SmartHome Blog

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Creating Scenes in Home Center

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 02:58:27 +0000

A Guide to Scenes in Fibaro’s Home Center

So you’ve added your devices to Home Center and are ready to set up some automations, or scenes within Fibaro's systems. Maybe you have some simple ideas, or maybe they’re a little obscure. Whatever the case, Home Center’s got you covered with 3 different scene creation tools, with difficulties ranging from beginner to advanced. There's a way for everyone to create a scene in Home Center.

If you haven’t before set up a scene, I recommend starting with something simple, such as having a light turn ON when you walk in the room, and turn OFF when you leave. This is a useful and popular scene, and you can find out how to set it up in this step-by-step guide.

Tip: Before you begin creating scenes, ensure your devices have meaningful names so you can easily find them. It gets quite confusing if you don’t!

Now let's take a look at each scene-creating tool in detail.

Magic Scene (Beginner)

Magic Scenes are the simplest method of setting up a scene within Home Center. They’re a great visual way for those new to automation to get acquainted with the scene creation process, and take advantage of the intuitive if-this-then-that (IFTTT) style approach. Just be aware that Magic Scenes only create simple automations with a single action, such as turning OFF a switch. Here's a link to Fibaro's guide on how to create a Magic Scene.

Watch the video.
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Graphical Blocks (Intermediate)

Graphical Blocks are a clickable logic-block style scene creator that’s great for people with an understanding of automation logic and logical operations (boolean). Although it looks a little intimidating at first glance, with a little persistence it becomes quite simple and intuitive. This powerful scene creation option will enable you to bring 95% of your automation ideas to life.

Watch the video.
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LUA code (Advanced)

LUA code uses a scripting/programming style approach for scene creation. You can think of LUA code as the language of your system. Learn the language, and you’ll gain complete, unrestricted control over how your scenes will work, meaning you can tackle the most complex scenes of all.

Get started with LUA: If you want to take your automating capabilities to the next level, it’s worth having a look at Fibaro’s getting started guide. And here's some more advanced examples.

Home Center also has the option use the Graphical Blocks scene creator to generate a LUA scene, so you won't need to write your LUA code from scratch. Simply click the 'Switch scene edit mode to LUA based' to preview the scene in LUA code.

Caution: Proceeding to convert your Graphical Blocks scene to LUA code is permanent, meaning your Graphical Blocks scene will be deleted/replaced with a LUA scene. To prevent loss of scenes, it's a good idea to create a copy of your scene, and convert the copy to LUA.

Watch the video.
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In Closing

Home Center offers 3 scene-creating tools of varying levels of complexity that can be used to bring your automation idea to life. If you're completely new to automation, I suggest starting with the Magic Scenes method, as it will help you gain an understanding as to what can be achieved.

I also recommend challenging yourself to use the Graphical Blocks scene creator as it offers the perfect balance between effectiveness and complexity, and will meet 95% of your automation needs. A bonus feature is that it can be used to generate the bulk of LUA code for more complex automations.

If you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share, or if you have any questions, drop a comment below. It's always great hearing from you!

Best of luck automating and scene-creating.

-Luke

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Let there be light

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 00:33:44 +0000

Let There Be Light

Wish that your household lights were ON only if someone is in the room? With the simple guide outlined in this post, this wish can become a reality in under 10 minutes.

Here’s what you’ll need to make it work:

A motion sensor mounted either in the room or entrance to the room.
A method of controlling your household lights or lamps.

I’ll be using an Aeotec MultiSensor 6 as the motion sensor and a SmartSwitch 6 in this guide to demonstrate how we can control a lamp, however any motion sensor / smart switch combination of Z-Wave devices will work.

The gist of this automation is as follows:

If motion is detected, the light will turn ON.
If no motion is detected for a set number of minutes, the light will turn OFF.

Now there’s a number of ways to set the number of minutes ‘no motion’ is detected before the light will turn off. The simplest solution we’ve found is to change the ‘no motion’ parameter of your motion sensor. Why? This approach will prevent your automation from turning off the light while someone is still in the room due to a delay error, which may happen if you use a delay.

Tip: Keep in mind that parameter names for individual motion sensors may vary. If you don’t have a list of your devices' parameters handy, you can easily find them in your devices' user-manual by following the links in our link library.

It's also worth mentioning that different methods can be used to achieve this automation. The method we'll be using in this guide requires we create 2 automations. One for turning the light ON, and another for turning the light OFF.

Let’s see how we can create this automation in Fibaro, Vera and Homey systems.

Jump to instructions for...

Fibaro Home Center

Vera (UI7)

Homey

Fibaro

The first step when working with Home Center is to navigate to the 'scenes' menu. From here, you’ll be prompted to select the method of scene creation you’d like to use. I’ll be using the Graphical Blocks.

Tip: Rename your devices as they will become much easier to find when creating scenes! I have named the 'motion sensor' of the MultiSensor 6 'MS6 Motion' and the SmartSwitch6 'SS6'.

To create the TURN ON scene, we must select both the trigger and action. For this scene, the trigger is ‘motion’ detected by the MultiSensor 6. The action is to ‘turn ON’ the SmartSwitch 6.

The graphical blocks read: If the MotionSensor 6 is breached (motion is detected), then turn ON the SmartSwitch 6.

To create the TURN OFF scene, the trigger is ‘no motion’ detected by the MultiSensor 6 for a number of seconds, and the action is to ‘turn OFF’ the SmartSwitch 6.

The graphical blocks read: If the MotionSensor 6 is safe (no motion detected), then turn OFF the SmartSwitch 6.

Note: Avoid adding delays within the scene, as these can cause undesirable effects, such as lights to turn OFF while you’re still in the room. Instead, update the device parameter using the method below.

To set the amount of time the light will stay ON while 'no motion' is detected, it's good practice to change Configuration Parameter 3 of your MultiSensor 6. This parameter controls the number of seconds before a ‘no motion detected’ message will be sent to our controller. More simply, this parameter sets the number of seconds before the light will automatically turn OFF after someone leaves the room.

You can update this configuration parameter by navigating to the advanced settings of your motion sensor device, and scrolling down until you reach the heading 'Configuration Parameters'. Then simply change the value to the desired number of seconds you'd like the light to stay on.

Vera

The first step in creating this scene in Vera is to navigate to the 'scenes' menu.

To create the TURN ON scene, click the ADD SCENE button and select your desired motion sensor as the triggering device. Then select the trigger condition for your motion sensor, as shown in the below image.

Next, select the action you’d like to happen. In this case, we want our SmartSwitch 6 to turn ON to control our lamp. Now give the scene a name and the TURN ON scene is done.

Once your scene looks like the image below, give it a meaningful name and it's good to go.

To create the TURN OFF scene, repeat the above scene creation process with the following changes. Select the trigger condition ‘Whenever _______ stops detecting motion’, and the action to TURN OFF the SmartSwitch 6, as shown in the below images.

Note: As we stated earlier, this method relies on us changing the ‘no motion’ configuration parameter. If you are unsure how to add/change parameters within Vera, check out this how to article.

Tip: It’s always good practice to test the scene to ensure it is functioning as intended.

Homey

The first step in creating this automation (scene) within Homey is to navigate to ‘Flows’ menu.

To create the TURN ON flow, click the ADD FLOW button ( + in top right hand corner). The ‘When…’ parameter is your triggering device. In this case, it’s our desired motion sensor (a MultiSensor 6), and the condition is when the motion alarm is turned on.

1.Create a new flow.

2. Select the 'When...' condition (motion detected).

3. Select the 'Then...' condition (turn ON switch)

To create the TURN OFF scene, click the ADD FLOW button. The ‘When…’ will again be our motion sensor (a MultiSensor 6), however the condition this time is when the motion alarm is turned off. We’ll use this to trigger our SmartSwitch 6 to turn OFF.

1. Create a new flow and select the 'When...' condition (no motion detected).

2. Select the 'Then...' condition (turn OFF switch).

3. Do not add a delay!

4. Navigate to the motion sensor's Configuration Parameters and adjust the Motion Alarm Cancellation setting to the amount of time you’d the light to stay on after no motion is detected.

Note: If you aren't sure how to change Configuration Parameters in Homey, see our step-by-step guide here.

In Closing

True automations such as the one explored in this article can be used to conveniently streamline our lives.

And as seen in this guide, the same principle applies to a specific automation irrespective of the automation system you're using. Fibaro, Vera and Homey systems (and the rest) all require an automation to have a trigger and an action. What may differ are the nuances of each system, including the term used to describe an automation (scene/flow), the parameter names for your device and the actual devices themselves.

It's worth mentioning that this is not the only method that can achieve this result, which is one of the awesome things about automations. New and improved ways to achieve a specific function can be found, and can drastically reduce the complexity of setting up some seemingly tricky or complex automations.

If you've found one for this automation (or any others), or have any questions about the method outlined in this article, drop a comment below. It's always nice to hear from you!

Best of luck setting up your scenes, automations or flows.

-Luke

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Home Assistant: Setup Guide

Wed, 08 May 2019 05:04:00 +0000

Home Assistant: Setup Guide

So you’ve decided you want to get started in the world of home automation and are faced with the following choice…

Will the heart of your system be a powerful, plug-and-play controller that works out of the box such as the Fibaro Home Centre 2?

Or will it come to life with the people focused, open-source/highly-customisable home automation platform Home Assistant?

If you enjoy a hands on experience and desire ultimate control over your system, Home Assistant may be the platform you’re searching for. With a growing community, emphasis on privacy and an extensive array of plugins, you’ll be sure to find everything needed to suit your needs. Home Assistant really is a tinkerers dream.

Intrigued? Here’s a short word from it’s creator.

The purpose of this blog is to guide you through the process of setting up your own Home Assistant Hub, from acquiring the parts to landing on your Home Assistant Dashboard for the first time. I've kept each step as simple as possible and included reference images alongside other useful information.

Before proceeding, it's important to mention that even with extensive online resources and documentation, the Home Assistant route is still not a journey for the faint-hearted. While setting up Home Assistant is simple, a level of understanding about computers, networks and programming is needed in order to configure Home Assistant to meet your needs.

Prerequisites: Technical know-how and dedication to learning the Home Assistant platform are prerequisites to getting the most out of your Home Assistant, and needed to overcome any 'gotchas' that may arise.

If you feel you’re up for the challenge, awesome! Let’s get started.

Step 1: Gather the Parts

Begin by acquiring the parts listed below. If you don’t have them handy, you can get everything you need online. A quick shop around and you'll find the necessities for around $120.

Raspberry Pi 3 B+.
Micro SD card. Preferably a Class 10 card with more than 32GB of memory.
SD card reader.
An Ethernet cable (for a wired connection)
A USB stick (for a Wi-Fi connection)
A monitor & HDMI cable (not required but useful for debugging)
A keyboard (also useful for debugging)

You’ll also need to download and install Etcher and download the Hass.io zip file for the Raspberry Pi 3 B+. Etcher is a tool used to ‘flash’ the SD card, while the Hass.io file contains HassOS, the most powerful Home Assistant Operating System used to turn your Pi into a Home Assistant Hub.

Etcher? Flashing an SD card?? Operating System (OS)? What’s all this mean? Basically, every computer has a brain, comprised of a chip and an OS. The OS determines how the computer will function, while the chip simply stores the OS. Change the OS and you change the function of the computer. We can use Etcher to do just that in a process called ‘flashing’, which wipes the chip clean and installs the desired OS.

Step 2: Flashing the SD card with the Home Assistant OS.

The Raspberry Pi is now ready to begin its transformation from a mini computer (running the Raspbian OS) to a fully-fledged Home Assistant Hub running the HassOS - the Home Assistant Operation System. All we need to do to help it along is ‘flash’ the HassOS image to our SD card (the Pi’s brain).

Caution: Be aware that the SD card will be completely wiped during this process.To prevent loss of data, be sure to copy any files you want to keep on to your computer before continuing or they will be lost forever.

Insert the SD card in to the card reader and connect it to your computer.
Backup your files!
Open Etcher
Select the hassos_rpi3 img file.
Select the SD card.
Hit Flash!
Have a coffee
Verify Etcher has successfully flashed the SD card.
Proceed to Step 3.

1. Select Hassio Image & SD Card.

2. Hit Flash

3. Wait...

4. Completion -> Proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Configuring Home Assistant's Internet Connection

Home Assistant supports both wired and wireless connections to your home network. For improved stability and a simpler set-up, we recommend connecting your Pi to your home router via an Ethernet cable. However if you’d like to use Wi-Fi that’s OK too. You’ll just have to setup your Pi with the credentials needed to connect to your Wi-Fi network.

Depending on your preference, use either the Wired Setup Procedure or the Wi-Fi Setup Procedure to set-up the Wi-Fi credentials:

Wired Setup Procedure (recommended)

Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to your Wi-Fi routers LAN port.
Connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to your Raspberry Pi's Ethernet port.
Proceed to Step 4.

Wi-Fi Setup Procedure

Caution: This step involves formatting your USB stick, which will erase everything stored on it. Be sure to back up any important files up or they will be lost forever.

Plug your USB in to the computer.
Copy any important files stored on the USB stick to the desktop.
Format the USB to FAT32 and give it the CONFIG.

Create a folder named ‘network’ within CONFIG and open the folder.
Right click and create a new Text Document named ‘my-network’.
Open the ‘my-network’ text file.
Copy and paste the Wireless WPA/PSK template code (also shown below) in to the ‘my-network’ document.

[connection]
id=hassos-network
uuid=72111c67-4a5d-4d5c-925e-f8ee26efb3c3
type=802-11-wireless

[802-11-wireless]
mode=infrastructure
ssid=MY_SSID
# Uncomment below if your SSID is not broadcasted
#hidden=true

[802-11-wireless-security]
auth-alg=open
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
psk=MY_WLAN_SECRET_KEY

[ipv4]
method=auto

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=stable-privacy
method=auto

If you want your IP address to remain the same each boot (recommended), use UUID4 to generate a unique identifier.

Change 72111c67-4a5d-4d5c-925e-f8ee26efb3c3 to the new UUID4 value.
Change MY_SSID to your network name.
Change MY_WLAN_SECRET_KEY to your network password.
Save the ‘my-network’ document.
Close the ‘my-network’ document.
Enable file extensions by clicking the 'View' tab and selecting 'File Name Extensions'

Delete the .txt extension from the my-network file.

Eject the USB.
Proceed to Step 4.

With the Ethernet cable connected or the text file configured with the Wi-Fi credentials, proceed to Step 4

Step 4: From Raspberry Pi to Home Assistant Hub

Armed with your SD card, now flashed with HassOS (and potentially a USB with your Wi-Fi credentials), your Raspberry Pi is ready to undergo its transformation into a Home Assistant Automation Hub.

Note: Once the HassOS is installed, your Raspberry Pi will be operating as a Home Automation Hub and not function like a traditional computer. This is an important distinction to make as traditional computers are connected to monitors, whereas Hubs are typically accessed through a compatible web-browser.

To begin the Pi’s transformation:

Set up your Raspberry Pi on a desk.
Insert your micro SD card into the Raspberry Pi's micro SD card reader. (refer Step 2)
Ensure you have connected your Ethernet cable or inserted your USB drive into your Raspberry Pi (refer Step 3)
Connect your Raspberry Pi to power.
Wait 20 or so minutes for HassOS to download and install. Treat yourself to another coffee? :)
Be sure to check you have a compatible web browser installed. If you don’t, we recommend Google Chrome.
Open your web browser and enter http://hassio.local:8123 in to the address bar.
If the link in 7. results in the following error message being displayed on screen, follow the below section to troubleshoot.

If http://hassio.local:8123/ fails to connect:

The most difficult problem I faced while setting up Home Assistant was failure to connect to the Hub by entering hassio.local:8123 in to my computer's web-browser. I tried on different computers running different browsers to no avail, before discovering a few potential causes for the issue. If you find yourself in this situation, try the following simple workarounds first to rule out the easiest potential causes first.

Ensure you are using a compatible web browser
Clear your browser cache.
Try and connect to http://hassio.local:8123/ in incognito mode.

If you are still facing any connection issues, it is likely that your router is not configured to support mDNS. The simplest workaround is to find the IP address of your Home Assistant Hub and directly connect to that IP address through your browser by searching your IP address in the format http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:8123. Our first step though is to find Hassio's IP address, which can be achieved in one of two ways:.

For Wi-Fi users: If you do not change the UUID and allow configure your IP address to remain automatic, (seen by the line [ipv4]method=auto) your Pi will be assigned a new IP address each time it reboots. The implication is that you will need to repeat this procedure to find the new IP address after each reboot. To prevent this inconvenience, ensure you configure the UUID as per Step 3.

Option 1: Find the IP using Fing (Easy).

The easiest way to find the IP address of a device connected to your Wi-Fi network is to use Fing. It's quick and easy to use, and only requires you to:

Download the network tools app Fing on to your phone.
Open Fing.
Find the device called Hassio.
Enter the IP address for Hassio in to your browser in the following format: http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:8123/. (e.g http://192.168.1.111:8123/)
You should see Home Assistant Home Screen.

Option 2: Using Home Assistant's Command Line Interface (Advanced).

This option is more complicated and requires you connect a monitor and keyboard to the Raspberry Pi for local access. You can then input a set of commands directly into Home Assistant's command line interface to return the IP address. I recommend you only use this procedure if you cannot use Fing to find your IP address, but if you have no other choice, don’t let all the the code intimidate you. It’s a relatively simple procedure to get the Pi to return it’s IP address.

You’ll need the following things:

A monitor.
A HDMI cable.
A keyboard.

And this procedure:

Power on the Raspberry Pi (if it isn’t running already).
Connect the Pi to a monitor.
Connect the Pi to a keyboard.
Wait for the Pi to boot up. You can confirm the boot procedure is complete by citing the line of code: 'starting eudev-3.2.7'
You’ll see the line 'Welcome to HassOS' followed by the line 'hassio login:'
Enter 'root' to login (no password needed).
You’ll then be prompted by 'hassio >' where you can type 'login' and press enter to enter configuration mode.
Confirm you’re in configuration mode by the prompt '#'
Type nmcli and press enter.
Cite the line inet4 which contains your Raspberry Pi’s IP address.
Go to your computer and open your web browser.
Enter your ip address in the format http://192.168.XXX.XXX:8123/ into your browser's address bar.

Step 5: Welcome to Home Assistant

Once your web browser has successfully connected to your Home Assistant Hub, you’ll land on the create account page. Simply enter your desired account details then hit the 'Create Account' button.

Keep those Credentials Safe! Be sure to keep a copy of your account somewhere safe as you'll need them to gain access to your Home Assistant Hub from now on.

With your account created, you’ll land on your Home Assistant Dashboard. This is where the real fun begins and where this post concludes. Congratulations on making it this far. Stay tuned for Part 2: Configuring Home Assistant.

