Does anyone know of any z-wave switches that will send some sort of message when they are turned “ON” from the switch even though they are already on. I currently have several GE ZW4005 and ZW3003 switches.
For example, in my closet I have a Fibaro motion sensor associated to a ZW4005 switch. I would like a way to be able to turn the switch on (even though it’s already “ON”) and then use OH to keep the switch on until manually turned off.
If, for example, the switch sent a command message every time it was pressed regardless of current status I could make this work.
I would also be happy to hear other suggestions on how I could achieve a similar effect.
Yes, most Z-Wave switches do this - you’ve just got some of the few that don’t
Fibaro, Qubino, Aeon, all have switches that do this - the feature that you’re looking for (generally) is associations. I can personally recommend the Fibaro switches as I’ve had them here for a few years and they’ve worked well…
Thanks for the quick reply, Chris. (And thanks for all your OH and z-wave work.)
Are you referring to the Fibaro relays that convert a standard switch into a z-wave switch? I haven’t seen any Fibaro wall switches.
I’m trying to figure out how I could make that work for this. So I associate the motion sensor with the Fibaro switch/relay, and associate the switch with the controller (Aeon z-stick).
So motion would make the switch come on (as it does now) but then wouldn’t a manual trigger of the switch still turn the light off, and also send OFF to OH?
I suppose I could detect this condition and then turn the light back on until it was turned off, but that seems a little wacky.
It’s really too bad the GE switches don’t have associations because the way the rocker on the switch is you can physically push down while off and up while on. It seems like with a relay switch like the Fibaro (I have one that seems similar from Aeon) there’s no way to achieve the effect of pressing ON while ON.
Yes - I personally prefer them as most wall switches I’ve seen were a bit ‘cheap’ looking. With this system (which is employed by many manufacturers) you can choose your switches to fit your decor…
You could association them both to the controller, and then use OH to trigger whatever actions you want (maximum flexibility), or you can association the motion sensor directly with the switch. Note though that if you trigger a switch (or any device) from another device using an association, the switch won’t then update it’s associations, so the controller won’t find out… I’d go with the first option of associating everything with OH, and dealing with the automation there…
However, you are right that the Fibaro switches don’t retrigger if they are already on. I personally have they set up with push buttons, so a single press for on, and another press for off. You can double press and the doc says it will resend the ON message (but the lights do flash momentarily when you do that)…
That sounds workable. I’d be OK with using a double press to achieve this, even with the flash.
Do you have any links to some of the push button switches you are using? I’ve actually looked for such and haven’t found anything I liked.
I assume the push button does not physically represent the status? One of the reasons I haven’t wanted to switch to the relays is because I don’t like that the switch can be in the “wrong” physical position (not the worst–and already the case with a 3-way switch, but I’d prefer a stateless switch).
I’m in the UK, so not sure if this range is available where you are (US I guess?), but they are the MK range -:
The link below is the push switch - they have a bunch of options and you can use these inserts in many ways with different plates (ie a single switch, or 2 or whatever…)
The push button is a momentary action, so with every press the state changes. With dimmers, a single press turns it on and off, and hold it down and it will dim up or down… They seem to have a good Wife Acceptance Factor
I have almost a half-dozen Leviton z-wave devices in my network of six total. Two outlets, two plugin lamp dimmers, and a toggle switch. Toggling it off or on at the switch seems to update the state in OpenHAB and get picked up by connected HABdroid clients I have, though not always instantly or 100% reliably.
I will run out a debug session and put up some of my log to see if there is anything useful there. I already owe one for something with the Leviton lamp dimmers anyway.
I think it should update (most of the time) if the device is close to the controller since we have other mechanisms for updating state other than associations, but they won’t work through a router… It’s also not 100% reliable since broadcast frames like this aren’t retried if they fail to be received by the controller - this is likely why your system isn’t 100% reliable I guess…
Thanks again for your help, Chris. I am in the US but I think I’ve found some momentary switches that will work (they are intended as garbage disposal switches).
