OpenHAB 2.0, Razberry Controller, Raspberry Pi Server

Hardware Home Automation
1

Hi All,

I am a beginner to home automation and am trying to set up a system where I can monitor the interaction of the slave devices and the controller, and create alerts/actions should a problem arise in the controlled device. I am using the Raspberry Pi for my server with OpenHAB 2.0 running on it, and the Razberry daughter board to communicate. So I assumed I would need access to the raw data going in between the controller and controlled device. I was wondering if OpenHAB can be used to access that data, and if OpenHAB can be used to monitor and initiate actions.

Furthermore, would anyone recommend whether to use the Aeon Z-Wave stick in place of the Razberry Board?

2

Either controller should work well.

You need to install and use the zwave binding. However, realize that this doesn’t expose the raw data that goes between the zwave devices and the controller. What happens is:

  • the controller gets paired with zwave devices
  • OH 2 automatically discovers the devices that are paired with the controller and creates a Thing for each device
  • you as the user map an Item to one or more channels on the automatiaclly discoverd Things (for example, a Number Item linked to the Temperature channel of a multi-sensor). You can have OH automatically create Items for you for each Thing if you use Simple Mode.
  • you as the user write Rules which contain the logic that describes the behaviors you want.

If you are looking for something else to do the automation and you just want to know if there is a problem (e.g. a node goes dead) OH may not be what you are looking for.

3

My plan currently is to use OpenHAB to do the automation, but also check for problems (like a node going dead). The problem monitoring wouldn’t be the sole task of OH. Would OpenHAB still be unsuitable for my intended task?

4

I think openHAB is suitable from your objectives. openHAB abstracts the commands and state updates so they are easy to monitor with rules, persist to a database, and drive the UIs. So you don’t need to deal at the level of the specific low-level protocols or APIs.

5

I agree with @watou, OH is very suitable for your automation needs. You might not be able to directly do some of the low level monitoring you are after with it directly but I’m sure there are other ways you can get alerts into OH about such things to drive some of your automation logic.

I was only saying that if ALL you wanted to do was detect failed zwave nodes, OH is unlikely to suit your needs.

1 Like