Hi all, new Vera (automation in general) user here and I have a few questions about the environment as a whole and mostly lighting specific questions which is why I am posting in this forum. I apologies in advance if this has all been asked and answered already but the search is really cumbersome and difficult to find relevant info.
Let me start by saying that I have successfully set up 3 3-way circuits with GE/Jasco 45614 kits all connected to a Vera3 controller running UI7. I have also successfully set up a number of simple scenes which turn lights on and off on specific days and times, but nothing more complicated then that.
Which leads me to my first question, the 45613 kit comes with a main and aux switch and the little blue LED light is super annoying at night and would like to reverse its operation to ‘LED - on’ with ‘Lights - on’. I read the manual and it says to change ‘parameter 3 to 0 or 1’ in the node configuration. I attempted to do this in the settings → advanced → variables → ‘mode settings’… but nothing changed, so how do I go about doing this?
Next, I recently added a Aeontech Multi Sensor and successfully paired it to Vera and I now have 4 devices each showing Temp, Lights, Humidity and Sensor. My goal was to set this up to be a presence sensor that would turn off lights in a particular room if no one was present for 10 minutes. Simple off with no automatic lights on or anything else.
I tried setting up a new scene and follow the prompts and successfully set that up but it was really unreliable, turning off the lights at random or not at all. Also generating alerts in the device log that the sensor was ‘tripped’, I do not want to use it for security pourposes, just a simple presence sensor and nothing else. Any ideas how to make this work?
I was wondering about one other thing; Is it possible to use the GE switches to do multiple tasks? i.e. long press would turn on two switches and regular press would turn on just the one rooms light? Or long press would turn on a lamp that has a outlet module and regular press would turn on regular room lights?
Also, if there are any guides or write-up that can be used and intros to this automated ‘new’ world that would be really helpful.
In UI7 choose your 45613 switch and scroll down to and click Device Options.
Click Add Configuration Settings button.
In the Configuration settings variable type 3.
For the Data Size choose 1byte hex.
In the Desired value field type 2.
Save your changes and then check if the Current value field matches the desired value. If not, click Configure node right now.
If I remember correctly, value 0 is teh default, 1 reverses the LED’s behavior and 2 turns the LED off completely.
Next, I recently added a Aeontech Multi Sensor and successfully paired it to Vera and I now have 4 devices each showing Temp, Lights, Humidity and Sensor. My goal was to set this up to be a presence sensor that would turn off lights in a particular room if no one was present for 10 minutes. Simple off with no automatic lights on or anything else.
I tried setting up a new scene and follow the prompts and successfully set that up but it was really unreliable, turning off the lights at random or not at all. Also generating alerts in the device log that the sensor was ‘tripped’, I do not want to use it for security pourposes, just a simple presence sensor and nothing else. Any ideas how to make this work?
Have a look around the forums. There are lots of discussions about this scenario. I’d suggest looking into the PLEG plugin. It will increase the Vera’s ability to do complex logic.
I was wondering about one other thing; Is it possible to use the GE switches to do multiple tasks? i.e. long press would turn on two switches and regular press would turn on just the one rooms light? Or long press would turn on a lamp that has a outlet module and regular press would turn on regular room lights?
No. This is not possible with the GE switches. It may be possible to get this scenario working with Leviton switches and the afore mentioned PLEG sensing single, double, or triple clicks, but it could be tricky and this type of use is not intuitive to other users of the switch.
Thanks so much for clarifying all those details. I saw a video on YouTube which showed home automation based on OmniPro which is way out of my league and that had the multiple switch command ability. Oh well…
Any place I can find more details about PLEG? Basic guides and sample applications etc?
Also, I am having a problem configuring those variables in the Configuration settings, it is refusing to save my changes and every time I come back I find the setting I set reverted back to default. I tried with Firefox, Chrome and Explorer and none worked when I pressed save. Any ideas?
To amplify what Z-Waver said …
To use switches to control automation other than than the device that is directly connected to the switch you need a switch that
Supports Z-Wave associations … and then the Switch can control the devices directly via Z-Wave associations … Vera is not involved.
You need a switch that supports instant status … Vera will see the change right away and can be used to initiate actions.
Leviton switches support Instant Status. Cooper also has instant status switches.
In UI7 choose your 45613 switch and scroll down to and click Device Options.
Click Add Configuration Settings button.
In the Configuration settings variable type 3.
For the Data Size choose 1byte hex.
In the Desired value field type 2.
Save your changes and then check if the Current value field matches the desired value. If not, click Configure node right now.
If I remember correctly, value 0 is teh default, 1 reverses the LED’s behavior and 2 turns the LED off completely.[/quote]
Any ideas why I cannot save those new variables to change the parameters?
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:6, topic:186795”]In your first post, you were attempting to set the parameter in the wrong place.
I don’t know if you have since tried doing it the way that I described. If you did, what was the result? Was there an error message, and if so, what?[/quote]
I reverted my incorrect changes back to the way it was originally then went about doing it your way.
When I clicked ‘add new service’ it returned a message that it was successfully created, and the new line with the changeable parameters appeared, then I went and changed the variable to ‘3’ and the ‘data size’ to ‘1 hex’ and the ‘desired value’ to ‘2’. Then when I went to click save (to the right of the add new service button) nothing happens, click as many times as I want or wait as long as I can and no reaction from vera.
[quote=“webby88, post:7, topic:186795”][quote=“Z-Waver, post:6, topic:186795”]In your first post, you were attempting to set the parameter in the wrong place.
I don’t know if you have since tried doing it the way that I described. If you did, what was the result? Was there an error message, and if so, what?[/quote]
I reverted my incorrect changes back to the way it was originally then went about doing it your way.
When I clicked ‘add new service’ it returned a message that it was successfully created, and the new line with the changeable parameters appeared, then I went and changed the variable to ‘3’ and the ‘data size’ to ‘1 hex’ and the ‘desired value’ to ‘2’. Then when I went to click save (to the right of the add new service button) nothing happens, click as many times as I want or wait as long as I can and no reaction from vera.[/quote]
It seems to be a bug in the Vera controller software. I ran a debugger to log what occurs when I click the save button and this is what happens:
"Interface.saveConfigurationSettings() error: TypeError: View.idForConfigSettingActionMsg is not a function" in core.js:10:8135
Which seems to me (as a novice coder) that there is a bug somewhere the core.js
Any way to notify Vera of this?
p.s. I am running firmware version 1.7.541 with UI7
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:9, topic:186795”]I don’t mention add new service in my instructions. You’re in the wrong place and I don’t know where that place is.
Start at Device → your 45613 → Device Options → Add Configuration Settings…[/quote]
You are right, my bad, I mis-identified the location but only by name. I was infact looking in the correct place.
I emailed support and they confirmed that there is a bug in the current firmware for the Vera3 UI7 v.1.7.541 and that they are working on fix for it. In the meantime they manually added the variables and my switched were configured to no longer show the LED at all.
For the presence sensor, Device Options tab: “Motion timeout”; Data Size 2 byte dec; 600. This will keep the motion sensor tripped for 10 minutes. Then you can create a simple scene where lights turn off when armed motion sensor is untripped.
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