Adding Sensors

Revision as of 22:35, 31 January 2009

There are several types of Z-Wave sensors, like motion sensors, door/window sensors, light, temperature and so on.

Manual assocations

The traditional way of using these devices is to get a ZWave programming remote control and create 'associations', where you program a sensor to associate with a light. For example, programming a motion sensor to turn on a light when switched. Vera can simply this process by setting up these associations for you without needing a programming remote control. Click the '+' button next to a ZWave device and choose 'Custom ZWave Settings' to have Vera create the associations. Save your changes, click the '+' button again and choose 'Configure node right now'. Confirm you get the green 'configure ok' cog icon as explained here.

Automation associations

However, what's generally even easier, is, after adding the zwave sensor, go back to the devices page, click '+' and check the box "Let Vera manage the associations". Save your changes, click the '+' button again and choose 'Configure node right now'. Confirm you get the green 'configure ok' cog icon as explained here. Now, rather than you needing to create associations, you can just create scenes and attach the sensor as an event to the scene.

Example: A sensor turns on a light

For example, if you want a motion sensor to turn on a light you can do this with manual associations by adding the sensor and light to Vera's network, clicking the '+' button next to the sensor on Vera's device page, choosing 'Custom ZWave Settings', and adding the group+association to the light. You will need to read the user's manual for the sensor to know what group id to use.

Or, to do the same thing with automatic associations, instead check "Let Vera manage the associations". Then create a scene called 'Light on' which turns the light on. Click 'Add Event' next to the scene, and add the event 'Sensor is tripped', and choose the sensor. If you want to the light to go off after 1 minute, you could choose the pull down 'after 1 minute' 'off' next to the command for the light. If you want the light to go off when the motion sensor goes idle, create another scene called 'Light off' and again attach the event 'sensor is tripped', but this time check the box 'sensor is idle'.

Example: A sensor turns on a light and a thermostat

Let's say when someone passes by a sensor you not only want the light to come on, but also want the thermostat to turn on. This is not normally possible using the traditional, manual ZWave associations. A sensor can normally only turn on/off a basic on/off ZWave device, like a light switch. But if you use the automatic associations, the sensor can do anything because in this case, the sensor is triggering a scene in Vera, and, Vera's scenes can do anything with any type of device.