Gotchas - Troubleshooting & Debugging

Gotchas are tricky little areas where the result you achieve is not as you expect. I stumbled across a few during my first experience setting up Home Assistant. I followed the official installation guide however I was left a little unsure as to whether my experience was normal. The following section presents an explanation to them.

Windows does not recognise an SD card once it is flashed by Etcher.

Windows only supports certain SD card formats, including Fat32, EXFAT and NTFS. After ‘flashing’ the Home Assistant OS on to the micro SD card, it becomes a format not recognised by Windows. If you insert the micro SD card into the computer as normal, it will not show up as expected.

DO NOT WORRY!

Insert the micro SD card into the Pi however and you’ll see the card is working correctly. It’s worth mentioning that Etcher will still see the micro SD card when it’s connected to the computer, and you can flash a different image file on to it.

If you’d like to return your SD card to standard format and cannot use a computer to do so, you can always try reformatting it using a digital camera. Here's the procedure:

Note: As with all formatting procedures, the SD card is completely wiped. This will remove the file ‘flashed’ on to the card previously..

Insert the SD card into a digital camera.
Navigate to the 'format SD card' option.
Format the SD card.
Next time you connect it to a computer, it will appear as normal.

That's a Wrap

I hope this guide has helped you set-up your Home Assistant hub. In Part 2 you'll learn how to set-up your automation network and configure your first automation. In the mean time, have a look around and get to know Home Assistant. It's a cool platform to work with. As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, drop a comment below :)

Best regards,

Luke

Related blogs

Home Assistant: Z-Wave Guide

What is Z-Wave Plus?

Home Assistant: Z-Wave Guide

Tue, 07 May 2019 04:35:00 +0000

Home Assistant: Z-Wave Guide (made easy)

Our first post, Home Assistant: Setup Guide introduced the loved-by-tinkerers automation platform, Home Assistant . It also ran through the procedure used to transform a standard Raspberry Pi 3 B+ into an automation hub running the Home Assistant OS, Hassio.

If you followed along to this point, you’ll have landed on your Home Assistant's Dashboard which consists of mostly empty space (and possibly a few devices). But that’s all about to change, as in this guide you'll learn how to configure Home Assistant to work with your chosen protocol, add devices and create your first automation.

After all, that’s why you’re here, right?

While I’m sure you’re excited and eager to get stuck into the nitty gritty, let’s first understand our position. We’re about to start delving into some potentially complicated stuff, and we’re new to the Home Assistant system. As with any new system, we must first gain an understanding of it’s fundamentals before we can master it. It’s at this point I recommend you take a brief step back and spend a little time familiarising yourself with Home Assistant.

I found this video by BruhAutomation (skip to 4:30-8:00 for relevant info) to be a great crash course on navigating Home Assistant's interface and understanding its key features. He explains the items in the menu bar to the left, their functions and when/how to use them. This knowledge is invaluable moving forward with Home Assistant.

With that out the way, let’s dive in!

A Z-Wave (or other protocol) Based Automation System

I’ll be basing my automation system (and this guide) on the Z-Wave protocol due to its performance and large number of compatible devices. You may intend to use another protocol such as ZigBee, which will work well too. And you can apply the same general processes equally successfully to whichever protocol you wish, only the nuances in each step will differ. That's what's great about Home Assistant!

Caution: At a minimum, automation systems based on protocols such as Z-Wave and ZigBee consist of a controller and smart device. The controller is directly connected to the Pi and wirelessly connected to the compatible smart devices. In essence, the controller will act as the bridge, connecting Home Assistant with your smart devices.

I’ll be using the below devices to set up my Z-Wave network and first automation. If you don’t have these devices, that’s alright. With Home Assistant's long list of compatible devices, it’s likely you’ll have a compatible device at hand. Just be sure to confirm a device's compatibility with Home Assistant before moving forward and ensure it works with your controller.

My compatible devices:

Aeotec Z-Stick (Z-Wave controller)
MultiSensor 6 (trigger device)
Smart Switch 6 (action device)

We can configure Home Assistant to work with Z-Wave in one of two ways. The first takes advantage of the recent advancements to Home Assistant's user-interface, while the second is the more primitive, code/text based approach.

We’ll be dealing with the former as it’s significantly more user-friendly, and the code-based approach has been covered extensively by other sources. Forewarning if you choose the code route : While it's more versatile as it gives you granular control, be ready to strap yourself in for some coffee-fuelled late nights until you learn the system.

Now… to Home Assistant!

Step 1: Integrating Z-Wave (or other technologies) the easy way

Recent advancements in Home Assistant's user-interface have streamlined the process of integrating compatible technologies, such as Z-Wave, Zigbee (and a long list of others). We can now simply navigate to the 'integrations' page, select the desired technology, fill out the required parameters and click submit. Home Assistant will take care of the rest.

Note: Each integration (and there’s a lot) has its own specific requirements. If you’re unsure as to what a parameter means, jump on Google and search for the specific integration. You will find extensive documentation outlining the configuration process.

The general procedure to integrate a technology with Home Assistant is as follows:

Connect to Home Assistant using your web-browser (either through http://hassio.local:8123 or the IP address in the format http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:8123).
Locate the desired integration.
Select ‘Configure’.
Fill out the parameters.
Click ‘Submit’.

As our goal is to set-up a Z-Wave network, we’ll follow the above process (with some specific additions shown below) to integrate Z-Wave. If at any time you find yourself unsure of something, refer to Home Assistant's official Z-Wave documentation.

Ensure your Z-Wave stick (controller) is compatible.
Plug your compatible Z-Wave stick into your Raspberry Pi’s USB port.
Connect to Home Assistant using your web-browser.
Select ‘Configuration’ on the left hand taskbar.

Navigate to ‘integrations’, locate the Z-Wave integration and select 'Configure'.

Modify the USB path to the reflect the location of the Z-Wave stick. This is typically: /dev/ttyACM0

Click ‘Submit’.

Confirm the integration is successful by citing Z-Wave on your Dashboard.

Step 2: Pairing/Including Z-Wave Devices

With our Home Assistant now Z-Wave enabled and our controller path configured, we can begin adding Z-Wave devices to our network. This is done from the Z-Wave option (see below) found under the Configuration section of the Home Assistant Dashboard.

Note: All including/excluding is now done from Home Assistant Z-Wave integration. Do not use the Z-Wave button on your Z-Stick.

The general procedure for adding Z-Wave devices to the network is:

Select the ‘Configuration’ tab on the menu bar.

Select ‘Z-Wave’, which takes you to the Z-Wave Network Management Screen.

Click the START NETWORK button to initialise the Z-Wave network..
Click the ADD NODE button to enable devices to be added to the network.
Grab your device.
Follow your device's ‘inclusion’ procedure. Refer to the instruction manual if needed.
Click the HEAL NETWORK button.
Navigate to the Home Assistant Dashboard and verify your devices have been added under Z-Wave.

I’ve gone ahead and added my MultiSensor 6 and Smart Switch 6 to the network, and to confirm correct operation, toggled my Smart Switch 6 ON/OFF using the blue button.

Note: Unfortunately, Home Assistant does not provide any indication as to whether a device has been successfully added to the network. We can however check by returning to our Dashboard, where we’ll see our newly added device or by viewing the log.

Step 3: Automating

With the devices successfully added to the network, we can now set up our first automation. But first, what is an automation? And what is required to make it work?

Every automation consists of a trigger, a condition (optional) and an action. Generally speaking, the trigger sets in motion predetermined actions that occur automatically upon its activation. While this may be suitable in some applications, in others it’s beneficial to have greater control. We can gain this control by adding a condition. Then, the action will only be executed once the trigger and condition are met.

General Process for Configuring an Automation:

Configuring automations in Home Assistant isn't too difficult, but it does require we successfully navigate Home Assistant's interface, understand the configuration process and know where to locate the required information to be input as parameters. So before moving on to our real-world example, let's make sure we have this information.

If you didn’t already check out BruhAutomation’s video , I recommend you watch from 4:30 to 8:00 to familiarise yourself with the interface before proceeding.

Tip:When building a new automation, it’s good practice to begin with the simplest component and get that component working independently. From there, we can continue to add layers of complexity, checking that each layer works with the previous before proceeding.

The general procedure I’ll be using breaks down the automation setup procedure in to 3 main steps relating to the action, trigger, and complete automation respectively. They are as follows:

Step 1: Identify and Verify the Action:

Navigate to the Services page using the SERVICES tool (left most developer tool)
Select the Service you wish to be the 'action' of your Automation.
Ensure the 'action' is working correctly by using Home Assistant's CALL SERVICE feature.
Copy the Service Data for later. We'll paste it into a field in while configuring our automation

Step 2: Identify and Verify the Trigger:

Navigate to the States page using the STATES tool (next to Services developer tool)
Scroll down the list until you find the device/parameter you wish to act as the trigger for your automation.

Step 3: Configuring the Automation:

Navigate to ‘Configuration’.
Navigate to ‘Automation'.
Click the Add New Automation button (Orange button in bottom right corner)
Assign the automation an appropriate name.
Configure the trigger (found in Step 2).
Configure the action (found in Step 1).
Verify the automation works.
If you'd like to further contain the automation, configure any additional conditions. (optional)

An example automation:

Let’s say we want to turn on our bedroom lamp (which we have connected to the Smart Switch 6 ) upon a low level of light being detected by our MultiSensor 6 (it’s dark outside).

We can use our MultiSensor 6 to detect the amount of ambient light, the value of which is stored in the luminance (lux) parameter. The working range of the luminance parameter is between 0 (dark) to 30000 (full sun).

We know (from observing the luminance values) that we normally turn our bedroom light on when luminance is below 1000. We can then have the Smart Switch 6 turn ON the lamp (action) when a luminance value of below 1000 is detected (trigger). Awesome.

As the weeks pass and the dark winter months arrive, we more frequently notice the bedroom light is ON during the day. However, we only wish it to be turned ON in the evenings. To do this, we can simply add the condition that prevents the automation from triggering before 6pm each day.

Now, our bedroom light will only turn ON when a value of less than 1000 luminance is detected and it’s after 6pm. Perfect. Now, let’s make it happen using Home Assistant.

Configuring Home Assistant to Execute the Example.

With our devices connected to Home Assistant and our plan in mind, we can begin configuring our first automation.

Identify and Verify the Action

Home Assistant lists the available services and applicable devices under the services page, which can be selected by clicking on the left most icon under developer tools. Then use this procedure to obtain your service data:

Scroll down the Service List to find the desired service.
As the automation requires we turn ON a switch, the service 'switch.turn_on' should be selected.
Select the entity (desired device) the service will be applied to. For this example, it's the Smart Switch 6.
This will automatically populate the Service Data with the entity name, which we'll copy in preparation for the Configuring the Automation step
Hit the CALL SERVICE button to verify the service is working properly.

Tip: Ensure the switch is turned OFF before calling the switch.turn_on service.

Configuring the Automation

To configure the automation, first navigate to the automation editor page and click the Add new automation in the bottom right corner.

Give your automation a name and select the trigger type. There are a variety of possible trigger types each with their own specific use. If you’re unsure which trigger to use, be sure to visit the documentation.

For this example, the applicable trigger type of the Multi Sensor 6’s luminance parameter is Numeric_State. This trigger type allows us to set a lower or upper limit to the luminance parameter (recall the range is 0-30000) that will trigger the automation.

To configure this, select the appropriate entity (sensor.aeon_labs_zw100_multisensor_6_luminance_2) and set the trigger limit. My preference is to have the automation trigger when luminance is below 1000, so I enter 1000 in to the below limit.

Next, we’ll configure the action. Thanks to the Services developer tool, we know exactly what this should look like. Simply select ‘Call Service’ as the action type and select the desired service. Then paste in the service data, copied from the Identify and Verify Action step.

Note: At this point, you may be tempted to add a condition. Before you do, it’s good practice to test the automation is functioning correctly.

We can verify this automation works by navigating to the Home Assistant Dashboard. Ensure the automation is enabled and the Smart Switch 6 is turned OFF. Next, place the Multi Sensor 6 in full sun and press the wake-up button. You should see the luminance at a value is around 30000. All that’s left is to place our hand over the Multi Sensor 6’s sensor and press the wake-up button. Luminance will now be below 1000 and the automation will trigger, turning ON the Smart Switch 6.

With the automation confirmed to be working correctly, we can now add an additional condition. That is, the automation will not trigger unless luminance is below 1000 and it’s after 6pm.

To do this, return to your newly created automation and add a time condition, and voila. The automation will work as intended.

From here, you can go on and create a whole list of automations based on your needs. Just remember to approach this process methodically and bit-by-bit to avoid confusion. Find the appropriate triggers, actions and conditions for your devices and refer to the documentation (located to the left of the respective boxes) to learn how to configure them correctly and you’ll be well on your way to mastering Home Assistant.

That's a Wrap

I hope this guide helped ease the process of configuring your first automation with Home Assistant. If you have found a nicer solution, run in to any issues or have some handy tips, drop a comment below. We always look forward to your input :)

Best regards,

Luke

Related blogs

Home Assistant: Setup Guide

What is Z-Wave Plus?

Fibaro home appliance monitoring

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 05:03:18 +0000

Receive a notification when the washing has finished.

One of the many advantages of Z-Wave is the ability to monitor the energy consumption of appliances and devices connected to Z-Wave power modules - besides monitoring energy consumption (which is handy in itself), we can also trigger other Z-Wave devices or notifications based on energy usage changes. In this blog I will show you how to receive a smartphone notification when your washing machine has finished its cycle.

Now you may well be thinking... "Why would I need a notification on my phone when the washing is finished?". A great question, to which the answer is rather simple (and a little sad)... if you are anything like me, there is a good chance that the wet washing may sit in the washing machine for a few days, only making itself known by emitting a rather putrid and mouldy smell!

So essentially I am using technology to make up for my absent-mindedness (that's my favourite kind of technology - the kind that saves me from myself!) - you may find other useful ways to adapt this blog to your particular needs or inadequacies ;)

Overview.

We are going to use the Aeotec Smart Switch 6 as our energy monitoring Z-Wave device. Your washing machine will be plugged into this Z-Wave module and the energy consumption data will be fed into the Fibaro Home Center.

We will then create a Variable (more on this below) and two simple Scenes that will allow you to receive a notification to your smartphone(s) when the washing is done.

This won't take long at all...

Creating the notification.

First, we want to create a Notification within Home Center - this will be the Push Notification message that will be sent to our smartphone(s).

Within the Fibaro Home Center web interface...

1. Click on “Panels” in the top menu.

2. Select “Notification Panel” from the list on the left.

3. Name your Notification: Washing Machine (or whatever you like). 4. Enter the same notification text for each of the text fields. 5. Click Save.

Great. Now we have a Push Notification that we will trigger later in one of our Scenes below when your wash cycle is finished.

Now on to...

Creating a Variable.

Next, we want to create a Predefined Variable - This Variable will keep track of the current state of your washing machine... Off or Running.

Within the Fibaro Home Center web interface...

1. Click on “Panels” in the top menu.

2. Select “Variables Panel” from the list on the left.

3. Click the “Add” button under “Predefined variables”.

4. Name your Variable: Washing (or whatever you like). 5. Enter 2 Values: Off & Running. 6. Click Save.

Hint: After creating and saving our Variable above, be sure it is set to "Off" before moving on to the next step.

Perfect. Now we have a way of letting Home Center know the current state of your washing machine... Off or Running – now we move on to creating scenes that will change the washing machine variable above and send a notification when the washing cycle is finished.

We are almost done...

Creating the Scenes.

Our last step is to create two Scenes in Home Center. These Scenes will adjust the Washing Variable we created above and send a notification when the washing cycle is complete.

Scene 1 - Washing Running.

Our first Scene will detect when your washing machine has started its cycle - this is done by monitoring the energy usage through the Smart Switch 6 (to which your washing machine is plugged into).

Let's go through the Scene logic step-by-step...

Our "Triggers"...

When "Washing Machine" (Smart Switch 6 module) W> (Watts - Greater Than) 10
And "Washing" (our Variable) is "Off"

Our "Actions" (Then)...

Set our "Washing" Variable to "Running"

That's it for our first Scene. We are simply changing our "Washing" Variable from "Off" to "Running" when the Smart Switch 6 detects energy usage (the washing machine is powered on).

Our "Washing" Variable plays a very important roll here. The Scene needs two conditions to be true for it to run... The "Washing" Variable must be "Off" and the power consumption must be greater than 10w - by changing the "Washing" Variable to "Running", we eliminate the chance that our Scene will get caught in a "loop" (which would break our logic) as "Washing = Off" is no longer true.

On to our second Scene...

Scene 2- Washing Done.

Our final Scene will detect when power consumption drops (washing machine has finished its cycle) and send the Notification we created above - as well as re-setting our "Washing" Variable back to "Off" (ready for next time).

Let's go through the Scene logic step-by-step...

Our "Triggers"...

When "Washing" (our Variable) is "Running" (set from the 1st Scene above).
And "Washing Machine" (Smart Switch 6 module) W <= (Watts - Less than or Equal to) 1 (1 Watt)

Our "Actions" (Then)...

Send Push Notification ("Washing Machine" Notification we created above) to a Fibaro User's smartphone
Set our "Washing" Variable back to "Off" (ready for the next cycle)

That's it, we are done.

Now when your washing machine has finished its cycle, you will receive a Push Notification to your phone.

Some tips and tricks.

You may need to adjust the wattage detection settings in your Scenes - as each washing machine will be different (and consume varying amounts of power during the wash cycle). The settings above worked well for me and I expect should suit most washing machines.

You can add as many Fibaro Users to receive the Notification in the 2nd Scene as you like.

Instead of (or as well as) receiving the Notification, you could adjust the 2nd Scene to do something else when the washing has finished - flash a Z-Wave enabled light or lamp or perhaps have the Dome Z-Wave Indoor Siren make a noise - adjust the 2nd Scene as you see fit :)

You may wish to change the icons for your Smart Switch 6 and Scenes, feel free to use the icons below...

Hint: Right-click on the images above and choose "Save image as" to save them onto your computer. You can then use these icons for your Smart Switch 6 and Scenes (see How to change Fibaro Home Center icons).

Knowledge is power.

Monitoring energy consumption of appliances may surprise you just how much certain appliances are costing to run. The Aeotec Z-Wave Plug-In Smart Switch 6 is perfect for this task. Best of all, it is easy to move around to different appliances, leave it plugged in for a day or two and monitor the connected energy consumption - you can then make informed decisions on how it may be possible to save energy (and therefore money).

In a Z-Wave enabled smart home, we can do more than just monitor energy consumption (which in itself can be very enlightening) - we can also use this information to trigger some very clever automated scenarios (including the one above). Here are some other ideas...

