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How To use the ViziaRF and Cooper Aspire multi-button controllers with HomeSeer

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    How To use the ViziaRF and Cooper Aspire multi-button controllers with HomeSeer

    Here are some tips on using the Z-Wave ViziaRF 4 button scene and zone controllers as well as the Copper Aspire 5 button in-wall controller with HomeSeer. Support for these products were added in HomeSeer 2.2.0.3. Cooper support was added in 2.2.0.66. If you want to use the controller to trigger events in HomeSeer, the ViziaRF zone controller or AspireRF controller might be the better choice. The ViziaRF zone controller has an On/Off rocker for each button so you can trigger an event by hitting the ON side. The ViziaRF scene controllers use toggle buttons, so you would need to hit the button twice if the led was on, same with the AspireRF controller. Hitting the ViziaRF scene controller button while the LED is on will cause the controller to send a single OFF command to HomeSeer. HS does not know which button was pressed in this case, so all the button devices will go off. The Cooper AspireRF 5 button controller does not have this limitation and HS knows which button went off. With the ViziaRF Zone controllers that we have seen shipping since 2010, there has been other strange behavior if a ViziaRF device is not a part of the scene being configured - e.g. you may not be able to have multiple buttons be "ON" at the same time.

    1) To add the LEVITON controller, hold down buton 1 and 3 until all LEDS are amber. Now hold down the ADD button on the Z-Troller. The Z-Troller will display "HOLD" until it is done with the add procedure, then when you release the button it will display the node id. If you are using a different remote, use the copy remote feature and send the data to the controller. For the COOPER controller, holding down the "all off" button for a few seconds after putting the remote in the add mode will cause the controller start the add procedure, and the remainder of the procedure is the same as for the Leviton controller. Some of the newer Leviton controllers have local loads in them - that is, there are 4 buttons AND a light switch in one device. For these units, the controller and the device(s) act as separate nodes and must be added separately. Follow the instructions CAREFULLY to determine how to put the device into the add mode for each device. You will get a separate node ID for each device plus the controller.

    2) Once you have added a controller, and if you have other wall controllers in the home, you must update the network information in those controllers so that they are aware of the new nodes. As of this writing, this information is not updated in the controllers automatically in any of the controllers shipping since February 2011. To update the other controllers, simply follow the procedure for adding them to the network. DO NOT remove them from the network, but go through the motions as if you were adding them to the network. The end result is that the same node ID that the device already had will be displayed, but your primary controller (remote) will have copied the network information to the controller before it displays the node ID. The copy/update procedure should be done when nodes are removed from the network as well.
    NOTE:
    Since these are controllers, they need to know about all of your devices so they can route commands to your devices properly. If you add the controller first, it won't have the knowledge of any devices. Try adding the controller last, or, after you add all of your devices re-add the Scene/Zone controller to your Z-Troller/Remote. It will keep its same node ID but will updated with new node information.

    3) In HomeSeer, in the Manage Z-Wave Controllers page, click on "Import". The controller will then be added and up to 5 new devices will be created; one button device for each button on the controller.

    4) Click on the name of the button on the HS status page to open its properties. You will see a new "Config" button. Click this to open the scene config. From here, you can add devices you want the button to control. Note that only devices that support the scene class can be added to the scene with the Leviton controller, but any Z-Wave switch can be added to a scene for a Cooper controller. IMPORTANT: Even if you do not have any devices to add to the scene, because you wish to use the controller button to launch a HomeSeer event, it is still necessary that you click "Save Scene" at the bottom of the page. When you click "Save Scene" and there are no devices in the scene, HomeSeer will still add itself to the scene so that it will know when you press the button and activate the scene. The reason this is not done automatically when the controller is added to HomeSeer is because this screen is also where you can assign a custom Scene ID number to the scene, or you can leave the scene ID as the next unused scene ID that HomeSeer will have already determined for you.

    NOTE: Do NOT do any device associations as part of setting up a scene controller. Although scene controllers and scene capable devices support the association command class, this command class is used during the programming of the scene, and so it is not necessary to do any manual operations with the associations. In fact, changing the associations after a scene has been programmed can adversely affect the scene operations and you may not get the desired result.

    5) When you press a button on the controller, the LED will go on and the scene command will be sent to HS as well as any other devices associated with the button. You can create triggers in HS when the button device goes ON.

    6) When you turn off a button, it simply sends an OFF command to HomeSeer and all devices associated with the button. All button devices in HS will go off (since they are all part of the same device). So its not possible to trigger on a button going off with the Leviton controllers. While the Cooper controllers operate the same way and only send an OFF signal, the Cooper controllers also support an ancillary command class that HomeSeer can use to determine which button was turned off. Because of this, HomeSeer can be used to trigger on any of the buttons turning OFF with a Cooper controller.

    7) To control devices that do not support scenes, there are two ways depending upon the controller you are using: For Cooper controllers, there is nothing special to note - Cooper controllers allow non-scene devices to be added to a scene, and they will control the device similar to how a scene capable device is controlled. However, since the device is not scene capable, they can be set to go to a specific dim level, but the period of time (ramp rate) is not supported, and each non-scene device is turned on separately - they do not react together like scene devices do. For Leviton controllers, it is necessary to save the scene with no devices in it (or just the scene capable devices), and then set up an event in HomeSeer to be triggered when the scene button is "SET TO" On, and in the actions for the event add your non-scene devices and set them to the desired level.




    A Note about Scene ID's

    When you create a scene a unique scene ID is assigned to the scene. This scene ID is used to enable the scene in all of the devices that are part of the scene. There is a max of 255 scenes. If the same scene ID is used in multiple scenes, you may see unpredictable results. HomeSeer ensures that it will not re-use scene ID's, however, if you use a remote to set up scenes, then HomeSeer has no knowledge of exitsing scene ID's. To check your scenes, click on each scene button and retrieve the scene configuration. You can then check that all your scene ID's are unique.

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    Last edited by macromark; May 6, 2019, 10:22 AM.
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    #2
    An Important Update: With the Leviton Zone Controllers shipped in the past few years, we have noticed that the same behavior takes place on these as with the Scene controllers in that after a button is turned on, pressing the ON for another button causes the first button that was on to turn off.

    The only way you can get full control/status of the button LEDs with a Leviton controller is to use a Leviton handheld controller, as they keep the ability to control the LEDs in the MANUFACTURER PROPRIETARY command class, which by definition prevents other Z-Wave manufacturers from having access to that information. Without a Leviton handheld controller, it should be noted that the LEDs turn off when more than one button have the same node in the associated scenes. Since HomeSeer, by default, adds itself to all of the scenes so that the corresponding button devices in HomeSeer can be updated, this causes all other LEDs to turn off when any one button is activated, just like how the scene controllers operate.

    The Cooper Wiring controllers do not have this limitation, have an additional button as well as an "All Off" button, and can control non-Scene devices in addition to scene devices.
    Last edited by Rick Tinker; November 2, 2011, 12:32 PM.
    Regards,

    Rick Tinker (a.k.a. "Tink")

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