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Hi @ll, last days I migrated my last zwave device from Vera to zwave js in homeassistant. Out of 150 devices 1 did not go well initially but reinterviewing did it directly. Most work was to find the ex and inclusion procedure, 3 times, click, clack, whatever. I must admit that Vera is Lighting fast!!!!! With only 3 devices left, those were my under the floor switches I had to do last.
Now I am totally gone from Vera, altui, luup, etc. There's nothing more left for me on this forum. And since it was one of my "routine sites" reading I will save a few minutes a day skipping it.
I thank you all for all the kind help, warm words and laughter about the ezlo flop :-).
I hooe you all will be safe and healthy and whish you all the best!
I will stay on the homeassistant forum.
Goodbye!
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Morning all. Hope all are well. Been a bit of a trying time here, but nothing we can't deal with....
.....apart from this!My coffee grinder went punk yesterday (wasn't even being used) and took out the main breakers. Once it was isolated I got everything back on line, except on TKB smart plug which was in the same double socket as the grinder.
OpenLuup claims it's failed. Z-wave server can't see it but it responds to the button pushes physically as I'd expect. (i.e. the socket turns on and off, and the LED flashes to indicate it's in inclusion / exclusion mode)
My plan is to see if I can exclude it then re-include it in z-wave server. If that doesn't work then I'll bin it, but if it does work can I then re-number it to match the original device ID and not have to trawl through my reactors? Any chance?
TIAC
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Some of you may know that I took at shot at building an alternate geofencing solution for Vera. The core of it was system agnostic, using the OwnTracks application and AWS lambdas to track devices and keep a central data, then disseminate that to the Vera via a websocket-based plugin. It worked with other apps as well, including Tasker and GPSLogger, but of the dozen people that were testing it, most used OwnTracks.
A lot was learned in the process, not the least of which is that the success of any such solution is highly dependent on the phone and its settings. Phone manufacturers love to set things up for the longest battery life, of course, but that's usually very anti-geofencing behavior. In the case of at least one brand, it was unusable and the settings could not be modified. It was also cost-prohibitive to maintain on Amazon, as AWS grabs a dime here and a dollar there and before you know it, it added $100/month to my AWS bill, which my wife deducted from my Scotch budget. Unacceptable.
But it's quite reasonable to use OwnTracks to a local endpoint, and I could pretty easily replicate the functionality as a local application, or maybe even as an additional endpoint built into MSR's API (still separate port and process, but in the package).
So the question really is... would you do it, or would you be too concerned about the security risks associated (e.g., dynamic DNS and NAT mapping in the firewall necessary for the phone to contact the service when not on LAN)?
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Hello!
I want to trigger an event (like switching on a smart Zigbee power plug) when a regular light switch (that switches regular non-smart LED light bulbs) is flipped. Is there something I can put behind a light switch to achieve this? Or something to splice in between the switch and the light bulbs? A good option would also be Hue compatible.
Thank you!
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Hi,
Is anyone aware of any way in which Bluetooth devices can be connected and controlled via a home automation controller, such as Vera / openluup (even NodeRed, HASS) etc ?
I recall Bluetooth was an original ‘feature’ on the Veraplus but that soon died a death, and was never heard of again.
What, if anything are people doing with Bluetooth ?
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Hi,
I have a lua/luup piece of code that checks, if any motion sensors have been tripped within the last 20 mins, and if not then to let me know.
I then look at pinging TVs to see if they are on, in order to help rule out if someone’s just sitting still, and then I look at bluetooth sensors (RoomMe) and also Wi-Fi devices (UniFi) to help identify specific people’s active devices.
I know there’s no perfect solution, but I was wondering what are other people using ?
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Considering how long I’ve been using HA systems, where I was a relatively early adopter of z-wave, I’ve never really explored the Z-Wave Classes and Commands.
Don’t get me wrong I understand (well at least I think I do) the overall objective and the design of the classes and the command, but my exposure to it has always been hidden behind a software/application layer.. No bad thing your might say, but the more I got to know the Lua language , the more I wanted to know more about the Z-wave Classes and Command - and how I could interact with them a little more directly.
FYI - I’m still very much in the learning phase, and welcome any insight/advice from those more experienced than me.