Receive a notification if your kid's gaming console has been on for more than 2 hours (and automatically switch it off!)
Automatically turn on a lamp when the TV is turned on during the evening (and switch it off again when you are done with the idiot box).
Detect if a hair-straightener has been left on for too long and automatically turn it off (I'm looking at you Mr's Arthur!).
Automatically turn off a plug-in heater if it has been on too long.
You get the idea ;)

Final thoughts...

As always, please leave a comment below if you run into any issues – we are always happy to help. If you have found a better or more efficient solution than above - or have some clever ways you have put energy monitoring to good use, let us know below in the comments section so we can share it with the World :)

All the best,

Brad

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Amazon Alexa Australia - Missing Skills

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 22:32:25 +0000

Where are my Alexa Skills?

The official launch of Amazon in Australia has been a little... how do I put it? Underwhelming! I am sure things will improve as time goes on, but for the moment we are stuck with what feels like a very "watered-down" experience when compared to overseas.

At least we finally have access to the Amazon Alexa range of Echo voice assistants - which without a doubt are excellent products - however it seems that not all (in fact, a lot) of the Amazon Skills have not made their way down-under. Hopefully this is rectified in the near future. There are some really glaring omissions in the Amazon Alexa Skills available for our region, including the Vera, Fibaro Home Center and Sonos Skills.

For this reason, we have written a quick blog that will show you how to access all of the Alexa Skills available in the USA - whilst still keeping your Amazon Echo working in Australia.

Accessing missing Alexa Skills in Australia

Let's jump right in…

1. Log into your Amazon account and click on “Account & Lists” and then select “Your Content and Devices”.

2. Click on "Settings Tab", then expand "Country Settings" and click the “Change Button”.

3. Enter any US address and click the "Update Button" (you can use this tool to generate a random US address).

That should do it - you will now have access to all Alexa Skills - as it was meant to be :)

Best of all, you can still set the location of your Amazon Echo device to Australia - so you will not miss out on local weather, news, etc.

As always, please leave a comment below if you run into any issues – we are always happy to help. If you have found a better or more efficient solution than above, let us know so we can share it with the World :)

All the best,

Stepas

Amazon Echo with Vera Z-Wave controller

20 fun things to ask your Amazon Echo

Fibaro Home Center - Holiday Mode

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 22:18:13 +0000

Going on a holiday? Lucky you!

Added security is one of the many benefits of turning your home in to a Z-Wave enabled smart home. This is particularly true when using the Fibaro Home Center 2 - it is just so flexible and powerful.

In this blog post, I will show you a very elegant way to implement a "Holiday Mode" - So when you are away, your home will appear to be occupied as you automatically turn some lights on and off at scheduled times. A simple solution that works really well. Let's get started…

Watch the video.
v

Or...

Read the instructions.
v

Create a "Holiday Room"

This step is completely optional - however I strongly recommend creating a new Room in Fibaro Home Center called Holiday - this is simply a way of keeping things neat and tidy. As we will only be using the Holiday Scenes sparingly (when you are away), it is a good idea to keep this tucked away in its own room so as not to clutter up the rest of your rooms in Fibaro.

Within the Fibaro Home Center web interface…

1. Click on Rooms in the top menu panel.

2. Click Add new on the left menu under Rooms.

3. In the Add Room section, type Holiday. 4. Now click the Add button.

We now have a new Holiday Room where we can keep all of our Holiday Scenes that we will create below.

Change the Holiday Room icon

I am a big fan of customising the icons in Home Center - you can read more about changing Fibaro Home Center Icons here.

You can use any icon you like - I have provided the icon I use below…

Hint: Right-click on the image above and choose "Save image as" to save it onto your computer. You can then load this icon for your Holiday room by following this guide.

Create Holiday Scenes

Now we will create Scenes that turn on / off some lights at a given time each day. Feel free to create as many Scenes as you like, each turning on / off at different times of the day (even on different days of the week).

I have kept my Scenes rather simple - one Scene to turn lights on - one Scene to turn the lights off - with a small delay between each light coming on / off so it is not obvious that a schedule is turning on all the the lights at once.

Example of On Scene.

Example of Off Scene.

Hint: You can set a delay (in seconds) for each light turning on or off in the red delay field. For example, enter 600 for a delay of 10 minutes.

Creating a Holiday Mode Switch

Now for the magic that ties it all together. Most of the time, we do not want our Holiday Scenes to be running (i.e. we are not on Holiday). You could go through and disable each Holiday Scene when not in use and enable before you go away… however this is tedious - and I am not a fan of tedious! So let's make it simple - one click to turn all of our Holiday Scenes on or off.

How to create a Holiday Mode Virtual Device Switch...

1. Click on Devices in the top menu panel.

2. Click Add or remove device on the left menu under Devices.

3. Select the Add button under the Virtual Device section.

4. Type a name for your Virtual Device (i.e. Holiday). 5. Assign it to our Holiday room. 6. Click the Advanced tab.

7. Under the Choose set of buttons section, check the box next to Two buttons per line. 8. Click the Add Set button.

We now have two buttons we need to configure...

Button 1 (Off).

1. Change the Label to Off. 2. Change the Radio Button from String to LUA. 3. Copy and paste the following (twice) to turn off the Scenes fibaro:setSceneEnabled(88, false); 4. Change the Scene ID numbers to match the IDs of your Off Scenes.

Button 2 (On).

1. Change the Label to On. 2. Change the Radio Button from String to LUA. 3. Copy and paste the following (twice) to turn on the Scenes fibaro:setSceneEnabled(88, true); 4. Change the Scene ID numbers to match the IDs of your On Scenes.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you select the Save Button on the right of your screen!

Hint: To find the Scene ID of the Scene you would like to associate with the above buttons, simply click on the "Spanner" icon for your desired Scene and take note of the ID number.

Hint: You can add as many Scenes as you like to the above buttons by simply copying the LUA code and pasting it onto a new line - be sure to change the Scene ID for each new line.

You may also wish to change the icon for the on / off Virtual Device buttons, feel free to use the icons below...

Hint: Right-click on the images above and choose "Save image as" to save them onto your computer. You can then load these icons for your Holiday Mode Virtual Device - Watch the video above for more details.

We are done. You now have a Virtual Device with two buttons - On / Off.

Try turning the Virtual Device On and Off - you will note that it enables / disables the Holiday Scenes we created. So when you go away on holiday - simply click the On Button and your Holiday Scenes will become active.

When you return from holiday, click the Off Button and your Holiday Scenes will de-activate.

All the best,

Brad

Fibaro Home Center Comparison Link Library: For Automation Hubs

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

20 fun things to ask your Amazon Echo

Wed, 17 May 2017 02:45:57 +0000

If you don’t know what an Amazon Echo Dot is, allow me to introduce you to the hottest gadget on planet earth right now. The Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device with built-in speaker, that uses Alexa Voice Service to play music, control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms, yada, yada, yada. It’s pretty damn awesome.

I have mine hooked up to my Spotify account, and it makes it so much easier to ask Alexa to change songs when you’re in the kitchen up to your elbows in pasta dough! I thought it would be fun to take a look at one of the more ‘entertaining’ features of the Amazon Echo Dot. Try asking Alexa the following 20 questions next time you have your mates over...

Alexa, what’s the first rule of Fight Club?
Alexa, why did the chicken cross the road?
Alexa, Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
Alexa, never gonna give you up.
Alexa, do you want to build a snowman?
Alexa, what’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
Alexa, who’s better, you or Siri?
Alexa, may the force be with you.
Alexa, knock, knock.
Alexa, rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock.
Alexa, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Alexa, give me a kiss.
Alexa, say a bad word
Alexa, do you believe in love at first sight?
Alexa, elementary, my dear Watson
Alexa, to be or not to be
Alexa, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for
Alexa, show me the money!
Alexa, who you gonna call?
Alexa, who’s on first?

Bonus geeky fun!

Did you know you can change the "wake" word from "Alexa" to "Computer"? To boldly go where no man (sorry, person) has gone before...

Open the Alexa app and select "Settings". Now select your Amazon Echo device and then choose "Computer" from the "Wake Word" drop-down list.

Engage!

Amazon Echo with Vera Z-Wave controller

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 01:20:56 +0000

Control your Vera Z-Wave smart home with your voice.

There is no denying that voice control for your smart home is the future – it makes so much sense. No need to pull out your smart phone to turn on lights – it is far easier to simply ask your smart home to turn on the lights for you… and so much more!

The future has arrived… in what is commonly being termed as “voice assistants”. The first - and certainly the most popular of these new voice assistants is Amazon Alexa. Google and others are also trying hard to catch up… but for now, the Amazon Echo is a long way in front. It's still early days, and Alexa is far from coming anywhere near "Jarvis" from Iron Man... but it's a great start!

Now for some bad news... the Amazon Echo range of products - with Alexa voice assistant built in - are not officially available in Australia yet... Typical bloody Yanks! They often forget there are other countries in the World outside of America! < Just joking Trump... please don't nuke us!

The good news... Aussies being the resourceful lot we are... we have found ways to get our hands on Amazon Echo here in Australia - although Amazon make it very difficult... so we made it easy - you can get your shiny new Amazon Echo Dot here :)

Now for the really awesome part. If you already own a Vera Z-Wave Controller, you can connect it to Amazon Alexa and control your smart home with nothing more than your voice - using the Amazon Echo. If you don't own one... you can get it here (how fortuitous, I know!).

Now that you have all of the hardware sorted, let's get cracking...

Setup Amazon Echo for Australia and New Zealand.

No need to reinvent the wheel… You can find excellent and very detailed information on how to setup your Amazon Echo for Australia and New Zealand by following this guide.

Note: In the time since the instructions contained in the link above were written, it would appear that Amazon have now changed how address authentication is handled. Therefore, the only thing we can change is the “timeZoneId” – which is OK, as this setting will allow your Amazon Echo to tell the correct time for your location. You will not be able to update the address settings.

There are two more important settings we should change. Since the good ole’ US of A still clings to the Imperial System for measurements (they know the Metric System is better, but you know… Americans), we should tell Alexa we would rather use the far more logical Metric System. Simply change the two settings above in your Alexa account.

Ok, we should now have Amazon Echo on a Temporary Working Visa for Australia and New Zealand. I say temporary because I have no doubt that sometime throughout 2017, Alexa will become a permanent resident and we will not have to jump through these hoops… but for now, this is the only way to get Amazon Echo to talk our lingo.

Now on to the really cool part…

Linking your Vera to Amazon Echo.

For the moment, integrating the Vera Z-Wave Controller with Amazon Echo is in Beta Testing (in other words, it has not been officially launched).

However, I have the inside word on how you can join the Beta program... before the offical release (when it is officially released, you can ignore the instructions below, it should be far easier). Before we join the Beta program and link Vera with Amazon Echo, I would like to share some tips on how you can get your Vera ready for Alexa...

When naming your devices within Vera, it is important to remember that we cannot have devices with the same name (even if they are located in different rooms). As an example, let’s say we have a lounge room light and a bedroom light (each located within their respective rooms within Vera) – the logical name for each these would be “light” – this would mean we could ask Alexa to “Turn on the bedroom light” or “Turn on the lounge light”. Not possible. We need to give them different names. It means we have to get a bit creative when naming devices.

To get around this issue, I named my lounge light “Pendant” – so I ask Amazon Echo… “Alexa, Turn on the lounge pendant”. I kept the bedroom light named “light”… “Alexa, turn on the bedroom light”. Also, it is important to make sure you give your Vera Z-Wave devices names that are easy to pronounce, this will make it easier for Alexa to understand your commands.

Now that’s out of the way, let me show you how we can join the Beta program. Follow the instructions in the link below…

Join the Vera Amazon Beta Program.

Some final thoughts…

That's all there is to it. Now you can easily control your smart home with your voice.

"Alexa, Tea. Earl grey. Hot."

As always, please leave a comment below if you run into any issues or just want to say hi – we are always happy to hear from you. If you have found any errors with the instructions in this blog, let me know.

I hope you enjoy your new smart home voice assistant :)

All the best,

Brad

20 fun things to ask your Amazon Echo

Vera HTTP Commands

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Controlling an aircon with Z-Wave

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 21:58:06 +0000

Control your aircon from anywhere with Z-Wave.

As the hot Australian summer fast approaches (it's 38° here in Melbourne today!), I thought it would be timely to write a blog about controlling your air-conditioner using Z-Wave. Best of all, you will be able to turn on your aircon from anywhere - never come home to a sweat-box again!

This blog only applies to infra-red (remote) controllable HVAC systems. How to control a HVAC system with a wired thermostat (which can be far more complicated) is a topic for another day... not today... It's too hot!

To make this happen you will need the Remotec Z-Wave to Aircon IR Controller and either a Vera Edge or Fibaro Home Center.

Jump to instructions for...

Vera (UI7)

Fibaro Home Center

Adding the Remotec ZXT-600 to Vera (UI7)

Adding the Remotec Z-Wave to Aircon IR Controller (ZXT-600) to Vera is easy - follow these steps...

1. Open the Vera UI7 Dashboard using your preferred web browser.

2. Select the Devices tab along the left side of your web browser window and then click “Add Device”.

3. Choose “Generic Z-Wave Device”.

4. Click the "Next" button.

5. Click the "Next" button again.

6. Your Vera should now be in "Pairing Mode".

7. Now triple click the “PROG” button within 1 second. The LED on the ZXT-600 should blink green twice to indicate it paired successfully.

Tidy things up a little...

If the ZXT-600 fails to pair with Vera, move them closer together and try again.

Once the ZXT-600 was successfully paired with your Vera, you can now give it a name and assign it to the room your aircon is servicing....

1. Name your ZXT-600.

2. Assign the ZXT-600 to a room.

3. Click the "Finish" button.

Configuring the Remotec ZXT-600 in Vera

Now it is time to configure the ZXT-600 so that it will work with your brand and model of aircon.

1. Look for your shiny new ZXT-600 Device Panel.

2. Click the round "Settings" button.

3. Select "Device Options".

4. Click "Add configuration settings".

5. In the "Variable" box - type 27. Set the "Data Size" to "1 byte dec".

Referring to the Aircon "Code List" found here - Find your brand of aircon and enter one of the corresponding numbers into the "Desired Value" box.

Make sure you click the "Save Changes" button!

Testing the ZXT-600 with your aircon.

If all has gone well, you should now be able to control your aircon using Vera.

Make sure the ZXT-600 is within infra-red range of your aircon and try turning on the cooling mode within Vera.

If your aircon responds... congratulations! You are done.

If not, repeat the steps above and try another code for your aircon from the "Code List".

Help - None of the codes work for my aircon!

Not to worry. This just means we need to put in a bit more effort. Luckily, the ZXT-600 can learn from your aircon remote.

Note: Refer to the ZXT-600 manual under "IR Learning Mapping Table" for all of the appropriate "Desired Values".

Change "Desired Value" to 0 (leave Variable as 27).

Make sure you click the "Save Changes" button!

In the "Variable" box - type 25. Set the "Data Size" to "1 byte dec". Set "Desired value: 0" (OFF).

Click the "Save Changes" button.

Wait until the LED on top of the ZXT-600 turns green.

Now point your aircon remote approx. 2-3cm away in front of the ZXT-600.

Press the "Off" button on your aircon remote.

If the learning process was successful, the LED on the ZXT-600 will flash green twice.

If the LED on the ZXT-600 flashes red twice - the IR learning was unsuccessful - you will need to repeat the above steps.

Now we add the "Desired Values" for the remaining modes listed in the manual under "IR Learning Mapping Table".

As an example, enter 2 for "Desired Value" for "Variable 25" (19° C Cool).

Click the "Save Changes" button.

Helpful tip: Make sure your aircon remote is currently set to 18° and then point your aircon remote at the ZXT-600 and increase the temperature to 19°.

Repeat the above learning process until you have included all of the "Parameter Values" from the "IR Learning Mapping Table" in the ZXT-600 manual.

Setup complete :)

You should now be able to control your aircon from within Vera. There are extra control functions presented in Vera that are not compatible with the ZXT-600 (for example, you cannot control fan speed) - just ignore these. You can control the important stuff - both heating (if your aircon is reverse cycle) and cooling.

Adding the Remotec ZXT-600 to Home Center

Adding the Remotec Z-Wave to Aircon IR Controller (ZXT-600) to Fibaro Home Center is easy - follow these steps...

1. Using your preferred web browser, open the Fibaro web interface and click on “Devices” in the top menu.

2. Select “Add or remove device” from the left menu.

3. Check "NWI - Network Wide Inclusion". 4. Click "Add".

5. Now triple click the “PROG” button within 1 second. The LED on the ZXT-600 should blink green twice to indicate it paired successfully.

Tidy things up a little...

You should now have 4 new devices (which will currently reside in the "Unassigned" room under the "Devices" tab).

Now we should tidy things up a little... In turn, click on the "Wrench" icon for each new ZXT-600 device.

Now give it a new "Name". Then assign it to the "Room" the aircon is servicing.

Make sure you click the "Save" button on the right after renaming and assigning each device!

Configuring the Remotec ZXT-600 in Home Center

Now it is time to configure the ZXT-600 so that it will work with your brand and model of aircon.

Click on the the "Wrench" icon for any of the 4 new devices.

Now select the "Advanced" tab.

Scroll all the way to the bottom and click the 'Add Parameter" button.

In the "Number" box - type 27.

Referring to the Aircon "Code List" found here - Find your brand of aircon and enter one of the corresponding numbers into the "Desired value" box.

Make sure you click the "Save" button!

Testing the ZXT-600 with your aircon.

If all has gone well, you should now be able to control your aircon using Home Center.

Make sure the ZXT-600 is within infra-red range of your aircon and try turning on the cooling mode within Home Center.

If your aircon responds... congratulations! You are done.

If not, repeat the steps above and try another code for your aircon from the "Code List".

Help - None of the codes work for my aircon!

Not to worry. This just means we need to put in a bit more effort. Luckily, the ZXT-600 can learn from your aircon remote.

Note: Refer to the ZXT-600 manual under "IR Learning Mapping Table" for all of the appropriate "Desired values".

Change "Parameter 27" to "0".

Make sure you click the "Save" button!

Add another "Parameter" with "Number: 25" and "Desired value: 0" (OFF).

Click the "Save" button.

Now point your aircon remote approx. 2-3cm away in front of the ZXT-600 Program button (on top).

Press the "Off" button on your remote.

If the learning process was successful, the LED on the ZXT-600 will flash green twice.

If the LED on the ZXT-600 flashes red twice - you will need to repeat the above steps.

Now we add the remaining "Desired values". As an example, enter 2 for "Desired value" for "Parameter 25" (19° C Cool).

Click the "Save" button.

Helpful tip: Make sure your aircon remote is currently set to 18° and then point your aircon remote at the ZXT-600 and increase the temperature to 19°.

Repeat the above learning process until you have included all of the "Parameter Values" from the "IR Learning Mapping Table" in the ZXT-600 manual.

