Lightpack help! (5 Viewers)

[Rick164]

The domotica features are limited to Hue as the AtmoHue helper application handles the zone mappings and light connections, pretty basic features though like assigning zones to live view and setting predefined colors to zones via the AtmoLight context menu.
Just something that allows you to control the Hue lights without using the crappy Philips app

That Vera plugin looks great and completely missed it somehow, actually working on getting some Z-wave enabled hardware as KaKu (433mhz RF) is just so limited with one-way communication.

 

[RoChess]

Yeah I did long research into home automation, and Z-Wave has been around for 14 years with 500+ devices. The secure AES two-way communication is very assuring for the mesh network structure. Keep in mind that not every device actually supports everything, as it is up to the device manufactor to decide how to implement the protocol. The current wave is all about the new 500-chipset series, otherwise known as "Z-Wave Plus" or simply Z-Wave+, which uses lower power, and also supports wireless firmware updates.

Aeon-Labs (Aeotec) is launching some very interesting products in the US (and elsewhere) in 3-days, such as the Z-Wave LED bulb. No need for any Z-Wave switch or dimmer, just pop lightbulb in, add it to your Z-Wave controller, and you got 16-million colors to pick from, or a Kelvin range from 2500 to 7400. The only thing I am still uncertain about is if the bulb can be programmed on how it will act when power is restored in case it is still controlled by a regular switch that would kill the power to Z-Wave (which would disable the remote control then). Almost every Z-Wave device that I have supports previous state when power is restored, but for an LED bulb it would be important it restores at say 100% soft-white light, and not restore it to say 10% pink from a previous event

Of course ideally you would replace the switch with a blank faceplate, and control the bulb purely via Z-Wave (which is how I have done most lights already with the Aeon-Labs dimmer module inside the lamp fixture -- this house was wired incorrect, so I was forced to use ugly workaround). My Vera3 was actually off-line for 15 days, but as of yesterday works again (waiting to hear back from Vera support on Monday as to what they did to fix it, so I can do it quicker myself if it ever happens again, but at the same time I am looking seriously at HomeSeer software solution).

 

[Rick164]

Thanks for the detailed info , also read that depending on your region in the world the Z-wave frequency will be different due to local regulations so ordering them online can get a bit tricky.
For now looking at German suppliers as the Dutch ones are either overpriced or don't have any of the new stuff in stock, just the old Z-wave hardware from > 3 years ago.

Heard good things about Vera but was also looking into the DIY solutions as you can easily upgrade those, like rPI2 + Z-wave shield but for the controlling end Vera seems better.
There's a fairly new open-source solution called Domoticz which does seem to have all the basics right:

http://domoticz.com/

Will look at the HomeSeer stuf as well

 

[RoChess]

Aeon-Labs USB S2 stick is a cheap way to add controller function to a PC/Pi/etc. (or wait for 500-series chipset Philio USB controllers)

www.homegenie.it = open source + open hardware, run by single Italian developer, but large active forum by users, and it is what I started out on, it is simple in design, but extremely powerful, and supports a GUI wizard, C#, javascript, python, etc. to expand scene scripting. It runs on a PC, or a Pi/etc.

www.openhab.org = open source + open hardware that runs on Java. It adds Z-Wave secure command class support (which is what I need for my Schlage Z-Wave deadbolts), as well as Nest thermostat support (via Wi-Fi/IP). I got it installed via 64-bit Java and running, but then found out the OpenHAB designer needed 32-bit Java, and I stopped when I got errors, but plan to give it one more try.

www.homeseer.com = closed source, and expensive, but they have a 50% sale going on right now for month of May (check their twitter page for coupon code info). Their "controllers" are simply rebranded Gigabyte Brix NUCs, which I can buy cheaper myself, and the 30-day trial runs amazingly fast on a E350 mini-PC I still had. They were the very first to make Z-Wave work, and have a giant active community. It still has a big "Geocities" feel to it (best way to describe it), as it clearly is a product created by developers without much design flair. Still the whole idea of home automation is that you configure it once, and then it runs automatic (well that's the idea anyway). The HomeSeer Designer app allows for user custom designed interfaces, and this comes included for free with the HS3Pro version ($300 right now due to 50% sale), or $100 by itself (with $125 for the HS3 version). My neighbor actually purchased the HS3Pro (also has a Vera3 like me), so I might be able to go cheap and get just the HS3, and use his designer app

I also right now use an awesome Android app called ImperiHome to actually control/monitor my network on the Vera3, as the included UI7 interface is slow, and not very customizable.

