ZWave Add Controller

Revision as of 12:43, 28 December 2011

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.)

To assign the scene to a button on a handheld remote or scene controller, create the scene, click 'Add Event' next to the scene, choose the scene controller or handheld remote, choose the event 'A Scene is Activated', and pick the scene or button ID, such as 3 for button 3 on a scene controller. In a traditional Z-Wave network, handheld remotes and scene controllers can only control certain scene-capable light switches and lamp modules. But Vera automatically extends the capabilities of Z-Wave so all the commands in your scene will be activated when you press the button.

For any commands in the scene that go to scene capable devices, namely Z-Wave scene capable light switches and lamp modules, Vera will program the scene controller or remote to talk directly to those scene capable devices. And, if the remote or scene controller has Up/Down or Off buttons, they will be sent directly to the scene capable devices. For any commands you assign to the scene which are not for scene-capable devices, like door locks, thermostats, non-scene capable lamp modules, etc., Vera will monitor the button pushes on your scene controller or handheld remote and automatically take care of the rest of the commands.

The first step is to add the controller into Vera.

Adding battery operated handheld controllers to Vera

Z-Wave Add Controller

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 to 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.

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

Troubleshooting

In case your controller it's not working please follow this steps before submitting a trouble report.

1. Open Vera's Dashboard
2. Go to Advanced and enable Verbose Logging
3. Go to Location choose your timezone and synchronize your watch
4. Go to Devices->Zwave->More Zwave Options tab and where it says
"House/Node", make note of the node ID of your dongle (node x.y where x is the node id).
5. Go to Devices->Zwave tab, if you have any devices called "ZWave Controller/Scene Controller" besides the built-in
one, be sure to rename them so you can tell which is which. Also be sure 'scenes as events' is not checked for this controller.
6. Go to Devices->Zwave, expand your controller properties by clicking on the "+" sign near it and then press 'Custom Zwave Settings'.
Under Associations add group 2 and when you click 'set', add 2 associations: both the device you want to control *and* the
"ZWave Controller" (ie Vera's dongle), which is probably in the 'unassigned' area.
Press SAVE and wait until the 'Please wait.... configuring' is done.
7. Press every button on your controller and note the exact time at which you've press it.
8. Go to Advanced->Tech Support and submit a trouble report in which you have to indicate

       - the controller make and model and a link to its user manual 

       - the controller's NodeID 

       - the time when you hit 'configure right now' and when you hit each button