This guide shows how to add the Z-Wave.me Wall Controller into a Z-Wave home automation network using a VERA central controller and how it can be used to control various scenes.
The Z-Wave.me Wall Controller is a wall mounted Z-Wave remote control, it can be used as a standalone Z-Wave controller or most often it is added to an existing Z-Wave network as a second controller. The process to include the device into a VERA network and control scenes is relatively straightforward, however, there are a few things you need to do carefully to ensure it all goes smoothly.
When included into a VERA Z-Wave network, the Z-Wave Wall Controller can directly control other Z-Wave devices via Association or it can act as a scene controller. The Z-Wave.me Wall Controller have a single paddle that allows you to control up to 12 scenes by using different switch methods such as single click, double click, click and hold etc.
Z-Wave.me Wall Controller Buttons
Add the the Z-Wave.me Wall Controller to VERA
- To make adding the wall controller to VERA easier, it is often best to rest the controller
- Reset the Z-Wave.me Wall Controller by holding its EXCLUDE button for 10 seconds and then press UP 3 times
- In the VERA UI go to the DEVICES tab
- Click the Add Devices tab
- Choose Add ZWave devices, like light switches..., click the 'Add' button
- In the next screen click the blue ''Option 1' button
- When the next screen appears, VERA is in 'Inclusion' mode (you will also see its orange LED flashing slowly)
- Press the Wall Controller's 'INCLUDE' button once for about 3 seconds
- The Wall Controller's LED will light green and the VERA's orange light will flash quickly
- After a few seconds VERA will say that it has found a new device and display it's ID number
- Click the blue 'Next' button, in the next screen give the controller a name and then click 'Close'
- Click the red 'SAVE' button (VERA top right)
- Wait for VERA to finish configuration and then go to the DEVICES tab
- You will now see a new Z-Wave.me Wall Controller icon in the VERA DEVICES page (or whatever name you gave the wall controller)
- If the wall controller icon shows a message 'Waiting to Configure' - press the UP button 3 times to wake it up
Z-Wave.me Wall Controller Icon in VERA
Directly Controlling Devices (Association)
The Z-Wave.me Wall Controller can directly control devices on the Z-Wave network by associating them with the wall controller, this is its default configuration. It can control up to 10 devices in each of its association groups
- Group 1 - controls associated devices with single clicks of the Up and Down buttons
- Group 2 - controls associated devices with double clicks of the Up and Down buttons
To associate the wall controller with a device or devices:
- In VERA, click the Wall Controller's 'wrench' icon
- Go to the DEVICE OPTIONS tab
- In 'Associations' enter the group number to be used in 'Group ID' - 1 = Single Click, 2 = Double Click
- Click 'Add Group'
- Click 'Set'
- Choose the device or devices you wish to associate it with
- Click 'Back to ZWave options' (you will need to scroll down)
- Close the DEVICE OPTIONS tab and click 'SAVE' in the main VERA Window
- Wait for VERA to complete this save
Associating the Wall Controller with other devices in VERA
Wake up the Wall Controller to finish configuration
Remember: The Wall Controller is a battery-powered device - it must be awake to accept new configuration settings
- Go to its Settings tab and click the 'Configure node right now' button
- Press the Wall Controller's UP button 3 times to wake it up
- VERA will now be able to update the wall controllers configuration settings
Controlling Scenes
The Z-Wave.me Wall Controller can also be used to trigger VERA scenes.
To do this you need to configure the Wall Controller to work as a scene controller:
- In VERA, click the Wall Controller's 'wrench' icon
- Go to the DEVICE OPTIONS tab
- In 'Configuration Settings'
- Click 'Add configuration settings' and add parameters 13 and 14
- Parameter 13 = 3 - Single click behaviour for scene control
- Parameter 14 = 3 - Double click behaviour for scene control
- Close the DEVICE OPTIONS tab and click 'SAVE' in the main VERA Window
- Wait for VERA to complete this save
Setting the Wall Controller's Configuration Parameters in VERA
Wake up the Wall Controller to finish configuration
Remember: The Wall Controller is a battery-powered device - it must be awake to accept new configuration settings
- Go to its Settings tab and click the 'Configure node right now' button
- Press the Wall Controller's UP button 3 times to wake it up
- VERA will now be able to update the wall controllers configuration settings
Available Scene Numbers
The Z-Wave.me Wall Controller can control up to 12 different scenes, however, there is a known issue with VERA.
VERA does not correctly associate the wall controller's 'LastSceneID' with its 'sl_SceneActivated'. Any VERA scene will use the 'sl_SceneActivated' value to trigger the scene. This means that the scene numbers published in the User Manual will not be correct when used with VERA.
