How to - device with buttons (or other) WITHOUT making second device

[popeye]

Yeah, that was a long time ago. Hard to believe the platform is still kicking, with people still developing new stuff for it. I myself wrote many h/w drivers for the thing.

I understand that the root/function organization is to emulate Z-Wave devices, but it is limiting. Of course you likely are much more familiar with the HS history than I am, being quite new to this platform.

MIMO2+ is one such device lacking support, and the response I have seen is, "No time." Would be much easier if the HS Z-Wave driver just used config files, like many other solutions. This would put the onus on manufacturers to add support (or anyone else that wants to do so), and free up development resources.

Another quite modern device is the Inovelli fan/switch device, which is supported, but has a bug in the associations that are automatically added. Easy to fix if you know about the bug (for every single switch added to the network), but annoying until you figure out the issue. Something that would be easy to fix if it used a config file. (And inclusion using S2 - with the beta driver- does not work, but who knows what is up with that.)

Your last sentence is interesting, in that the platforms that support Z-Wave devices via config files would not (in theory) need device changes, just a config file that the manufacturer could create. But then again, I am also a total newbie to Z-Wave.

[jstuyts]

Would be much easier if the HS Z-Wave driver just used config files, like many other solutions.

One of the reasons I chose to use (and pay lots of money for) HomeSeer was that a Z-Wave device (Remotec Scene Master) I bought was fully supported without having to do anything. 2 Other (open source) solutions I tried did not support the device (well):

• 1 Solution reported all button presses as the same event.
• The other solution had to be configured. I had to look at log files to understand what I had to put in the configuration. This takes time, and I would not like to waste this time for each type of Z-Wave product I buy. Also the configuration was not stored correctly, so different values than I had set were read on the next start.

So easy of use depends on who you are talking too. If I buy (expensive) equipment and software, I really, really do not want to have to mess around with files in some arcane format, I am a developer, so I understand that I have to be careful with the syntax, know the commonly used formats, and I do have the tools to help me write the files. "Normal" users will have to be lucky that someone is friendly enough to help them, and will have to copy and paste whatever solution that is presented to them.

This would put the onus on manufacturers to add support (or anyone else that wants to do so), and free up development resources.

There are many home automation systems out there. HomeSeer is not one of the most popular (as far as I can tell), so good luck convincing manufacturers that they should write drivers for HomeSeer. NVIDIA and AMD gladly invest time to write good drivers for Linux, right?

MIMO2+ is one such device lacking support, [...]

As far as I understand Z-Wave has command classes, and if you write a client for a command class, it should be able to talk to all devices that implement that command class. If the MIMO2+ is not supported properly, it seems to me that it does not report the command classes correctly, or does not implement the protocol correctly.

The certification of Z-Wave devices is also 1 of the reasons I chose Z-Wave over, for example, Zigbee. I really did not look forward to having to seach through multiple forums for information about how to integrate each device type that I bought. I assume the certification includes tests of how a device implements a command class.

Is my view of Z-Wave correct, or am I mistaken?

[Rick Tinker]

Is my view of Z-Wave correct, or am I mistaken?

You are dead nuts on. I worked with Z-Wave with HomeSeer for more than a decade, then worked for Z-Wave (Sigma Designs and Silicon Labs) for 6 years, and yes - despite HomeSeer already doing things to support devices that were done wrong, HomeSeer works best with Z-Wave because of the root/child architecture allowing individual command classes to be instantiated in child devices.

[Rick Tinker]

MIMO2+ is one such device lacking support, and the response I have seen is, "No time." Would be much easier if the HS Z-Wave driver just used config files, like many other solutions. This would put the onus on manufacturers to add support (or anyone else that wants to do so), and free up development resources.

If you ask Carl Szasz, he'll tell you that the MIMO devices were born from me asking them to make it. However, they did not come up with the device quite the way I wanted it but that is another story. The MIMO devices have a lot of configuration options and while I never did use the analog inputs, it did work fine with HomeSeer.

Z-Wave requires the association on Group 1 to be done by HomeSeer when the device is added for lifeline notifications. Sometimes, features in the device and how you want to use it require other associations to be added on other groups - this does not mean that HomeSeer's support does not work or that the device does not work, it just means you may need more stick time with Z-Wave and the manual for the device to understand how to set it up the way you want. Sorry that the company is not supporting the product, but since it got bought by a bigger company it is not entirely unexpected by me.

Another quite modern device is the Inovelli fan/switch device, which is supported, but has a bug in the associations that are automatically added. Easy to fix if you know about the bug (for every single switch added to the network), but annoying until you figure out the issue. Something that would be easy to fix if it used a config file. (And inclusion using S2 - with the beta driver- does not work, but who knows what is up with that.)

Having added a few of those myself, I can assure you that the bug is in the Inovelli firmware. The energy reporting feature has a default setting that quite likely is gumming up your Z-Wave network.

Inclusion with the beta Z-Wave plug-in works fine, but you have to understand that in the limited form it could take under the old UI architecture, you HAVE to use the HTML console to do the add (not Z-Seer app) and you have to pay attention for the DSK prompt. It is a Z-Wave security feature (S2) that HomeSeer will likely do a much better job on when they rewrite the Z-Wave plug-in. But this one does work as I have about 5 devices added with Security S2 out of several dozen added with that plug-in.

[popeye]

The original MIMO with a single input and output works, but not the MIMO2+, which has 2 inputs and 2 outputs. Several people on the HS forums have tried to make the inputs work. From the log they seem to be sending notification data, but there is a disconnect somewhere. Certainly could be the device. Just using a Shelly Uni might be a lot easier.

I have been using HS Z-Net devices (and the corresponding inclusion interface it offers), since they can then be centrally located (and backup power supply with a POE splitter), whereas the machine running HS is buried in the basement. Inovelli has more beta f/w available (and seems to be quite responsive to enhancement suggestions), so I will try S2 again. Though if it is still only available in GBL format, that will be more of a hassle.