Posts: 564
Threads: 59
Joined: Oct 2005
I've read through various Z Wave threads, but it's still not clear to me if what I want can be achieved. I have an old Lutron Homeworks system which has been integrated into CQC. There are few closets and bathrooms which don't have Lutron controlled switches. I just purchased the Smartthings v3 hub along with a couple Z Wave wall dimmers and plugs. I have this working pretty well and I use the Google Home App to control my Z Wave devices. My plan is to use a Google Home Hub to control these devices. What I really want is to have CQC detect when I press a button on a Homeworks keypad to turn on/off a lighting scene and then have CQC control the appropriate Z Wave switches so they can be included in the lighting scene. I'm sure there are other capabilities I'd like to use, but this is the minimum functionality I need. Does the new CQC Z Wave driver allow for this type of control when I still want to use the Smartthings Hub/Google Home Hub as my main lighting control?
-Mike
Posts: 40,483
Threads: 491
Joined: Aug 2002
12-05-2018, 08:34 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-05-2018, 08:34 AM by Dean Roddey.)
CQC becomes a secondary controller on the Z-Wave network, so it can access any Z-Wave devices. I'm not sure what you mean by being included in the lighting scene though. You mean update the configuration of the lights on the fly to change scene configuration? Of course, since CQC can access the scenes, you could take SmartThings out of the equation. If Google Home can send out an HTTP get or something, you can have it talk directly to CQC as well.
Dean Roddey
Explorans limites defectum
Posts: 564
Threads: 59
Joined: Oct 2005
An example of a lighting scene is a button on a Lutron keypad labeled "Living Room". When I press that button there are several lights in the living room which will turn on to a specific level. This is all done 100% within the Lutron environment. What I want is for two table lamps to also turn on to a specific level and these table lamps are connected to Z Wave dimmer plugs. And then when I press the "All Off" button on the keypad then all the lights including the Z Wave lights to turn off.
So far in my limited amount of time using the Google Home app it seems to work well with the Smartthings connected devices. I'd like to retain this configuration and have CQC sit back and monitor the Lutron events and then send commands to the Z Wave devices without interfering with the existing Google Home/Smartthings setup. Maybe at some point I'd like for Google Home to talk directly to CQC, but for now I'd like to keep the existing Google Home/Smartthings setup as it's working well.
Posts: 40,483
Threads: 491
Joined: Aug 2002
If you just want to send commands to the lights, that's easily enough done. I was just wondering if you really meant scenes in the Z-Wave sense or you just want to set some lights to a particular level based on what Lutron button was pressed.
Z-Wave also supports scenes. There was an old way to do it, but mostly now what happens is that you configure the light to be part of specific scenes by number and set an associated level. Then you send the scene number to that device and it changes to that level.
So that's a way it could be done, or you could just send commands to the lights, and you decide in the CQC logic what level you want each one given a particular button.
Dean Roddey
Explorans limites defectum
Posts: 564
Threads: 59
Joined: Oct 2005
Maybe I shouldn't have used the term "scene." I didn't mean a Z Wave scene, I meant a Lutron scene where a single button press will set multiple lights to a predefined level.
I was reading the latest Z Wave driver documentation and there was something in there about possible issues when using the Smartthings Hub as the primary controller along with CQC as the secondary controller. That's what I'm not clear on. I still want to use the Smartthings Hub as I'm currently using it. I just want CQC to be added to do some Lutron event detection then turn on some Z Wave lights.
Also, what's the best Z Wave device to buy in order to use the CQC Z Wave driver as a secondary controller? I've seen different ones mentioned so I want to make sure I'm buying the latest and best supported device.
Posts: 40,483
Threads: 491
Joined: Aug 2002
We only support one controller device so far with our new Z-Wave driver, which is the Aeon Z-Stick Gen 5.
Dean Roddey
Explorans limites defectum
Posts: 564
Threads: 59
Joined: Oct 2005
Just ordered the Aeon Z-Stick. For $45 it's worth trying even if I'm not sure I can do everything I want with it.