Setup complete :)

You should now be able to control your aircon from within Home Center. There are extra control functions presented in Home Center that are not compatible with the ZXT-600 (for example, you cannot control fan speed) - just ignore these. You can control the important stuff - both heating (if your aircon is reverse cycle) and cooling.

One last thing, be sure to take a look the Heating and Cooling Panels in Fibaro Home Center.

Enjoy :)

Some final thoughts…

As always, please leave a comment below if you run into any issues – we are always happy to help. If you have found any errors with the instructions in this blog (in my defence... did I mention it's 38° today?), let me know :)

Happy summer and all the best,

Brad

Related blogs

Vera HTTP Commands

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

How to change Fibaro Home Center icons

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:16:06 +0000

Fibaro Home Center custom icons.

The Fibaro Home Center's user interface already looks incredible. Did you know that you can also include custom icons for all of your different Z-Wave devices and scenes? In this exclusive SmartHome blog, I'll show you how - and provide you with some free icons (below) to help get you started.

Here's how to do it…

Open and log-in (as admin) to your Fibaro Home Center Control Panel in your favourite web browser.

To change an icon for a Device or Scene, follow these steps...

1. Click on the "Wrench" for a Device or Scene.

2. Click on the 'Change Icon" button.

3. Select "Choose File" to upload an icon.

4. When you have loaded all of your icons, click "Add".

5. That's it! You have now changed the icon.

Some things to keep in mind...

The image size for the icon should be 128px x 128px (pixels).
Use the PNG (.png) image format (with transparent backgrounds) for icons.
Don't make your icons too dark (or they will not display well within Fibaro).
Some devices and Scenes only require 1 icon (and very rarely, they cannot be changed).
Most devices require 2 icons (on/off, open/closed, locked,unlocked, etc.).
A few devices (such as dimmable lighting) require more than 2 icons (up to 11 icons).

Some free icons to get you started...

These icons will be updated from time to time, so it's worth checking back here every once in a while.

You can download all of the icons at once by clicking on the link below.

SmartHome-Fibaro-HC-Icons-Rev-4.zip

If you have the need for a particular icon, leave a comment below and we'll see what we can do :)

Another excellent source of icons can be found on the Fibaro forum.

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

How to add Fibaro Swipe to Vera

Thu, 21 Jul 2016 02:50:03 +0000

Fibaro Swipe... meet Vera.

We get a lot of enquiries asking… “Can I use the Fibaro Swipe with Vera?”. The short answer… yes you can! However, the setup guide that is included with the Fibaro Swipe is written for the Fibaro Home Center controller (which makes sense), unfortunately the guide doesn’t tell you how to add the Swipe to a Vera (UI7) Z-Wave controller.

That’s where we come in ;)

Here's how to do it…

Make sure your Fibaro Swipe is powered on (I suggest using USB power rather than battery for the setup process) and reasonably close to your Vera.

1. Open the Vera UI7 Dashboard using your preferred web browser.

2. Select the Devices tab along the left side of your web browser window and then click “Add Device”.

3. Choose “Generic Z-Wave Device”.

4. Click the "Next" button.

5. Click the "Next" button again.

Now you set the Fibaro Swipe into "Pairing Mode" to add it to your Vera...

6. Hold the palm of your hand close to the front of the Fibaro Swipe. You will hear a number of “beeps” in quick succession – do not remove your hand until you hear 2 solitary “beeps” (after approx. 7 seconds).

7. Now remove your hand and then swipe up in front of the Fibaro Swipe.

This should complete the pairing process. It may take a few attempts to get it right – the beeps threw me the first couple of times (I was too quick). If your attempt fails, keep trying (from the beginning)… we are listening for the last two “beeps” before swiping up.

8. Once paired, you will be presented with the option to give it a Name and assign it to a Room.

9. Finally, click the “Finish” button.

How to assign Swipe gestures to Vera Scenes…

This part is really easy (the pairing is the hardest part - which may have taken a few attempts to get it done).

10. You should now have the Fibaro Swipe available as a Vera Device. Click on the “Arrow” icon to enter the Swipe Configuration page.

11. Click on “Select scenes for device buttons”.

12. Select a Scene you would like to activate from the drop down list next to each hand gesture.

13. Finally, click on “Assign scenes to buttons”.

Not too painful at all. Now you can activate your Vera Z-Wave Scenes with a simple swipe of your hand.

Related blogs

Vera HTTP Commands

Fibaro eLearning Knowledge Portal

Mon, 04 Jul 2016 23:17:23 +0000

Knowledge is power.

Without a doubt, Fibaro make the best quality and well-thought-out Z-Wave products on the market. Investing in a Z-Wave home automation system using Fibaro is an excellent choice. As a further testament to Fibaro's commitment to its products, they have created a free online eLearning portal where you can discover how to get the most from your Fibaro Z-Wave system.

Best of all... it's 100% free!

Fibaro eLearning Portal

Register to check out the courses, browse tutorials, watch the videos and solve quizzes - You'll be an expert in no time.

Browse courses.

Learn more about Fibaro sensors, devices, gateways and "3rd party" integration.

Track your progress.

Learn at your own pace. Track your progress as you complete each course.

Pass exams.

Check your knowledge, take the tests and pass the exams to receive your Fibaro Certificate.

Join the Fibaro eLearning Portal >> It's free!

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Fibaro Home Center 2 - Geofencing

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 00:33:36 +0000

What makes a home "smart"?

Is it the fact you can control your lights and devices from your phone? Sure. That’s part of it. However, I strongly believe what makes a home (or office) truly smart is when you don’t need to touch your phone at all. Your Z-Wave home automation system can make intelligent and automated decisions for you... without having to lift a finger.

That’s when a home becomes genuinely smart.

In this blog, I am going to introduce you to one of the most powerful, yet mystifying aspects of home automation – Geofencing with Fibaro Home Center 2.

What is a geofence?

As the name implies, it can simply be described as an invisible “fence” around a geographical location – usually at a set radius distance (30 meters as an example). When a GPS device (such as your smartphone) enters or exits a predefined geofence, the “fence” is considered to be “breached”.

Fibaro Home Center 2 Geofencing.

Let’s take a look at how Fibaro have implemented Geofencing and how powerful and useful it can be. I am going to use our SmartHome office as an example.

When one of our team arrives at the office in the morning, I would like to turn a light on (keeping it simple for this example) – but only if they are the first to arrive.

When the last person leaves the office, I would like to turn a light off.

Let me show one of the ways we can do this with the Fibaro Home Center 2…

Home Center 2 – Localisation.

In order to create a Geofence around my office, I first need to tell Home Center where in the World the SmartHome office is located! I do this by providing longitude and latitude coordinates into the Localisation Panel within Home Center.

Please note that you will need to be logged into your Home Center through your web browser as the Administrator < this is very important.

Setting the location

1. Click on “Panels” in the top menu.

2. Select “Localisation panels” from the list on the left.

3. Click “Add new” from the menu on the left.

4. Enter a Name (Office). 5. Drag the PIN to the desired location on the map. 6. Click “Save localisation”.

Great. Now Fibaro Home Center 2 knows where the SmartHome office is located.

Creating a "Variable".

This is where we get a bit clever. What if someone has already arrived at the office before me (very unlikely)? I don’t need Home Center to turn lights on etc. – they are already on. And of course the same holds true if someone else arrives at the office and I’ve already started my workday (very likely).

To avoid these conflicts and to make sure Home Center knows if the office is occupied or not, we can use a “Variable”. Think of a variable as a typical light switch – it has two states (you can have more) – on or off < this is the variable (on/off). In home automation terms, variables can be very powerful, as you will see below.

My “Variable” is simple… I would like it to reflect the number of people currently in the SmartHome office. So I can let Home Center know if the office is empty or not, I will create an “OccupyCount” variable (you can name it anything you like)…

How to create a "Variable".

1. Click on “Panels” in the top menu.

2. Select “Variables Panel” from the list on the left.

3. Now click the “Add” button under “Variables:”.

4. Name your Variable: OccupyCount (or whatever you like). 5. Leave the default value of 0. 6. Click Save.

Perfect. Now we have a way of letting Home Center know if the office is occupied or unoccupied – and by how many people (you will see how we can cleverly use this little bit of information below).

Creating the Scenes.

For this example, I am going to keep my “Arrive at office” scene very simple. When I get to work (or rather when I am close to arriving to work), I would like my office lights to turn on. So I create my “Arrive to office” scene in Home Center. Of course, I only want my office to come to life if I am the first to arrive…

Arrive at office Scene

1. Click on “Scenes” in the top menu.

2. Select “Add scene” from the list on the left.

3. Click the “Add” button in the “Add scene using graphical blocks” section.

4. Click the + icon in the scene window. 5. Select Variables > OccupyCount.

6. Now adjust the element: OccupyCount = = 1. 7. Change the And block to Then. 8. Click on the very bottom + icon.

9. Select a device you would like to activate.

10. Make sure you click the Save button!

The Scene above will turn on a light for the first person that arrives to work (OccupyCount = 1). I now need to create a scene that is triggered when the last person leaves the office (OccupyCount = 0)...

Leave the office Scene

1. Click on “Scenes” in the top menu.

2. Select “Add scene” from the list on the left.

3. Click the “Add” button in the “Add scene using graphical blocks” section.

4. Click the + icon in the scene window. 5. Select Variables > OccupyCount.

6. Now adjust the element: OccupyCount = = 0. 7. Change the And block to Then. 8. Click on the very bottom + icon.

9. Select the same device you would like to turn off.

10. Make sure you click the Save button!

User Geofence – Arrive at office Scene

This is where we tie it all together with our Geofence based on our location (or rather our smartphone’s location). When I arrive at the office, I want our OccupyCount variable to add 1 to the current number. This not only tells Home Center that there is someone in the office, it will also keep a count of how many employees are currently in the office (this may be handy to use in other Scenes or Notifications you may want to create later).

Repeat the following Scene for each User in your Home Center…

1. Click on “Scenes” in the top menu.

2. Select “Add scene” from the list on the left.

3. Click the “Add” button in the “Add scene using graphical blocks” section.

4. Click the + icon in the scene window. 5. Select GPS > Username > Appears in the > Office.

6. Now adjust the geofence area – I set mine to 50m. 7. Change the And block to Then. 8. Click on the very bottom + icon.

9. Select Variables > OccupyCount.

10. Now adjust the scene element accordingly: OccupyCount + = 1 (this will add 1 to our OccupyCount variable). 11. Make sure you click the Save button!

User Geofence – Leaving the office Scene

Now we want to subtract 1 from our OccupyCount variable every time someone leaves the office.

Repeat the following Scene for each User in your Home Center…

1. Click on “Scenes” in the top menu.

2. Select “Add scene” from the list on the left.

3. Click the “Add” button in the “Add scene using graphical blocks” section.

4. Click the + icon in the scene window. 5. Select GPS > Username > Leaving the area > Office.

6. Now adjust the geofence area – I set mine to 50m. 7. Change the And block to Then. 8. Click on the very bottom + icon.

9. Select Variables > OccupyCount.

10. Now adjust the scene element accordingly: OccupyCount - = 1 (this will subtract 1 from our OccupyCount variable). 11. Make sure you click the Save button!

Rename your Scenes

To keep things neat and tidy, you should rename your Scenes. Click on the wrench icon for each Scene you just created and rename appropriately...

Almost done... One last little thing to do...

Enabling GPS tracking for Users.

We now need to make sure that each Home Center User is reporting their GPS coordinates via their phone to Home Center (each User will of course need to have the Fibaro app installed).

For each User, do the following…

1. Click on “Configuration” on the top menu.

2. Select "Access Control" from the menu on the left.

3. Click on the Pencil (edit) icon to the right of a User.

4. Adjust the “How frequently GPS position...” setting – I set mine to 5 min. 5. Make sure you click the Save button!

We are done.

Let’s take a quick overview of what we have achieved…

When someone (User) arrives at the office (based on their current GPS location from their phone)…

The OccupyCount variable is increased by 1.
If this person is the first to arrive (OccupyCount variable will be 1), a light is turned on.
If this person is not the first to arrive (OccupyCount will be greater than 1), then nothing happens – exactly what we want.

When someone (User) leaves the office (based on their current GPS location from their phone)…

The OccupyCount variable is decreased by 1.
If this person is the last to leave (OccupyCount variable is 0), a light is turned off.
If this person is not the last to leave (OccupyCount will be equal to or greater than 1), then they won’t plunge their colleagues into darkness.

Privacy…

I don't want to get all preachy here... but it would be remiss of me not to point out that monitoring someones location via their phone - without their knowledge and consent - could be considered a gross (and rather creepy) invasion of privacy. Do the right thing people :)

Some final thoughts…

Geofencing is not infallible – perhaps someone forgets his or her phone or the battery is dead. This solution relies on each User’s phone to be on them and powered on (so it can report a User’s location via GPS). For this reason, I don’t advise incorporating “mission critical” scenes – like locking doors or turning on alarm systems.

It is also possible that the Variable (OccupyCount) may get out of sync… Let’s say someone arrives and the count is +1... if they leave without their phone, then the count will not return to 0. I have been using this solution with our team for around 2 weeks at the office now and only once has the count gone out of sync. To reset the count, simply adjust your OccupyCount Variable manually within the Home Center Variables Panel interface.

It won’t take you long to see that Geofencing with your Fibaro Home Center 2 can be very powerful. You could for example setup a Geofence for your kids so you know they have arrived home from school safely – and a lot more.

All the best,

Brad

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Fibaro - How to add Widgets to your phone

Fri, 27 May 2016 03:33:07 +0000

Easily access Fibaro scenes from Apple and Android phones and tablets.

The Fibaro App (for Home Center Lite and Home Center 2) includes a very useful Widget that can be used on Android or Apple phones and tablets to make it easy to trigger your favourite Fibaro Home Center scenes - without needing to open the Fibaro App.

What you will need...

Fibaro Home Center Lite or Fibaro Home Center 2.
At least one scene created in your Fibaro Home Center.
An Apple or Android phone or tablet.
The Fibaro App (free) for Apple or Android.

Android instructions

Depending on which version of Android you are running, the instructions below may vary slightly (these instructions are for Android Marshmallow) - however the concept remains the same and you should be able to easily adapt these directions for your Android flavour (Google is your friend).

1. Press and hold somewhere in a blank space on one of your home screen pages.

2. Select “Widgets”.

3. Scroll down to “Fibaro” Widget section and press and hold “Scene 1 x 1” (do not let go).

4. Drag the Widget to free space on your home screen and let go.

5. Select which Fibaro Scene you would like to trigger with your Widget.

6. Your Fibaro Widget is ready to go.

7. You can resize and/or move your Widget by pressing and holding.

8. Repeat steps 1 to 7 to add more Fibaro Widgets.

9. Now when you press on a Widget, your Fibaro scene will activate.

Apple iOS instructions

Setting up the Fibaro Widget on your Apple iOS device is really easy...

1. Swipe down form the top of your iOS device’s screen to access the Notifications Center.

2. Make sure “Today” is selected.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the Notifications screen and press the “Edit” button.

4. Scroll down to Fibaro and press “+”.

5. Now press “Done”.

6. Press on “Configure”.

7. This will open the Fibaro “Widgets settings”.

8. Select up to 4 scenes to add to your Widget and press the “Save” button.

9. Now when you slide down from the top of your iOS device, you will have quick and easy access to your preferred Fibaro scenes.

It's as easy as that :)

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

Vera HTTP Commands

Thu, 19 May 2016 05:13:11 +0000

Vera HTTP Commands

Did you know that you can control the Vera Edge via HTTP commands? This opens it up to a host of other technologies, including web browsers, Tasker, PHP and a lot more; basically any programming language, software or hardware that is capable of sending HTTP.

Welcome to the only place online (that I know of) where you can auto-magically generate your own Vera HTTP API control commands that will allow you to control your Vera Z-Wave devices and scenes.

Brought to you exclusively by the team at smarthome.com.au.

Vera Control - HTTP URL Creator

Vera Settings

Vera IP Address

Vera Port

What type of Vera device would you like to control?

Vera Switch (On/Off) Control

Vera Device ID

Vera Command

Vera Switch (On/Off) Device Control URL:

http://Vera IP Address:Port/data_request?id=lu_action&output_format=json&DeviceNum=0&serviceId=urn:upnp-org:serviceId:SwitchPower1&action=SetTarget&newTargetValue=0

A quick word about security

It is not recommended that you use this link over a public Wi-Fi or mobile network (you never know who is “listening”); it should only be used on your secure, private network.

At no stage is the information you enter above sent over the internet by us - it is completely safe and private (for the technically minded, the above tool was created using Javascript and is only processed client-side).

Related blogs

INSTEON Hub HTTP Commands

Fibaro HC HTTP Commands

Sat, 30 Apr 2016 04:04:01 +0000

Fibaro HC (Home Center) HTTP Commands

The Fibaro Home Center Lite and Home Center 2 are the pinnacle of Z-Wave Gateway Controllers - incredibly well designed, user-friendly and very powerful. Did you know that you can control the Fibaro Home Center via HTTP commands? This opens it up to a host of other technologies, including web browsers, Tasker, PHP and a lot more; basically any programming language, software or hardware that is capable of sending HTTP.

Welcome to the only place online (that I know of) where you can auto-magically generate your own Fibaro HC HTTP API control commands that will allow you to control your Fibaro Home Center devices and scenes.

Brought to you exclusively by the team at smarthome.com.au.

Fibaro Home Center Control - HTTP URL Creator

Fibaro HC Settings

Username

Password

HC IP Address

HC port

What type of Fibaro HC device would you like to control?

Fibaro HC Switch (On/Off) Control

Fibaro HC Device ID

Fibaro HC Command

Fibaro HC Switch (On/Off) Device Control URL:

http://username:password@HC IP Address:Port/api/callAction?deviceID=0&name=0

A quick word about security

The link generated above includes your Fibaro Home Center login details. It is not recommended that you use this link over a public Wi-Fi or mobile network (you never know who is “listening”); it should only be used on your secure, private home network.

For an added layer of security, it is also recommended to create a new "User" account within your Fibaro Home Center which has only limited access and control of devices.

Fibaro Home Center Comparison Link Library: For Automation Hubs

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

What is Z-Wave Plus?

Thu, 28 Apr 2016 20:53:01 +0000

Welcome to Z-Wave Plus.

Z-Wave has been around a lot longer than you may think. In fact, the first Z-Wave product was certified way back in 2004. For the most part, the basic building blocks of Z-Wave have not changed much in the last 13 years... until now.

With the introduction of the new "Next-Gen" Z-Wave 500 Series chipset, Z-Wave has significantly improved and extended its capabilities - Including... increased range, extended battery life, Over The Air upgrading (OTA), additional RF channels and more...

Main advantages of Z-Wave Plus.

Significant increased wireless range - now up to 45m (clear air).
50% improvement in battery life.
250% more wireless bandwidth.
New Plug-n-Play Network-Wide Inclusion feature.
Improved self-healing and fault tolerance using the new Explorer Frame System.
Standardised method for Over the Air firmware updates (OTA).
Improved product information capture for product certification database.

