FortrezZ Water Valve demoed with Vera

Community Playground General Discussions
#21

[quote=“325xi, post:7, topic:165356”]“Can be used as an irrigation device” - makes me very interested.

Two questions however

  • what battery it uses? I hope not that weird one used in WWA-01, that would be a deal breaker for me
  • it says it can sense leak and shut off itself… it’s not a good thing if it’s used as “irrigation device”[/quote]

To answer your above questions:
-Our water valve works on 110 AC power, so no worries about battery life.

  • The valve has two modes, “emergency shut-off”, and “irrigation mode”. The wired probe in emergency shut off mode will automatically shut off water flow. In irrigation mode you can disable this. Functionality is fully customizable to your preference using scene’s and timers in the vera.
#22

[quote=“325xi, post:17, topic:165356”]Sounds good.
Anyways, have you seen any valve with manual override? Whatever I do, I don’t trust consumer electronics enough. Even my outdoor irrigation vales can be opened/closed manually…[/quote]

Our WV-01 has manual override using the lever on the back side of the casing. (see image).

Also, another point about power consumption. Our valve uses little power to operate because of the electrical motor with a transmission system used. The solenoid will draw significantly more energy to operate, especially larger ball valves.

#23

Is there a battery backup for emergency shutoff (using sensor mode) if the AC power is out?

#24

JimMac,
Your DIY method is in good spirits, but we as a company could not make our device in this manner. To meet construction codes dictated by municipalities, we have some restrictions as to what we can use. Code dictates we can only use a ball valve, because we cannot restrict the water flow. Also, solenoid valves are not approved for this application.

So from that perspective, your device is cheaper and may work, but does not meet code. Also, as others have mentioned, solenoid valve will always have power on, consuming a lot over time. Because we use ball valves, an electric motor, gear trans, and complete circuitry, we have higher material costs. Just a ball valve at 1 ½ inch like yours will run at least $50 at a hardware store. Add in the rest and costs build quickly.

Although pricey, our valve is competitively price to what else is out on the market. We have manual backup, and it supports 12V battery backup as well. With z-wave built in, there is no need for the additional devices you had to make it talk to the network.

You’re unit works for you and may be exactly what you need, but for us as a company, we have to obey federal regulations and municipal building codes in order to have a sellable product. I hope this explanation is useful.

#25

Given you already have the experience and know-how, would you consider producing a simplified valve for non-critical use, something I can screw garden hose to and use for all kinds of small stuff - water flower pots, fill kid’s rubber pool (the toy one) in a morning, etc. This screw-on product wouldn’t be a part of the house system, so no regulations here, but I see about 3000 potential uses in a household. With the right price it could be a hit.

#26

We will definitely consider it. I’ll put it on my list.

#27

Nice Job on the ASCO valve alternative… I thought about this myself when I saw the price of the Fortrezz. As for the override, why not just plumb-in a parallel pipe with a 3/4" ball valve? If power goes down, open the valve.

If you need to do plumbing anyway, this would not add much cost or effort. Of course this applies to those interested in water shutoff that do not have an electric well pump in which case this is all moot.

Anthony

#28

FortrezZ
Ok fair enough. I could use this 3/4" motorized ball valve with manual control to meet code in some areas.
http://www.valvestore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=552006 $226+$25 for z-wave plug. Still half the price. Don’t get me wrong I think your product is great but just not in my price range otherwise I’d buy one.

For those who like to MacGyver your own stuff like me here is how to make this ball valve work. This ball valve requires power to close and reapplied power to open. To make Vera work apply power to the z-wave plug for 60 seconds then power off. The ball valve requires 17 seconds to close, once closed it shuts the power off to itself. To open apply power back to the valve once again for 60 seconds.

#29

@JimMac
There’s one little problem with your design. This valve is statefull, it doesn’t fall back to a known state on no power or once finished. And you have no way to poll it’s state. Which means if things get out of sync you can open water thinking you’re closing it, or vice versa.

#30

Yah I thought of that, I have a few ideas but no time to test them. One idea: If the manual valve turns with the motor you could use a z-wave door/window sensor. Place the magnet on the handle and as it turns the sensor will determine an open or closed state. I think I will stick to what I have, if flow restriction is a concern just use a larger solenoid valve like a 1" or 1 1/4". As far as the amount of power the solenoid takes, not an issue with me since its almost the same amount as a small night light (10w). Might cost me $5 a year.

#31

For those interested, I reviewed this WV-01 Water Valve from FortrezZ and have been using it for a week now with many tests and its working flawlessly.

I just published the review and have a “how does it work with Vera” section for each module. Our latest Z-Wave Module review is available at [url=http://www.myhomeserver.com/]http://www.myhomeserver.com/[/url]

#32

jim, whats the model number for your asoc valve?

what u have done is PERFECT for my outdoor application…

I love DYI stuff

#33

I have been unable to open the FortrezZ Water Valve via z-wave. The Valve will close, is polled by my Micasaverde, the dashboard correctly reports the valve status if the open and close button is used to change the valve position. The reported logic is backward when the water is off, the dashboard reports the valve is on, and when the water is flowing the dashboard shows the valve is off. I assume, this could be corrected if I understood all the variables in the advanced setup, maybe, someone can tell me how to reverse the on and off commands.

From the FortrezZ web site FAQ I found the following answer to not being able to open the valve “This means you have the valve installed in water alarm mode, which will not allow the valve to open with the same basic set command. This is a security feature set so that a water sensor detecting a leak doesn’t continually open and close the valve (as the command the sensor sends is the same for open or close). The zwave gateway should be sending a smart command and not a basic set.”

My problem is “what is a smart command” and what do I change to send it?

The FAQ also said a work around was to change the valve mode, but it can’t be done using the buttons on the valve once the valve is included in a network. I tried uninstalling the device, but it automatically reinstalled before I could try to change it.

I don’t like the sound of “work around” because I want my cake and eat it also… I want to be able to schedule turning the water on and off via z-wave and keep the “water alarm mode” to turn it off if a leak is detected.

Paragraph 9e of the Owners Manual say Switching between modes can be done using “Parameter 0 of the configuration command class.” what ever that means.

Please help,

Update 1: FortrezZ response follows_______________________________________________________________

FortrezZ stella@fortrezz.com Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 1:40 PM

Keith,

For the backward problem contact Micasa tech support. For the problem that
you can not open the valve only after the 60 minutes default this is nothing
we can do. This is a security future that was considered to prevent users to
reopen the valve(in case of water leak) and cause more water damage. If you
do not like the work around (level mode) you have to accept the security
future of the valve (60 minute default).

Stella Szasz
VP Operation
FortrezZ,LLC
1080 Centre Rd. Suite C
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
Ph: 248-481-7092

My Response:_________________________________________________________________________

Keith Clancy Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 1:55 PM

To: FortrezZ stella@fortrezz.com

Are you telling me the valve should open after it has been closed for an hour? I have two valves that have been closed for 12 hours and neither will open with a z-wave off command. I get “transmit was Ok” response no response from the valve, and then the Appliance Module status changes back to on about two min later, I assume when it was next polled.

#34

Keith you would have got better responses hopefully, by starting a new thread rather tacking onto a thread which was started many years ago.
Search is your friend. Use Fortrezz or water valve. Your situation has been discussed a few times.
One thread that might help is…
[url=http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,5644.0.html]http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,5644.0.html[/url]