[ANSWERED]: GE Keypad Controller - 45632

I have a GE Keypad Controller that Indigo adds just fine (http://www.jascoproducts.com/support/manual-downloads/applications/DocumentLibraryManager/upload/45631-Manual-Eng.pdf). The Keypad Controller is battery powered, acts like a secondary controller and is designed to be mounted in a Decora wall plate. In Indigo, it appears as "Portable Remote Controller". The AEON Labs Z-Stick successfully transfers the z-wave device list to the Keypad Controller. The controller supports groups and scenes (4 each). To add a device to a group or scene, you put the controller in add mode, select scene or group and select the on button on the Keypad Controller for the number you are programming (1-4.. Then you go to the device and press the "pairing" button on the device, and if a scene, set the dim level. Finally press the Add button to finish (or let it time out).

Using either group or scene on the Keypad Controller, Indigo does not see the button presses on the Keypad. The activity (scene or group on/off) works, but the only time Indigo sees anything is if the devices affected report an update. I chose to use scenes in the hope that this controller would work like the AEON Labs mini mote when used as a scene controller. Unfortunately it does not.

Any suggestions on how I can get Indigo to see the button presses from the GE Keypad Controller? Is Indigo doing something different with the Mini Mote, or is the Mini Mote a different/special device?

Thanks,
Frank

[matt (support)]

Indigo does not yet support receiving button press notifications from the 45632. Unfortunately, the Z-Wave keypad controllers have several different mechanisms by which they work. We have the Mini Mote working via its scene capability currently, but have not yet added support for the 45632.

Thanks for the reply.

I'd really like to have this functionality. This was in regards to my post about the Smart Strip and controlling single outlets via this GE controller. Here is AEON Labs reply:

Hi Frank,

I am not sure how the GE controller works, is it possible to use it as a scene controller? That way you can trigger events from your indigo software. To directly associate it to the power strip may only allow you to turn all 4 ports off only.

Cheers,
Chris

Is there a way to create/manage scenes within Indigo? I see the option to run a Vera bridge scene. Maybe I should try the controller that way, via Vera vs. Indigo, temporarily

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Frank

[matt (support)]

Hi Frank,

Indigo does not currently support creating/managing scenes. It can interpret scene commands from some devices (Mini Mote) and can enable configuration parameters that enable scene broadcasting (again only for some modules). I don't have a good solution/workaround for the 45632 currently, unfortunately.

Any update on this? Any chance of support making it into the next Indigo release?

Thanks,
Frank

[matt (support)]

Hi Frank,

This module is still on our feature request list. We don't give time estimates on future releases, but supporting Z-Wave keypads is a pretty high priority for us.

Thanks for the quick update. I'm really looking forward to keypad support.

I have another tabletop Z-Wave keypad/controller, that I asked about in the same time frame last year. Are you looking at specific keypad device support, or keypad support in general?

Thanks,
Frank

[jay (support)]

Unfortunately, Z-Wave doesn't really fully describe how keypad controllers like that work, so unlike many of the other classes of devices (on/off, dim, sensor, etc), you can't just write a single implementation that handles 90% of them. We're looking to see how generic we can make the implementations, but it's still unclear how much coverage we'll get with the next major release.