Fibaro Universal Sensor (EU)

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
1

I’ve just read about this 2 in, 2 out module from Fibaro. The PDF manual shows it connected to an alarm system, but it can be used for many other things it seems.

Should be useful for EU Z-wave users who aren’t afraid of doing a bit of DIY electronics.

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/New-Products/New-Z-Wave-Universal-Sensor-Module-from-Fibaro.html

2

When they become available in the UK, I probably get one to play with. Have a 1-wire network which I’d like to try it out on. I wonder how the 4 sensors will be represented? 4 devices?

3

Do you think that I can connect my normal common bell to make it work with VERA?

Means that in Vera I will see the device triggered when the door bell is pushed?

Thank you
Matteo

4

[quote=“teonebello, post:3, topic:171862”]Do you think that I can connect my normal common bell to make it work with VERA?

Means that in Vera I will see the device triggered when the door bell is pushed?

Thank you
Matteo[/quote]

You can do that sort of thing already. Use an Everspring Door/Window sensor, they have two terminals on them which can be wired to a switch (normally closed preferable). You then use a Fibaro switch module to ring the bell as normal.

5

Hi All.
I’m in the UK, so I’ve ordered one of those Fibaro Universal Sensors from Vesternet. Just waiting for delivery, and then I’ll report back on if/how it works with my Vera Lite.
I’m am also interested in the interface with 1-Wire sensors, but don’t have any yet to test with.
I’ve already got my normal (wireless) doorbell wired into an Everspring door/window contact. I have a telephone ringer sensor that I have a mind to interface into Vera, so this Fibaro module might get tested with that.

6

Cute, and comes at a decent price too; I’m starting to like those Fibaro guys. Nice that the thing allows a wide range of power supply voltages so that you can most likely use whatever power your existing device already has. I’m thinking of wiring one into my doorbell so I can extend it with a second Z-wave enabled one.

7

I have two aims, I want to add z-wave to my curtain opener and I want a decent outdoor motion detector. The decent z-wave outdoor motion detector from Merten is pricey and it has way too much range. At the moment I’m using an everspring which is waterproof but it is sensitive to UV and keeps going off in the sun. I use it so I know if anyone is on my property when I’m away, so it needs to work in the day too.

I think I can use a standard motion detector and cover the photocell so it’s active all the time.

8

Mine arrived today. It sure is tiny. I imagine it will fit into many device cases easily. If I was to find a fault (which is a very small one) I would say the inclusion switch could do with being on a wire, you probably don’t want to open up the case to press it.

I suppose a hole can be drilled in the case for it.

9

Mine arrived today too.
It appears in my Vera Lite UI5 as three standard motion sensors (D_MotionSensor1.xml). The parent device and 2 child devices (much like Fibaro’s other multichannel modules).
I don’t have any 1-Wire temperature sensors yet to test what they would look like.
I’ve got one of the volt free inputs hooked up a Velleman K8086 Telephone Ring Detector, so now I can build a Scene that triggers when my phone rings. Sweet!

I agree with gilesjuk about the inclusion switch. It will be a pain, as you would need to use this more than once if you later added 1-Wire sensors etc, and you would need to first exclude the device before re-including it again.

10

I just wanted to report back on how I am getting along with the Fibaro Universal Sensor now that I have attached a DS18B20 temperature sensor. After excluding and re-including the device, I get an additional device in Vera showing as _Generic IO with ON/OFF buttons displayed. To correct this I edited the Device File entry and put D_TemperatureSensor1.xml. This seems to have worked, and I now get a working 1-Wite temperature sensor (only tested so far with one DS18B20 attached).

The only disappointments I have are:

  1. The resolution of the Vera displayed temperature is only +/- 1 degree. (This is a shame because my Oregon Scientific sensors show 0.1 resolution with RFXCOM USB plugin and Vera uses the same D_TemperatureSensor1.xml file for those…)
  2. Setting device options can be difficult because the device often doesn’t respond (e.g. failed to purge associations error). I found that clicking the sensor’s include button a few times waked up the device and Configure Now then works. I can only assume that this sensor works similar to battery powered devices that need to wake up before they can be polled etc. (but I’m just guessing here).

Other that the minor issues above, I am reasonably pleased with this multi-sensor device. If anyone else has good success with this device, please post any hints and tips. Thanks.

11

Hi, first post … I live in Canada and i want to know if these device work here and where i can buy it ?

12

These work on European Z-Wave frequency. I think Fibaro are based in Poland. No mention of Canada or US in their “where to buy” link. http://www.fibaro.com/en/where-to-buy

13

Thx for your answer. Wish they made compatibility for US and CAN.

14

Fibaro are widening their distribution and have an office in NZ. I had email confirmation yesterday and they will be in Australia in the very near future. So, hopefully it won’t be to far before they hit the US and CAN markets.

http://www.FIBARO.co.nz/

15

And I just wanted to thank you for trying this out. I had plans to hook it up to some 1wire sensors, but will probably not bother now, since a 1C precision is just too big for my purposes.

May still get one for other purposes though, but that’s just to satisfy my curiosity :wink:

16

It is a shame that the standard temperature sensor device in Vera only supports 1C precision, especially when a big selling point of the DS18B20 is high accuracy. If you want to play with 1-wire devices and get 0.1C precision then the EDS One Wire Server plugin is probably the way to go.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,8381.0.html

I had hoped that the Fibaro sensor would be a simpler and cheaper way than the EDS server. I don’t know if the limitation is with Fibaro or Vera. Perhaps MCV or someone else could add 0.1C support with a new device plugin…?

17

I got this device in the mail today. My dad wanted a z-wave enabled gas detector (which doesn’t exist AFAIK), so I got an existing gas detector and wired this little thingy into it. Works great!

18

I’m going to order one of these to try out but looking at the instructions, I’m wondering about the benefit of two output ports? It seems they are not z-wave activated or affected by the device parameters (?) and only mimic the status of the coresponding inputs so why would any potential load not be directly connected in parallel to the inputs in the first place?

19

When using it with a Security sensor you could loop the contacts the fibaro module and connect the resistors, which normaly are put in the security sensor, over the relay contact of the fibaro.
Now you still can watch the response of the security sensor in your alarm system AND vera

20

@jtmoore,
I have two DS18B20 attached and as you found they both show up as generic I/O devices. Where did you paste the modified device file - in the parent or child control panels? I tried the parent and got an error message while the child entry was overwritten when I tried that?