Do you need more bindings than z-wave?

Hardware Home Automation
1

I was about to order a Aeotec Z-Wave stick and was curious. So once I get it I install the Z-Wave binding. From that point forward, do you need additional bindings for other devices? So unless I’m wrong the Leviton Decora Smart dimmer doesn’t have an available API that can be used to create a binding. If it’s the Z-Wave version, do you need additional bindings or will it just be able to manage the on/off/dimming of the device inherently?

Thanks.

JR

2

John I have an Aeotec Z stick Gen5, and Leviton Z-wave dimmer/switches all works fine with the Z wave binding. Just beware if using the Leviton dimmer/switched configured with 3 way or 4 way the leviton firmware I bought were not uptodate. The remote switch did not notify the hub of changes. Leviton sent me the update since then all is OK.

3

Thanks so in a nutshell if I get a Wi-Fi version of the Leviton switch I can’t manage it but if I get a Z-Wave version I’ll be fine with the Z-Wave binding.

Thanks.

JR

4

Depends, if you just keep buying zwave devices, you are all set. For all non-zwave devices you will need the suitable binding that works for those.
But remember, once you installed the binding and defined the things, OH is becoming vendor agnostic. At the level of items, sitemaps and rules it becomes nearly invisible which binding OH is using.

1 Like
5

Thanks for the clarification I was concerned as I was reading that Leviton doesn’t have an open API so was concerned if it was for all Leviton switches. Apparently not the case with Z-Wave vs Wi-Fi.

Thanks.

JR

6

Leviton has several products with different radio technologies, Zwave, WIFI, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. Just go to their web site.

7

OK so I have the Aeotec Z-Wave USB stick installed. It’s flashing red, blue, yellow. Shows online. I have a Leviton wall plug dimmer switch. I push the button on the Leviton for 7 seconds and starts flashing yellow. Tried pushing the button on the Aeotec but is just keeps flashing red,blue,yellow.

That said I’ve also set OpenHAB to search for things but nothing is being found. I see a lot of people using Habmin but not sure if that’s necessary. Anyone who cal walk thru the process would be appreciated.

Thanks.

JR

8

Also note in the logs occasionally getting:

2019-03-03 11:25:30.859 [ERROR] [ing.zwave.handler.ZWaveSerialHandler] - Got I/O exception Input/output error in writeArray during sending. exiting thread.

For reference here is how I set things up on my Ubuntu system in VMWare:

  • Shutdown the virtual machine.
  • Not sure if it was required but I removed the USB Hub from all my other virtual machines in VMWare Workstation 14.
  • Go to VM > Settings for the OpenHAB instance
  • Check Show all USB Input Devices
  • Click OK and insert the USB stick into the server.
  • When starting connect Sigmatel device to virtual and disconnect from host
  • Go onto the linux system and enter: ll /dev/ttyACM*
  • Make note of the results. In my case: /dev/ttyACM0
  • Install the Z-Wave Binding
  • Go to Inbox > SEARCH FOR THINGS > Z-Wave Binding > Z-Wave Serial Controller
    • Serial Port select /dev/ttyACM0
  • Click the checkbox
  • Bridge should show online in the Things area
  • Now to make sure if tty changes it will adapt: sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/usb-serial.rules
  • Create an entry: SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0658", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0200", SYMLINK+="ttyUSB-ZWAVE"
  • Now: sudo vi /etc/default/openhab2
    • Search for ttyACM0
    • Replace with ttyUSB-ZWAVE
  • Reboot
  • Now go to PaperUI > Things > Z-Wave Serial Controller > Pencil
  • Change Serial Port to /dev/ttyUSB-ZWAVE and click the Checkbox
  • Wait for it to come on-line again.

After this it’s available but can’t figure out how to get a device to tie to it.

Thanks.

JR

9

John, you need to digest the instructions, both on the z wave stick and the Leviton switches. You have the Leviton instructions fine but you are failing the z wave stick inclusion mode. Please read the instruction more diligently will save you allot of grief. I know because I did the same as you and hours later kicked my toosh. One thing I did find with inclusions that is not well documented is that in the Z wave setup template set the power to “HIGH Power Inclusion” then after you are done with the process revert it back if the situation fits.

My process for a new device is to remove the Z wave stick from the Pi, set it to inclusion mode next to the new device then include the device. You will see the Z wave sick led colors change as per instructions. Then I insert the stick in the PI and may have to go through the inclusion process again without getting close. Just what works for me. Be patient sometimes these things take a few tries at it.

