When will a Z-Wave motion detector be available?

[kenflorian]

Any news on when a z-wave motion detector will be on the market

[Guest]

Yes, take a look aticom.

Richard

[Nasty]

Those look nice.

Does anyone know about when Z-Wave motion detectors will be available in the US?

[tobad78]

NOt going to help you much but I haven't heard any time frame for them. Last I heard would be after the 1st of the year. I wish they would get their butts in gear and get these products out to market.

Also wish we had the awesome looking interfaces that Icom sells for US freg.

[rocco]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brian:
Also wish we had the awesome looking interfaces that Icom sells for US freg. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Actually, I believe the frequency for ZWave is the same all over the universe. Though the switch outlets won't be much use here, the user interfaces should work.

I would like to try the One-Touch controller.

[Rupp]

That is a nice looking remote. Would it work for existing US ZWave devices?

[rocco]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rupp:
Would it work for existing US ZWave devices? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Rupp, as far as I can tell, all ZWave are created equal.

A little later:
This caused a question to pop into my mind (I hate that). I did a quick search, and didn't find the answer. So here it is:

Can the USB/ZWave interface to HomeSeer receive messages from the ZWave remotes? More specifically, could the One-Touch Remote be used to talk directly to HomeSeer, much like a palmpad, without it having to switch on/off a device?

[tobad78]

I sent them a email asking if it would work in the US here is his response. So if there was a big enough demand he would do it.


"Thanks for your compliment concerning our products design. Our products are more or less the same. In Europe we use the 868MHz frequency, so to make our

products compatible we have to change the frequency. (replace the crystal) . Further we have to change the cabinet to your USA socket standard. We like to

develop products for the USA, but frankly speaking it depends always of the order quantity. Please think it over and let me know your proposal.



Bets regards

ICOM Technology BV"

[Ericryherd]

In the US Z-Wave devices are 908.42Mhz and in europe they are at 868.42Mhz (the Z-Wave guys are into Hitchikers Guide to the galaxy - thus the .42).

These frequencies are in the unlicensed ISM band which unfortunately is different here in the US vs. the rest of the world. Thus, european devices will NOT work here in the US and vice-versa. Since the power is different (240v vs 110 and 50 vs 60hz) most of the products wouldn't work anyway. But motion detectors and remotes could if the RF was the same.

Would you be willing to pay $99 for a motion detector?

Remember that Z-Wave devices will cost more as they don't have the volume of X10 devices and the technology is signicantly more robust which costs a little more.

[rocco]

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Eric Ryherd:



In the US Z-Wave devices are 908.42Mhz and in europe they are at 868.42Mhz <HR>

OK, I stand corrected. I thought the 900 Mhz band was worldwide.


Eric, do you know the answer to my question above?

[bdickhaus]

rocco,

The HS USB interface can't receive signals from the Z-Wave remotes we have now, so I don't see why it would work with that other one. In the Z-Wave world, a command to turn something on or off is sent specifically to that device, unlike X10 where any device can "listen in" to all that is going on, so there is no way for the USB interface to "hear" the command coming from a remote. That is why it can only know if a Z-Wave device has been turned on or off (locally or with the remote) if it polls the device.

This is why I don't understand how a motion sensor would work, unless it was polled, and a polled motion sensor doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Bill

[rocco]

Bill, that is exactly what I was thinking. But I, also, don't understand how motion sensors (and other things, as well) will work with ZWave. So I must be missing something.

A remote could talk to the USB/ZWave interface if the interface emulated a set of devices as well as emulating a remote. This would require that it contain a bunch of those device 'serial numbers' that are used to configure the network.

[Guest]

This discussion was on this board before.

Although is still seems to be a bit in the mist, the answer seems to be that any Z-wave device can have only one primary controller, and multiple 'associated nodes' (something like up to 5 or 6). This means that when the status of a module is changed, it will send a message to all it's associated nodes.

See also the discusstion about Wandering how this works....

Unfortunately, your question remains. In the terms used in the discussion above, it would mean <span class="ev_code_GREEN">'can the USB/Zwave-interface be an associated node for a Z-Wave controller?</span>

Richard

[Ericryherd]

rocco,

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Can the USB/ZWave interface to HomeSeer receive messages from the ZWave remotes? More specifically, could the One-Touch Remote be used to talk directly to HomeSeer, much like a palmpad, without it having to switch on/off a device? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes... and No...
ZWave does have an "association class" which allows a device to "associate" a button press or detected motion to cause a command to be sent to another ZWave device. This is how a motion sensor works. You "associate" the node(s) that you want the motion sensor to turn on and off with the motion sensor.

The problem is that the association class is very new and there aren't any products on the market that support it (yet).

So, your hand-held remotes you have now cannot send the command to the USB interface because they have an old rev of software (and probably cannot be upgraded with a download or something simple). You'd have to buy a new remote.

Zwave can "snif" the network to see all traffic but the current USB interface doesn't do that and in general ZWave isn't supposed to work that way. You're supposed to use the associate class.