Premise Vizia RF+ 4 button controllers with switch and VRC0P

[etc6849]

Here's my results from testing a Leviton Vizia RF+ 4 button zone controller.

Manufacturer Details
VRCZ4-1LZ
The top four buttons are left and right on/off rockers for four different programmable zones, while the bottom arrow pad raises and lowers the lighting level or condition of the most recent zone activated. Vizia RF + incorporates real 2-way status updating of the green LED lamp on each button, giving you real-time information about the on/off status of the lights in your home.

VRCZ4-MRZ
Vizia RF + 4-Button Zone Controller with Switch for Multi-Location Control with IR Remote Capability. White face assembled on device, ivory and light almond faces included. Other details same as the VRCZ4.

Results following a button press
top button on left:
<N051:043,001,001,255
<N052S001,255,255 (I had node 52 associated to the top toggle switch)

top button on right:
<N051:032,001,000
<N052S000,000,255 (I had node 52 associated to the top toggle switch)

similarly, when you press these buttons on left you see the following on port spy:
(note: no nodes associated with these buttons)
2nd button on:
<N051:043,001,002,255 (fortunately, we can easily pick out which on button is pressed)

3rd button on:
<N051:043,001,003,255

4th button on:
<N051:043,001,004,255

when you press buttons 2-4 on the right (e.g. the off side of the toggle) you see the following on port spy:
(note: no nodes associated with these buttons)
<N051:032,001,000 (unfortunately, there's no way to identify which off button was pressed)

bright down:
<N051:038,005
<N051:038,004,000,000

bright up:
<N051:038,005
<N051:038,004,064,000

My plan
If someone can do similar tests with a 4 button scene controller (don't associate any nodes), I'd be willing to integrate these into the VRC0P module. The goal is to use the scene and zone controllers generically to trigger events in Premise. For example, a goodnight button might arm the alarm to stay mode, turn off all televisions and lights and set back thermostat.

To do this, I would make a new class called controller that inherits from the keypad class. Custom scripts would then be written for each button of a keypad home object for specific tasks. Each button would automatically be bound to the home keypad when the home keypad is "initialized" from the device object (aka the 4 button controller).

 

[Odeen]

I have a few Monster Illuminessence IWC600 keypads (OEM Leviton RZ RZCS4 scene controllers) that I installed, but haven't associated or programmed yet. I'll associate one tonight, and see if I can get it talking to Premise.

Since Premise talks to the VRC0P, I'm assuming I have to associate the keypad to the VRC0P? Can controllers be associated to other controllers that way?

 

[etc6849]

I guess I left that very important detail out of the post, doh! Before testing each button, it must be associated with the VRC0P like this:

>NxSS133,1,y,z

where: x= nodeID of scene controller, y = button/group number (1-5 for my test, group 5 was the dimmer buttons), z = nodeID of the VRC0P.

Thanks Odeen!

 

[etc6849]

The more I research things, the less enthused I get...

However, thanks to several of Tink's posts (especially the one below), I now see how Micasaverde and Homeseer know which off button is pressed. The method uses the indicator command class (which Cooper zone controllers use). When an off string is received, HS and Micasaverde check which LED indicator changed states to know which off button was pressed... and voila, a 4 button zone controller can now be a 10 button scene controller (if you use the brightness keys too)!

This is something I could easily implement in Premise within an hour, except Leviton uses a proprietary command class and not the indicator command class (like Cooper does). I have a spare RZC0P and I'm thinking about doing some brute force iterations to figure out the secret proprietary command class number.

Micasaverde apparently has led status working!?! http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Leviton_LED_Debugging
I wonder if they used brute force to figure it out. Once again, I'm hating the secrecy around some of these proprietary commands! :throwup:

http://board.homeseer.com/showpost.php?p=960344&postcount=6
"The only limitations with Leviton products is that when a "scene" is turned off, controllers (any brand) do not send a Scene Off command - there is no such thing - they send OFF commands to all of the devices in the scene, including HomeSeer, and so without the scene or button information HomeSeer has no way of knowing WHICH button (scene) was turned off. Thus, you press ANY of the OFF buttons, and all buttons will change to OFF.

Leviton has yet to share with us a way to tell (from reading the LED status) which scenes are on/off, but we are still working with them to get that. The fact that Cooper gave us a way to read the LED status is why when a scene is deactivated, we know which specific scene/button it was, and so you always get discrete on/off states with each button of a Cooper controller.

The difference then between a Leviton Zone controller and a Leviton Scene controller is that with a Zone controller, multiple buttons can be on at once, but with a Scene controller only one can be on at a time. "

 

[Odeen]

I guess I left that very important detail out of the post, doh! Before testing each button, it must be associated with the VRC0P like this:

>NxSS133,1,y,z

where: x= nodeID of scene controller, y = button/group number (1-5 for my test, group 5 was the dimmer buttons), z = nodeID of the VRC0P.

Thanks Odeen!

Ah, so it's more complicated than just associating a switch with the VRC0P in ThinkEssentials. Time to break out Putty and going all serial on the VRC0P.

 

[etc6849]

There's a SendViziaCmd property (or something like that) under the ViziaRF device object that you can use along with Port Spy in Premise Builder to make things easier... However, Putty is a good tool too.