For this particular ‘How To’, I’m going to start off with a link to all the recorded z-wave classes and commands, this is a great place to see the length and breadth of what z-wave supports.
https://www.silabs.com/documents/login/miscellaneous/SDS13548-List-of-defined-Z-Wave-Command-Classes.xlsxMy first objective is to see if I can request a battery report from a device.. (Make sure your device support this class)
To do that I need to look up the Commands_Class for Battery, and note down it’s associated value, which in this case is 0x80
COMMAND_CLASS_BATTERY 0x80 Management ActiveAfter that, I then need to get the value associated with the specific command I want to send, which in this case is the Battery Get one from the following list..
BATTERY_GET 0x02 controlling supporting BATTERY_REPORT 0x03 supporting controlling BATTERY_HEALTH_GET 0x04 controlling supporting BATTERY_HEALTH_REPORT 0x05 supporting controllingThose two looks up have now provided me with the following two item values …
Battery Command Class = 0x80 BATTERY_HEALTH_GET Command = 0x04Next I need to send them to my Vera/Z-wave controller , specifying the z-wave ‘node’ I want to target (make sure it is the node number (alt.I’d, NOT the Device No.) , which in this case is node 3 (device no. 64) - using a command like the following....
luup.call_action('urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1','SendData',{Node='3',Data='0x80 0x04'},1)Or externally..
http://192.168.1.10/port_3480/data_request?id=action&DeviceNum=1&serviceId=urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveNetwork1&action=SendData&Node=3&Data=0x80-0x04Any/all feedback welcome..
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Hi
I came across this a while ago, but couldn’t get it to work at the time, however I was just checking it again, and noticed openluup was mentioned in some of the code, so I was wondering, is anyone on this forum using it ?
GitHub - steets250/vera-ring: Plugin allowing Vera controllers to connect with Ring devices. GitHub - steets250/vera-ring: Plugin allowing Vera controllers to connect with Ring devices.Plugin allowing Vera controllers to connect with Ring devices. - GitHub - steets250/vera-ring: Plugin allowing Vera controllers to connect with Ring devices.
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So I live out in a rural area and there are no good internet providers besides Hughesnet, or using a mobile hotspot. My question is can you have a home network witha hub nut no wifi? I mainly would just want a few smart light switches, maybe a RGB Phillips HUE light here and there, and maybe even a camarea to watch my driveway and send me alerts when someone is there (while I'm there obviously) because we can't see our driveway from our living room. Was just curious to see if this would be possible or not. Our Verizon mobile hotspot works great while we are able to monitor it but sometimes it randomly shuts off even when it is plugged in. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
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A while back the z-wave module on my veraplus stopped working and as it couldnt be fixed, I bought an external usb z-wave dongle UZB1 (which I plugged in and setup on ‘port’ /dev/ttyACM0 ) which made it operational again, and I’ve been using it again since.
Recently I picked up a new (well 2nd hand) VeraPlus unit and tried to do a full system/zwave network restore from the original one, but it didn’t work.
The restore looked like it worked fine, as it brought everything over, but when nothing worked, I checked the z-wave ‘port’ settings on the new unit, and it too had been set to use an external usb (/dev/ttyACM0) which it obviously doesn’t have , but when I changed it back to the onboard zwave module (/dev/ttyS0) all the z-wave devices disappeared.
To fix this, it sounds like I need to do a controller shift to get the details off the UZB1 key and onto the zwave chip on the veraplus board ?
However not having done one before I’m not sure if the process is - any ideas ?
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Alexa Remote Control Shell ScriptI will update the plug-in very soon to support the new feature.
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General discussion on all things MQTT.
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Tried to google, but didn't find a proper solution. Linux environment is chrooted Debian 10 running on Synology NAS.
I created a normal user ("homer") and when trying to su to it with a command "su - homer", it takes about 50 seconds to complete.
Any ideas how to fix this?
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Hi all
I’ve recently started to build out my own ‘Homer’ dashboard (https://github.com/bastienwirtz/homer) and I must admit I really like what it’s given me.
Thinking about future use-cases. I can see potential for this being an alternative (albeit simple ) UI for Vera/OpenLuup..
Is anyone else using Homer ?