The scene numbers (sl_SceneActivated) reported will be unique to your VERA. To find out the correct ones for your system, do the following test process:
- On the Wall Controller, press its UP button Once - this should give a scene number of '1'
- In VERA go to the DEVICES tab
- Open the Wall Controller's icon (click its 'Wrench' icon) and go to the Advanced tab
- Scroll down until you see the 'sl_SceneActivated' and 'LastSceneID' rows
- Make a note of both values
The Wall Controller's 'sl_SceneActivated' and 'LastSceneID' rows in VERA
- Repeat the process for all the Wall Controller's button combinations - make sure you press 'RELOAD' after each test
- You will now have a list of results similar to the following
| Button Action | LastSceneID | sl_SceneActivated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Click UP | 1 | 1 | Single Click DOWN | 2 | 5 | Single Click UP and HOLD (Dim) | 3 | 2 | Single Click DOWN and HOLD (Dim) | 4 | 1 | Single Click UP, HOLD (Dim) and RELEASE | 5 | 2 | Single Click DOWN, HOLD (Dim) and RELEASE | 6 | 3 | Double Click UP | 11 | 12 | Double Click DOWN | 12 | 13 | Double Click UP and HOLD (Dim) | 13 | 14 | Double Click DOWN and HOLD (Dim) | 14 | 15 | Double Click UP, HOLD (Dim) and RELEASE | 15 | 16 | Double Click DOWN, HOLD (Dim) and RELEASE | 16 | 0 |
As you can see from this table almost all of the scene numbers are incorrect, some are missing and one Scenes 1 and 4 both return a Scene ID of 1.
Note: your values will be different so you must perform this series of tests.
Now you have this information you can use the 'sl_SceneActivated' values to trigger scenes, we have two ways to do this.
Triggering Scenes - Individual Scenes
You can create new scenes that you wish to control from the Wall Controller or use existing ones. Take a look at - Creating a VERA Scene for information about creating scenes.
To trigger the scenes using the Wall Controller:
- Click the Scenes's 'wrench' icon
- Go to the TRIGGERS tab and click the blue 'Add Trigger' button
- Go to the DEVICE OPTIONS tab
- In the drop-down list select the Wall Controller
- Select 'A Scene is Activated' from the 'What type of event is the trigger?' drop-down list
- Give the trigger a name - this makes it easy to keep track of triggers
- Enter the scene number that will activate this scene - this should be the 'sl_SceneActivated' value
- Click the blue 'Back to triggers' button
- Click the red 'SAVE' button
- This scene will now be trigged by the Wall Controller
- For more information about using triggers in VERA, see Triggering VERA Scenes
For example - using the values from my testing (above) to activate a scene by a 'Double DOWN click' we would use scene number '13'.
Triggering Devices - One Wall Controller Scene
An alternative way to do this is to create one scene that will translate the 'sl_SceneActivated' and 'LastSceneID' values and then control individual devices or scenes using LUA code.
Create a Scene and Triggers
- Create a new Scene - AUTOMATION > New Scene
- In the scene's TRIGGERS tab - create a new trigger for each Scene Number you wish to use - make sure you use the 'sl_SceneActivated' value:
- Go to the Triggers tab and click the blue 'Add trigger' button
- Select the Wall Controller in the drop-down list
- Select 'A scene is activated' in the 'What type of event is the trigger'
- Give the trigger a name
- Set the scene number to the 'sl_SceneActivated' value
- Click 'Back'
- Confirm changes by clicking the green 'Confirm changes' button
- Click 'Save' to save the changes to VERA
Setting the Scene triggers for the Wall Controller
Add LUA Code to control individual Devices
- Go to the scene's LUUP tab
- Add the LUUP code (below) and make changes to suit your system
- Click the blue 'Save lua' button
- Click the green 'Confirm Changes' button
- Click the red 'SAVE' button
luup.call_delay('SceneControl', 1)
function SceneControl()
local TranslateIDif = luup.variable_get("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SceneController1", "LastSceneID", 121)
if (TranslateIDif == "1") then
luup.call_action("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:SwitchPower1", "SetTarget", {newTargetValue = "1"}, 114)
elseif (TranslateIDif == "2") then
luup.call_action("urn:upnp-org:serviceId:SwitchPower1", "SetTarget", {newTargetValue = "0"}, 114)
end
end
LUUP Explanation
The LUUP code uses the 'LastSceneID' value to activate device actions - this enables your scenes to use the correct scene ID numbers.
- SceneControl - this is the main LUUP function (you can change it's name)
- TranslateIDif - reads the 'LastSceneID' value and uses it as the SceneID in the following lines of LUUP code
- Wall Controller ID Number - in this example it is 121, you need to change this to the correct number for your wall controller
This example scene enables:
- Single Click UP (scene ID 1) - Turns ON a TKB On/Off Socket (device ID 114)
- Single Click DOWN (scene ID 2) - Turns OFF a TKB On/Off Socket (device ID 114)
Add LUUP Code to control Scenes
Similar to the above scene LUUP example, this version can control scenes rather than individual devices:
- Go to the scene's LUUP tab
- Add the LUUP code (below) and make changes to suit your system
- Click the blue 'Save lua' button
- Click the green 'Confirm Changes' button
- Click the red 'SAVE' button
luup.call_delay('SceneControl', 1)
function SceneControl()
local TranslateIDif = luup.variable_get("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:SceneController1", "LastSceneID", 121)
if (TranslateIDif == "1") then
luup.call_action("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:HomeAutomationGateway1","RunScene",{ SceneNum="17" }, 0)
elseif (TranslateIDif == "2") then
luup.call_action("urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:HomeAutomationGateway1","RunScene",{ SceneNum="18" }, 0)
end
end
LUA Explanation
The LUUP code works in exactly the same way as the first example, but controls scenes:
- Single Click UP (scene ID 1) - Activates Scene number 17
- Single Click DOWN (scene ID 2) - Activates Scene number 18
Reference
This application note is based on testing by Vesternet as well as invaluable contributions on the VERA Forum and on Martyn Wendon's Aceshigh blog.
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