Vera worked with z-wave UCM. If I move everything over to ST will that include the z-wave UCM in to the ST z-wave network? Also will ST be able to do an association from a door sensor or z-wave PIR to a comfort virtual node?
Currently I have a light sensor connected to comfort which turns on lights when it goes dark (planning on installing electric blinds to shut as well), this is better than setting a set time. My lights also trigger by PIR\'s differently depending on security mode. I am just trying to work out if I need comfort to send commands to ST or ST to send commands to comfort or (think preferred option) a bi directional operation, this would mean if ST fails comfort would still ensure lights, blinds etc work.
@DavidJ good point about security. Think I will take a look at some of Matt\'s ideas though.
@Lee
It looks like this could be resolved in several ways.
Given that the most robust solution is one which doesn\'t involve ST or Vera, can you pair the devices directly with Comfort via the UCM. You can then add basic automation using Comfort which will survive power and broadband outage events.
More complex automations, such as those which require input / outputs / control from ST or attached third party interfaces can then be performed if you expose the Z-Wave devices as virtual outputs / flags / counters / responses mapped to ST devices.
I have gone ahead and purchased ST hub, Harmony Hub, amazon dot and for now things are working such as turning tv on setting a station, but becomes very expensive to buy all this kit for each room. Plus this setup will work well in the kitchen as you are often cooking and don\'t want to touch remotes. I have not purchased the raspberry pi yet, I have never set one of these up so will need some help using this to interface between Echo and comfort / comfort and ST so I hope you are all going to be to help.
I am also going to purchase the cytech kit. I am thinking the universal ucm will help access 8 scene settings on the amp which are not accessible by IR, plus the IR output from comfort will cover some of the automation in other rooms.
Just thinking out loud but if I setup the Harmony hub to do a set of IR tasks, turn on tv, select hdmi output, turn on amp etc and then fire that at comfort it could be an easy way to automate IR controlled kit using comfort.
Anyway I will be back in touch once I have installed the additional cytech kit and got the Pie working.
I have gone ahead and purchased ST hub, Harmony Hub, amazon dot and for now things are working such as turning tv on setting a station, but becomes very expensive to buy all this kit for each room. Plus this setup will work well in the kitchen as you are often cooking and don\'t want to touch remotes. I have not purchased the raspberry pi yet, I have never set one of these up so will need some help using this to interface between Echo and comfort / comfort and ST so I hope you are all going to be to help.
I am also going to purchase the cytech kit. I am thinking the universal ucm will help access 8 scene settings on the amp which are not accessible by IR, plus the IR output from comfort will cover some of the automation in other rooms.
Just thinking out loud but if I setup the Harmony hub to do a set of IR tasks, turn on tv, select hdmi output, turn on amp etc and then fire that at comfort it could be an easy way to automate IR controlled kit using comfort.
Anyway I will be back in touch once I have installed the additional cytech kit and got the Pie working.
I have gone ahead and purchased ST hub, Harmony Hub, amazon dot and for now things are working such as turning tv on setting a station, but becomes very expensive to buy all this kit for each room. Plus this setup will work well in the kitchen as you are often cooking and don\'t want to touch remotes. I have not purchased the raspberry pi yet, I have never set one of these up so will need some help using this to interface between Echo and comfort / comfort and ST so I hope you are all going to be to help.
I am also going to purchase the cytech kit. I am thinking the universal ucm will help access 8 scene settings on the amp which are not accessible by IR, plus the IR output from comfort will cover some of the automation in other rooms.
Just thinking out loud but if I setup the Harmony hub to do a set of IR tasks, turn on tv, select hdmi output, turn on amp etc and then fire that at comfort it could be an easy way to automate IR controlled kit using comfort.
Anyway I will be back in touch once I have installed the additional cytech kit and got the Pie working.
Happy to help when you have the kit - it\'s probably worth spending a little time at raspberrypi.org to get to grips with how it works. You will need to be able to connect to the Pi remotely (so that you can put it somewhere sensible) using SSH (PuTTY on Windows).
I\'m elbows deep in DIY at the moment, I\'m hoping to do some work on responses and alarm status tomorrow evening (it\'s the wife\'s turn to go out)...
Hi All
Just a quick update, not forgotten I have promised a responses update - there is one coming, I have just been dragged into more decorating by the wife. I will get something out soon, please watch this space.
Sorry All another large post, but I have been experimenting.
I now have a combination of SmartThing, Yomomi, Harmony allows the control of TV\'s and AV kit. Still waiting for confirmation on my Cytech additions so can\'t comment on them yet. I am finding ST has very limited capabilities with z-wave, there is a big community support group, but by no way does it seem as simple as Vera copying the z-wave network to Comfort. Two fundamental show stoppers for me are:
1, I have included 2 x 1.5kw fibaro relays and only one switch is detected so I can\'t control both devices within ST\'s
2, When including the comfort UCM-Z-Wave it only detects a PC controller, ST doesnt seem to download the z-wave network to Comfort, massive problem and I will be migrating back to Vera over the weekend.