Z-Wave, and Z-Wave+ are backward, and forward-compatible, so there is no risk in getting older modules. In worst case you have to like hook it up to a PC via USB to update the firmware if a bug gets fixed (but once it works, it works). That is why I bought a bunch of Aeon-Labs 1st generation appliance switches, when they have just released the 3rd generation. They are 5x larger in physical size, but I have them all hidden anyway, and Z-Wave can add up very quick in cost when you go crazy

PS: Trust me, once I experienced lights going on automatic when I walk into a room, I went bat-shit crazy on adding home automation. A slow 5-year plan turned into me blacking out, and waking up to a ton of packages delivered, ohhh and an empty bank account -- still consider it best tech investment ever made

 

[RoChess]

Ohh and yes, Z-Wave frequencies are as follows:

India = 865.2 MHz
Europe = 868.42 MHz
United States = 908.42 MHz
Israel = 916 MHz
Hong Kong = 919.82 MHz
Australia/New Zealand = 921.42 MHz

And all Z-Wave devices have to use the same frequency in your network, so be indeed sure to order the right one (not that hard, European models usually have EU in their product name, as I look for all the US labeled ones myself).

France + UK have a giant Z-Wave community, so you might be able to get cheap units there, just keep a close eye on possible voltage, or appliance plug differences. A big distributor www.vesternet.com sells EU-plug based Z-Wave units while located in the UK.

They also sell the Fibaro hardware (Polish company), which I absolutely love for their motion sensor (got 4 of them now), but their controllers are freaking expensive here ($750 for the HC2, and $250 for the Lite), and should be much cheaper for you. These are hardware controllers with a very nice interface, so it would replace the Vera3, and no need for any PC/Pi or USB stick or software.

 

[Rick164]

Got some great feedback and code suggestions from my friend when comparing the Kodi plugin, could be a few things and created a new branch for it:

https://github.com/ambilight-4-mediaportal/AtmoLight/tree/DEV_Ambibox_Fixes

Should be adding the changes in a few hours after testing, afterwards gonna package a new MPEI so you guys can play with it

 

[Rick164]

First test version build, changed the way we did initial connections mainly:

- First connection pass check like the Kodi Plugin does
- Make Memorymap global and init on first connection pass
- Make Viewstream global and keep it open
- Reset First connection pass on changeEffect for now, this needs a better fix later.

It's gonna be trial error as we're trying to replicate the Kodi plugin behaviour so this one is considered experimental, only install if you have problems with the Ambibox target and want to test.
Since it was build using the latest version of AtmoLight it requires Mediaportal 1.12 Pre-Release, please post the Mediaportal-error.log if you have any issues with it which is very likely

/UPDATE:

Forgot to mention this version is debug heavy so best to not run for extended periods just yet as it may generate a large log file, basically on every frame error which can be a lot but we need that for testing at the moment.

 

[Lightning303]

Nice!
So if i understand correctly, the idea is to keep the memory map for a longer time. I used "using" which means after my code is through it would dispose of the memorymap again, or atleast make that space in the memory available again. So if something happens between us writing the data in there and AmbiBox reading, we would get false results. Now the memory map always exists.

Have you tested yourself if flickering is gone?

 

[Rick164]

Correct, that might happen if it it doesn't receive the correct command back from Ambibox (0xF8) so we could an additional check or let it always reset like before which should be ok but want to be sure that is not the actual cause of the flickering

The Kodi plugin does do a few other things differently but it's so poorly commented , expect the memory map reset and resending of addtional commands (aspect ratio etc..) on every new frame to be the culprit but not 100% sure until we get some feedback.

Can't test it against my current setup as it isn't supported sadly, might be able to wire something together this weekend though.

 

[zekaja]

I hope to test this in a day or so... And post the results with lightpack..