Please Explain

I have the following devices in my system:

Code: Select all

device description                                   indigo representation (z-wave model)
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Fakro Motorized Shades.                     Blind Controller (ARF II)
Fakro Motorized Skylight                    Motor Control Class B
Bali (Autoview) Shades                         Motor Control Class C
Somfy ZWRTSI Shade                          Motor Control Class A

generally for all of these devices, i get a "basic" control/interface in Indigo. rather than "open", "close", and "stop, i have something that looks roughly like a dimmer interface with on/off buttons and a slider for setting the level. generally, there's no "stop" though i could fake it by using a z-wave raw command. so basically, everything works, but its a bit ugly.

if i want triggers to open/close shades via keypadlinc buttons, i can do this. if i want Indigo to do create a trigger based on state change of the device, i can do this. i can create Indigo "device group" devices to control groups of these devices at the same time - and this can serve for example to open/close group of shades as a group or to set a group of shades to a saved configuration of levels.

can you please explain what z-wave window controller can do for me? as a test, i tried creating a z-wave window controller "dummy" device and linked it to one of my existing devices. what i observed was that whereas the original indigo device (for one of my skylights) showed an interface in indigo with ON and OFF buttons plus a slider, the dummy device had no Indigo interface at all - no buttons, no slider. i tried creating a trigger that could make the device do something and it seems that there are actions i can use to make the device open/close/etc. however, those seem to merely duplicate actions I was already able to do without the plugin.

so i am wondering if i am missing something? can you please explain a typical use-case for the plugin? it sounds like it could be useful to me, but i'm just honestly admitting that i don't think i get what it is supposed to do.

this isn't intended to be a critique or challenge - just a friendly request for info - i'm always on the lookout for useful plugins. thanks in advance.

Hi

I wrote this as a generic plugin to support any window-based Zwave devices, whether or not they were supported yet in Indigo.

The dummy device for various of my plugins are where I store custom states; you only need to use the dummy device (I think) if you want those states or the device isn’t natively supported.

That said, I’m shortly adding the ability for timed-opening, to support half-way blind positions etc.

Peter


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Hi hiwarttp

I just starting to look at your plug in.

A few years back I replaced 4 skylights with Velux solar power shade and window, They came with its own hub and iPhone app.
In the next few weeks when I get the staging setup I am installing a solar powered Blinds Galore shade in the Apt above the garage. Again this motorized shade came with its own hub and one app but it is a NEO and there seems to be an Indigo plug in available which have not played with yet.

There seems to be a pattern here. Every moralized shade brand will comes with its own hub and phone app.

Here is my question: Is your plug in ( in the future or now) attempting to take any wireless motorized shade to controlled by Indigo. and if so will the hubs with each shade be needed? All house, garage, and auxiliary building is all reachable with z-wave with devices that also repeat signal. Made the investment since Insteon is not available with all to of new devices and there was a hiccup with their supply.

Life use to be simple with Insteon, ethernet and wireless, Seems every time I need to use a different brand z wave , I need a hub.

I appreciate your response
Thanks in advance .

Hi!

The plugin uses standard Zwave to send Zwave window commands to the blinds.

If the blinds support these Zwave window commands directly then they’ll work fine; if they only use proprietary protocol and require the hub to ‘talk’ Zwave then they’ll still need the hub.

Peter


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