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Hi, simple starter question. As I am fully gone to homeassistant for eveything expect a legacy part of my zwave network devices in Vera. I have currently openzwave and vera and an empty (not turned on) zwavejs network. I knwo I can "migrate" openzwave "simply" to zwavejs by just using the aeotec gen5plus zwave stick to that. With the hassle of changing all device entity names I then have zwavejs and vera run separate. Nevertheless, I would like to end up with my vera devices in zwavjes... long story short, what would be the best way to move all my vera devices to zwavjs?
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Hi all
Ran into an issue last month where my Open Luup box ran out of disk space in /var/log. It's Debian with a separate partition so everything carried on working but it had some very interesting effects on my network.Culprit was the z-way server log which was at about 5G....
So I thought I'd set up logrotate on it. Dead simple. And so it seems. Log is rotate just fine but z-way-server carries on writing to the old log. Any ideas how to fix that (apart from re-starting the server every time we rotate?).
Entry from logrotate.d is here:
catman@openluup:/etc/logrotate.d$ cat z-way-server /var/log/z-way-server.log { weekly rotate 4 compress delaycompress missingok notifempty create 644 root root }z-way-server config:
<config> <automation-dir>automation</automation-dir> <log-file>/var/log/z-way-server.log</log-file> <log-level>2</log-level> <debug-port></debug-port> </config> config.xml (END)TIA
C
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This could be interesting.
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100% sure this is an Alexa issue, but just wanted to see if anyone else has it:
Alexa, turn $device on
$device turns on
'$device is not responding. Check its power supply and network connection'Alexa, turn $device off
$device turns off.
'OK'This happens with Alexa groups as well as HA Bridge devices.....
C
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Evening, everyone. Can't think of a better qualified bunch of people to ask so: What am I going to replace my Logitech Harmony with?
Logitech have stated they are moving out of the market and I am therefore disinclined to purchase the Elite, never mind the price tag....
Requirements are:
IR control of 5 devices (one of which is somewhat esoteric so learning IR pretty much a necessity) Ability to control HiFi as well as video kit (should be covered by 1 but whatever) Pre-programmed activities for one button access Favourite channels Rechargeable (nice to have) If it needs a computer to set up: Mac compatibleAnyone got a Pronto they'd sell me?
C
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Hi
In my ongoing quest to try and retrieve as much information as I can about the amount of energy I’m using , I found out that I could use SNMP to see how much power (watts) my UPS is handling .
To do this, I installed snmpd/snmp on my Vera linked Raspberry Pi, and then ran the following command.
local command = io.popen("ssh -i /etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key pi@192.168.102.37 'snmpwalk -Os -c public -v 1 10.10.10.103' 2>&1") local response = command:read("*a") print(response)Which returned a huge amount of information, which prompted me to ask the community here if there anything on Vera/OpenLuup that people have that can process this sort of information into a new devices and associated variables to then monitor/track going forward ?
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 = STRING: "Eaton 5P 1150" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0 = OID: iso.3.6.1.4.1.705.1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 = Timeticks: (51435090) 5 days, 22:52:30.90 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.4.0 = STRING: "Computer Room Manager" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0 = STRING: "ups239" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.0 = STRING: "Computer Room" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.7.0 = INTEGER: 72 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.8.0 = Timeticks: (0) 0:00:00.00 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.1 = OID: iso.3.6.1.6.3.1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.2 = OID: iso.3.6.1.6.3.10.3.1.1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.3 = OID: iso.3.6.1.6.3.11.3.1.1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.4 = OID: iso.3.6.1.6.3.15.2.1.1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.5 = OID: iso.3.6.1.6.3.16.2.1.1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.3.1 = STRING: "The MIB Module from SNMPv2 entities" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.3.2 = STRING: "SNMP Management Architecture MIB" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.3.3 = STRING: "Message Processing and Dispatching MIB" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.3.4 = STRING: "USM User MIB" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.3.5 = STRING: "VACM MIB" iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.4.1 = Timeticks: (0) 0:00:00.00 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.4.2 = Timeticks: (0) 0:00:00.00 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.4.3 = Timeticks: (0) 0:00:00.00 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.4.4 = Timeticks: (0) 0:00:00.00 iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.4.5 = Timeticks: (0) 0:00:00.00 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.1.0 = INTEGER: 2 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.1.1 = INTEGER: 1 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.1.2 = INTEGER: 2 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.2.1 = STRING: "LOOPBACK" iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.2.2 = STRING: "eth0" iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.3.1 = INTEGER: 24 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.3.2 = INTEGER: 6 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.4.1 = INTEGER: 1500 iso.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.4.2 = INTEGER: 1500 etc....
Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?
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Hi all
I’ve been on a mission for a while now to try and track down where all the energy we use is going (so I can explain the exorbitantly high electricity bill !) .
I’ve done a few posts on this subject already, see below..
- https://smarthome.community/topic/534/unifi-energy-report-how-can-i-retrieve-the-value-via-http/6
- https://smarthome.community/topic/584/luup-hue-energy-watts-calculator/17?_=1623603224863
Plus I’ve got various energy meter plugs around the house to help me too, but when compared to my CurrentCost (whole house) energy meter, I’m still unable to account for 200+ watts when i believe everything of note are switch off (so no dishwasher, no washing machine running etc.)
Tracked items so far include.. Media Centre (TV/NAS etc.), Office Desk (Laptop/PC/Monitor etc.), Hue Lights, Fridge…
- What items/devices could I be missing ?
- What else could i create a pseudo energy (watts) calculations for ?
For example (2), I‘ve got a couple of Sonos Music players, which are always on, so I’m thinking as they are a media device that report their status, i can calculate a pause/stop watts rating vs a play rating..
Any thoughts on what the missing power hungry items are in a normal house, and/or any new pseudo watt calculator ideas?
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Look for old appliances. One of the first TV I got 15 years ago was a Sharp tv consuming 31 watts at standby and 300 when on. The new LG/Samsung/Philips I have now are under 1 watt when idle, and 70/200 when on, depending on the size.
My house is consuming 300 watts at idle, and that’s because I have mini PCs, two fridges, and so on. Placing simple meters on the appliances could help to track them.
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Some initial thoughts, partly based on past experience:
- Don't forget the attic. Some attics have powered fans, and these are easy to forget.
- I love my Kill-A-Watt power measurement device, since it can be placed temporarily in line with any (110V) appliance to reveal its power draw at various phases of operation.
- I'd use MSR exclusively to create a catch-all Rule that sums up the proportional wattage for all "ON" devices.
- Tracking usage with an array in Expressions, charting with HundredGraphs, or exporting to Google Sheets (via a Form link) are all viable options.
- Perhaps the most "serious" way to track down vampire power consumption in the home is using a basic ammeter at the panel, and testing circuit-by-circuit after shutting off all others.
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A few adds to @LibraSun 's list from own experience:
- Many dimmers "leak" enough energy to be relevant, and since they can be present in relatively large numbers in a home, even a modest leak can add up across multiple dimmers. I discovered this some years ago when my wife had me switch out a halogen vanity light bar in my older son's bathroom with an LED model. The light bar glows like a night light when the dimmer was fully off. I tried swapping the older dimmer (Leviton VRMX1) for a newer model (DZ6HD) but no change in results. When we later changed the ceiling fan bulb in my younger son's room from halogen to LED, the same thing happened. With incandescent or halogen loads, these leaks aren't enough to light the filament, generally, but some LED bulbs/fixtures don't require much current to glow. Be suspicious of any dimmer that has an "air gap" in particular--it's there because they know the device is passing current even when "off."
- And keep in mind that leaking or not, all line-powered ZWave devices of every kind are active electronics with power supplies (often terrible cap droppers with poor power factors to boot, particularly in the cheaper models). If it has an LED pilot lamp, maybe it's pulling 3-5 milliamps just for that, and if the supply and other electronics double that, you're at maybe 6-10ma per device. Times 20 devices may be 200ma total or about 40W right there.
- Smoke alarms, garage door openers, safety lights...
IIRC, you're in the UK, where electrical panels tend to have fewer breakers than here in the US, so that makes isolating things a bit more of a challenge. Here in the US, it's usually not a big issue to remove the cover from the breaker panel, put a clamp meter on the main, and just start flipping breakers until the measurement drops, then go isolate down that circuit from there. Codes here increasingly require dedicated circuits for all kinds of things, and of course, GCFIs and AFCIs (our version of RCDs and... I don't know what the UK equivalent is called, but it's an arc-detecting device) which have power supplies as well. So panels here are getting bigger, and electricians are having no problems sending their kids to college.
