after your changes are saved, you can click 'Continue' and then go back to the 'Devices' tab and choose "Add Z-Wave Controller" again. Do this just like you did the time before in step 4. Now when Vera re-adds the handheld controller, Vera will transfer the scenes to it.

--todoal: screen shot of 'Add Scene Assignment', showing a controller with the '+' button pressed.

Add Scene Assignment

Method #2: Vera's special way of handling scene assignments

Add the controller to Vera's Z-Wave network the same way as Method #1. (See steps 1-5 above.) Next, click the '+' button next to the device and check the box 'Treat scene buttons as events'. This tells Vera to take over the scene buttons on the remote. Save your changes. If this is a battery-operated handheld controller that you added with 'Add Z-Wave Controller', you will need to add it again to Vera, because Vera can only program it to take over the scene buttons while it's being added. (Read the notes above with Method #1, step 9.)

Once your scene controller or handheld controller is configured to let Vera take over scene management, then you can create your scenes in Vera as you normally would. The scenes can do anything and control any device. To make a scene trigger when you press a button on the remote, click 'Add Event' next to the scene, choose the event 'Scene button is pressed', then choose the scene controller or handheld controller from the device pull down, and lastly indicate which button number should trigger the scene. (If there's only 1 button, just enter 1.) You can repeat this process if you want to have multiple buttons on multiple controllers trigger the same scene. When done, save your changes. With Method #2, there is no need to add battery-operated handheld controllers again. You can simply change the scenes and button assignments in Vera whenever you want.

If your scene control has one or more 'scene off' button, you can generally make those trigger a scene by adding an event with button 0. Note that if your remote control has more than 1 'scene off' button, Vera cannot know which one you pressed and all 'scene off' buttons will trigger the event tied to 'button 0'.

Supported controllers/gateways

These devices are added by bringing the controller near Vera and choosing 'Add Z-Wave Controller'.

The 'Add Sequence' is how you tell the controller to add to Vera. The 'Reset Sequence' is how you clear the controller if it's already been added to another Z-Wave network and can't be added to Vera.

These devices are added like normal Z-Wave devices by choosing 'Add other Z-Wave devices' on Vera's menu and bringing Vera's Z-Wave dongle to the device

Unsupported / Partially supported controllers/gateways

Not working as of firmware version wl500gP-1.0.584.trx