Zigbee support

[Raptor]

Yeah; thinking soon there will be a deluge of non proprietary Zigbee modules blanketing the whole wireless HA world.

That said IRIS will need to give away their stuff, give it up for the gipper or toss it as a wasted money effort.

Personally I do not think folks have been flocking over to IRIS for their automation needs; but that is only my opinion.

The "hub" / "wireless automation controller" world is going to the "doo all" wireless whatever the technology is.

It isn't really a big deal to put in a Z-Wave, Zigbee and 802.XX radio in a tiny thing these days and manage it all via some ARM CPU on steroids.

.

The iris stuff is used over in europe more apparently. it has a different name.

[Pete]

Really though its about how much "Easy Button" automation best bang for the buck anyone can get these days.

[Raptor]

Really though its about how much "Easy Button" automation best bang for the buck anyone can get these days.

agreed, i just want good devices that are cost effective. some of the zwave switches that are over 100usd a piece are just outrageous.

[Pete]

Really no different than the $200 wireless smoke detector that connects your home to the cloud with the supposition that your home is connected while its burning....not really the best bang for the buck these days....$25 in hardware and $175 in technology fees...

...ah the price of technology (well like paying for mandated HD television as a premium while purchasing "rented" by the month equipment).

Yup; that light switch has been a "thing" of contention here relating to WAF since the beginning of automating switches; well for me it has.

The question that always comes up is "why?" replace a $5.00 analog light switch with one that can be remote controlled at a price of $50 or more per device.

She does ask about the benefits of one over the other; after all its just a light switch. Personally here just change the subject.

The local multi-toggle features set makes it easier but initially complicated things.

[Raptor]

Really no different than the $200 wireless smoke detector that connects your home to the cloud with the supposition that your home is connected while its burning....not really the best bang for the buck these days....$25 in hardware and $175 in technology fees...

...ah the price of technology (well like paying for mandated HD television as a premium while purchasing "rented" by the month equipment).

Yup; that light switch has been a "thing" of contention here relating to WAF since the beginning of automating switches; well for me it has.

The question that always comes up is "why?" replace a $5.00 analog light switch with one that can be remote controlled at a price of $50 or more per device.

She does ask about the benefits of one over the other; after all its just a light switch. Personally here just change the subject.

The local multi-toggle features set makes it easier but initially complicated things.

we struggle with this, most of my switches were bought on clearance and i refuse to pay more than 35usd a switch. the exception was i have cooper switch in the kitchen because of some specific features i needed (associations and remote switch). but the price does prevent me from using it in certain locations where it is not worth it such as the kids bathroom.

i will say that most of my intermatic ha14 ha18 and ha01's have died over the years.

[Pete]

Yup; here in the newer home it was the use of that new Insteon technology.

Geez it was the "perfect" transition from X-10 and backwards comparability that sold me on the technology. I did manage the switches with my Leviton HAI OPII panel via X-10 and Insteon was managed by an Insteon serially connected PLM to Homeseer; worked great for me.

Well many / most of the Insteon switches died a timely death - (the older X10 switches continued to work fine)....then one electrical debacle in one night took the rest of out in one swoop.

My initial use of Intermatic was based on the fact that I had been using their stuff commercially for years and problem free.

Pool pump is still using an older mechanical Intermatic timer that has never failed on me yet. (new house 10 years and old house 20 years - same one)

I see a common trending though. (a $600 cellular telephone that bends and breaks in your pocket - guess this does prevent accidental butt calls)

Really too its not just the price of the switch but the labor and the time to DIY install it that irks me sometimes. Imagine not DIYing the switch and having it professionally installed only to fail months later.

IE: I just bought a clutch fan tool to service my car. Heavy sucker made out nice looking chrome and all. Looks really nice and is really heavy. Only thing is it doesn't work or even fit and appears to be some manufacturer machining and design glitch. Then again most DIY folks won't know until they actually use the tool.

[picta]

Really too its not just the price of the switch but the labor and the time to DIY install it that irks me sometimes. Imagine not DIYing the switch and having it professionally installed only to fail months later.

That's why I like commercial quality switches with at least 5 years warranty. Just like Pete I started with X10, and still have a few of those devices that keep working. Insteon devices are in a box waiting to be disassembled for a few parts they may be good for. Currently we have a hard-wired system, that's been installed 7 years ago, but several friends are logging about 5 years on Jetstream devices. Here automation is a hobby, and we have a lot of cool stuff that many people won't be able to do, but one reason to invest in automated switch besides convenience and coolness is the energy savings. Say you have a 100W bulb in the basement that you forget to to turn off. Left on for 24 hours and 30 days it will consume 72kw. At an average cost of 20c/kW (here in CA it is the lower range, but the rates keep going up). it is $14.4/month (compare to zero cost it should be if the light only turns on when needed). Of course, that is an extreme case, and you may only forget to turn it off 20% of the time, so about $3/mo. If you install a $60 switch, it will take 20 months to recoup the cost :-)

[lastdarkjedi]

i heard a rumor that the IRIS stuff could possibly convert over to Zigbee HA and if that happens we could add support.

