Z-wave anyone?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi max90034,

 

1) is z-wave kit available for "non-testers" now?

Not yet but we are waiting for a shipment in a few weeks. So, if everything goes well, we should be ready by the end of August

 

2) I have 994iZ. Can I just order z-wave kit (when it is available) and replace zigbee I have now with z-wave in my 994iZ?

Yes but you will have to contact us to deactivate the Zigbee module

 

3) I Have isy99 pro in my vacation house. Is it compatible with z-wave module?

No

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Steven M Castano]

Just wanted to bump this thread up a bit.... I'm VERY interested in getting Z-Wave functionality up and running ASAP.

 

Basically, I've got some locks I'd like to experiment with, some Schlage and a new product coming out called "Lockitron". Those also tie in with some RF based Logitech Harmony remotes, RF extenders, IR repeaters, etc.

 

I'd like to experiment with adding Z-wave functionality to the ISY-994i along with some extensive ties to EventGhost as well as a few Raspberry Pi devices all running a set of HTTP triggers and python scripts to control cameras, my AV gear, XBMC, door locks, intercom, and some new "intelligence" I'm working on for not just proximity detection to see when someone is home, but to actually attempt to determine what room someone is in.

 

Is the Z-Wave module almost ready to go? How does someone become a beta-tester?

[fitzpatri8]

I've been watching the Lockitron as well. It doesn't appear to have any ZWave hardware at all. Rather, it looks like it handles lock, unlock and status messages using a standard wifi connection to Lockitron's secure website. The website handles all the electronic key management. Like the Nest, whether the ISY will be able to interact will depend on the manufacturer's willingness to offer an open API.

[arw01]

I've been watching the Lockitron as well. It doesn't appear to have any ZWave hardware at all. Rather, it looks like it handles lock, unlock and status messages using a standard wifi connection to Lockitron's secure website. The website handles all the electronic key management. Like the Nest, whether the ISY will be able to interact will depend on the manufacturer's willingness to offer an open API.

 

OH! And when they go away, your "net" features become non functional! I suppose lock sets have a life, but my manual ones are going on 20 years! I moved them from one house to the next. One would hope that eventually some of these more "advanced" locks will not be all cloud based, but that seems to be the revenue stream of choice these days... "subscriptions".. and when those companies go away, so does your devices capabilities.

 

Perhaps someday, an Idigo or Kickstarter will make the ultimate lockset that will not be cloud based, easy to repair ourselves, come with it's own software stack with source code so that anything we want could be added to it.

 

Alan

[Steven M Castano]

OH! And when they go away, your "net" features become non functional! I suppose lock sets have a life, but my manual ones are going on 20 years! I moved them from one house to the next. One would hope that eventually some of these more "advanced" locks will not be all cloud based, but that seems to be the revenue stream of choice these days... "subscriptions".. and when those companies go away, so does your devices capabilities.

 

I do agree.... and, the good news... SO DO THEY! The "cloud based key management" system is only one part of it. So if you want to email keys around, send an evite with a 4 hour "unlock" key so you don't have to drunkenly stumble from the man cave to the front door to open for people or any of that other "fancy" stuff.... yes, it's based in he cloud....

 

BUT.... I'm a simple man. I want nothing more than to pick up my miniature sized computer (iPhone) in the palm of my hand, say out loud "Siri, who is at my front door?" only to have a picture of the front porch come up with gently fading light and a fully controller PTZ camera while Siri responds: "Steve, here is a picture of whomever is at your front door. Would you like to let them in?"...

 

then... SIMPLE, like I said I just say "Yes Siri, please open my front door."

 

So, like I said... I'm a simple man.... and the Lockitron folks confirm, the IP accessible API will be able to be controller locally via some form of API (most likely HTTP/S) without an internet connection or the need for any other centralized service.... other than my handy ISY-994i of course!

