Over the last few years I’ve used a basic nomenclature for naming my devices and it seems to have been fine. But, I’m about to blow away my Vera and start from scratch because we are finishing a complete remodel of our house and swapped all the wall switches to zwave versions. My device list is going to be three or four times bigger so thought I’d ask you guys with large setups what works for you.
To date, I’ve used the two letter abbreviation for the room and the device type and then any other necessary description. For example AB_lamp_bedside for a lamp in Alex’s bedroom.
When we remodeled our house, I numbered every light, outlet, switch, and cable. Not all are listed, but here is an example:
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Item #
Light 002
Fan 030
120v Outlet 040
240v Outlet 090
Network 100
occupancy/motion sensor 300
door sensor 330
temp sensor 400
humidity sensor 420
etc…
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Room numbers are 2 digits, so the master bedroom light is 01-002 (light 002 and outlet 042 in every room is “primary” i.e. switchable between city power and my generator). This system has worked great for keeping track of things because I have them all labeled on various layers of my floorplan in a home design software package. I know where all cables and pipes run (very handy!).
But this system is not user friendly. Z-wave devices need a ‘friendlier’ name, especially if you want your system to be intuitively usable by someone else [like the wife :)]. I have recently ramped up on z-wave plus devices, but haven’t settled on a naming system yet.
I’ve gone back and forth on this one. Do you put the room name in the device name or not? On the one hand, it seems redundant when viewing in the Vera app. On other hand, it may be necessary. For example, I have a logitech harmony home hub extender and elite remote. The Harmony App doesn’t show room names. On the remote, I can get 24 characters with no single word being more than 12 characters.
I may try your idea of the room abbreviation just using more letters. For display on the logitech remote, I have to use spaces. Richard’s point about voice recognition is a big consideration. I’m not ready to do that yet, so I may end up renaming everything. That may be the way to look at it, especially with home automation technology changing so quickly.
Looks like we may all be using similar systems so far. But I do need to consider Richard’s point on voice activation. It’s not in the forecast now but could be down the road.
I also like the idea of some how denoting what’s covered by the generator. I’ll have to think about that. I’m still working out the circuits that are carried by the generator during an outage but I have the Vera and low voltage network covered so makes sense.
I had a 2nd panel installed with a safety breaker and a plug for the generator so it’s very easy to switch back and forth. All my networking/HA devices are on UPS’s powered from that panel. In addition to lights and one outlet in each bedroom, it also supplies power for the furnace and tankless hot water (both gas), the fridge, and microwave. Oh, and also the entertainment center because it’s very important to be able to watch a movie or play Xbox during a power outage
I need my generator to switch automatically b/c I travel extensively so my house is wired through an automatic transfer switch… when utility power drops the generator kicks in automatically to the specific loads it’s wired for. And to avoid having a generator the size of a volkswagon (house on 400amp service) I selectively route the circuits that are critical… almost the same as yours. The kitchen freezer, basement freezer, kitchen fridge, cooktop, fireplace, water heater, 1st floor geothermal pumps and airhandler, all overhead lighting, and convenience outlets. Trying to keep it at about 85amps since it’s a 20kw gen set.
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