My conclusion is ST will not deliver the level of functionality I require for my z-wave network. For example if the internet is down and I am on holiday I still want to the alarm system to create the effect of me being at home, which comfort does very well using the UCM-Zwave bridge, but if ST doesn\'t pass on the Z-Wave network game over.
To be honest I want the alarm and its functions to be rock solid so thatââ¬â¢s why I think the Z-Wave UCM is critical in my installation and on the whole comfort has achieve this in bucket loads at my house for a number of years.
I can cope with a system failure of the AV kit so if I canââ¬â¢t turn the TV on using the echo (this does work well using the new technologies) then no big deal. If I canââ¬â¢t set a scene using ST again no big deal these are nice to have items no essentials. Possible solution moving forward:
Leave Vera as the main Z-wave network controller and do not use ST in the z-wave network, especially as the main controller.
Use the Raspberry Pi developed by Matt as an interface between, ST and Comfort. I uses counters and flags to control z-wave devices so by rights ST should be able to change the status of these via the Raspberry Pi interface very easily, not sure what this looks like on the ST App. Other considerations:
How would ST trigger a Comfort scene? I could install a Harmony hub in each room (very expensive) and it only controls 8 devices which includes the TV you are controlling, plus the amp i own is broken down in to 3 devices if you want to control all 3 zones. Whereas Comfort can easily learn the on / off commands for IR to control the TV and setup the rest of my AV kit using the Universal UCM.
Would it be possible to setup ST as a secondary z-wave hub to learn the z-wave network?
I have not managed to get Comfort to control all the combinations of a fibaro RGBW module which sits behind my TV so can only turn one colour on / off, would it be possible for ST to interface with Vera to achieve this?
I would like to trigger a scene that puts my TV on, selects the DVD, sets the volume and sound program, sets the LED RGBW stripe behind the TV to say Red, and dims the rest of the lights. All of which is very achievable with a little bit of Comfort, Vera and Smartthings. The key is what triggers what.
Hope this all makes sense
Sorry All another large post, but I have been experimenting.
I now have a combination of SmartThing, Yomomi, Harmony allows the control of TV\'s and AV kit. Still waiting for confirmation on my Cytech additions so can\'t comment on them yet. I am finding ST has very limited capabilities with z-wave, there is a big community support group, but by no way does it seem as simple as Vera copying the z-wave network to Comfort. Two fundamental show stoppers for me are:
1, I have included 2 x 1.5kw fibaro relays and only one switch is detected so I can\'t control both devices within ST\'s
2, When including the comfort UCM-Z-Wave it only detects a PC controller, ST doesnt seem to download the z-wave network to Comfort, massive problem and I will be migrating back to Vera over the weekend.
My conclusion is ST will not deliver the level of functionality I require for my z-wave network. For example if the internet is down and I am on holiday I still want to the alarm system to create the effect of me being at home, which comfort does very well using the UCM-Zwave bridge, but if ST doesn\'t pass on the Z-Wave network game over.
To be honest I want the alarm and its functions to be rock solid so thatââ¬â¢s why I think the Z-Wave UCM is critical in my installation and on the whole comfort has achieve this in bucket loads at my house for a number of years.
I can cope with a system failure of the AV kit so if I canââ¬â¢t turn the TV on using the echo (this does work well using the new technologies) then no big deal. If I canââ¬â¢t set a scene using ST again no big deal these are nice to have items no essentials. Possible solution moving forward:
Leave Vera as the main Z-wave network controller and do not use ST in the z-wave network, especially as the main controller.
Use the Raspberry Pi developed by Matt as an interface between, ST and Comfort. I uses counters and flags to control z-wave devices so by rights ST should be able to change the status of these via the Raspberry Pi interface very easily, not sure what this looks like on the ST App. Other considerations:
How would ST trigger a Comfort scene? I could install a Harmony hub in each room (very expensive) and it only controls 8 devices which includes the TV you are controlling, plus the amp i own is broken down in to 3 devices if you want to control all 3 zones. Whereas Comfort can easily learn the on / off commands for IR to control the TV and setup the rest of my AV kit using the Universal UCM.
Would it be possible to setup ST as a secondary z-wave hub to learn the z-wave network?
I have not managed to get Comfort to control all the combinations of a fibaro RGBW module which sits behind my TV so can only turn one colour on / off, would it be possible for ST to interface with Vera to achieve this?
I would like to trigger a scene that puts my TV on, selects the DVD, sets the volume and sound program, sets the LED RGBW stripe behind the TV to say Red, and dims the rest of the lights. All of which is very achievable with a little bit of Comfort, Vera and Smartthings. The key is what triggers what.
Hope this all makes sense