 

As for the Z-wave portion.... after picking some Logitech Harmony 890 remotes with the wifi extenders, which i LOVE..... I noticed the RF edition has Z-Wave capabilities... so I'd like to be able to "interact" through my TV with my remote. Something like have a screen pop in XBMC with an image from the camera after motion is detected by the ISY... which I already have working via an EventGhost server... I'd like to give whomever is watching the TV the ability to pick up the remote and hit a button to unlock the door, turn on the lights in that room, the front hallway, etc.

 

I'm basically seeing the Lockitron as another "automation output/action" channel and the z-wave from the remotes as another "automation input/control" channel in the grand scheme of total home dominance! I'd love to get working on making that possible.....

 

How does someone get on the "test" program to get some of this nifty stuff early?

[giesen]

The biggest problem I see with the Lockitron is that it's WiFi and IP-enabled. I gotta imagine that battery life is terrible on it. Things like Z-Wave were designed to be very lightweight (and not IP-enabled) for that very reason.

[Steven M Castano]

The biggest problem I see with the Lockitron is that it's WiFi and IP-enabled. I gotta imagine that battery life is terrible on it. Things like Z-Wave were designed to be very lightweight (and not IP-enabled) for that very reason.

 

Yeah, that's a pretty good point... I hadn't really thought about it that way. I wonder if I can run some little cable up to it from behind a hinge or something... add some molding to the door. It's a front door too, so it's totally solid. I bet I could router a tiny channel down from the lockset, to the bottom of the door and meet it near the back hinge... then I could bring power up from the base molding on the wall next to it.

 

I feel as though my battery power dremel will be making an appearance here!

[giesen]

Not to rag on it further (I really like the concept) but it doesn't offer any way to unlock from the outside except with a key or a smartphone. I bought 3 of the Yale Z-Wave touchscreen deadbolts earlier this year and my wife and I are loving it. You can unlock the door with one hand without fishing out keys (or a phone), which is great if you're carrying groceries or such. I can also give a code to someone stopping by our house when we're not home.

 

Granted, I don't have the ability to remote unlock (yet, waiting on ISY 994i to support them), but when it comes it will be glorious.

 

Certainly not as turnkey (pun very much intended) as the Locktronic but so been a setup that works well (and even better once Z-Wave is supported)

[Steven M Castano]

Not to rag on it further (I really like the concept) but it doesn't offer any way to unlock from the outside except with a key or a smartphone. I bought 3 of the Yale Z-Wave touchscreen deadbolts earlier this year and my wife and I are loving it. You can unlock the door with one hand without fishing out keys (or a phone), which is great if you're carrying groceries or such. I can also give a code to someone stopping by our house when we're not home.

 

Granted, I don't have the ability to remote unlock (yet, waiting on ISY 994i to support them), but when it comes it will be glorious.

 

Certainly not as turnkey (pun very much intended) as the Locktronic but so been a setup that works well (and even better once Z-Wave is supported)

 

I totally agree with you there too.... which why I wish I could go with the Samsung EZON, which is AMAZING... touch pad, biometric, totally awesome.... and yes, in my own home I would totally do exactly what you're saying... but, the point of the Lockitron is a little different. It's geared specifically to renters and/or condo owners. In my condo building, we have "rules" governing the outside appearance of our front doors. Specific color, standard lock set, even a single model knocker is the only one we're allowed to use! hahaha

 

So, the Lockitron fit's that specific situation by installed itself OVER the back of the normal deadbolt. This way, everything on the front of the door stays the same.

 

As for the "fumbling" for keys, phone, etc... I've been working on solutions for that. The first one I intend to test using wifi, GPS and bluetooth... like this:

 

I have my phone set to send an email anytime myself or my girlfriend enters an area within about a half mile of our condo. This sets a variable in my ISY for each of us called "Steve_GPS_InRange" letting the ISY know we're close. If either one of us if the FIRST one home.... it turns all the interior lights on to 30% and watches 2 things, the front door open/close sensor and a script on my network router watches for us to join the network and the presence of our MAC address in an arp table. Once we're home, it simply tracks the other persons proximity but doesn't change anything other than playing a welcome home MP3 the next time the front door opens after detecting a new person is home.

