View single post by slychiu
 Posted: Friday Dec 25th, 2015 10:56 am
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slychiu



Joined: Saturday Apr 29th, 2006
Location: Singapore
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Setting up Virtual Nodes

Virtual Nodes are Z-Wave nodes created within UCM/Zwave. The purpose of Virtual  Nodes is to allow other Z-wave devices (e.g. switches or remote controls) to send commands to Comfort or Zwave sensors to send Sensor values to Comfort Sensors. Note that there is no difference to the Zwave network between normal nodes and Virtual nodes on UCM/Zwave.

The UCM/Zwave3 is able to assign up to 128 Virtual Nodes to itself. To create a virtual node, use the primary controller to Include a new Node. For MK LRC14S, press and hold the INC button at the back until the led above it turns on to show it is in Inclusion Mode. Press the 'Create Virtual Node' button in Zwave Configurator. This adds a Z-Wave Node to the network, which is a Virtual Node in UCM/Zwave. The leds on the UCM/Zwave will blink during the process.

If the operation fails, a message "Request Failed" pops  up. This could be due to the Primary Controller not in Inclusion mode. If successful, Comfigurator will automatically read the new Zwave Network from EEPROM.

More virtual nodes can be added in the same way, with the Primary Controller in Inclusion mode. When completed press and hold INC on the MK LRC14S to turn off the Include LED.  

Note that adding Virtual Nodes creates the nodes in the Z-Wave network. You need to Associate the virtual nodes to make them useful.




The screenshot example above has 3 virtual nodes 8, 9, 13 which appear in green to indicate virtual node. Note that the Node Type is Virtual. Virtual Nodes are NOT polled.

Virtual Nodes can be polled by other Zwave nodes to get the status of the mapped Comfort register

Associating Virtual Nodes to Controller Buttons
In order to make the Virtual Node useful, it must be associated with another device e.g. a button on the remote controller and/or a Routing Slave. Remember that a Virtual Node appears to other Zwave devices like another Z-wave Slave device.
  1. Put the controller into Associate Mode. For MK LRC14S, press and hold the ASC button until its LED stays on.
  2. Press the button on the primary controller to be associated e.g. for MK LRC14S, press one of the group/appliance buttons 
  3. Select the Virtual Node in Zwave Configurator and press its Virtual Node Info - SEND button seen in the right pane for the selected Virtual Node (Do NOT press the 'Send Node Info' button in the top menu). This is equivalent to pressing a button on a light switch to associate with the primary controller. The leds on the UCM/Zwave will blink during the process. The leds on the primary controller will also show the progress of the association.
There is no need to update the network using the 'Learn' button after Association because the network information has not changed. Association creates a relationship between two nodes (a Controller or Routing Slave and a Slave). Note that the same button on the primary controller can be associated with several physical as well as Virtual nodes in the network.

Associating Virtual Nodes to Routing Slaves
Routing Slaves are able to send information like their own state to the Z-Wave network without being polled by the UCM/Zwave.
  1. A local button used to toggle the state of a switch can send its state to the network. This can be used to update the state of the Comfort register when its state changes.
  2. A Satellite slave (i.e. a switch button which is not directly connected to a load) can be programmed to control Comfort.
  3. To use a Primary Controller to associate a Routing Slave to a Virtual Node; The procedure below is for the MK LR14S controller - other devices will have their own procedure which is found in their instruction manuals.
  4. Put the Controller into Association Mode by pressing and hold the ASC button until its ASC led turns on Yellow.
  5. Press the button on the Target slave node to be associated, i.e. UCM/Zwave. This is the Virtual Node Info - SEND button. The ASC led will flash green 3 times to indicate receiving of the target device data.
  6. Repeat for other target devices to be associated with the Source device, i.e. other Z-Wave slave devices. A source device can be associated with many target devices.
  7. Press and release (not HOLD) the ASC button. The ASC led will turn Red to indicate that the next device to be received will be the source node.
  8. Press the button on the source slave node to be associated to the Virtual Node.
  9. The ASC led will flash green 2 times to indicate receiving of the source slave data and will turn off to indicate exit from Association Mode.
Note that Routing Slaves associated with Virtual Nodes will update the Virtual node (which has its own mapping). Hence the associated Routing Slave should NOT be mapped to any Counter.

Associating Virtual Nodes to Controller + Routing Slaves
A virtual node can be associated with controller buttons and a routing slave. For example a remote control is used to control a Z-wave light switch. The remote control needs to be associated to the Zwave light which is a Routing slave. We want to map a Comfort counter to the light so that the status of the device can be updated instantaneously regardless of whether the device is controlled by the controller, or by its local switch.
This can be done by associating the Controller button to the Virtual node AND associating the same virtual node with the Z-wave device as described above.

Mapping Comfort Registers to Virtual Nodes
For each virtual node that has been associated through the primary controller, select  a Register Type as Counter, Sensor, Virtual Input, Output, Response, Arm, or Panic.



Counter
Select Counter 0 to 254 and a Counter Name to map to the Virtual Node. Counter 255 is default which means NO Counter. When a command is sent from the associated button or device, a value of 0 for OFF, 255 for ON, or 1 to 99 for level is updated to the counter. The associated Counter Response will be activated, hence allowing a Zwave device to control Comfort.

Sensor
Select Sensor and a Sensor Name to map to the Virtual Node. The sensor value from the Zwave Sensor will be written into the mapped Comfort Sensor. The associated Sensor Response will be activated, hence allowing a Zwave device to control Comfort. Every Comfort Sensor can have a Sensor Response which is activated when a sensor change is received from Zwave.

Virtual Input
Select Virtual Input and an Input/Zone Name to map to the Virtual Node. When a command is sent from the associated button or device, the associated zone will be set to ON or OFF just like being activated by a physical Input. In Security > Zone/Inputs, the mapped zone will be shown as Virtual, and the physical zone will be disabled and will have no effect. The zone will behave according to the Zone Type settings and will trigger Zone Responses and activate its Alarm Type as well. This allows a Z-Wave door/window/motion sensor to trigger a zone in Comfort.

Output
Select Output and an Output Name to map to the Virtual Node. When a command is sent from the associated button or device, an ON command will turn on the mapped output and an OFF command will turn off the mapped output.

Response
Select Response and a Response Name to map to the Virtual Node. When a command is sent from the associated button or device,  it will trigger the mapped Response. This is similar to the Counter and Sensor mapping except that a Response is triggered directly without updating a counter or sensor. Also the value of the command i.e. 0 for OFF, 255 for ON, 1 to 99 for level is sent as a Parameter to the Response so that the Response can act on the value received, e.g.
  If Last Action Value = 0 then
  ...
  Else
    ...
  End If
It is recommended not to map to Responses because when responses are edited, the Response number can change. When mapping to Responses, remember to Write to EEPROM to ensure Response number changes are updated.

Arm
Select Arm and a Mode Away, Night, Day, or Vacation to arm the security system to. When a command is sent from the associated button or device, it will arm the system to the specified mode regardless of off or on command.

Panic
If panic is selected (no additional parameters) the command will immediately activate a panic alarm

Write to EEPROM
After mapping Comfort Registers to all virtual nodes, do Write to EEPROM. This may take a while depending on the number of nodes.




Save File
Always remember to save your cclx file after any change in order to avoid losing your work.

Last edited on Friday Dec 25th, 2015 10:56 am by slychiu

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