I wanted to provide a brief tutorial based on my experience in getting the Cooper 5 button scene controller (RFWC5) to work.
As a brief background, I am an inexperienced HomeSeer user and welcome any corrections, comments, or questions. I am using HSPRO v 2.3.0.129, and a Z-troller with firmware version 1.13
There are two ways to use the 5 button scene controller:<O</O
The steps to get a button to trigger a HomeSeer event are:
Other Notes/Comments
As a brief background, I am an inexperienced HomeSeer user and welcome any corrections, comments, or questions. I am using HSPRO v 2.3.0.129, and a Z-troller with firmware version 1.13
There are two ways to use the 5 button scene controller:<O</O
- Using a button as a HomeSeer trigger for an event
- Creating a Z-wave scene and attaching it to one of the buttons
The steps to get a button to trigger a HomeSeer event are:
- Add the 5 button controller to the Z-wave network (use the All Off button on the device as the Include button – as described in the Cooper manual http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/wiringdevices/products/documents/instruction_sheets/rfwcddsc_rev._a_.pdf
- Import Devices into HomeSeer – Setup/Interfaces/Manage/Import Devices – This will create 6 HS devices. A device is created for the entire controller (root device), and then one device is created for EACH button
- Set HS Associations – Click on the root device, click on Associations, select HomeSeer in the dropdown menu, then click Add. It will create an Association for Group 1 through Group 5. This association must be in place for this triggering to work.
- Create an ON event based on turning the controller button ON:
- Trigger using Trigger Type “Device Status Change” and Status “Changed to On”
- Action can be any HS action(s)
- Create an Off event based on turning the controller button Off:
- Trigger using Trigger Type “Device Status Change” and Status “Changed to Off”
- Action can be any HS action(s) – I just used this event to reverse the ON button press (e.g. turn off the light(s) previously turned on with the ON press), but you could use it some other way if you wanted
- Save an empty scene for each button – This is really odd, but for some reason you will need to go to each device that represents a button, and save a blank scene to each button.
- Click on the Device that represents Each Button
- Click on Configure, then click on Save Scene Changes. You do not need to add any devices to the scene. If you do not perform this step, the events will execute manually or automatically in HS, BUT pressing the button on the controller will NOT trigger the event. (Thanks to Greg H at HomeSeer for this key piece of information.) It will create a new blank scene (incrementing the scene number, and reduce the available number of scenes from a total of 255) for each button.
- Controlling individual lights – this gives you direct control over 5 separate lights in one switch plate size – those lights can be anywhere since they are not physically connected to the 5 button controller
- Controlling multiple lights – Either execute a created z-wave scene or roll your own with multiple actions
- Panic button – use one button to trigger the Cooper Panic Mode (or any other alarms or lights) - this duplicates the dedicated button on the Cooper Handheld and Desktop controllers
- All On / All Off – Use one button to turn all the lights on/off – this duplicates the dedicated buttons on the Cooper Handheld and Desktop controllers
- I am Home/ I am Away – Use one button to signal that you are home (turn on certain lights, set the thermostat, etc, Then turning that button off could turn down the thermostat, wait 5 minutes then turn off the lights, etc.
- I am here, not there – If you had multiple 5 button controllers around the house in key areas, you could set up the top button (for instance) to turn on lighting and HVAC as appropriate to the area you are in, AND setting the lighting and HVAC in other areas to off.. You could use the off “position” to just indicate that you were leaving that area, or just let the next area “I am here” button do that for you. What I mean by that last statement is that one of the device actions can be to turn another 5 button controller button On/Off
- Open/Close a gate or garage door – this assumes you already have a HomeSeer mechanism to perform that function.
- Lock/Unlock a door – again assumes you already have HomeSeer controllable lock.
- Nested button control – Use one button to turn on other buttons/events throughout the house. See note 3 below.
Other Notes/Comments
- All Off button (the 6<SUP>th</SUP> button on the right hand side of the 5 button controller) – This is equivalent to setting every button on that 5 button controller OFF - which then runs the events you have associated with the Changed to Off button press.
- I did finally think of a reason someone might want to use direct scene assignment rather than the event trigger mechanism I described above – If HomeSeer is NOT running, the direct Z-wave scene assignment would still allow the scenes to operate. I just don’t consider that a very important attribute for me, and I suspect for most others here.
- Since you can perform any HS action based on the button trigger, keep in mind that this includes setting another buttons On/Off (which will then trigger the associated event actions for that button. The benefit of this approach vs. just running the event directly as an added action is that you would then be able to turn off that button to trigger the Off event. An example of how you might use this is:
- You have a button on an entry controller turn on a Living room controller button, a kitchen button, and a home theater button. This would then turn on each of those buttons AND execute the events associated with those buttons. Then you can turn off the buttons/events in each individual area as desired OR turn them all off with the original entry button.
- I have not experimented with using multiple button presses of the same button (or pressing two or more buttons at the same time) as triggers, but if that is possible, that might be a good mechanism for triggering alarms, or other lesser used events.
- Remember – these 5 button controllers do not physically control power to any devices. They need power to run (i.e. not battery operated), then all they do is send Z-wave signals to HomeSeer (in the usage/configuration described here.
- Creating a Z-wave scene and attaching it to one of the buttons – works as described in the manual. I tested it early on because I was not even sure they were working! I did not describe that process here because it is fairly straightforward and not nearly as useful (to HomeSeer users) in my opinion.
Comment