 

The easy option here made me a little nervous. Once it detects GPS, it just unlocks the lock.... and the same on the way out, once it knows we're home home anymore and turns off all the lights, TVs, hits stop on the DVD players and XBMC media centers... it could just lock the lock.

 

The fear there is that it leaves nearly 10 to 15 minutes of the door being unlocked without us actually being home depending on how many lights we hit on the last half mile home and how long it takes to park in the parking garage and hit the elevator to our floor...

 

SO.... the NEW part I want to add is bluetooth 3.0. So, a person coming home goes like this... assume you're the FIRST person home:

 

1) Steve_GPS_InRange turns to 1

2) HOUSE_OCCUPIED turns to 1

3) FIRST HOME was at 0, so the lights turn on the 30% and the bluetooth system gets power.

4) Steve_Bluetooth_Seen is still set at 0

5) Steve_BlueTooth_InRange is still at 0

6) As I approach the front door, Steve_Bluetooth_InRange turns to 1, the door unlocks and Steve_Bluetooth_Seen turns to 1 also. All while I'm just a few feet from the door.

7) Someone knocks on the door which I've locked behind me and I walk over to it to look at the peephole. (looking for a camera I can fit in there)

As I approach the door Steve_Bluetooth_InRange turns to 1 again, but the door DOES NOT UNLOCK.... since Steve_Bluetooth_Seen is already at 1. This makes it so if someone is looking to force their way in to the condo, the door doesn't unlock before I can see who it is.

 

So basically, the bluetooth trigger would only work for you ONCE after coming home for the first time. Once the proximity programs/variables already know your home and you're "bluetooth" activation of the door has already happened once... the system stops working for you until you've "left the house" and returned again.

 

What I would love to do is figure out how a lot of the bluetooth locks on the market do their little "side detection" to know if you're approaching the door from the outside or inside... that would basically solve the whole problem... but I'm not there yet!

[arw01]

I am considering playing with this with old cell phones and tasker. Not sure if tasker integrates into the bluetooth or not at this point, just waiting on a second access point so I can get a better wifi signal out to the car.

 

Then I can use the has joined the network functions to tell that the car is home. Maybe a second old phone with tasker close to the front door could notice the bluetooth from the new phone and set a variable via rest.

 

 

Alan

[Steven M Castano]

I am considering playing with this with old cell phones and tasker. Not sure if tasker integrates into the bluetooth or not at this point, just waiting on a second access point so I can get a better wifi signal out to the car.

 

Then I can use the has joined the network functions to tell that the car is home. Maybe a second old phone with tasker close to the front door could notice the bluetooth from the new phone and set a variable via rest.

 

 

Alan

 

Not a bad idea... I was thinking about trying it using a Raspberry Pi... with a bluetooth USB dongle, AD card and small power adapter, it's about 50 bucks and works amazingly well. There is already python code out there to check the bluetooth radio for MACs and perform actions based on it. One of the reasons I was thinking about going this way was that I could then leverage the device to do other things including play announcements, even relay pics from a USB webcam that's attached.

 

With a full linux OS running it, there's a tone of things that can be done!

[arw01]

Got some details on the USB dongle and the stack? I have one about 10' from the front door that handles my iR and I need to run a 1-wire cable to it to pick up those temperature sensors soon as well. Should have done that in the last few days!

[dano]

Good afternoon,

I was reading through this topic and became concern that support for zigbee might be going away. I current use my ISY with Zigbee to control/monitor energy management and thermostats with the intention of adding a couple of door locks. Is there any concerns with utilizing zigbee door locks or future support of zigbee in general?

 

Thanks.

[Xathros]

Good afternoon,

I was reading through this topic and became concern that support for zigbee might be going away. I current use my ISY with Zigbee to control/monitor energy management and thermostats with the intention of adding a couple of door locks. Is there any concerns with utilizing zigbee door locks or future support of zigbee in general?

 

Thanks.

 

I don't believe you have anything to worry about. I have not heard of any plans to drop Zigbee. When purchasing an ISY you (will) have the choice of Plain, ZWave or Zigbee.