Will Z-Wave Plus products work with older Z-Wave technology?

Yes. Z-Wave Plus is fully backwards compatible with existing Z-Wave products.

XBMC (Kodi) Vera Z-Wave Addon

Mon, 23 Nov 2015 22:15:36 +0000

At long last…

Some time ago, I created an Add-on for XBMC (now known as Kodi – for nostalgic reasons, I still call it XBMC) for the INSTEON Hub. The Addon allows you to control INSTEON Scenes based on XBMC events. As an example, when you start to play a movie, you could have your lights automatically dim, slowly… just like a real movie theatre. It does a lot more than just that though… for a more detailed description; you can take a peek at my original blog post here… XBMC (Kodi) INSTEON Addon.

I have had (a lot of) requests to adapt the INSTEON XBMC Addon for Z-Wave Australia… which I have ignored for a long time (sorry guys). I finally found some time (and motivation) to dust off my programming skills and get it done... so after 15 cups of coffee and one very long “all nighter”, here it is in all its glory…

I present to you the XBMC Z-Wave Vera Addon (what an unimaginative name – if I were a marketing person, it may sound more like this… introducing the Ultra Uber XBMC Magical Z-Wave Scene Controllenator). Call it what you will, for anyone who uses XBMC and Z-Wave - it's awesome!

What you’ll need…

To get this all working, you will naturally need a copy of XBMC installed on your HTPC, you can get it here, it’s free!
And of course, you will need my XBMC Z-Wave Vera Addon. It’s also free (you can download it below).
Lastly, you will need either the Vera Lite or Vera 3 Z-Wave controller. These are not free (hey, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad).

Let’s get started

Assuming you already have XBMC and a Vera up and running, the first thing we need to do is download and install our free XBMC Vera Z-Wave Add-on. Save it onto your computer somewhere handy.

Download file...

XBMC Vera Z-Wave Add-on

Patience, don’t unzip the file.

If you are using a MAC, OSX sometimes likes to automatically unzip a zip for you when you download it - I would turn this setting off (Google is your friend) - we need this file to stay zipped.

Now open everything that is XBMC (assuming you have it installed, if not – choppy-choppy - it's free).

The Vera Z-Wave Add-on instructions below assume you are using the default XBMC skin – Confluence. If you are clever enough to have changed the skin, then you are smart enough to adapt the directions below ;)

1. Move to and select SYSTEM > Settings

2. Scroll to and select Add-ons

3. Select Install from zip file

4. Now locate the XBMC Vera Z-Wave Addon zip file (the one we downloaded above) and select OK to install.

Done. Vera Z-Wave Addon is now installed.

Now we do some boring stuff

In your Vera web interface, let’s create two simple Scenes; the first Scene is what we want to happen when a movie starts playing (as an example, we could dim overhead lights to say 5 percent, slowly) – I will call this Scene “XBMC Play” (you can name it anything you like). The second Scene we create is what we want to happen when the movie is stopped (most likely you will want your lights to brighten). I will call this Scene “XBMC Stop”. I am not going to go into details on how to create Scenes with the Vera, the web is flooded with instructions on how to do this.

Once created, there is one important piece of information we need from our two scenes – the Scene ID – luckily, this number (ID) is readily available and displayed in the Vera Web interface next to the Scene name (see above).

That’s all we need from Vera. Now back over to XBMC so we can tell the Vera Z-Wave Addon how to communicate with your Vera controller and assign our two scenes to events in XBMC (play and stop).

1. Navigate XBMC to SYSTEM > Settings > Add-ons > My Add-ons > Services > Kodi Vera Z-Wave Addon

2. Select Configure.

3. Make sure you are in the SETTINGS tab. Fill in the required Vera information (IP address and Port).

4. Now go to the VIDEO tab. Change Video Start to Yes. Now enter the Vera Scene ID that we created earlier.

5. Change Video Stopped to Yes. Now enter the second Vera Scene ID that we created earlier.

6. Select OK. This will close the XBMC Vera Z-Wave Add-on settings.

7. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT (sorry for shouting). You must Disable and then Enable the Add-on anytime you make a change to the settings or it will not work.

Now we get to play

That’s about all there is to it. Now when you start or stop a video in XBMC, your Z-Wave devices will do what they were told.

Amazing.

There are a number of other settings you can adjust, such as when a Video pauses, resumes playing or finishes. Just adapt the instructions above. You can also do the same for music, however I have yet to find this useful – but it's there, I hope you can put it to good use.

There are really only two other settings you may find useful…

Night Mode

This ingenious setting will allow you to only trigger the Add-on between certain hours of the day - what I assume will be night time. You don’t need to use it; it’s up to you.

1. Go back into the XBMC Vera Z-Wave Add-on Configure settings (see above).

2. Change Night Mode Activated to Yes.

3. Now set the On Time Hour and Off Time Hour. The Add-on will only be active between these hours. Told you it was ingenious.

4. Select OK to exit the Add-on settings. Be sure to Disable and then Enable the Add-on, otherwise your settings will not take effect.

One last thing you may be interested in…

Remote Control Shortcuts

This was actually a last minute feature I added, turns out I use it a lot and find it very handy. You can display a list of (up to 5) Vera Scene shortcuts on-screen – just by pressing one button on your keyboard or remote control. These shortcuts can trigger Vera Z-Wave Scenes as well as open up your XBMC window of choice.

Here’s how you do it…

1. Back into the XBMC Vera Z-Wve Add-on settings (see above). Move to the SHORTCUTS tab.

2. Change Shortcuts Active to Yes. Now make Shortcut 1 Active.

3. Fill in the information for each of the 3 settings.

4. Select OK to exit the Add-on settings. Be sure to Disable and then Enable the Add-on, otherwise your settings will not take effect.

Ok, that side of things is done, now the hard part. I remember trying to get this working for the first time and it was painful. I will try to help so it is less painful for you, however I assure you this is still going to hurt a little.

We need to assign a key-press or remote control button within XBMC to display the SHORTCUT menu on-screen.

To get this done we need to add a line of “code” to the keyboard.xml file of XBMC. Unfortunately the location of this file varies between operating systems. I use a MAC MINI as my media server, so the path for OSX is going to be similar to…

USERS/your user name/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/keymaps/keyboard.xml

There is a chance that this file does not exist, in which case you will need to make it (using any text editor). There is also a chance you will not be able to open these folders, by default, OSX hides the Library folder. Search Google for how to unhide this folder.

Given that this Add-on will work on OSX, Windows, Linux, Android, etc - The location of the keyboard.xml files varies by operating system. Please see this wiki page for some clues on where to find or create your user XBMC keyboard.xml file.

Now that we have created or opened the keyboard.xml file, you will need to add the following line...

<y mod="ctrl">SetProperty(veramenu,true,10000)</y>

Insert this between the <keyboard> </keyboard> tags (like below, you may have more stuff in your keyboard.xml file). If you created this file from scratch, simply copy the example below.

<keymap>
    <global>
        <keyboard>
            <y mod="ctrl">SetProperty(veramenu,true,10000)</y>
        </keyboard>
    </global>
</keymap>

The example above will assign Ctrl + Y as your keyboard shortcut to activate the XBMC Vera Z-Wave Addon on-screen display. You can change this to whatever you like, be careful not assign a keyboard key or combination that is already in use by XBMC.

If all has gone well, when you press Ctrl + Y, you should now see an on-screen display of your Vera Scene Shortcuts within XBMC. If not, I told you this part was hard. Google will be able to help - stick at it, it's worth it. If you find a solution that worked for you, please be sure to share in the comments section below - it may save someone else a few follicles of hair.

I went a step further and added this keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Y) to my Harmony remote. Works great.

A final word

Please let me know if you find any bugs in the comments section below. I wrote this Add-on myself. Worked really hard on it too. I am sharing it with the world for free, all I ask in return is you raise a glass the first time you use it.

Enjoy.

Brad Arthur

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

I am not responsible if this Add-on destroys your computer (literally blows it up), seriously injures your dog or starts WWIII. This software is supplied as-is, no warranties, either implicit, explicit or implied.

From the Law Offices of Bob Loblaw.

Related blogs

XBMC (Kodi) INSTEON Addon

Fibaro Z-Wave Home Center Lite

Fibaro Home Center Comparison

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 02:18:03 +0000

Simply the best Z-Wave controllers available.

Without a doubt, the Fibaro Home Center Lite and Home Center 2 are the best Z-Wave controllers on the market. They are not cheap (neither is a Ferrari), but I believe they are worth every cent. If you are looking to get into Z-Wave home automation, then the controller you choose is not where I would be looking to save money - It is going to be the "brains" of your Z-Wave enabled smart home - it needs to work perfectly, be reliable and of course... be powerful. Fibaro Home Center ticks all of these boxes, and more.

A question we often get asked is... "What is the difference between the Fibaro Home Center Lite and Home Center 2?".

It's a good question, so let's take a look...

General	Home Center Lite	Home Center 2
Graphical Scene Editor
LUA Programming
LUA Based scenes
LUA Based Virtual Devices
Virtual Devices (HTTP)
Voice Control (Lili)
Voice Over IP
Hardware	Home Center Lite	Home Center 2
Processor	ARM Cortex-A8 (720MHz)	Intel Atom (1.6GHz)
Ethernet	10/100/1000	10/100/1000
USB	0	4
Expansion Slots	2	0
Case	Plastic	Cast Alloy
Dimensions (LxWxH)	90 x 90 x 33mm	225 x 185 x 44mm
Expansion	Home Center Lite	Home Center 2
GSM Module		-
Battery Back-up Module		-

So what do these differences actually mean?

At first glance, the Home Center 2 seems to have a lot more features than the Home Center Lite - which in some ways it does. Don't be fooled though, the Home Center Lite is a very capable Z-Wave controller that may handle everything you need for your home automation setup. It is important to identify if the additional features Home Center 2 offers are important to you - and worth the extra money. So let's go through them one-by-one so you can make an informed decision...

Graphical Scene Editor

Firstly… what is a “Scene”?

Very simply - with reference to home automation – a 'scene' is usually a number of smart devices that can be triggered to perform individual, preset tasks as a ‘group’.

This ‘group’ of smart devices can be told to perform their respective tasks in unison to create a ‘Scene’.

As an example… You could create a “coming home scene”. In this scene, you could have your exterior lighting turn on (only if it's nighttime of course), set your thermostat to the perfect temperature, turn on some interior lighting and turn on the coffee maker.

In the example above, we have a number of smart devices working together - all performing individual, predefined tasks to create a coming home scene.

We could trigger the above scene to automatically run at a certain time of the day. Or we could activate the scene by pressing one button in the Fibaro app on our smartphone – or our smartphone could automatically run the scene when it detects you are close to home.

Scenes can be very simple (as above) or they can be very complex. You can add what is known as “conditional formatting” to your scenes (possibly better known as “IF-THIS-THEN-THAT”). In the coming home scene above, we actually included “conditional formatting”. We only turned on exterior lights if it is nighttime – IF (night) – THEN (turn on lights). Conditional formatting gives scenes a great deal of power and intelligence. However they are only as good as the information we assign them – in other words, we need to put in some effort if we want our home to be a truly smart home.

Fibaro is heavily reliant on scenes – as it should be. Lucky for us, they have made it easy to create scenes (even complex ones) using their “drag-and-drop” graphical user interface. Here is an example of how you could create a set of scenes that controls the watering of your garden - only under the right conditions of course...

Scene 1: "Rain"

If raining:
close roof windows - turn garden sprinklers OFF - set "it rained" variable to 1

Scene 2 "Turn garden sprinklers on at 6:00 am"

Each day at 6:00 am check if "it rained" (user defined variable):
If not ("it rained" variable = 0) - turn the sprinklers ON.

Example Scene 3 "Reset variable"

If "it rained" and 12 hours passed from that time:
set "it rained" variable value to 0

Both the Home Center Lite and Home Center 2 use the same interface to create scenes. The clever and intuitive way Fibaro have designed their interface makes it easy to create simple or complex scenes and it's one of the many things that sets it head-and-shoulders above other home automation controllers.

LUA Programming

LUA (pronounced LOO-ah) is a powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting programming language. LUA allows users (you) to create more complex control scenes than may otherwise be supported by Home Center's Graphical Scene Editor. The Home Center (both Lite and 2) Scene Editor is very powerful on its own and really doesn't lack much in functionality, however LUA compatibility brings new possibilities to the Home Center 2. LUA support is probably the most important difference between Home Center 2 (supported) and Home Center Lite (not supported). It would be worth your time to investigate LUA a bit more (Google is your friend) before deciding on which Home Center to purchase.

Although, this decision may be easier than you think... if the thought of "programming" sends cold shivers up your spine (and you have a social life), then LUA functionality may not be for you! If this is the case, don't worry, both the Home Center Lite and Home Center 2 will allow you to "program" your Z-Wave network to work just the way you like it with a very easy (and not at all scary) graphical user interface (with drag-and-drop simplicity), know as the Graphical Scene Editor (see above).

LUA Based Scenes

As discussed in LUA Programming above, LUA Scenes are also scripted “programs” that you write yourself. The Fibaro Graphical Scene Editor (shown above) does a great job of making it easy to create complex scenes, however if you are comfortable with “coding” your own scenes in the LUA language, it can actually be easier to create complex scenes in LUA. In very rare and extreme cases, LUA may be the only way to create the exact, very complex scene you want.

Again, I stress… LUA support is the biggest difference between the Home Center Lite (not supported) and the Home Center 2 (supported). So it is worth taking some time to think about the value LUA support holds, or doesn’t hold, for you.

Virtual Devices (HTTP)

Fibaro includes support for devices and products that are not Z-Wave based – these are known as Virtual Devices. These devices are usually controlled over your home’s IP network. Most smart TVs can be controlled over IP – this means that both the Fibaro Home Center Lite and Home Center 2 could control your smart TV by adding it to the Fibaro System as a Virtual Device.

You could also include the iTach Flex IP (or WiFi version) so you can control all of your audio visual equipment from the Fibaro System. You could also include control of your audio visual equipment into a Fibaro scene… Create a “movie time scene” which would dim your Z-Wave lights and turn on your AV equipment (added as a Virtual Devices) to the correct inputs and modes to watch a movie – all with the press of one button.

LUA Based Virtual Devices

Now, what if you would like things to work the other way? Perhaps you would like 3rd party systems that support LUA to control your Z-Wave devices and scenes through Fibaro Home Center – you can only do this with Home Center 2.

Voice Control (Lili)

Similar to Siri in iOS (Apple iPhone etc), Lili is a voice recognition and response program built into the Fibaro Home Center 2. Lili will allow you to control your Z-Wave network via voice commands from your smartphone - Lili can also respond to your commands. I wouldn't go as far as to say this is artificial intelligence, Lili won't talk to you about philosophy! However this is a really nice feature that you may find important - I certainly like it.

Voice Over IP

The Fibaro home Center 2 supports VOIP (Voice Over IP). This handy feature allows you to talk over an IP network. As an example, you could integrate your home's intercom system (provided it too supports VOIP) with HC2. I wouldn't call this feature a necessity, however you may find it useful.

Final thoughts...

As you can see, although the chart above seems to lean heavily in favour of Home Center 2 when compared to Home Center Lite – this is only the case if the extra features offered in Home Center 2 are important to you. If you would like a system that is easy to use and configure – then Home Center Lite may be perfect for you. If you value LUA compatibility, then the decision is easy – Home Center 2 is the way to go. It's your choice...

Fibaro Z-Wave Home Center 2

I hope this overview helps make your decision easier. We are always here to help if you have any questions or need more information. As always, leave a comment below, particularly if you can offer other readers some real-world experiences with Fibaro Home Center.

All the best,

Brad Arthur

Adding Configuration Parameters to Z-Wave Controllers

hueCraft – A Minecraft Mod for Philips hue

Thu, 02 Jul 2015 22:23:02 +0000

Bring the colours of Minecraft to life.

Minecraft is the most popular (and addictive) game in history. I for one have spent countless hours saying… “just one more block…”! Hardly serious stuff, but we are all allowed our guilty pleasures in life, aren’t we?

In this blog post I am going to show you how you can add another dimension to your Minecraft experience – dynamic, colourful lighting that changes as you make your way through the Minecraft world (with a few other surprises that I won't spoil for you). To do this, we will use the Philips hue lighting system along with a few tweaks to Minecraft.

I am not for a moment suggesting you buy Philips hue just for Minecraft - after all… hue is not cheap. However, I have been living with hue now for about two months – and I must say… long after the price is forgotten I am finding hue just keeps on giving. There are so many things you can do with hue… I’m hooked. When I find some time (in-between Minecraft sessions) I will delve into some of the more serious uses for hue in other blog posts, but for the moment, it’s time to have some fun.

Watch the video below and then we’ll get started…

Video used with permission – hueCraft_mod.

hueCraft - What you’ll need…

Philips hue Starter Pack
Minecraft
Minecraft Forge
hueCraft Mod

Instructions...

Follow these instructions exactly and the setup process shouldn’t be too painful (famous last words). Let’s start with the easy part…

Philips hue Starter Pack

If you already own the Philips hue Starter Pack (which includes the hue Bridge), then you're good to go. If not, you can get it here < shameless, I know!

Minecraft

Naturally, you will also need a working version of Minecraft (if you are one of the 326 people in Australia who don't own a copy, you can download it here).

Forge Minecraft Launcher

This is where things get a bit trickier… I will try to make this as painless as possible. We need to add the Forge Minecraft Launcher to Minecraft. Forge makes it easy to add custom Mods (modifications) to Minecraft and turn them on and off. Don't worry, you will still be able to play Minecraft "normally" even after installing Forge.

The hueCraft Mod (discussed below) requires Forge version 1.7.10 - this is not the latest version of Forge – however hueCraft will only work with this version (it will mean that you can only run version 1.7.10 of Minecraft... not a deal breaker for me). So let's download and install Forge...

For Windows users, click the link below and then click on the Installer-win button under “Download Recommended” in the page that opens.

Everyone else (including OS X users), click the link below and then click on the Installer button under “Download Recommended”.

Download Minecraft Forge here

Now locate and “double-click” the file you just downloaded - either forge-1.7.10-10.13.4.1448-1.7.10-installer-win.exe (Windows users) or forge-1.7.10-10.13.4.1448-1.7.10-installer.jar (non Windows users).

This will activate the Forge installer. You should be able to just leave all of the defaults and click OK to install.

That’s it… Forge should now be installed.

To make sure all has gone to plan, launch Minecraft. From the Minecraft Launcher, click on the Profile drop down list and select Forge.

Now click on the Play button (Minecraft needs to be run at least once with Forge installed before we proceed to the next step). If all has gone well, you should notice that Minecraft now starts up a little differently…

Once Minecraft has loaded, you should see something like this…

Great, we are almost done. While we are still in Minecraft, let’s open the Minecraft folder where the game is stored.

