How do I trigger rules from an Aeon Labs zwave Minimote with OH 2.0?

[Laufeyjarson (Lou Erickson)]

Hello there! I’m relatively new to OH, but have been having reasonable results so far, but I’ve run into a thing I can’t figure out how to get past.

I’m starting a new thread because so many of the old ones seem to be using older versions of Openhab, and I’ve had a hard time trying to tell which applies sometimes.

I’m trying to get an Aeon Labs Minimote to work properly with OH 2.0. So far, I get stuff in the zwave log, but I can’t make it actually trigger a rule.

There’s a useful Aeon Minimote Configuration OH 1.8.2? thread that describes a bunch of the complexities of getting the Minimote to bind properly. There’s goofy timing issues, and you have to change setting 250 to Scene Mode, which can be tricky.

I believe I have all that sorted out. I see the mode as Scene, and pushing the scene buttons gets me items in the zwave log like this:

11:12:32.588 [DEBUG] [ssage.ApplicationCommandMessageClass] - NODE 8: Application Command Request (ALIVE:DONE)
11:12:32.590 [DEBUG] [alization.ZWaveNodeInitStageAdvancer] - NODE 8: Starting initialisation from DONE
11:12:32.592 [DEBUG] [ve.internal.protocol.ZWaveController] - Event Listener org.openhab.binding.zwave.internal.protocol.initialization.ZWaveNodeInitStageAdvancer@c1ef7e already registered
11:12:32.599 [DEBUG] [ssage.ApplicationCommandMessageClass] - NODE 8: Incoming command class SCENE_ACTIVATION
11:12:32.601 [DEBUG] [.commandclass.ZWaveBasicCommandClass] - Received Scene Activation for Node ID = 8
11:12:32.603 [DEBUG] [.commandclass.ZWaveBasicCommandClass] - Scene Activation Set
11:12:32.605 [DEBUG] [.commandclass.ZWaveBasicCommandClass] - Scene activation node from node 8: Scene 3, Time 0
11:12:32.606 [DEBUG] [ve.internal.protocol.ZWaveController] - Notifying event listeners: ZWaveCommandClassValueEvent

I have a Thing defined as:

Number LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel "Channel [%d]" <switch> { channel="zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number" }

I got the channel defintion from paperui for the remote’s channels.

And, rules defined to output debug data when things happen:

rule "Living Room Lighting Channel changed"
	when
		Item LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel changed
	then
		logDebug("debug", "---------->  LR Lighting Channel Changed")
	end


rule "Living Room Lighting Channel received command"
	when
		Item LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel received command
	then
		logDebug("debug", "---------->  LR Lighting Channel received command")
	end

rule "Living Room Lighting Channel received update"
	when
		Item LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel received update
	then
		logDebug("debug", "---------->  LR Lighting Channel received update")
	end

Another rule that uses the same logDebug commands does show, so I have logging turned up properly.

I haven’t been able to figure out what I’m missing. As long as I can get a rule to trigger when the scene changes, I think I can get what I want… but I haven’t got any rules to go off when the buttons are pressed.

Any ideas? Anyone with a sharp eye see what I’ve missed?

Any help is very appreciated, as I’ve spent a couple of days on this now and am solidly stuck.

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

@Laufeyjarson

I have a Thing defined as:

OK, first of all this is an Item, not a Thing. The thing (no pun intended) that the Item is linked to (i.e. “zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8”) is the name of the Thing that was automatically created for you and by tacking the “:scene_number” part on the name you are referencing a channel on that Thing.

I only want to make sure you are clear on the nomenclature because you will be confused and it will make it more difficult for us to help you when you don’t have that clear. It can be helpful to review the Concepts section of the User Manual.

@Laufeyjarson

I got the channel defintion from paperui for the remote’s channels.

This is very good as it means the Minimote was fully recognized by the binding. This is usually where people get stuck.

@Laufeyjarson

Any ideas?

Look in events.log to see if LivingRoomRemotSceneChannel is receiving the commands/updates.

Are there other channels on the Minimote Thing that you might use instead or for testing?

Do your other log statements use logDebug("debug", ...) also? The first argument becomes the name of the logger and if they don’t match your logger may not be working for these rules. Try using logInfo just to be sure.

I never have tried to get my Minimotes to work with OH 2. I move on to another approach and they are both sitting in a drawer gathering dust.

[Laufeyjarson (Lou Erickson)]

Thanks for the prompt reply! I really appreciate it, as the weekends are the times I get to work on household projects like this!

