Indigo Domotics

I am not yet familiar enough with adding devices, to create this but I did run across a detailed spec for programming a Kwikset Z-Wave deadbolt at http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/content/BDHHI ... Wave-Locks. I thought it might be of interest to someone in the community. I would be glad to help test this out.

Unfortunately, that's only when you use the Leviton VRCOP serial interface (which we don't currently support).

It's not the standard Z-Wave API which is what we'd prefer to use if we could get the documentation for the beaming part of the API. Sadly, that's not looking too promising.

jay (support) wrote:

It's not the standard Z-Wave API which is what we'd prefer to use if we could get the documentation for the beaming part of the API. Sadly, that's not looking too promising.

(Not that I have an immediate interested/need, but...) That's unfortunate. Do they license the beaming API separately or something?

nsheldon wrote:

(Not that I have an immediate interested/need, but...) That's unfortunate. Do they license the beaming API separately or something?

It is a bit complicated, but suffice to say we don't have the documentation we need and aren't sure when/if we'll be able to get it. We'll keep trying though, and are looking into other solutions.

If somebody only wanted to use zwave locks with Indigo I'm assuming that it would be possible to use a Leviton VRC0P along with the info provided from brozmovits to create a very specific type of plugin used ONLY to communicate with the locks through the VRC0P. I've thought about this even before you guys announced zwave support simply because even though I'm happy with Insteon, SmartHome doesn't provide a decent Insteon-capable lockset. I don't know if you can have two zwave interfaces in use at the same time (if you're already using the Aeon-labs interface with Indigo/zwave), but since the VRC0P uses ASCII it seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to talk to it directly. I'd try it but I don't think I can talk my wife into letting me blow a few hundred bucks on my hobby this month.

Terry

We're thinking about the various alternatives. Using the VRC0P isn't a bad idea, but the problem is that it apparently doesn't like being a primary controller much. Which means that you have to have a separate PUC (like a Z-Wave remote) to add devices first, then the VRC0P (as a SUC) gets the necessary information from the PUC. So the inclusion process is quite convoluted.

At least, that's what we've read so far but we haven't really spent much time looking more closely at it yet. Aside from that, though, the VRC0P would be an interesting alternative. Well, the other problem is cost - it's about $100 plus a serial-to-usb adaptor. On top of the $300 for the lock, it now starts getting pretty expensive.

Couple of points of interest.
First I was able to purchase the new in box Kwickset lock on eBay for ~$100, making it a very attractive target. Secondly, experimenting with a Windoze XP based z-wave product, I was able to add the lock into the z-wave network and control the lock and unlock functions without the use of any intervening device.
My conclusion is direct "Aeon Z-Stick to lock functionality" is certainly possible. The logs on the unnamed XP software do show secure protocol is used communicating to the lock. So maybe access to the correct specification is standing in the way of progress here.

The Z-Stick is definitely capable of controlling the locks. The problem is getting the documentation/API on how to communicate with them isn't currently possible for us.

So, trying to read between the lines here. Are you saying that if I can control a lock with a z-stick Indigo can talk to the z-stick so I could tell that to send the lock and unlock commands? Or are you saying you don't have the docs to communicate with the z-stick.

Sorry if this is asking questions you've already answered, but I'm just beginning to think about z-wave after 25 years with x-10/insteon.... so I know next to nothing about it. I have installed the Philips Hue plug-in, so I have one z-wave product in my system at this point.

And I assume as an interim measure I could simply set up a parallel z-wave network to control the locks and at some point integrate that into my Indigo system when that's possible. If I did that, what do you recommend as the easiest solution?

No reading between the lines required. We don't have the necessary API documentation to talk to Z-Wave locks via the standard Z-Wave serial API (which is what we use to communicate with the Z-Stick).

We aren't particularly hopeful that we'll be able to get access to it either for a variety of reasons that we can't go into here.

kennybroh wrote:

I have installed the Philips Hue plug-in, so I have one z-wave product in my system at this point.

Just a side note: Both of the currently available Hue plugins (Alistair's and mine) communicate with the Philips Hue hub through your home IP network, not through any home automation protocol. The Hue hub itself is the only thing that talks to the individual bulbs (it uses the ZigBee protocol for that).

Oh, thanks. I have the original plugin now but plan to switch to yours in the next day or so.

kennybroh wrote:

And I assume as an interim measure I could simply set up a parallel z-wave network to control the locks and at some point integrate that into my Indigo system when that's possible. If I did that, what do you recommend as the easiest solution?

Sorry, realized I didn't really directly address this question.

The only way to support Z-Wave locks in Indigo at the moment is to get a MiCasaVerde Vera controller and configure the lock in their UI (it would indeed be a separate Z-Wave network from one you would create with the Z-Stick that Indigo could control directly). Then use the free Vera plugin to talk to it. Note that the plugin isn't supported by anyone at the moment (the original author, who was selling it originally, found that he didn't have time to support it and made it available for free in our File Library). However, I believe some users have had some success using it to control locks (as well as other Z-Wave devices).

I'm not recommending this approach mainly because it's pretty expensive - the Vera Lite is ~$180 (you might be able to find them cheaper) so added to the cost of the lock it's pretty pricey. And you have to use the Vera UI at the very least to add the lock to it (it's pretty awful IMO) so you can't do all of the management in Indigo (which we think is pretty important).

So not being dense, but can I control the locks through the z-stick?

kennybroh wrote:

So not being dense, but can I control the locks through the z-stick?

Not with Indigo. We don't have the access to the API information we need, nor does it look like we will be able to license that information despite our best efforts.

The Z-Stick itself supports the locks, the problem is we don't have the API information required to implement it.

We are exploring other ways that we might be able to indirectly control the Z-Wave locks, and we are also going to explore ZigBee locks as an alternative. But it is too early to know which solution we'll ultimately be able to support and recommend.