Click on "Options".
Click on "Resource Packs".
Click on "Open resource pack folder".

This is just an easier way to find where your copy of Minecraft lives on your computer… We need to know this in order to copy the hueCraft Mod into the correct location. You can now quit Minecraft.

hueCraft Mod

Download the hueCraft Mod here.

Now we need to copy the hueCraft Mod into the "mods" folder of Minecraft - this is why we opened the resource pack folder of Minecraft earlier – however we are currently in the wrong folder… we need to go up one level to the minecraft folder… we should now see a folder called “mods” – open this folder. Copy the hueCraft Mod we downloaded into this “mods” folder (do not decompress the downloaded hueCraft Mod file – leave it as a .zip file).

We are almost done.

Launch Minecraft again… From the Minecraft Launcher, make sure our Profile is still set to Forge – click the Play button.

Now create a new Minecraft world – I do not recommend loading a world you have already created… because we are possibly using an earlier version of Minecraft (1.7.10), you may lose some items (or worse) if you play a world that was created in a later version of Minecraft. It's up to you, but I learnt this the hard way ;)

Once your new Minecraft world has been created, you should see a message in the top left corner of the screen that says “[hueCraft] found your bridge, please press the pushlink button”. Now we do exactly what it says – push the link button on your hue Bridge.

If all has gone well, you should now see the message “[hueCraft] Connected and ready to go!”

We are done (hopefully).

That’s it, we are done. Now when you move through biomes in Minecraft, your hue lights should change colours.

hueCraft is configured by default to use your first three hue Bulbs – this can be changed… simply click on the Mods button when you open Minecraft – then click on hueCraft and Config – here you can change your lights and a few other settings.

It is also possible to change (or add) Minecraft biome colours and saturation - however this is beyond the scope of this blog… Google is your friend!

The hueCraft mod along with some Philips hue lights will also provide some other nice surprises for you as you play Minecraft (just wait until you get your first thunderstorm), but I am not going to reveal all here... much better you discover them yourself.

As always, please leave a comment below if you have enjoyed this blog or if you run into any issues – particularly if you find a mistake in the instructions above.

Enjoy.

All the best,

Brad Arthur.

Apple HomeKit vs Google Brillo.

Wed, 03 Jun 2015 03:39:55 +0000

The battle for the unified smart home begins…

In a galaxy far, far away…

Well, not that far away… here on earth actually. For home automation enthusiasts like myself, the pending battle between Apple and Google for control of the smart home universe feels like it is going to be epic... I'm talking Star Wars epic. Good vs bad, light vs dark, the Force vs the Dark Side. So who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? That depends on which side of the technology universe you live – Apple or Android.

It doesn’t really matter which side you are on, or who wins the war for that matter. In fact, I doubt there will be a clear winner - which is great – because competition drives innovation. Far more important than who wins is the fact that there is a real chance that we will finally have peace and harmony within our smart home universe.

Up until now (or very soon at least), if you wanted to turn your home into a smart home, you had to first choose which home automation technology you were going to start with… Z-Wave, INSTEON, etc. Once you made your choice, you were pretty much locked in. Different smart home technologies tend not to play well with each other. Each technology (and the companies behind them) have their own agenda, with very little interest in making smart home products compatible with other competing technologies.

This is about to change with the introduction of HomeKit (Apple) and Brillo (Google). Both companies have some very ambitious plans… Unifying different smart home devices and technologies so they will work together. Others have tried… and failed.

So why will it work this time?

Simple – nearly everyone already owns a smartphone that is either driven by iOS (Apple) or Android (Google). That’s most of the battle won right there – no need to go out and buy new technology to control your smart home – you already own it!

How are they planning to achieve this ambitious unification of the smart home?

Both Apple and Google have released new smart home “standards” (HomeKit and Brillo) into their respective operating systems. If you are running iOS 8, you already have HomeKit (it just hasn’t been “switched on” yet). Google will be including Brillo with its next Android release (Android M, due later this year).

Use the Force little green robot guy...

So what does this new smart home war mean for us? It’s actually rather huge... epic in fact!

Provided your smart home technology of choice is either HomeKit or Brillo (or both) compliant (much like the “Made for Apple” phenomenon of last decade), you will then be able to pick and choose between different home automation devices (regardless of who makes them) and smart appliances (TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, security systems, etc.) and have them all work together – securely, seamlessly and without any fuss. At last!

It means voice control of your smart home from your phone or tablet… “OK Google… It’s movie time!”. "Siri... I'm coming home, turn on the hot tub!".

It also means when you get a phone call, you can have your phone display the caller ID on your TV - if you choose to answer – the movie will be paused and your overhead lights brighten to 50%. Or even better, when you start playing a movie, your phone can be automatically put into do not disturb mode.

When your phone detects you are pulling into your driveway… the outside lights will come on (only if it’s after 6pm of course), your home’s front door will unlock, your security system will disarm and the thermostat will be automatically set to the perfect temperature.

You get the idea.

The term “you are only limited by your imagination” gets used a lot these days – but in this case it's actually true. This is going to change how we live “with” our homes, not just "in" them. It will make our living spaces truly smart, tailored perfectly to our lifestyles. I’m very excited.

The success of Apple and Google in the attempt to unify the smart home universe is going to come down to third-party developers and manufacturers making their smart devices and technologies compliant with HomeKit and Brillo.

And they will. Oh yes they will.

They will have no choice… if they don’t, they will get left behind very quickly. Such is the power of the force that is Apple and Google.

Undoubtedly I will be writing more blog posts on HomeKit and Brillo in the very near future. But for now…

Grab your lightsaber (or your phone will do) and get ready to take sides. It’s seriously on.

Dun dun dundun dun dundun dun dundun...

Related blogs

Home Automation - Where to start?

INSTEON App on Apple Watch

Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:37:52 +0000

Control your home from Apple Watch.

It's here. The long awaited Apple Watch has arrived and first impressions and reviews look like Apple have another winner on their hands (or wrists so to speak).

INSTEON have quickly come to the party by extending the INSTEON for Hub app to the Apple Watch.

Now you can monitor and control your INSTEON enabled home from your Apple Watch - all you need is the INSTEON Hub... and an Apple Watch of course. Keep an eye on sensors. Look in on your WiFi cameras. Control and dim lights. Activate a scene with just a tap - all from your wrist - without touching your iPhone.

My first impressions... simply amazing. This is what home automation is supposed to be. Easy, unobtrusive and in typical Apple and INSTEON style - "just works".

It makes so much sense. Rather than getting your iPhone out to activate an INSTEON "movie time" scene - you can activate it from your Apple Watch with just a couple of taps. I am very excited to see where this ends up going, it feels good so far.

Let's take a quick look at some of what you will be able to do with the INSTEON Hub and the Apple Watch...

Your home on Apple Watch

Home

Quickly access your Favourites and Scenes or drill down to control any device in your home.

Favourites & Devices

Scroll through a list of your home's favorites and devices with the digital crown.

Scenes

Change the mood of your entire home with just a tap from your wrist.

Control devices

Dimmable devices

With just a tap, set the brightness of a dimmable device to any one of four presets.

On/Off devices

Quickly and easily control On/Off devices.

Thermostats

Change the mode of your INSTEON Thermostat between Heat, Cool, Auto and Off.

Monitor your home

Push notifications

Instantly receive notice of triggered sensors with Push Notifications to your Apple Watch.

Open/Close and motion sensors

Check on the status of your doors and windows and motion sensors.

WiFi cameras

See what you're missing - right on your wrist - with video streamed from WiFi cameras.

Not too shabby at all! If you've been waiting for an excuse to get the Apple Watch (like you needed much convincing), this new addition to the INSTEON for Hub App may be enough to push you over the edge :)

As I mentioned at the start of this post, you will need the INSTEON Hub to enjoy home automation on your new Apple Watch.

SmartHome have a number of INSTEON Starter Kits available that include the INSTEON Hub (at a heavily reduced price - which is nice), these are a great place to start if you are looking at getting into home automation with INSTEON. If you already own the INSTEON Hub, grab yourself the Apple Watch and you're good to go - straight out of the box.

If you have been lucky enough to already try the INSTEON for Hub App with the new Apple Watch, let us know what you think in the comments section below.

All the best,

Brad Arthur

Related blogs

An introduction to INSTEON

Home Automation - Where to start?

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 01:48:17 +0000

What is the best home automation system?

More than likely, if you are reading this blog, you have a particular requirement, desire, need or problem that you are hoping home automation will be able to satisfy or solve.

Or perhaps you are just curious as to what home automation has to offer.

That’s how it usually starts… At least that’s how it started for me many years ago when I first connected a “Clapper” to my bedside lamp.

Clap your hands; lamp turns on. Clap them again; lamp turns off. Magic… I was hooked!

Home automation has come a long way since the humble days of the Clapper. There is a lot more choice of different home automation technologies and products, all claiming to be the best home automation system - they can't ALL be the best!

The truth is, each system has its strong points and its weaknesses. If you are just starting out in home automation, deciphering which smart home system is right for your needs can be a little daunting.

INSTEON vs Z-Wave vs HomeKit vs WeMo vs X10

Usually the first choice you need to make is which home automation technology is best suited to your needs. Not just today, but also well into the future. After all, you are making a valuable and important investment in your home, security and lifestyle.

Currently, different home automation systems tend not to play well together (why can’t we all just get along?). This is slowly changing...

But for now, we have a decision to make…

Which home automation technology is right for me?

When choosing products, we all find different features and capabilities important, if we didn't, then we wouldn't have over 80 different car models to choose from in Australia. Some of us are mainly concerned with safety or performance, for others, price is very important - perhaps you like all the "bells and whistles" or low maintenance may be your main priority. More than likely it is some sort of a combination of all of these things.

In this blog post, I will take you through each of the major home automation technologies available, compare the product range, reliability, value for money and give you an overview that will hopefully provide you with the basic information you need to make an informed decision - based on the things that are important to you as an individual.

What the marketing department says…

INSTEON is an advanced, dual-mesh home automation system that uses both electrical wiring (power lines) and wireless radio-frequency (RF) to communicate. Dual-mesh technology overcomes the shortfalls affecting many other automation technologies, providing a reliable, responsive, simple (yet powerful) home automation system.

Unlike all other mesh networks (including Z-Wave), INSTEON's approach has every device acting as a repeater - receiving and sending every INSTEON message to all other devices on the network. So instead of stressing the network by adding more INSTEON devices, you actually strengthen it. Other mesh networks use router tables, and only those products involved in routing the signal act as repeaters – creating a less reliable network.

Here is our opinion, without the sales pitch...

INSTEON product range

In the good ole' US of A (where INSTEON began its life over 8 years ago), the product range is very decent… with over 200 products available.

In Australia and New Zealand, there is a smaller range of INSTEON products available. This will hopefully change over time as more INSTEON products make their way here.

For the moment, the current INSTEON range will cover most of the basics, but it’s worth considering if INSTEON meets all of your home automation requirements. As an example… Currently there is no way to control IR (infra-red) devices with INSTEON. So if you are looking to control a remote controllable split-system air conditioner or perhaps your audio visual equipment, sorry… INSTEON (in Australia and New Zealand at least) can’t do that… yet.

INSTEON performance and reliability

This is INSTEON’s strongest asset - it is extremely reliable and the product quality is excellent.

INSTEON uses wireless technology to communicate, which in itself is not unique (in fact, all of the home automation technologies discussed in this blog communicate wirelessly). What is unique to INSTEON is it also communicates over your home’s existing power-lines. This “dual-mesh” approach creates an extremely robust network that is not reliant on wireless communication alone (we have all had issues with Wi-Fi dropping out).

There is one other fact that makes INSTEON the most reliable of all the technologies we are looking at in this blog… Every single INSTEON device that connects to your home’s power circuits is also a signal repeater. So the more INSTEON devices you have in your home, the more reliable the system becomes.

The build quality of INSTEON products is excellent and the technology it uses to communicate is simply the best available.

If reliability and product quality are very important to you in your home automation decision-making… it’s hard to look past INSTEON.

INSTEON pricing and value

Surprisingly, given the excellent build quality and reliability INSTEON offers; the price of INSTEON products is actually very good. It’s not the cheapest on the market, but it is also far from the most expensive.

As far as “bang-for-your-buck” goes, INSTEON offers excellent value for money.

INSTEON overall rating

I like to think of INSTEON as the “Apple” of the home automation world. The similarities are striking…

One manufacturer – therefore the quality control is consistent and to a very high standard. The build quality of each product is very good (with the exception of perhaps the Mini Remotes, I think these could improve). You can tell a lot of thought has gone into the usability of INSTEON devices, they are easy to use and more importantly; easy to setup.

INSTEON is extremely reliable (it just works) – thanks to the unique dual-mesh approach (where each module communicates via RF wireless as well as your home’s existing power-lines), coupled with the fact that most modules also act as signal repeaters, strengthening the network as you add more modules makes INSTEON an excellent choice.

I firmly believe that if the product range in Australia and New Zealand increases, INSTEON will be hard to beat when all things are considered.

Related blog: An introduction to INSTEON

View our range of INSTEON products

What the marketing department says…

Z-Wave is a wireless technology that makes regular household products, like lights, door locks and thermostats "smart". Z-Wave products "talk" to each other wirelessly and securely via RF radio frequencies.

When you power your home with Z-Wave you are able to tap into a whole ecosystem of products. Currently there are nearly 1,000 Z-Wave products to choose from. This means you can build and expand your smart home system as you choose and when you choose to do so. With Z-Wave powering your home, you can link different devices together and set up customisable actions, scenes and schedules.

Here is our opinion, without the sales pitch...

Z-Wave product range

This is Z-Wave’s strongest point of difference to all other home automation technologies; the product range is huge. At last count, there were over 900 different Z-Wave products on the market. Granted there are a lot of “double-ups”; a lot of products from different manufacturers that do the same thing. Nonetheless, the product range is very impressive. I doubt you will ever be left saying; “I wish there was a Z-Wave product that would allow me to…”.

If you can think of it, there is likely to be a Z-Wave product that can do it.

Z-Wave performance and reliability

For the most part, Z-Wave is reliable; however you should be prepared to put some effort in (coupled with a little frustration). Z-Wave requires a little more attention and tweaking than say a system like INSTEON does – although this could be a good thing if you like to “get your hands dirty”.

Z-Wave uses wireless RF technology to communicate. As we have all experienced at some time or another, wireless technologies can be a little flakey; sometimes prone to interference and range issues – especially as more and more devices fill the wireless spectrum. Z-Wave have built-in some fairly clever “smarts” to help overcome these issues and overall does a pretty good job of managing wireless dropouts and range issues.

There are a lot of companies that make Z-Wave devices, so product build quality and can vary greatly. There are some incredibly well engineered Z-Wave devices; the Fibaro range is an excellent example – these products are built to the highest standards. The Aeotec range from Aeon Labs is also a good example of quality Z-Wave products. I will discuss more about the quality variations regarding Z-Wave below.

Z-Wave pricing and value

A good rule of thumb, like most things in life; if it’s cheap, there’s a good chance it’s not going to be a great quality product. This may not matter so much if you are buying a shovel from Bunnings to dig a hole.

When it comes to connecting products to your home’s electricity and having them control expensive equipment… and also not posing a risk to your safety, then quality is definitely important.

In two years time, I promise you that you will not be thinking… “I wish I had paid $20 less for that Z-Wave Dimmer module”, but if something does go wrong, there is a very good chance that you will be thinking… “I wish I had paid $20 more for that Z-Wave Dimmer module and installed the better quality model”.

This doesn’t mean you need to pay a lot of money to get into Z-Wave, it just means you need to be a little sensible when selecting from the huge product range.

Z-Wave overall rating

If you don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty and are mildly technically minded, then Z-Wave will likely suit your home automation needs perfectly.

Just as I say INSTEON is the “Apple” of the home automation world, Z-Wave could be likened to “Google”. Again, the similarities are there…

There are lots of manufacturers that license the Z-Wave technology (just like Google does with Android). The quality of Z-Wave products can vary greatly (because so many different companies are making them).

On the plus side, just like Android, Z-Wave is extremely adaptable and customisable. If you like to have complete control over your smart home system, then Z-Wave is a great choice. When it comes to home automation, Z-Wave will allow you to do almost anything you can think of – and it will do it well, provided you choose your Z-Wave products carefully and put a little effort into the setup of your Z-Wave system.

View our range of Z-Wave products

What the marketing department says…

HomeKit is a framework developed by Apple for communicating with and controlling connected smart home accessories in your home from an iPhone or iPad. HomeKit devices can also be controlled individually or grouped together and triggered using Siri voice control.

The Home app in iOS 10 lets you securely control any "Works with Apple HomeKit” accessory. You can also organise your accessories by room, manage multiple accessories at the same time and control your home with Siri... and more.

Here is our opinion, without the sales pitch...

HomeKit product range

HomeKit has been a long time in the making - it was first announced way back in 2014. To say it has gotten off to a very slow start is an understatement - however we are now finally starting to see more HomeKit products reach the market. As usual, not all HomeKit products available overseas are available here in Australia and New Zealand (which is very frustrating). Even so, the complete HomeKit range world-wide is still very limited.

It is yet to be seen if the HomeKit product range and features will increase significantly in the near future... market demand will have the final say.

HomeKit performance and reliability

HomeKit products primarily communicate using wireless Bluetooth (Low Energy) technology - which is great from a security perspective - however it is not so great for wireless communication. A quick search on Google will reveal many frustrated stories of HomeKit devices not communicating reliably and being unresponsive.

On a more positive note, when HomeKit does work, it generally works very well - hey, it's Apple after all. If you are heavily invested in Apple products, then the closed eco-system that is HomeKit will probably not worry you too much. Just remember, once you are locked in... there is no going back - HomeKit does not play well with other technologies, so your smart home may end up being somewhat fragmented if you want to expand past the basics that HomeKit offers.

HomeKit pricing and value

HomeKit is associated with Apple... what more can I say? OK, I'll say it... HomeKit products are generally not cheap by any stretch! To be fair, the HomeKit products we have experienced are generally well made and don't feel cheap in any way.

HomeKit overall rating

Apple have placed themselves in the market as a premium brand, which is fine when you are getting a premium quality product (like an iPhone). Remember the catchphrase... "It just works"? Unfortunately this famous phrase cannot really be applied to HomeKit products - perhaps "It just mostly works, most of the time" would be more apt.

Also, it is important to remember that if you want to be able to connect to your HomeKit smart home when you are away... you will need an Apple TV (Gen 3 or above).

One shining example of HomeKit is Philips Hue - it not only works well with HomeKit, it also plays nicely with other smart home systems - if you are hellbent on HomeKit for lighting control - Hue is a great choice that will also leave your options open in the future.