@rlkoshak

@Laufeyjarson

I have a Thing defined as:

OK, first of all this is an Item, not a Thing. The thing (no pun intended) that the Item is linked to (i.e. “zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8”) is the name of the Thing that was automatically created for you and by tacking the “:scene_number” part on the name you are referencing a channel on that Thing.

I only want to make sure you are clear on the nomenclature because you will be confused and it will make it more difficult for us to help you when you don’t have that clear. It can be helpful to review the Concepts section of the User Manual.

You are quite correct to make sure I’m not lost there. In general, I don’t think I am, but I certainly did get the wrong phrase here. The Thing is what the Zwave binding found, and the Item is what I’ve created with the link to the Thing’s channel.

That quote came from living_room_lighting.items, so it is definitely the Item.

@rlkoshak

Look in events.log to see if LivingRoomRemotSceneChannel is receiving the commands/updates.

Are there other channels on the Minimote Thing that you might use instead or for testing?

When I push buttons, II don’t get any log messages for LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel in the events.log or in the log:tail in the console.

If I grep the events.log, I do find messages like this:

2017-08-06 10:31:47.872 [ItemChannelLinkAddedEvent ] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel-zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been added.
2017-08-06 10:58:18.342 [temChannelLinkRemovedEvent] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel => zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been removed.
2017-08-06 10:58:18.458 [ItemChannelLinkAddedEvent ] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel-zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been added.
2017-08-06 11:03:06.875 [temChannelLinkRemovedEvent] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel => zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been removed.
2017-08-06 11:03:06.928 [ItemChannelLinkAddedEvent ] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel-zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been added.
2017-08-06 11:11:10.233 [temChannelLinkRemovedEvent] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel => zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been removed.
2017-08-06 11:11:10.289 [ItemChannelLinkAddedEvent ] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel-zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been added.
2017-08-06 12:13:15.437 [temChannelLinkRemovedEvent] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel => zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been removed.
2017-08-06 12:13:15.582 [ItemChannelLinkAddedEvent ] - Link 'LivingRoomRemoteSceneChannel-zwave:device:7cbe1896:node8:scene_number' has been added.

All I’ve been able to find as messages from the Minimote are the eight scenes - a long and short press of buttons one through four. None of them seem to generate an event that gets sent to a rule.

@rlkoshak

Do your other log statements use logDebug("debug", ...) also? The first argument becomes the name of the logger and if they don’t match your logger may not be working for these rules. Try using logInfo just to be sure.

I have other log statements using the same “logDebug(“debug”, …” construct, and I do see them in the log file, I just didn’t post them here because they’re working. I’m confident I have the log level set right because I do see their log messages.

Setting them to logInfo has no change.

@rlkoshak

I never have tried to get my Minimotes to work with OH 2. I move on to another approach and they are both sitting in a drawer gathering dust.

Right now I have some lights I want to be able to turn on and off as a group. The lights are in awkward places and a remote would be fine. If it would work, the Minimote would fill the bill just fine.

Other solutions are welcome. Are there other simple choices?

I’m tempted to just install a z-wave switch in the wall with no load on it and use that to change the lighting state. I’d have to cut a new spot for it in a nearby bank of switches, but that’s possible…

[rlkoshak (Rich Koshak)]

@Laufeyjarson

Other solutions are welcome. Are there other simple choices

Amazon Dash buttons could be an option. There are other ZWave remotes, buttons, etc that are not as finicky to get working as the minimotes. There is a myriad of diy solutions possible. Finally, I always like to encourage people to step back and consider what your really problem is and whether there is another solution.

For example, do you really need to control these lights with a switch or is there a way to completely automate them and remove the need for a wall switch entirely. This could be a rule based on day, presence, and lighting conditions or a motion sensor or the like.

Keep in mind that not all ZWave switches report that they have been manually switched which would make them unsuitable for your situation. People seem to love the Fibaro switches because they do immediately report. GE and Linear do not always. So just buying any old ZWave switch may not solve your problem.

For me I was looking for something I could use as a garage door opener remote. In the end a combination between a new opener and using Tasker on my phone to issue a button press automatically when I come home solved my problem.

As for your problem with the minimote, I’ve no further suggestions. The events from the minimote is not being reported to the Channel.

[Laufeyjarson (Lou Erickson)]

I’m going to follow up to myself for future Internet searchers. I did get this working.

I discovered I did get a “received update” message when someone pushed a button. “received update 1” for button one, etc.

That let me easily write rules to do the things I wanted; IE: Toggle a set of lights when a button is pressed.

I don’t know why I wasn’t getting the messages before. I just tried again and it worked sensibly, and I can easily use all four (eight with the long-press) buttons.

Of course, I also picked up an Insteon Mini-Remote, and we’ll see how that works when I finally get some stuff paired with the PLM.