Sorry if this is already elsewhere in the forum, I’ve being doing a bit of searching but can’t quite find an explaination of precisely what I’m trying to do (other than with the latest zwave firmware it may no longer be possible). So please feel free to tell me to go “RTFM” a bit more.
I’ve just started with Z-Wave and an Australian Vera 2 unit, so am busy learning acronymns and experimenting, while at the same time trying to placate others in the household while I spend the odd afternoon making the lights come on and off randomly.
I am running firmware 1.1.1362 and UI4.
When I ordered my Vera unit, I also ordered the black USB dongle that allows you to wander around including/excluding devices. Given where the Vera unit has been installed, and that it didn’t get supplied with a battery pack, this seemed a much more effective way of doing things compared to walking around looking for power-points or trailing an extension cord behind me (refer to comment about placating others in the house) using the Vera itself for inclusion/exclusion.
I know I can alter the configuration of the Vera to use the dongle as the Z-Wave chipset, meaning all my mobile discovery would just appear in the dashboard - but I’ve had much better reliability with the onboard chip.
Is there anyway that I can leave Vera using its onboard chipset, and then after going walk-about plug the USB dongle in and ‘download’ the device configuration into Vera, then unplug the dongle and put it back in the desk drawer till later?
I’m about to embark on getting a whole pile of light switch modules installed behind the existing switches, and following the sparky around waiting for Vera to boot up, be held near the switch, and waiting will it includes is a) going to look stupid, and b) given he will be getting paid by the hour – also not result in a peaceful household :). The USB dongle seems to work great, I just can’t work out how to get Vera to suck the config off it for internal use. Success with the light switches will likely get me enough approval points to implement the much bigger plans I’ve got
Thanks in advance for your time and any assistance you can provide …
All my Vera units are US models, so I haven’t got the luxury you do to use the built-in AU/NZ chip. So I have no evidence to back this up…
I don’t think that the Z-Stick will do that. Even if I’m wrong and the Z-Stick can act as a secondary inclusion controller then you’d have to have both the internal Z-Wave chip and the dongle on SMS active at the same time, which would necessitate using more than just Vera. You would need to plug the dongle into another computer and run something on that while the Vera is running on its internal chip…
Alternatives: something like the Minimote would probably work. If you are allowed to spend more money. Or, I never used my Vera 2’s battery pack; I could post you mine.
I had a feeling from what I’d discovered in the docs so far that this was the case, appreciate the confirmation.
At the moment I’ll have to hold off on buying anymore bits until I get everything I’ve been allowed to purchase working, but no problem - I have a plan… (famous last words given my country has a history of making things out of number-8 fencing wire?? )
Thanks for the offer of the battery pack, but I’m guessing it needs to be plugged in for re-charging? We are on 240VAC over here, and based on your comment about the US model I’m assuming you aren’t? I’ve got a small UPS spare here at work on a crash cart so will arrange to take it home when the electrician is onsite for now.
Again - appreciate the assistance and will have a look at the minimote as something for the future shopping list.
You can do it but it is a pain and a chance it would also go pear shaped.
Best options:
Get the battery pack as offered or contact smarthome.com.au at Williamstown and I think they do sell them for about $29 but make sure you ask for the power supply as they do not come with one. The irony here is the battery pack uses the same charger as your Vera, so you must uplugged the Vera to charge the battery pack or get another power supply. I go another power adapter from smarthome.com.au (I am only 10 minutes drive) as the logic of turn off the Vera to charge the battery pack just does not work for me.
Drag power cord around.
They have been pushing out the AU Vera 2 units on Ebay if anyone is interested.
Other options:
You can use the minimote as a secondary controller but you then need to remember what devices were added by which method if you need to rebuild your network as they must be excluded before including them again. I had issues with this in the past.
You can you the USB dongle but to use as a secondary controller you would need another system or Homeseer etc. But the same issues as above if it goes paired shape in the future.
Last option with USB dongle: fought with danger and potentially a lot of work:
Back up unit, change to USB, restore to USB.
Add devices.
Back up unit, change to Vera, restore.
Also when people have upgraded firmware to UI5, numerious people have encountered issues with devices added from secondary controllers and had to rebuild.
In addition, do not loose it or destory the USB dongle or minmote if you go along that method as it will cause you now end of problems in case of a rebuild.
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