 

[Odeen]

I guess I left that very important detail out of the post, doh! Before testing each button, it must be associated with the VRC0P like this:

>NxSS133,1,y,z

where: x= nodeID of scene controller, y = button/group number (1-5 for my test, group 5 was the dimmer buttons), z = nodeID of the VRC0P.

Thanks Odeen!

Something is wrong.....

I have included one of my scene controllers into the network and attempted to associate it with the VRC0P. Node ID of the controller is 26. Node ID of VRC0P is 22.

I sent the following commands, one at a time using the ViziaRFCommand property:
N26SS133,1,1,22
N26SS133,1,2,22
N26SS133,1,3,22
N26SS133,1,4,22
N26SS133,1,5,22
N26SS133,1,6,22

I got an <E000 after each command.

However, I'm not getting any feedback when I press the buttons on the scene controller. Nothing shows up on Port Spy.

I also tried N26SE133,1,1,22 through N26SE133,1,6,22. I believe SS stands for Secure Send, which my non-V3 VRC0P doesn't support. But I'm still getting nothing on Port Spy.

The VRC0P and the scene controller are on different floors. However, other dimmers in the same electrical box have no trouble communicating to the VRC0P.

 

[etc6849]

Sorry, SE is correct... Doh! I've been working too much with the locks, and I think my brain must be fried.

Do your scene controllers specify which zensys command classes they use? Do they support the HAIL command class?

I believe there must be some connection between the HAIL command class and instant feedback as all of the devices I own that support HAIL, give feedback.

Could you move the VRC0P and scene controller closer for the test? It could be that you need to set up routing (RO) first... For my test, I had the VRC0P in the next room. The RO command is detailed in the VRC0P programming guide.

 

[Odeen]

Sorry, SE is correct... Doh! I've been working too much with the locks, and I think my brain must be fried.

Do your scene controllers specify which zensys command classes they use? Do they support the HAIL command class?

I believe there must be some connection between the HAIL command class and instant feedback as all of the devices I own that support HAIL, give feedback.

Could you move the VRC0P and scene controller closer for the test? It could be that you need to set up routing (RO) first... For my test, I had the VRC0P in the next room. The RO command is detailed in the VRC0P programming guide.

The scene controllers are, to the best of my knowledge, Leviton RZCS4's (Vizia RF legacy scene controllers) with Monster name in the firmware.

I'm going to optimize routing with the Vizia Installer Tool tonight, and check the routing of the scene controller to the VRC0P. I also have two scene controllers installed in the same room as the VRC0P, so I'll try those next.

 

[etc6849]

That could be the issue. There's a knowledgeable guy at Worthington who told me that he could not get his first generation Vizia RF scene controllers to give instant status feedback with micasaverde; however, the V series stuff worked just fine!?!

 

[Odeen]

That could be the issue. There's a knowledgeable guy at Worthington who told me that he could not get his first generation Vizia RF scene controllers to give instant status feedback with micasaverde; however, the V series stuff worked just fine!?!

I take it that without instant status feedback, there's no way for the VRC0P to receive button presses from the scene controller. Which means that I can't have the scene controller trigger a Premise scene...

 

[etc6849]

I would search here for your model (just to be sure):
http://board.homeseer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=624

If using the button to trigger events works with homeseer or micasaverde (another good site to search), it's pretty likely it can work with Premise... As you state, if you can't see ascii text from the VRC0P when a button is pressed, things aren't good for controlling scenes with Premise. However, if you associate some z-wave device with a button, and that z-wave device gives a resonse when it's turned on/off, you could use that to trigger events in Premise.

One idea to try:
Have you tried a factory reset of the scene controller? If all else fails, I bet one of your other scene controllers will work (hopefully)...

 

[etc6849]

This application note looks like it will fix all of our issues with using a zone/scene controller and Premise!

http://communities.leviton.com/docs/DOC-2386

 

[Odeen]

This application note looks like it will fix all of our issues with using a zone/scene controller and Premise!

http://communities.leviton.com/docs/DOC-2386

Looks like it will do the trick. I will give it a shot when I get home today.

 

[etc6849]

Worked for me! There's no need to associate each button or set route either. I'm just including everything I tried for future reference.

Associate node 65 (VRC0P) with node 64 VRCZ4:
>N4SE133,1,1,65
>N4SE133,1,2,65

Set route for node 64 (VRCZ4):
>RO64,65

Top button 1 ON:
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:044,002,000

Top button 1 OFF:
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:044,002,000

Top button 2 ON:
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:044,002,000

Top button 2 OFF:
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:044,002,000

Now Try this:
>N64,SE,145,0,29,7,0,8,1,65
OR:
>N64,SE145,0,29,7,0,8,1,65

Top button 1 ON:
<N064:145,000,029,012,001,000
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:043,001,001,255
<N064:044,002,000

Top button 1 OFF:
<N064:145,000,029,012,005,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:044,002,000

Top button 2 ON:
<N064:145,000,029,012,002,000
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:043,001,002,255
<N064:044,002,000

Top button 2 OFF:
<N064:145,000,029,012,006,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:032,001,000
<N064:044,002,000

...

Button 4 ON:
<N064:145,000,029,012,004,000
<N064:044,002,000

Button 4 OFF:
<N064:145,000,029,012,008,000
<N064:044,002,000