Veralite & aeon multisensor

[Casmo]

Hi All,

 I was lucky enough to get a good deal on some zwave gear (vera lite, 2 x dimmable wall sockets, thermostat/reciever and an aeon multisensor). I've been experimenting with the vc plugin and it all seems very intuitive so far, i had a desklamp toggle command up and running within a few minutes.

 I'm looking now at incorporating the sensor, most likely to launch a scene on entering a room. I've watched the 'getting started with vera' video, it all makes perfect sense but i'm having one issue.   When i 'trigger' the sensor i.e. wave my hand over it, the event is not appearing in the vc history window.
 Generate events is ticked in the plugin and other events do appear e.g. when i toggle the light on/off. The sensor is in the vc device xml and vc can get the temperature/humidity from it so all looks ok from that point of view, it seems to be specific to the motion detection part. Also I was able to get the motion sensor to turn on the light on the zwave wall socket via the vera backend so i dont believe there is anything wrong with the sensor.

 Hopefully i'm missing something simple, any help most welcome.

[jitterjames]

Which exact sensor model?

Which firmware on Vera?  UI5 or UI6?

You should not need to do anything special if your other events are showing up in the history panel.

Bear in mind that an event is only generated when the motion sensor first activates. After that waving your hand will have no effect until the sensor sees no motion for long enough to return to the ready state. This motion timeout value can be configured in Vera.

If you only want to trigger a Vera scene then you might as well just set that up directly on the Vera.

[nime5ter]

To clarify what's happening in the video tutorial: Prior to recording it, I went into the motion sensor settings in Vera and changed the motion timeout rate in "Device Options", so that the sensor would more quickly change its status. I wanted to be able to set it off quickly, more than once, while recording the video.

You could double-check that the sensor is going back to "green standing man" as I like to call him by keeping the Vera web interface open while you're working on your VC command. It needs to be in that state before you can activate it again.

[Casmo]

The sensor in question is this one http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Multi-Sensor/dp/B008D5TYGU

I believe i was prompted to update the firmware when I first connected to the controller so im guessing im on UI6.

The vera scene was really just to prove the sensor was working at all, i definitely want to call vc commands; tts, turn on tv etc. (ala 'coming home scenario')

I'll have another play this evening and report back.

*just occurred to me - I changed the firmware on the sensor to the EU version to get temperature in Celsius. Don't suppose this would have any impact?

[jitterjames]

UI6 could be an issue if that is what you are using.  You might want to upgrade it from UI6 to UI5.

It is hard to say.  Once you've verified that you know what you are doing and if it is still not working you'll need to enable verbose logging in the VC/Vera plugin and then trigger the motion sensor a few times (making sure that vera is switching from a green man to a red man / or whatever UI6 does) and then send us your log.

[Kalle]

*just occurred to me - I changed the firmware on the sensor to the EU version to get temperature in Celsius. Don't suppose this would have any impact?

Normaly you can change the format (metric/imperial) in the VeraUI under Setup->location settings. I'm not sure if it is a problem to use EU fw for a US device, because they use different RF frequencies.
I recommend it is better to go back to UI5 (FW 1.5.672-en) or forward to UI7.

[jitterjames]

I recommend it is better to go back to UI5 (FW 1.5.672-en) or forward to UI7.

Kalle, do you actually know much about UI7?  I think it is probably still a good idea to stick with UI5.  For one thing, all the plugins and third party apps like VoxCommando and apps for Android etc. are known to work with UI5.  UI6 and UI7 sounds like an unnecessary risk to me.

[Kalle]

Hi James, yes I had take a look on the UI7 (looks absolutly different from UI5) and you've right, it will not work with the android app only with iOS.
So I can confirm: UI5 is the best solution (there is also a new beta firmware available 1.5.672 which support Fibaro devices correctly)

If anyone is interesting, here the instructions and download link. (on your own risk    )

Please know that this is a beta firmware and has not been tested thoroughly and you might encounter issues with it.
To upgrade your unit to the beta version please copy the link below :

http://download.mios.com/rt3662_betafirmware/rt3662_Luup_ui5-1.5.672-en-mios.squashfs

Then from SETUP > Firmware under : Advanced: URL for Vera custom firmware: paste it and press on download.
Save a back-up when you are prompted and start the upgrade.
The upgrade can take up to 15-20 minutes and you should be on the same location with the unit when you do it.

[Casmo]

Happy to report that downgrading to UI5 did the trick. Didn't get a chance to create any commands around it yet but motion sensor being tripped is now appearing in the vc history window. Excellent

FYI - It was UI7 i was on, so while it is kinda pretty i can confirm it has issues.

While i'm here James, what logic do you use in your 'coming home' scene so that once triggered, another sensor event doesn't call it again and switch off anything that uses a 'toggle' type action? (i'm thinking of the usbuirt which uses the same command for tv on and off)
I imagine there's numerous ways of doing it, i obviously need to have a play you might point me in the right direction..

Thanks guys

[jitterjames]

Thanks for the update.

I provide some information about the coming home from work concept here: http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=1117.0

I don't think I go into the initial events there.  I believe I was storing a variable that kept track of my current state, and I actually had a command "I'm going for a walk" that would set the variable to "away".  When the motion sensor was tripped it would check if I was away, then if I was it would initial the welcome home sequence, and then set the variable to "home".  I don't know if I still have this xml or not.  No time to check this morning.

[nime5ter]

I do something similar to what James is describing in the command xml example I gave for your IP cam: http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=1679.msg14607#msg14607

[Casmo]

Excellent. A long evening of tinkering await. Thanks