I was interested in doing some DIY remote devices (ie sprinkler controller). In researching wireless serial communication modules, I came across Xbee. I bought a couple of modules and started playing around with them. Once I found out that they use the Zigbee protocol, I also bought an Iris window sensor to see if I could get the Xbee to talk to it. I had to do a little bit of research on how to configure the Xbee for the configuration that Iris uses, but it was actually very easy to start receiving data packets from the Iris. The difficulty came in when I found out that Iris is not completely standard Zigbee. It uses proprietary clusters that are not documented in the Zigbee ZCL. Long story short, you essentially have to sniff the packet exchange from the Iris device to the hub to see how the device joins the Zigbee network and replicate that if you want the device to work with another system. Fortunately, someone has already done this and posted the packet exchange online.

http://epros.com/projectwiki/doku.ph...:iris_protocol

I was able to look at this and write a homeseer script that joins an Iris window sensor to my Xbee. Once joined, it reports state changes and status information as expected. My script changes the value of a virtual device when it is reported a status change by the Iris sensor.

Anyone had a similar experience with this?

[Raptor]

That's why I like commercial quality switches with at least 5 years warranty.

the intermatic had a 6 year warranty but they have no stock for replacement and then send out an inferior replacement

[Pete]

Yup; here in home #2 and related to automation of light switches; installed Leviton switches; well now years ago.

I did spend some time wiring them and do not have the time nor inclination to rewire or update them.

The house electrical is all Romex and the boxes are all plastic.

The wiring is a bit tight as the electrical contractor did utilized 3 + 1 ground 14/3 Romex which makes for a tight fit for playing.

Thinking back now the original electrical was done in the late 1990's / 2000.

I did visit much during the build and was at the time more into the LV stuff not paying as much attention to the HV stuff. I mean it was done well but I would have changed the electrical boxes to deeper plastic boxes just relating to the automation of the switches.

[dhayner]

I was interested in doing some DIY remote devices (ie sprinkler controller). In researching wireless serial communication modules, I came across Xbee. I bought a couple of modules and started playing around with them. Once I found out that they use the Zigbee protocol, I also bought an Iris window sensor to see if I could get the Xbee to talk to it. I had to do a little bit of research on how to configure the Xbee for the configuration that Iris uses, but it was actually very easy to start receiving data packets from the Iris. The difficulty came in when I found out that Iris is not completely standard Zigbee. It uses proprietary clusters that are not documented in the Zigbee ZCL. Long story short, you essentially have to sniff the packet exchange from the Iris device to the hub to see how the device joins the Zigbee network and replicate that if you want the device to work with another system. Fortunately, someone has already done this and posted the packet exchange online.

http://epros.com/projectwiki/doku.ph...:iris_protocol

I was able to look at this and write a homeseer script that joins an Iris window sensor to my Xbee. Once joined, it reports state changes and status information as expected. My script changes the value of a virtual device when it is reported a status change by the Iris sensor.

Anyone had a similar experience with this?

No, but I might like to :-)
I've been looking at adding either
1. A security system like DSC; panel, sensors, etc., linked to HS
2. Just sensors compatible with either Z-Wave or my old RFXCOM, and using something like BLSecurity instead of a dedicated panel
3. ZigBee sensors, plus an interface that HS can deal with, since I just saw some sensors for $19.99 instead of $29++ for most Z-Wave ones. (talking window/door sensors here)

So I wonder about your scenario. Could you elaborate, and would you share the HS bits you've created?

Thanks!!

[Alan]

Almond + to HomeSeer Integration

@Elliott,

... integration with Homeseer would be easy.

First "play" was with the dynamic xml file that appears to be utilized for the "cloud" application.

You can create a Homeseer plugin just using the statically changing xml stuff on the Almond + ...

Pete, did you ever try to link Homeseer to the Almond +? Your notes (above) are a little beyond my understanding.
I would like to link ZigBee sensors to HomeSeer.

Any chance you can help?

Thanks,

Alan

[Alan]

Anybody know of updates to integrating ZigBee on HomeSeer? Still hoping to see it added.

Alan

[Pete]

Pete, did you ever try to link Homeseer to the Almond +? Your notes (above) are a little beyond my understanding.
I would like to link ZigBee sensors to HomeSeer.

Securifi has published the API to the Almond +. Last year somebody was able to interface to the Almond + via the web interface.

No. But....

I have SSH'd to the device and been able to illicit command lines to it which works but is primitive.

There has been chit chat here on the Homeseer forum about adding Zigbee in the future.

You can purchase a Zigbee RPi2 module today that looks just like the ZWave GPIO RPi2 module.





Here was going to upgrade my Zee-2 to an RPi3 and use the RPi2 for the above mention zigbee module.

Rob has added all of the Leviton Omni Unit devices to the Homeseer 3 plugin such that I can now see Zigbee ZIM devices on my panel.

I cannot see the power stuff though on the OmniPro2 like I can with my Securifi Peanut appliance modules.

Security wise here in analogue mode using the OmniPro 2. All sensors are wired. I do not know if or not if Leviton will ever incorporate any Zigbee / ZWave sensors in to the panel. I do also have HAI wireless controllers but really do not use them. (you can utilize Interlogix or HAI with the controller).

A side comment here is that I have used wired PIR's for occupancy rules and it sort of works but not. It is less a sure bet with wireless devices.

Here have both wall mounted PIR's (cheapos) and Rokonet ceiling mounted PIR's.

Unrelated to this stuff I have been playing with some older RFID stuff and it does work well for me without any dependencies on the internet or cellular phone. Started originally here putting these near the dome lights on the automobiles. Recently moved them to the glass, changed over to a 5dB gain antenna, un inverted my attic antenna and I am getting now 1/4 to 1/2 or more mile range on them. Not sure on the sure bet working pieces but getting 100% triggers now for my Homeseer activities using these devices. Testing in the next few days using an email to the cell phone when enabled then replying with the cell phone with the GPS coordinates to get some logistics to it.

[macromark]

HSZigbee is now in beta

HSZigbee is now in beta: https://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=186151