 

-Xathros

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi dano, Xathros is 100% correct.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[arw01]

Does anyone besides me, think that with the Amazon sell off of Schlage zwave door locks and other keypad locks, that there is a new line coming out soon?

 

Not really impressed with their current offerings, and have not seen any of the Yale locks in person.

 

Want to add a couple zwave locksets so that a keypad is on the door to advise when the kids get home, or to know for sure the doors are locked at bedtime.

 

So besides the aesthetics, physical capabilities, there is the native software capabilities, and then the integration with the ISY zwave capabilities to all take into consideration.

 

Alan

[Steven M Castano]

Got some details on the USB dongle and the stack? I have one about 10' from the front door that handles my iR and I need to run a 1-wire cable to it to pick up those temperature sensors soon as well. Should have done that in the last few days!

 

I've gotten a pretty decent amount of work done here. I'm running an old RocketFish Bluetooth dongle that detects as: "Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)"

 

Right now, I have to boot the raspi into the X desktop in order to use the "blueproximity" package which seems to work the best for keeping the connection to the iPhone, but I'm working on running that WITHOUT having to boot into X, or even digging into the code and pulling out the parts that make and hold the bluetooth connection in order to run in 1) no under X and 2) for multiple bluetooth devices at once.

 

Right now it's working GREAT that way on my single iPhone without any problems really... picks up the connections a good 40 - 50 feet away too through a wall and down a few hallways!

 

It connects almost instantly upon coming back into range too!

[arw01]

Please do keep up the updates. I just checked and my old droid is not connecting reliably to the Unifi access points to check my car as being home, and therefore I am probably home too. However the ipod is connecting, will watch that for a few days.

 

Now the issue with the unifi, is you have to have a java application running in order for the pi to inquire it for who's connected and implement quality of connection etc. Have not poked around enougth to see if someone has solved running the controller itself on a linux machine without the java controller.

[Steven M Castano]

I've managed to figure out how to use only command line functions and shell scripts on the pi now. So no more running X and I don't need the blueproximity package either. Just basic command line tools and with that I'm able to check for a connection, if there isn't one, establish it and use the hcitool rssi command to check signal strength.

 

It's all working so much better and currently doing 2 updates per second with little to no load on the raspberry pi. I kept having a network disconnect issue that was tripping me up on the Ethernet side but I'm thinking that was due to not supplying enough power.

 

I've got a new power supply on there, gone back to wired Ethernet and added a 10 foot USB extension cable to get the Bluetooth dongle in a better spot for signal strength/distance.

 

All is going well so far and my next steps will probably include attempting to run a second dongle off a much longer USB extension to attempt to get the "location" part working.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

[Steven M Castano]

The bluetooth saga continues......

 

I had the STRANGEST problems running things via shell/command line. When running "hcitool rssi aa:bb:cc:11:22:33: to get the signal strength most of the time it worked great.... or so I thought. I had this strange ghosting problem where after a device was gone, for sure for sure gone, like my girlfriend was at work 30 miles away..... every once in a while, it seemed like the hcitool rssi command was giving her iPhone a signal strength and, oddly, these "ghost" signals always seemed to be the same strength as MY iPhone which was in fact home.

 

I thought maybe variables had been cross, memory was leaking somewhere.... I don't know, and honestly... I was never able to solve it.

 

Instead, I've abandoned the bash scripting completely and moved on to python... which, so far... knock on wood... seems to be working fairly well. I'm basically still relying on the hcitool commands, but now I'm able to run through through the subprocess function in python, capture the output, find the variables I was, check the exit status of the command... all with a single execution pretty easily and VERY fast!! I had to put a sleep command in there to slow it down to twice a second for now while i'm still debugging. Without that it did nearly 35 checks a second and sent the load average on the raspberry pi up to 3.8 or higher. It did actually seem like it could keep going at that pace though... once I know it's a bullet-proof script from a functionality standpoint, I'll working increasing the speed to more checks per second. However, it 2 - 4 checks a second with no problems at all.... the question is, how quickly do you REALLY need to check this stuff? After all, I am doing some location based things for HUMANS, not jet airplanes.... 2 - 4 checks a second will probably be fine!

