Knowledge Base

Z-Wave is a wireless communications standard that can be used for automation of existing buildings or adding additional features and functionality without the hassle with drilling holes and wiring.

Table of contents

Z-wave Configuration

Main Z-Wave node displays an overview of the Z-wave network, where all the included devices and statuses are shown. All settings for the controller are also set in the main node.

To integrate a z-wave device into bOS, it's manual is crucial for the integration. The manual contains all the information about the device, inclusion patterns, parameters settings, association settings and all information we would require in order to make a full inclusion of z-wave device into bOS.

Step by step instructional video of z-wave integration of a couple of different devices is available in the video below;

Device Settings

Selecting the device from the Devices list will provide additional information regarding the device, associations, connection to the controller, etc. Some of this information is crucial to identify if the device was fully included and what is the current status of the device.

• ID - A unique ID that is assigned to a device when included to the network.

• Node Name - Name of the device. If a device already exists in the configuration it will display the name from the configuration. If not, it will be assigned a default name which is a combination of DeviceType and Node ID(ex. BinarySwitch5)

• Device Type - Type of the device.

• Listening - Devices powered with a battery are set as not listening and devices powered any other way are set as listening.

• Status - Current status of the device.
  Possible statuses:

• Waiting- Waiting for device info.

• Sleeping - A device that does not respond and is categorized as a sleeping device (device that is battery powered). Check the device documentation for how to wake up a device.

• Unknown - Did not get any information about the device. It is probably unreachable.

• Imported - Device with the same node id already exists in the configuration and will not be imported.

• Incompatible - Device with the same node id already exists in the configuration but it is not the same type. It will not be imported.

• Ready - Device is successfully discovered and ready to be used.

Parameters

Displays devices current parameters. All parameters can be tweaked to provide additional functionalities and communication settings between bOS or other devices. Not every device comes with a pre-made parameters list, some devices need manual parameters update.

Associations

Allows the device to be assigned into association groups. Association groups allow communication between different z-wave devices without the need of a Program task or additional programming.

• Multichannel associations - Newer Z-Wave devices have Multi-Channel integrated this means the device has multiple parts acting as different sub devices.

• Check Reachable Interval - Battery powered devices also have a Wake up interval set (in seconds) which wakes up the device each interval and send current status information to bOS.

Controller Settings

All settings for the Z-Wave dongle gateway or the internal Colibri Z-Wave gateway are available under the Controller button.

The Controller settings are used to configure and manage the Z-Wave gateway, including gateway communication, device inclusion, exclusion, network management, and other Z-Wave controller functions.

Use these settings when setting up a new Z-Wave installation, adding or removing Z-Wave devices, or checking the status of the Z-Wave gateway.

• Discovery - Starts the discovery process, displays all devices that were included into the controller and adds devices to Z-Wave node.

• Inclusion - Including a new device (device must be in inclusion mode).

• Exclusion - Excluding an existing device (device must be in exclusion mode).

• Controller:

• Network Heal: Network heal is a tool that can rebuild the Z-Wave controller routing table of the entire Z-Wave network. It instructs every Z-Wave device in your Z-Wave network to find other Z-Wave devices in their direct range and report the results back to the controller.

• Remove Failed Node - Removes broken Z-wave device from the list.

• Soft Reset - Reboots the z-wave controller. Useful if the controller freezes. No data will be lost.

• Controller change: function that allows transferring currently learned and included devices in the current z-wave controller to change/move to another controller. This can either be USB to USB or USB to Colibri.

• Learn mode: When moving the devices from one controller to another, first controller (which has all the devices) is under Controller change mode and the controller we’re moving the devices to is under Learning Mode.

• Reset to Default - Resets the Z-Wave controller to factory defaults. All included devices will be erased from the Z-Wave controller! NOTE: Reset to default only resets the Z-Wave controller if you want to include devices back or to another controller, you need to Exclude them first.