Overall, if all you are looking to do is control a few devices around your home, either from your iPhone or iPad, then HomeKit may be perfect for you. Siri voice integration works well... although it has some serious competition with the rise of Amazon Echo - which can already control more "robust" smart home systems via voice.

HomeKit... Time will tell.

View our range of HomeKit products

Please note; we have discontinued stocking WeMo products due to lack of interest!

What the marketing department says…

WeMo is a series of home automation products from Belkin International, Inc. that allows users to control home electronics from anywhere. The WeMo system can be controlled from an iOS or Android smartphone running the WEMO App, via home WiFi or mobile phone network.

The WeMo App controls the WEMO devices from anywhere in the world as long as the WEMO devices’ wireless network is connected to the Internet. WeMo devices can also be controlled using IFTTT technology.

Here is our opinion, without the sales pitch...

WeMo product range

The WeMo product range is… how do I put this nicely?

There’s really no other way to say it… The product range is ridiculously small. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its strong points, but product range is definitely not one of them. This may not matter to you so much. Perhaps all you want to do is control one plug-in lamp from your phone… in which case; WeMo will do that for you quite nicely.

WeMo performance and reliability

WeMo works over your home’s existing Wi-Fi network. In fact, its communication technology is purely Wi-Fi based. This is great for one simple reason, unlike all of the other home automation technologies mentioned in this blog, you do not need a special “bridge” device (like the INSTEON Hub or Z-Wave Vera Edge) to gain control from your iPhone or Android smartphone.

Out of the box, WeMo will connect to your wireless router and allow you to take control from anywhere, without the need for extra hardware. That’s a big tick in the positive if all you want to do is control a few lamps or turn the power to some appliances on or off from your smartphone.

The build quality of WeMo products (made by Belkin) is actually very good. They have a nice modern design and don’t feel cheap in any way.

As far as reliability goes, as long as a WeMo device is placed within range of your wireless router, you should get good performance and reliability.

WeMo pricing and value

The WeMo product range (I use that term loosely) is not expensive. Coupled with the fact that you will get control from your smartphone without having to spend more money on a controller, WeMo offers good value for money for a (very) small home automation setup.

WeMo overall rating

If you are looking to control more than a few lamps or appliances, then the choice is easy; WeMo is not for you.

If you have a particular application that only requires a simple solution, then WeMo may do just fine.

There is one other very redeeming feature of WeMo (that other home automation technologies do not have - yet); it has IFTTT (IF-This-Then-That) integration. This is pretty powerful when combined with everything that the IFTTT service can do. If you are not familiar with IFTTT, take a look; it’s becoming very popular for good reason.

Please note; we have now officially retired X10 from our range.

What the marketing department says…

There isn't one!

However there is a lot of respect and gratitude.

X10 is the Granddaddy of home automation and helped define the term "home automation". It’s where it all began (nearly 40 years ago). For its time, it was complete science fiction. It is still used in millions of homes around the World today; however, it is getting really old and tired.

If you are starting out in home automation – DO NOT CONSIDER X10.

The only reason we still supply X10 products is because it is in so many homes. Not everyone wants to pull out every X10 device they have and start again. If this is you, then I strongly suggest you take a look at INSTEON, which offers some limited backwards compatibility with X10 and will allow you to make the transition slowly.

But you are lucky, you are just starting your home automation journey from scratch – so I strongly advise, and I say this with the utmost respect; do not start it with X10.

X10 product range

Because X10 has been around for so long, it has a huge product range. However most of it is outdated and the remaining products are simply too unreliable.

X10 performance and reliability

I am not even going to go into some of the reliability issues with X10, anyone who is still using it knows what I am talking about. For its time, it was brilliant; but X10’s time has well passed.

X10 pricing and value

It’s very affordable (and very unreliable). Enough said.

X10 overall rating

Thank you for everything you have done, however It’s time to retire and take it easy X10 – you’ve earned it.

Final thoughts…

So which smart home system do you choose?

Just as we all live in our homes differently, this is a very personal decision.

If you want a system that “just works”, is easy to install and use and will do most of what you want today and in the future, then I recommend you take a close look at INSTEON. Just as a matter of interest, INSTEON is what I choose to use at home - and believe me, I can take my pick of home automation products. I love its reliability and ease of use.

Edit: I have now moved over almost entirely to Z-Wave - INSTEON has served me well, however the lack of product range finally forced me to make the switch.

If you are looking for a system that offers a wide product range and don’t mind tinkering (and the occasional trouble-shooting), then Z-Wave may be the ideal system for you. I can guarantee you this much; you will never be left wondering… “Can I do that with Z-Wave”? Or… “Is there a product that will allow me to…”? Z-Wave will have you covered.

If all you want to do is control some basic lighting or appliances, or perhaps Apple Siri voice integration is important to you, then HomeKit may be for you – however, at this stage, don’t expect to be able to grow your smart home beyond the basics in the future.

Your decision can usually be guided by what you want to achieve and what is important to you.

If you would like to discuss your particular requirements, or just want some advice; contact us, we’d love to hear from you.

All the best,

Brad Arthur

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Apple HomeKit vs Google Brillo

An introduction to INSTEON

XBMC (Kodi) INSTEON Addon

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:55:00 +0000

Straight-off-the-bat…

You will need an INSTEON Hub to enjoy the goodness below.

If you are not familiar with XBMC, it’s time to introduce yourself… seriously. If you are familiar with the world’s greatest 10-foot interface (sorry PLEX… respect your elders), then you are in for a real treat.

I’m going to show you how you can have your INSTEON enabled scenes, lights and popcorn maker automatically activate when you start to play a movie. That’s right, when you settle down on your couch (or for those of you lucky enough – your home theatre recliner) and press play;

your over-head lights will turn off (slowly, real slow – movie theatre slow)
your lamp will automatically dim or brighten to 20%
your popcorn maker in the kitchen will switch on
your surround-sound stereo will kick in and…
all will be well in the world as you sit back and take in the latest episode of Game of Thrones

It gets better

Smell that? That’s the popcorn… it’s ready. Pause XBMC. Then, auto-magically;

your overhead lights will ramp up to 50%
your hallway light will turn on so you don’t injure yourself in your rush to dribble hot butter down your chin
your popcorn maker will switch off - with the tub now over-flowing with crunchy, buttery goodness, mmmm… (I really like popcorn)

Resume watching XBMC;

your overhead lights turn off again, yes - slowly
the hallway lights turn off
you get the idea…

Some of you have probably guessed where I’m going with this… so I won’t torture you any longer… here is the link...

XBMC INSTEON Add-on

Off you go, no need to read instructions, you will get it done with pure, unadulterated intuition alone.

If you (like me) are part of the 68.7% of the population that likes to get things done without reading a manual or instructions – only to return 23 minutes later - welcome back.

If you are part of the 18.4% who like to read instructions, make sure it gets done correctly – the first time – I salute you… read on.

By the way, some of you may have noticed we have 12.9% of the population unaccounted for... Let’s face it, some people should not own computers, let alone operate a popcorn maker – under any circumstances.

Let’s get started

The first thing you should do is download the free XBMC INSTEON Add-on (seriously this time). Save it onto your computer somewhere handy (not your desktop – THIS IS NOT A PLACE FOR ALL THE JUNK YOU DOWNLOAD).

Patience, don’t unzip the file.

If you are using a MAC, OSX sometimes likes to automatically unzip a zip for you when you download it – would you let anyone else unzip something so precious… for you? I didn’t think so. I would turn this setting off (Google is your friend).

Now open everything that is XBMC (assuming you have it installed, if not – choppy-choppy - it's free).

The INSTEON Add-on instructions below assume you are using the default XBMC skin – Confluence. If you are clever enough to have changed the skin, then you are smart enough to adapt the directions below ;)

1. Move to and select SYSTEM > Settings

2. Scroll to and select Add-ons

3. Select Install from zip file

4. Now locate the INSTEON Add-on zip file (the one we didn’t save onto our desktop earlier) and select OK to install.

Done. INSTEON Add-on installed (got to love XBMC – and the Drake).

Now we do some boring stuff

The INSTEON Add-on is installed. Great. Now we need to configure it (you know, tell it stuff so it can do stuff and that). Don’t say I didn’t mention this from the beginning - You will need to have your INSTEON Hub setup and working, along with the free INSTEON for Hub app (available for Android, Apple, and Windows smartphones and tablets).

The Andriod, iOS and Windows INSTEON for Hub apps have some slight layout and functionality differences (why can’t we all just get along?).

Anyhow, if your platform does not match the instructions below (Android) then a quick search on Google will get you everything you need for the equivalent procedures for your platform flavour of choice.

There is some information we will need from the App – we will also need to set-up an INSTEON Scene. Let’s start there…

1. Open the INSTEON for Hub app on your favourite mobile device (mine is a Nexus 5… just saying is all).

2. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

3. Now press on Scenes to open the Scenes Settings.

4. Select the + icon in the top right to add a new Scene.

5. Create a Scene – let’s call it XBMC Play, add some INSTEON devices and adjust the settings you would like to happen when you press play on XBMC.

6. Make a note of the INSTEON Group Number. This will be important, write it down, or don’t. Finish up and save your Scene.

OK, almost done in the App. A few last pieces of important information we need. The INSTEON Hub IP address, port number, username and password. Don’t stress, it’s actually easy. Definitely write this information down though…

1. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

2. Now press on House to open the Hub Settings.

3. Scroll down until you see the Local IP address. Make a note of it along with the Port number.

4. Scroll down further and make a note of the Hub Username.

5. Password - If you don’t know the password, simply change it and make a note of the new one.

That’s all we need from the App. Now back over to XBMC so we can tell the INSTEON Add-on how to communicate with your INSTEON Hub.

1. Navigate XBMC to SYSTEM > Settings > Add-ons > Enabled Add-ons > Services > INSTEON Hub XBMC Event

2. Select Configure.

3. Make sure you are in the SETTINGS tab. Fill in the INSTEON Hub information that we got from the App earlier.

4. Now go to the VIDEO tab. Change Video Start to Yes. Now enter the INSTEON Group (Scene) ID that we created earlier in the App.

5. Select OK. This will close the XBMC INSTEON Add-on settings.

6. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT (sorry for shouting). You must Disable and then Enable the Add-on anytime you make a change to the settings or it will not work.

Now we get to play

That’s about all there is to it. Now when you start a video in XBMC, your INSTEON devices will do what they were told.

Amazing.

There are a number of other settings you can adjust, such as when a Video pauses, stops playing or resumes playing. Just adapt the instructions above. You can also do the same for music, however I have yet to find this useful – but it's there, I hope you can put it to good use.

There are really only two other settings you may find useful…

Night Mode

From the beginning of creating this Add-on, there was a lingering voice in the back of my head… “What if I don’t want INSTEON Scenes to activate during the day?”. I ignored it… for a long time - at least until I started using version 1.0 of this Add-on. After using it for a while, I had no choice… it had to be done. That’s when I created the masterpiece that I have affectionately called Night Mode.

This ingenious setting will allow you to only trigger the Add-on between certain hours of the day - what I assume will be night time. You don’t need to use it; it’s up to you.

1. Go back into the XBMC INSTEON Add-on Configure settings (see above).

2. Change Night Mode Activated to Yes.

3. Now set the On Time Hour and Off Time Hour. The Add-on will only be active between these hours. Told you it was ingenious.

4. Select OK to exit the Add-on settings. Be sure to Disable and then Enable the Add-on, otherwise your settings will not take effect.

One last thing you may be interested in…

Remote Control Shortcuts

This was actually a last minute feature I added, turns out I use it a lot and find it very handy. You can display a list of (up to 5) INSTEON shortcuts on-screen – just by pressing one button on your keyboard or remote control. These shortcuts can trigger INSTEON scenes as well as open up your XBMC window of choice.

Here’s how you do it…

1. Back into the XBMC INSTEON Add-on settings (see above). Move to the SHORTCUTS tab.

2. Change Shortcuts Active to Yes. Now make Shortcut 1 Active.

3. Fill in the information for each of the 3 settings.

4. Select OK to exit the Add-on settings. Be sure to Disable and then Enable the Add-on, otherwise your settings will not take effect.

We need to assign a key-press or remote control button within XBMC to display the SHORTCUT menu on-screen.

USERS/your user name/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/keymaps/keyboard.xml

Given that this Add-on will work on OSX, Windows, Linux, Android, etc - The location of the keyboard.xml files varies by operating system. Please see this wiki page for some clues on where to find or create your user XBMC keyboard.xml file.

Now that we have created or opened the keyboard.xml file, you will need to add the following line...

<y mod="ctrl">SetProperty(insteonmenu,true,10000)</y>

Insert this between the <keyboard> </keyboard> tags (like below, you may have more stuff in your keyboard.xml file). If you created this file from scratch, simply copy the example below.

<keymap>
    <global>
        <keyboard>
            <y mod="ctrl">SetProperty(insteonmenu,true,10000)</y>
        </keyboard>
    </global>
</keymap>

The example above will assign Ctrl + Y as your keyboard shortcut to activate the XBMC INSTEON Add-on on-screen display. You can change this to whatever you like, be careful not assign a keyboard key or combination that is already in use by XBMC.

If all has gone well, when you press Ctrl + Y, you should now see an on-screen display of your INSTEON Shortcuts within XBMC. If not, I told you this part was hard. Google will be able to help - stick at it, it's worth it. If you find a solution that worked for you, please be sure to share in the comments section below - it may save someone else a few follicles of hair.

I went a step further and added this keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Y) to my Harmony remote. Works great.

A final word

I wrote this Add-on myself. Worked really hard on it too. I am sharing it with the world for free, all I ask in return is you raise a glass the first time you use it.

Enjoy.

Brad Arthur

DISCLAIMER

Related blogs

INSTEON Hub HTTP Commands

INSTEON HTTP Command Generator

Android Wear home automation

Sun, 30 Nov 2014 05:19:47 +0000

It’s time.

At least that’s what the Moto 360 ads would have us believe. You may still be deciding if a smartwatch is right for you. I mean, who needs yet another gadget – right? That’s what I was thinking – until I recently got my Android Wear powered Moto 360.

I must admit, purchasing my new smartwatch was a guilty pleasure. I mean I really didn’t need it – but I sure wanted it (I’m a nerd at heart). Although a strange thing has happened since I strapped the latest technological wonder to my wrist. An unexpected and very pleasant surprise in fact…

I find I am using my phone less – a lot less.

This has to be a good thing. My new smartwatch has given me more of one of my most precious commodities – time (pardon the really bad pun).

I handle my phone so much less these days. All my important notifications and information are now on my wrist. I can see who sent me an email, see my schedule for the day, reply to a text message (just by talking no less), access weather and other information I find useful throughout my busy day – all without touching my phone. Oh yeah, I almost forgot – it also tells me the time.

So it’s been a week now. Long enough for me to start asking… What else can I do with my smartwatch? I mean, thanks... you’ve saved me time, made life easier and brought me endless geeky pleasure. But what have you done for me lately?

This got me to thinking…

I would really love to control my INSTEON home automation system using my Android Wear powered Moto 360.

So here it is…

How to control INSTEON using Android Wear

What you will need:

The awesome INSTEON Hub
Some INSTEON Responders so we can control some lights, appliances or scenes
An Android smartphone and smartwatch (sorry Apple – but you made it this way)
The INSTEON for Hub app (free from the Google Play store)
A little plugin app called WearTasker, which works with....
The truly amazing app called Tasker

The INSTEON side of things

I will assume you have your INSTEON Hub and you are already enjoying your INSTEON enabled home. If not – get cracking – smarthome.com.au will have your new INSTEON Starter Kit on its way to you pronto.

Let’s open the INSTEON for Hub app on your favourite Android device (mine is a Nexus 5, just saying is all). There are a few important bits of information we need from the app to get this all working, here’s how we get it…

1. Open the INSTEON for Hub app.

2. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

3. Now press on House to open the Hub Settings.

4. Scroll down until you see the Local IP address. Make a note of it along with the Port number.

5. Scroll down further and make a note of the Hub Username.

6. Password - If you don’t know the password, simply change it and make a note of the new one.

Great. One more thing we need to do. Create an INSTEON scene so Tasker has something to trigger when you use your Android Wear smart watch.

How to create an INSTEON scene...

1. Make sure the INSTEON for Hub app is still open, if not - you were too quick, open it again.

2. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

3. Now press on Scenes to open the Scenes Settings.

4. Select the + icon in the top right to add a new Scene.

5. Create a Scene – call it anything you like, add some INSTEON devices and adjust the settings you would like to happen when you command it.

6. Make a note of the INSTEON Group Number. This will be important, write it down, or don’t. Finish up and save your Scene.

That’s all we need from the INSTEON app. Now on to…

The Tasker side of things

If you haven’t already done so, download Tasker from the Google Play store. You will also need to buy another app WearTasker - it's a little Tasker plugin. Luckily both of these apps are dirt-cheap (cliché time… “Less than the price of a cup of coffee”).

If you are familiar with Tasker, my apologies in advance. The instructions below are going to take things step-by-step – slowly – so newcomers are able to share in our Tasker joy. Just skim the parts you already know and read the parts you don’t.

1. Open Tasker

2. In the Tasks tab, click on the + icon.

3. Name your Task and press the tick icon.

4. Now select the + icon to add an action we want the Task to perform.

5. Select Net.

6. Now select HTTP Post.

This next step requires a little more of an explanation. We are going to enter the INSTEON Group Number from the scene we created earlier in the INSTEON app, but it needs to be formatted correctly so that the INSTEON Hub understands what you want it to do.

Here is what a typical INSTEON HTTP command may look like:

admin:password@192.168.2.107:25105/0?1116=I=0

In my home, this command will turn on one of my office scenes.

“Great” I hear you say, “How does that help me on my quest for home automation nirvana”?

It doesn’t, but this does…

Got what you needed? Let’s continue…

1. Enter the INSTEON HTTP command you just created into the Server:Port field.

2. Select the back icon next to Action Edit at the top of the screen.

3. Now you can test that you have done everything right, select the Play icon in the bottom left corner of the screen to test your task.

If all has gone well, your INSTEON scene should have responded. Be sure to press the Back icon next to Task Edit in the top-left corner of the screen and you are done.

“I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.”

If all did not go well, back to the drawing board, follow the instructions above again. If you are sure you have completed this correctly, post a comment below screaming for help, someone may hear you (even possibly me, but I doubt it).

The Android Wear side of things

We are almost there. Now we need to bring all of this magic together so we can trigger our INSTEON scene from an Android Wear smartwatch. For this we use a Tasker plugin app called WearTasker - it's free (with an option to upgrade for a small fee).

The home stretch...

1. Open WearTasker.

2. Select the + icon in the bottom right of the screen.

3. Now select Add task.

4. Choose from your list of Tasker tasks.

5. Select the menu options in the top right corner.

6. Select Save & Exit.

We are done. When you look on your Android Wear smartwatch, you should now have an app called Tasker. If you open this app, you will see your INSTEON scene ready and waiting to be activated.