 

Here's the code I've got so far:

 

#!/usr/bin/python
############################################################################################################
## LIBRARY IMPORT                                                                                          #
############################################################################################################
import subprocess, os, re, time, threading, urllib2
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE

############################################################################################################
## FUNCTION DEFINITIONS                                                                                    #
############################################################################################################
def getrssi( rfcommdevice, devicemac, devname):
   p = subprocess.Popen(["hcitool", "rssi", devicemac], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
   #p = subprocess.Popen(["hcitool", "rssi", devicemac])
   output, err = p.communicate()
   if p.returncode < 1:
       rssi = re.sub('(RSSI return value: )', r'', output)
       rssi = re.sub('[\n ]', '', rssi)
       rssi = float(rssi)
#print devname+" RSSI: "+str(rssi)
       return (p.returncode, rssi)
   if p.returncode > 0:
       p2 = subprocess.Popen(["rfcomm", "connect", rfcommdevice, devicemac, "1"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
       #time.sleep(6)
       #print "RSSI: NOT VALID WHILE DISCONNECTED Attemping connection..."
return (p.returncode, "999")

def updateisy( var, value):
   #print "Updating ISY..."
   theurl = 'http:///rest/vars/set/2/'+str(var)+'/'+str(value)
   username = 'xxxxxxxx'
   password = 'xxxxxxxx'
   # a great password

   passman = urllib2.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
   # this creates a password manager
   passman.add_password(None, theurl, username, password)
   # because we have put None at the start it will always
   # use this username/password combination for  urls
   # for which `theurl` is a super-url

   authhandler = urllib2.HTTPBasicAuthHandler(passman)
   # create the AuthHandler

   opener = urllib2.build_opener(authhandler)

   urllib2.install_opener(opener)
   # All calls to urllib2.urlopen will now use our handler
   # Make sure not to include the protocol in with the URL, or
   # HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm will be very confused.
   # You must (of course) use it when fetching the page though.

   pagehandle = urllib2.urlopen(theurl)
   # authentication is now handled automatically for us
   #print "Updated ISY!"


#############################################################################################################
## DEVICE CHECKS                                                                                            #
#############################################################################################################
#for x in range(0, 1000):
x = 1
##################################
# Initialize ISY                 #
##################################
sconnected=-1
kconnected=-1
updateisy("25", sconnected)
updateisy("26", kconnected)
while True:
   print chr(27) + "[2J"
   #print "######################################################################"
   #print "## START LOOP                                                        #"
   #print "######################################################################"


   ##################################
   # Steve Proximity                #
   ##################################
   #print "Checking S device RSSI...."
   sreturncode, srssi = getrssi("0", "xx:xx:xx:11:11:11", "S Device");
   print "S RSSI: "+str(srssi)
   print "S EXIT: "+str(sreturncode)
   print "S CONN: "+str(sconnected)
   if sconnected != sreturncode:
       #print "Updating ISY to value "+str(sreturncode)+"...."
       updateisy("25", sreturncode)
       sconnected=sreturncode
   #print "Loop continues...."    

   ##################################
   # Kristy Proximity               #
   ##################################
   #print "Checking K device RSSI...."
   kreturncode, krssi = getrssi("1", "yy:yy:yy:22:22:22", "K Device");
   print "K RSSI: "+str(krssi)
   print "K EXIT: "+str(kreturncode)
   print "K CONN: "+str(kconnected)
   if kconnected != kreturncode:
       #print "Updating ISY to value "+str(kreturncode)+"...."
       updateisy("26", kreturncode)
       kconnected=kreturncode
   #print "Loop continues...."

   ##################################
   # Loop Sleep                     #
   ##################################
   #print "Sleeping..."
   time.sleep(.5)

   x += 1
   #print "######################################################################"
   #print "## END LOOP                                                          #"
   #print "######################################################################"

 

Like I said... there is a TON of cleaning up to do... but it seems like it's running pretty well so far!