Rick

E4CD7F25AA104605BC0394ED7670D660.png708×1 83 Bytes

10

Thanks Rick. I’ll read thru it closer. I was under the assumption that once the device is in the computer and recognized by OpenHAB and flashing blue, red, yellow it would just work as it was in Network Inclusion mode figured it would just pick things up. So when you are doing this the way you mention, does the ability to write to the usb drive a requirement? I’ve noticed even though I’m linking to a symbolic link so no matter what the /dev path is it finds it, when I plug it in it has I/O errors. Curious if that’s what happens when I remove and put it back in, or maybe when I pushed the button on the stick while in OpenHAB.

EDIT: By the way, any reason to create an items file or sitemap for the Z-Wave controller? Heard some people say it can cause issues.

EDIT2: I think I’m missing a part. It says:

directions
directions.png832×99 30 KB

I was doing the 7 second part but not the tap part. I was assuming the one time tap was the USB Stick but thinking now it’s a 2 part process to get this thing into programming mode. This is on top of taking the USB stick to the device and putting it in sync mode or whatever also. I used to have habmin installed but couldn’t see any way to manage it thru there or any way that was enabled.

Thanks.

JR

11

John Openhab, Pi , Binding and all the other stuff get confusing for sure! I am a newbie so I spend way too much time fighting BUT learning. There are some GREAT youtube videos that taught me 'life lines".
What I am learning you can use Openhab without “mapping.files” such as “default.items” but then you are limited greatly. Depend on what you want to accomplish, I guess. Back to your situation, the inclusion data is stored on the Z wave stick, so I have a few different SD cards configured differently but all work with the one z wave stick. I had a defective device, sent back to the MFG, so I ran through the exclusion process as not to have a what I call “a dead node” in my system. I have OCD!
Hope this helps.

12

OK so I let the Leviton blink amber, then hit the button on it again and was flashing green.
Took the Z-Stick and hit the button. Flashed blue. Then went solid blue and started flashing blue again.
Pressed the button on the z-stick to stop the flashing.
Stuck it in the computer again but nothing found.
Did a search but nothing found.

Looked at the openhab logs and I got: 2019-03-03 17:23:15.945 [ERROR] [ing.zwave.handler.ZWaveSerialHandler] - Got I/O exception Input/output error in writeArray during sending. exiting thread.

Some people say you should chmod 666 ttyACM0 but that doesn’t help I would think since that and possibly ttyACM1 disappear and come back depending on what’s plugged in.

Thanks.

JR

13

Note rebooting helped. It found a thing. Called it Z-Wave Node 002

It’s a Leviton DZPD3-2BW which shows on the binding as a listed item. So is offline as it’s an unknown device. And has a communication error. In the logs:

Device discovery could not resolve to a thingType! Manufacturer data not known.

JR

14

What version OpenHab you have installed?

15

2.4 release. I tried installing the 2.5 binding after removing the PaperUI version of the Z-Wave binding and clearing cache but complaining about missing gnui.io. Just an FYI in case it’s relevant.

Thanks.

JR

16

I found that the 2.4 database is not updated to newer devices, I am using 2.5 Milstone and it’s DB had my data. You can search for your device by going to bindings and click on the zwave it should list all the devices it supports.

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I am using Ubuntu and have mine setup with repo stable. Can you just change it and do an update?

echo ‘deb https://dl.bintray.com/openhab/apt-repo2 stable main’ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openhab2.list

So would I go to the testing release repo and do an update?

I did this. Updated to 2.5 M1. It still doesn’t work. Does the below mean it’s not gonna work?

https://www.cd-jackson.com/index.php/zwave/zwave-device-database/zwave-device-list/devicesummary/322

Thanks.

JR

18

This information is on the openhab site. I have a different setup so I am unsure.

19

Should I be returning this Leviton DZPD3-2BW device? I was told all Z-Wave devices would work as long as they were Z-Wave but now finding that’s not the case.

EDIT: Stay tuned. I’m out of time right now, but I took the Leviton device and put it closer to the controller. It’s reporting correctly now. So either the device needs to be closer to the unit for a while, or where it’s at is beyond the range of Z-Wave and need something in between. Will review further tomorrow.

Thanks.

JR

20

The trick is to be patient…

Any new device will first show up as unknown and needs repeated wake ups to report its real name etc. Remember that z-wave is not gigabit WiFi and is built to be energyefficient