IlluminEssence Switches/Dimmers
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Thought I'd jump in and answer some questions, most notably the cost of the Monster/Leviton-based Z wave dimmers.
We had several routes to go with building the Switch. This project took a while and we need to chose the most mechanicallly sound switch. Mechanically, the switches are much better constructed, quieter, and are stable at lower power ratings. By itself, the In Wall dimmer costs significantly more than the off the self dimmers at Home Depot
That being said, here are the most significant hardware upgrades:
1) In addition to the Z wave chip, there is a second RF Chip we are not currently using. This is to initiate a true two-way communication feature for more advanced control system. The Dimmers can broadcast its status and its assigned ENGLISH Identification: For example: "PATIO LIGHT is ON at 50%"
the Two-Way communication feature is a huge advancement and took a lot of development time to implement. Monster will be coming out with an advanced control system and there will be other Z Wave Control Software options that can utilize this feature. We don't plan to use it with the AVL300 controller since it would be annoying for the remote to light up everytime a light is turned on. When it comes to 2-way communication, we can add more sophisticated remote monitoring capabilities. For example, triggering the in wall dimmer or next year's Zwave based occupancy sensor with dimmer, can initiate an email or call to your cell phone. These are just some of the possibilities of what we can do with it.
2) Embedded RAM - The Dimmers have memory which uses the new Z Wave scene command class. Rather than a single cast of multiple scene values going to each individual Node in the network, the remote or lighting controller (AVL300 and upcoming AVL50 tabletop lighting controller) needs to only broadcast the SCENE ID. This reduces the amount of traffic on the mesh network by a large margin. In addition to much faster scene execution across networks with more than 10 nodes, we eliminate the "popcorn" effect that plagues the zigby and other RF-based lighting controls.
The need to reduce traffic is necessary since we plan to move AV/IR commands through the network for extended whole home multizone/multi-room control. That being said, future z wave dimmers and switches from other manufacturers should be using this method, however, none are yet available.
3) The dimmer itself wil provide you with the ability to manually set the fade rate from instant on/off, 2 second- 10 second ramps.
4) We employed a new Library that eliminates the ALL on/ALL OFF latency that plagues z wave modules. This process is simply way too slow and we've corrected that with a library that is not in other z wave modules on the market
IWC-600 - the in wall scene controller uses the two-way communication feature and is only compatible with the IlluminEssence line of dimmer and switches. Therefore, it cannot control other z wave lighting products. The Green LED on each pre-labeled button changes color when a lighting module in a scene is modified. Pressing it again snaps the scene back into place.
The button button is a scene zone Dimmer which can ramp the scene up or down. There is an IR window so that you can mate the discreet scene and dim up/down commands to a regular learning IR Remote
The In wall scene controller does not control an electrical load.
This is based on the Vizia RF line, although we have a different signature ID on the chips in our modules that flags it for addition software applications with our advanced control system. Vizia RF will also be priced the same and available through distribution and builders channels.
Hope this helps clarify some questions regarding this line.
Elbert
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought I'd jump in and answer some questions, most notably the cost of the Monster/Leviton-based Z wave dimmers.
We had several routes to go with building the Switch. This project took a while and we need to chose the most mechanicallly sound switch. Mechanically, the switches are much better constructed, quieter, and are stable at lower power ratings. By itself, the In Wall dimmer costs significantly more than the off the self dimmers at Home Depot
That being said, here are the most significant hardware upgrades:
1) In addition to the Z wave chip, there is a second RF Chip we are not currently using. This is to initiate a true two-way communication feature for more advanced control system. The Dimmers can broadcast its status and its assigned ENGLISH Identification: For example: "PATIO LIGHT is ON at 50%"
the Two-Way communication feature is a huge advancement and took a lot of development time to implement. Monster will be coming out with an advanced control system and there will be other Z Wave Control Software options that can utilize this feature. We don't plan to use it with the AVL300 controller since it would be annoying for the remote to light up everytime a light is turned on. When it comes to 2-way communication, we can add more sophisticated remote monitoring capabilities. For example, triggering the in wall dimmer or next year's Zwave based occupancy sensor with dimmer, can initiate an email or call to your cell phone. These are just some of the possibilities of what we can do with it.
2) Embedded RAM - The Dimmers have memory which uses the new Z Wave scene command class. Rather than a single cast of multiple scene values going to each individual Node in the network, the remote or lighting controller (AVL300 and upcoming AVL50 tabletop lighting controller) needs to only broadcast the SCENE ID. This reduces the amount of traffic on the mesh network by a large margin. In addition to much faster scene execution across networks with more than 10 nodes, we eliminate the "popcorn" effect that plagues the zigby and other RF-based lighting controls.
The need to reduce traffic is necessary since we plan to move AV/IR commands through the network for extended whole home multizone/multi-room control. That being said, future z wave dimmers and switches from other manufacturers should be using this method, however, none are yet available.
3) The dimmer itself wil provide you with the ability to manually set the fade rate from instant on/off, 2 second- 10 second ramps.
4) We employed a new Library that eliminates the ALL on/ALL OFF latency that plagues z wave modules. This process is simply way too slow and we've corrected that with a library that is not in other z wave modules on the market
IWC-600 - the in wall scene controller uses the two-way communication feature and is only compatible with the IlluminEssence line of dimmer and switches. Therefore, it cannot control other z wave lighting products. The Green LED on each pre-labeled button changes color when a lighting module in a scene is modified. Pressing it again snaps the scene back into place.
The button button is a scene zone Dimmer which can ramp the scene up or down. There is an IR window so that you can mate the discreet scene and dim up/down commands to a regular learning IR Remote
The In wall scene controller does not control an electrical load.
This is based on the Vizia RF line, although we have a different signature ID on the chips in our modules that flags it for addition software applications with our advanced control system. Vizia RF will also be priced the same and available through distribution and builders channels.
Hope this helps clarify some questions regarding this line.
Elbert