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Thanks all,
Reading my initial post back again, I noticed I made a mistake, in that I said I was unable to account for 200 watts, it’s actually closer to 400 watts !!!
Admittedly I know i’m never going to be able identify everything, but 400 watts !!, that’s more than @therealdb home in its idle state !!
@LibraSun and @toggledbits - the breaker panel, (or consumer unit as we call it in the UK) is a good call, and UK regulations are pretty strict too, so much of the house is broken up/out on the board so I can isolate various areas. That sounds like my weekend sorted ..
Other than that, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m powering other people within my neighbourhood too. !
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Have a look at any split aircons or aircons in general. Older models had sump heaters that could use anything from 30W to 300W. These were permanently on. Also iron core transformers that are permanently connected eg door bells and alarm systems - they can be quite lossey. Older PCs also drew a far bit even when "off". In fact, lots of older equipment can draw substantial power when on standby. So much so the One Watt Initiative was instigated.
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@a-lurker said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:
Have a look at any split aircons or aircons in general
In the UK?
C
The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....
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Buy yourself one of these to get accurate energy usage : https://www.energyswitching.co.uk/best-energy-monitors-of-2021/ The US equivalent is "Kill a Watt" and that brand of device works well, though I don't believe they make a UK version.
Once you dial in the actual watts to your calcs, you'll probably see some of your unexplained energy use disappear. When I went through this process, and as mentioned above by several, the vampire devices in my home were the main contributors to my unknown energy usage. I was able to claw some of that back by using myriad smart switches for always on (sleeping) devices, albeit with a loss of instant on capability. -
This post is deleted! -
@catmanv2 said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:
@a-lurker said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:
Have a look at any split aircons or aircons in general
In the UK?
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While they are irare in the home over here; I could certainly do with an one at the moment, as it’s quite toasty in the UK at the moment.
I’ve placed energy monitor wall-plugs in all the main places I can think of, which means everything left is theoretically a small thing, like a phone charger, an Amazon Echo, a clock, or a night light etc.
Which means I’m finding it hard to believe that all of those little things will come up to 400 watts…
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I once found a walled off ventilation fan in an old kitchen that was still energized and conceivably could have burned many watts without rotating and I'm surprised it did not start a fire. I've also discovered doorbells that were stuck on because of a faulty Ring device wired in parallel with it. Finally, there's no end to the way that poorly grounded appliances can divert current directly to ground which you will never find through conventional testing means.
My central point being that you never know what you're going to find in around and under a house when it comes to electrical things. And that is absolutely why you really need to unplug and disconnect every single thing in this quest to isolate phantom power consumers. -
And the light someone left on in the roof space or under the floor.
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@parkerc said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:
While they are irare in the home over here; I could certainly do with an one at the moment, as it’s quite toasty in the UK at the moment.
I know! I live in Essex
C
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Hi to find the source you would be best to use a clamp meter on the outgoing live cable at each mcb in the consumer unit, once everything is turned off, that way you can zero in on the circuits that are still using power. Do you have a rcd/s fitted in your consumer unit if so ground leakage would only account for 7 watts max per rcd unit, before rcd would trip, unless faulty.
[edit] on socket ring ciruits put both live wires in clamp meter.
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I’ll tell you what trying to understand your energy usage while the family is in the house is next to impossible, no matter how many times i told them what i was doing , i would suddenly struggle to add up up the wattage numbers - only later to find out that they’d plugged something in or turned something off !!! Add to that things that come on by themselves at random times such as the fridge or the freezer and you really are scratching your head what the hell is going on - not matter what systematic approach I followed.
Cut along story short, the best I could come up with today is that my office/man cave - has an idle usage of about 250 watts (not surprising as this is where all the networking kit and media devices are stored/connected into) after that it’s the kitchen with about 150 watts too (due to a small HA hub and fridge/freezer) and the shed/cabin (100 watts) - which leaves the rest of the house using the remainder which is approx 350-400 watts..
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The new smart meters installed across many U.S. municipalities derive actual usage in real time (whether you believe they are accurate or not -- this is a troublesome source of debate among many smart people). Some utility companies offer a companion "reader", which wirelessly displays your home's current demand, by minute, hour, day, month, total, etc.
That's about as close as I've ever come to instant readings. The rest, as you rightly point out, is likely folly.
