Inexpensive Zwave transceiver for homebrew projects?

Community Playground General Discussions
#1

I have numerous ideas for Zwave control for my house that I would like to build. Key is some kind of stand-alone Zwave module that generates a high/low signal that can be used to control circuitry I have designed.

The MIMOlite is a good starting point for projects like this. However at $60 a pop, it is too expensive for every project I might want to pursue.

I see inexpensive modules from companies like Sigma Design that might fit the bill, but they seem to lock down their proprietary information. I can’t even find a datasheet with a pinout, and it may require a SDK costing $$$.

Does anyone know of an affordable Zwave transceiver product that is aimed at the home hobbyist? Better yet, is there an expensive product I could buy, and cannibalize the transceiver from it? I’m wondering if there is one of the Lowes Iris products I could tear up, though they are ZigBee based.

#2

I would suggest looking into the mysensors project.

many sensors and pretty much any arduino based addon you can think of. plugins for most of the HA systems out there.
I put motion/light/temp/humidity sensors all throughout my house that way. and it was pretty cheap. most of the part sourced on ebay

#3

Thanks, looks interesting.

It says it uses the NRF24L01+ 2.4 GHz transceiver. This is not ZigBee or Zwave. Does the VeraPlus only need a software plug-in to communicate with it? I guess it uses either the Bluetooth or WiFi radio of the VeraPlus?

#4

There is no cheap Z-Wave. Sigma owns the patant and licensing. So one way or another you have to pony up the loot.
The Sdk wil set you back around $5k.

#5

If they sell the Z-uno in your region at a reasonable price maybe it could do: Technical details

#6

Definitely try out mysensors. You can combine that later with z-wave devices for a hybrid environment ie use the cheaper mysensors kit to monitor doors, temperature, etc and just get a few z-wave switches to turn lights on/off safely. Combine with the likes of HomeGenie or Domoticz or (of course) Vera.

#7

Maybe a GoControl Z-Wave Isolated Contact Fixture Module - FS20Z-1. They are 30-40 bucks.

#8

Another possibility is taking a window/door sensor and piggybacking off it to be the ZWave interface to your little board project. I’m trying something similar as this post:

Taking a pressure mat and having it close the circuit on the door sensor to trigger a ZWave event.

You’ve probably already seen that but figured in the off chance it might be helpful I’d toss that out there. Those door/window sensors can be had for about 25 bucks I think.