It is worth revisiting the WearTasker app and playing around with some of the settings (among other things, you can choose a custom icon for your Task which is nice).

On a side note, I found a great app for my Moto 360 called Wear Mini Launcher, this app makes it easy to access all of your other apps. Once installed, you will be able to trigger your INSTEON scenes with one swipe and one tap - much faster than the stock-standard way of accessing apps on Android Wear.

For the moment, voice control on Android Wear is not yet available for Tasker (you can do this on your phone though), however I have it on good authority that it is being worked on, you can bet I will update this post once it has been finalised.

Update - Voice control

WearTasker now supports voice control. There is a new option in the WearTasker app - Voice Actions. You can only set three voice control options - and you cannot set custom voice commands. After assigning a task to one of the Voice Actions in the app, you then say "OK Google" - "Start task 1".

I have played around with this for a bit and it seems to work well (other than being a little slow). It's not as flexible as I would like (would be great if you could set your own voice command triggers), but it's a great start.

As always, leave some feedback below if you found this blog post in the slightest way helpful ;)

All the best,

Brad Arthur

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INSTEON announces Windows App

INSTEON meets Cortana

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 08:08:41 +0000

PRESS RELEASE - Irvine, California.

INSTEON Windows 8.1 Phone App employs Cortana to enhance life in the connected home

INSTEON, creators of the world’s best-selling home automation and control technology, today announced that it is continuing to augment the capabilities of its Windows 8.1 Phone app by integrating Cortana. Microsoft’s proactive digital assistant will enable users to control INSTEON smart products and monitor the home by just speaking to Cortana, making life in the connected home easier than ever.

"Cortana was designed with a simple purpose in mind: To make the user’s life easier,” said Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president and Chief Evangelist, Developer Experience and evangelism, Microsoft Corp. “INSTEON utilizes Cortana’s personal assistant features so that users will be able to enjoy even more conveniences by just asking Cortana, ‘INSTEON, turn on my Kitchen Lights.’”

Cortana is Microsoft’s intelligent assistant that uses natural language understanding and text to respond to users’ inquiries, launch applications and set/send reminders. The all-new digital assistant also offers proactive suggestions, providing useful recommendations as she gets to know each unique user. Integrating Cortana with INSTEON products will enable users to accomplish a variety of tasks by simply speaking to Cortana.

For example, users can:

Ask Cortana to dim the lights for movie time based on specially created scenes - “INSTEON, turn on Movie Time.”
Instruct the thermostat to reduce the temperature to ensure that the house is cool upon returning home from work
“INSTEON, adjust ‘Living Room Thermostat’ temperature down.”
Tell Cortana that you’re ready for bed - “INSTEON, turn off all of the lights.”

“Using Cortana to control our products is the next logical step as our relationship with Microsoft continues to evolve,” said Joe Dada, CEO, INSTEON. “Our long-term goal is to give users complete autonomy over their homes and smart products. Adding a voice-driven, personal assistant into the mix is just another way that we can make people’s lives easier.”

Cortana will be available in the INSTEON Windows Phone app later this year.

INSTEON’s reliable dual-band technology uses both the existing wires (power line) in the home and radio-frequency (RF) communication instead of relying on spotty Wi-Fi connections and routers, which dictate where smart devices must be placed to work properly. By making every networked device talk to each other via RF and the power line, INSTEON eliminates the need for custom wiring and ensures that every device is always connected. Adding remote control and automation to everything from home monitoring to lighting, INSTEON’s dual-band network and devices allow users to manage the home or office in more variations than any other home automation technology.

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An introduction to INSTEON

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 23:59:33 +0000

So what is INSTEON anyway?

I'm glad you asked.

That's what the marketing material tells us. But what does this really mean? What can INSTEON do for you in the real world - in your home or office?

In this blog post, I will give you some real world examples of how easy it is to turn your home into a smart home - as well as giving you a glimpse at the endless possibilities home automation has to offer. If you are new to home automation, I suggest starting small, keep it simple. Your new smart home can evolve over time. Once you experience the convenience, cost savings, security and comfort that home automation has to offer, you will never turn back.

It's no secret that INSTEON is my favourite home automation technology, it's what I choose to use at home. It's reliable, affordable and does everything I need - perfectly. At the risk of sounding a bit over-the-top, INSTEON can actually change how you live “with” (not in) your home. Transforming your living spaces into intelligent, comfortable, secure and connected environments – fine-tuned to suit your lifestyle perfectly.

Let's start simple

Creating our first INSTEON network - All we need is one INSTEON Controller and one INSTEON Responder. The controller makes the responder, well… respond.

In this example, we are going to control a lamp that is plugged into an INSTEON Plug-in Dimmer Module - this is our INSTEON Responder.

We also need something to tell the INSTEON Responder (our Plug-in Dimmer Module) what we want it to do. Here, we will use the very handy INSTEON Mini Remote - this will be our first INSTEON Controller.

This will only take a minute or two - it's really easy.

1. Plug a dimmable lamp into the INSTEON Plug-in Dimmer module - which in turn is plugged into a standard power socket.

2. Using the manual control toggle-button on the side of the Plug-in Dimmer module, set the lamp to the desired "on" lighting level.

3. Press the set button on the side of the INSTEON Plug-in Dimmer module. This will place the module into "paring mode".

4. Now press the top of the toggle button on the Mini Remote - we are now ready to pair the Mini Remote with the Plug-in module.

5. Press the set button located on the bottom of the Mini Remote. You will hear two beeps to let you know the pairing was successful.

6. Press the top of the toggle button on the Mini Remote and your lamp will light up to your pre-set level. Press the bottom toggle button and your lamp will turn off.

It's as easy as that.

Getting a little more adventurous

Great. Now we have easy on/off or dim/brighten control of our INSTEON enabled lamp using the Mini Remote. We are going to expand on this basic INSTEON network by adding motion sensing control to the Plug-in Dimmer module. For this, we will use the INSTEON Motion Sensor – our second INSTEON Controller.

Just like we did above, we simply need to pair the INSTEON Plug-in Dimmer module to the INSTEON Motion Sensor.

A few tweaks here and little adjustment there and we now have motion-sensing control of our lamp. So when someone walks into the room, the lamp will automatically turn on to your pre-desired level. All without lifting a finger – magic.

That is only half the story though. We can do so much more – including saving some money and energy by having the Motion Sensor turn the lamp off when you leave a room. Not bad at all.

Ahhh… but what if we don’t want the lamp to turn on during the day when it’s not needed? After all, that would defeat the purpose of saving all of that energy.

No problem, all we need to do is adjust the Motion Sensor’s built-in photocell sensor so it will only activate the Plug-in Dimmer module at a certain lighting threshold. That’s just a fancy way of saying your lamp will not automatically turn on during the day.

Very smart.

Let’s keep going…

We now have two INSTEON Controllers (Mini Remote and Motion Sensor) controlling our plug-in lamp (connected to the Plug-in Dimmer module).

Time to add another Responder to our INSTEON network.

We are going to take control of an overhead lighting fixture using the INSTEON LED Bulb. This will literally be as easy as changing a light bulb.

1. Remove your old light bulb.

2. Insert the INSTEON Led Bulb.

3. Pair the LED Bulb to an INSTEON Controller.

I told you it was easy. The INSTEON LED Bulb is great, you’ll get around 50,000 hours of use and it only consumes 8 watts of power. It also has a really nice, warm-white glow to it - oh yeah, did I also mention it's dimmable?

There are other ways to control your overhead lighting, we could use an INSTEON Micro Module or DIN Rail Module – however these need to be installed by a licensed electrician. For this blog post, I want to keep things simple and do-it-yourself. It’s good to know you have options though.

Standby... there's more

Studies have found around 10% of your annual electricity usage is consumed by devices using standby power. The only way to avoid standby power usage is to turn your electrical devices off at the switch. In most cases, this is simply not practical (and certainly not convenient).

INSTEON offers solutions that will not only save you money, but will also make it easy to reduce standby power usage. Let's take your home entertainment system as an example. You probably have a few pieces of audio visual equipment connected to your TV (Blu-ray player, DVR, Foxtel, AV receiver, etc), all of these (including the TV) use standby power when they are not in use (which for most people is the majority of time).

By plugging these devices into a single INSTEON Plug-in Relay (On/Off) module (by way of a bower-board), you can easily turn all of your audio visual equipment off (or on) at the source. You could even schedule the power to turn off and on automatically between certain times of the day (such as when you are sleeping or at work) - saving you a significant amount of money and energy.

Setting the perfect scene

Now this is where things get very interesting. Not only can you control individual INSTEON Responders, you can also "group" them together so that an INSTEON Controller can control many INSTEON Responders - at the same time. This is known as a "scene" and is actually really powerful. As an example - using everything we have covered so far in this blog post - we could have one button on the Mini Remote turn on our lounge room lamp to 30% brightness, whilst also turning off the overhead light (with a slow ramp-down rate for that genuine movie theatre effect) and finally, we could have all of our audio visual equipment come to life - creating the perfect movie time scene.

As another example, you could create a "bedtime" scene that turns off all the lights in your home (except the hallway light perhaps, which you could dim to around 20%) and turn off the power to all of your electrical devices that are no longer required (to save energy).

Hear a bump in the night? No problem - with one button press you could turn on all the lights (including exterior lighting) so you are not investigating in the dark - you will also more than likely scare off any potential confrontations. There is no limit to what you can do with INSTEON scenes - whether it be for comfort, convenience, energy saving or security (well technically there is a limit - up to 400 INSTEON devices included in a single scene!).

Bringing it all together

There is one INSTEON device I seriously urge you to consider if you are looking at getting into home automation.

The INSTEON Hub.

This nondescript little white box extends the capabilities of your INSTEON smart home onto a whole new level. Once connected to your home's wireless router, you can control your INSTEON enabled home from the palm of your hand using any Android, Apple or Windows smartphone or tablet. You can easily create simple or complex scenes, schedule timers, control your heating and cooling system, check in on your home using IP cameras and a lot more - from anywhere in your home or even from halfway around the world.

We have a number of INSTEON Starter Kits available that include the INSTEON Hub (at a heavily reduced price - which is nice), these are a great place to start if you are looking at getting into home automation with INSTEON.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and that it has provided some inspiration for your new smart home. Home automation is perhaps not as "exclusive" or expensive as you may have thought, best of all, it doesn't have to be complicated.

All the best,

Brad Arthur

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INSTEON announces Windows App

Apple HomeKit INSTEON Hub Pro

Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:14:00 +0000

INSTEON Hub Pro with Apple HomeKit integration - Coming soon to smart home.com.au

PRESS RELEASE - Las Vegas – Consumer Electronics Show

INSTEON announces new Hub Pro with Apple HomeKit integration

INSTEON, creators of the world’s premier home automation and control technology, today announced a new Insteon App supporting Apple HomeKit technology for home management. With the HomeKit-enabled Insteon App, users can control any HomeKit-enabled device, regardless of brand or product type. Insteon is also offering a new HomeKit-enabled Insteon Hub, which brings Insteon switches, outlets, thermostats, and light bulbs into the HomeKit ecosystem.

HomeKit delivers a common protocol, secure pairing and the ability to easily control individual or groups of products throughout the house including integration with Siri®, Apple’s personal voice assistant. With HomeKit, you can create scenarios to direct Siri, such as “Bedtime, Siri,” that would dim the lights, lock the doors, close the garage door and set the thermostat.

The new Insteon App will work with all HomeKit-enabled products from various manufacturers and protocols, providing a simple, singular method for consumers to control connected smart home devices.

INSTEON Hub Pro:

Control HomeKit-enabled lights, door locks, color-changing bulbs, garage door openers, thermostats and any other HomeKit-enabled products
Control Insteon switches, outlets, thermostats and more when paired with the HomeKit-enabled
Easily add devices with just a tap
Create and manage rooms, zones and even multiple houses
Schedule scenes and set repeats for day, week or date
Dashboard view for quick visibility and control
Quickly create powerful scenes that adjust multiple devices

“We’re thrilled to launch our HomeKit-enabled Insteon App and Insteon Hub. This brings together more products from more manufacturers under a single platform than we’ve ever seen,” said Joe Dada, CEO, Insteon. “Support for HomeKit technology for home management will allow us to provide a simple and easy experience for our customers, with the ability to securely pair and control devices throughout the house including integration with Siri.”

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INSTEON Hub HTTP Commands

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 04:08:00 +0000

INSTEON HTTP Commands

The INSTEON Hub is an amazing piece of kit, it works flawlessly with the INSTEON for Hub app. Did you know that it also works with direct HTTP commands? This opens it up to a host of other technologies, including web browsers, Tasker, PHP and more; basically any programming language, software or hardware that is capable of sending HTTP.

Welcome to the only place online (that I know of) where you can auto-magically generate your own INSTEON Hub HTTP control commands that will work with the complete range of INSTEON relays, dimmers, thermostats and scenes.

Brought to you exclusively by the team at smarthome.com.au.

INSTEON Hub - HTTP Control Generator

INSTEON Hub Settings

Username

Password

Hub IP Address

Hub port

Type of INSTEON device you would you like to control

INSTEON Group (Scene) Control

INSTEON Group #

INSTEON Command

INSTEON Group (Scene) Control HTTP:

http://username:password@Hub IP Address:Port/0?CommandGroup=I=0

A quick word about security

The link generated above includes your INSTEON Hub login details. It is not recommended that you use this link over a public Wi-Fi or mobile network (you never know who is “listening”); it should only be used on your secure, private home network.

Instructions

How to use the INSTEON Hub HTTP Control Generator

So, how do you use this contraption? it's actually kind of easy, I will walk you through each step...

INSTEON Hub Settings

All you need here is some basic information about your INSTEON Hub, including the INSTEON Hub network and login details. See the INSTEON HUB tab above for instructions on how to retrieve this information from the INSTEON for Hub app.

Type of INSTEON device you would you like to control

Select the type of INSTEON Responder you would like to control. I will go through each option and its associated settings...

INSTEON Group (Scene)

An INSTEON Scene (or Group as it is sometimes known) is simply a collection of INSTEON devices along with their respective predefined state (such as on/off, dim level, ramp-rate, etc), linked together into a single "scene". You can choose to switch a scene on or off.

INSTEON Group #:

To locate your INSTEON Scene Group number, follow the instructions in the INSTEON SCENES tab above.

INSTEON Command:

ON - Turn your INSTEON Scene on.

OFF - Turn your INSTEON Scene off.

INSTEON Relay Module

These are INSTEON Responders (modules) that switch the power supply to a connected appliance or light on/off.

INSTEON ID:

To locate your INSTEON Relay Module ID, follow the instructions in the INSTEON RESPONDERS tab above.

INSTEON Command:

FAST ON - Instantly turn your INSTEON Responder on.

FAST OFF - Instantly turn your INSTEON Responder off.

INSTEON Dimmer Module

These are INSTEON Responders (modules) that switch on/off or dim/brighten your lighting.

INSTEON ID:

To locate your INSTEON Dimmer Module ID, follow the instructions in the INSTEON RESPONDERS tab above.

INSTEON Command:

ON - Ramp-up (brighten) or ramp-down (dim) your light to a specified percentage (between 0% - 100%).

FAST ON - Instantly turn your light on.

OFF - Ramp-down (dim) your light to off.

FAST OFF - Instantly turn your light off.

INSTEON Thermostat

An INSTEON Thermostat replaces your standard 24V thermostat and allows you to control your heating/cooling system.

INSTEON ID:

To locate your INSTEON Thermostat ID, follow the instructions in the INSTEON RESPONDERS tab above.

INSTEON Command:

ON HEAT - Turn Heat Mode on.

ON COOL - Turn Cool Mode on.

ON AUTO - Turn Auto Mode on.

ON FAN - Turn the Fan on.

OFF FAN - Turn the Fan off.

OFF ALL - Turn off all thermostat Modes.

COOL SETPOINT - Adjust the Cool Mode temperature (send this command after turning on Auto or Cool Mode).

HEAT SETPOINT - Adjust the Heat Mode temperature (send this command after turning on Auto or Heat Mode).

INSTEON Control HTTP

Click on the link generated and a new web browser window will open and execute your INSTEON HTTP Command - I have appended a random number to the end of the link to help avoid web browser cache issues. If you would like to use this link without the random number cache fix, simply copy the link text (not the actual link address).

INSTEON Hub

How to find your INSTEON Hub Settings

Follow the instructions below to find your INSTEON Hub Username, Password, IP Address and Port. You will need to have your INSTEON Hub setup and working with the free INSTEON for Hub app.

The Android, iOS and Windows INSTEON for Hub apps have some slight layout and functionality differences (why can’t we all just get along?).

Anyhow, if your platform does not match the instructions below (Android) then a quick search on Google will get you everything you need for the equivalent procedures for your platform flavour of choice.

1. Open the INSTEON for Hub app.

2. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

3. Now press on House to open the Hub Settings.

4. Scroll down until you see the Local IP address. Make a note of it along with the Port number.

5. Scroll down further and make a note of the Hub Username.

6. Password - If you don’t know the password, simply change it and make a note of the new one.

INSTEON Scenes

How to find your INSTEON Group (Scene) ID

INSTEON Scenes created with the INSTEON for Hub app and stored in the INSTEON Hub are assigned a unique Group Number (ID), it's easy to find this number by following the instructions below.

The Android, iOS and Windows INSTEON for Hub apps have some slight layout and functionality differences (why can’t we all just get along?).

Anyhow, if your platform does not match the instructions below (Android) then a quick search on Google will get you everything you need for the equivalent procedures for your platform flavour of choice.

1. Open the INSTEON for Hub app.

2. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

3. Now select Scenes.

4. Choose the INSTEON Scene for which you would like to obtain the INSTEON Group (Scene) Number.

5. Scroll down to view the Group Number, in this example it is 5.

INSTEON Responders

How to find your INSTEON Responder ID

Every INSTEON Responder (relay, dimmer, thermostat, etc) has a unique ID that identifies the module to an INSTEON network. You should be able to easily see this ID printed on the INSTEON module itself, it will look similar to A1.B2.C3. (do not include the dots when entering this information above).

However, there may be circumstances where you do not have access to the INSTEON module (such as an in-wall dimmer or relay module), in this case it is easier to get the INSTEON ID from the INSTEON for Hub app by following the instructions below.

The Android, iOS and Windows INSTEON for Hub apps have some slight layout and functionality differences (why can’t we all just get along?).

Anyhow, if your platform does not match the instructions below (Android) then a quick search on Google will get you everything you need for the equivalent procedures for your platform flavour of choice.

1. Open the INSTEON for Hub app.

2. Select the Gear icon and then press Edit Settings.

3. Now select Devices.

4. Choose the INSTEON device for which you would like to obtain the INSTEON ID.

5. Scroll down to view the INSTEON ID, in this example it is 23 4B F1 (do not include the dots).

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