Vizia-RF, first impressions

KenM

Active Member
Hi All,

I had some spare time today so I was able to play with my new Leviton 'Vizia-RF 4-scene controller' a little. ;)

This is an interesting device. It will not control a load directly, I believe that stems from the fact that Lutron has patents on that, coupled with RF communication.

It will activate scenes on other Vizia-RF devices. I have also discovered that it will control the Intermatic HA06 dimmers in a dim up/down/off type of fashion. I have an old HomePro ZDW100 dimmer that it sort of controlled but that unit would go to full off on any dim operation. The ZDW100 has been discontinued so maybe the firmware was a little defective on it.

For this test, I am using HomeSeer 2.2.0.3 with a 'Z-Troller' PC interface. Leviton sells a Vizia-RF hand held remote but the Z-Troller is about the same price. You will need to purchase HomeSeer 2.2 to make use of the Z-Troller but as near as I can tell it is well worth the money. Right now the HS 2.2 Vizia-RF scene controller functions are not 100%, I could only get my one Vizia-RF lamp module to be accepted into scenes for the first two buttons and this could well be operator error.

On to my test:

The associations that I made for this test were done easily with HomeSeer 2.2, I associated a Vizia-RF plug-in lamp module p/n RZP03-1LW, two HA06 wall dimmers, and one ZDW100 wall dimmer, all to button one of the controller. After the associations were made, I shut down HomeSeer, just to avoid any confusion.

The scene controller has five buttons, four are to select a scene and one at the bottom is to dim up/down the devices in that scene.

Basic operation is that you press a scene button and all of the (Vizia-RF) devices in that scene will go the the levels that you had associated them at. A small, green LED on the button indicates that that scene is active. Pressing the same button again will cause all of the devices in the scene to go to 'off'. When the scene is active you can use the dim/bright button at the bottom to change the levels on every device in the scene, nice touch.

The neat thing for me, is that I can associate a standard HA06 wall dimmer to one of the scene buttons and have the controller act like a normal dimmer.

I do not know if this was by accident or design, time will tell on that. Right now I am happy because I can use a screw-in socket type Z-Wave device and avoid having to add an extra electrical box, at least at my first switch location.

Comments are freely invited. I would hope that other people using these things will be able to add to our knowledge pool. The included instructions are OK for wiring the thing up but do not say much about the device's abilities.

Regards to all,

Ken
 
Thanks for the update Ken, it sounds like you are satisfied with them.

1. Can you elaborate on the dimming buttons? Say for instance I press scene button #1 and then 10 minutes later I press scene button #2 and decide that I want to also dim scene #1. How do I then dim scene 1? Would I press scene 1 again and then dim it, or would pressing the scene 2 button again when it is already on turn it off?

2. Also, when is the LED on a given scene button illuminated? You mentioned in turns on when you activate the scene, and goes off when you press it again, but what if I activate scene #1 and then dim one of the lights included in the scene button's device list from it's switch? Would the button then consider the scene to be off? And what if I turned off one of the devices from it's own switch?

3. And related to #2, when including the 3rd party dimmer (non Vizia-RF) in a a scene button's device list, does controlling the 3rd party dimmer affect the scene button LED any differently than if it were a vizia rf dimmer?

4. I watched the training materials and read through some the Leviton web site, and I noticed they seem to use the term Zone, Group, and Area interchangeably. Are you aware of any differences?

5. What is the difference between a zone controller and a scene controller with all the scenes all set to 100%?

6. What is below the 4th button on the zone controller?

7. Is there any IR/Infrared remote capability in the 4 button controllers?

8. Are the Non-dimmer switches rockers or do you only press the bottom half of the paddle like the dimmers?

Whew!

Thanks,
Johnny

edit: typo, and added #8.
 
Ken,

Did you do all the scene programming or did you figure out how to do scenes on the remote? As per my post on my experience, i don't seem able to get a scene to register different areas at different levels which defeats the purpose...

Still waiting on a response form leviton support on this...

thx
-brad
 
I only have the scene controller and do not have the Vizia-RF remote. I am doing this exclusively with HomeSeer 2.2.0.3 with a Z-Troller and some trial and error type of work. To set up a scene, I first set the device level and then associate the device to a button on the controller with HS2.

Hopefully I will have time tomorrow to install my six other Vizia-RF devices and set up some more complicated scenes, that should answer a lot of questions. I will update you all with whatever I discover.

I am not sure exactly of the difference between the scene and zone controllers. I believe that the zone controller has a two position switch for each of the four buttons (on/off), the scene controller has a single position toggle at each position. I will figure out the button logic on the scene controller tomorrow. Also, as far as I know, the zone controller will not report events to HomeSeer.

Ken
 
Hi all,

I have had some time to play. And answer some questions, and maybe create more questions about the Vizia-RF 4-scene controller.

The scene buttons:

If I press scene x, then press another scene and later want to come back to scene x, I just need to press scene x, the first button press will not turn the scene off, it only selects it. Example: I press scene one - scene activates, I then press scene two - scene activates, I then want to dim scene one, I press the scene one button again and the scene is selected.

If I activate a scene, and then locally dim one component of the scene to off, the LED on the controller stays lit. If I select the scene again the locally dimmed component will revert to the default scene level. A non Vizia-RF device will not effect the LEDs status.

If I dim a scene and then reselect that scene everything goes back to the scene defaults.

I included two Vizia-RF appliance/relay plug-in modules into one scene and all that happened when I pressed that button was that the modules switched off. No matter what buttons were pressed, they just stayed off. This could be a glitch in HS2 or it could be just the way these things operate. Too early to tell.

Ken

Edit added:
The box says these have 'IR Remote Capability'. The IR detector gets covered up by a standard switch cover plate so I guess you would need to get a special cover plate (or do a field mod to a standard plate) to use an IR remote.

All in all I am quite happy with this thing. My needs are relatively simple and this works well for my purposes.

k
 
The scene controllers use a single button for each scene. Press the buttom and the scene is activated and the LED goes on. Press it again and all the devices go off and the LED goes off.

The zone controllers have the exact same features and are programmed in the same manner. The only difference is that each button is a rocker, rather then a button. This allows you to activate a scene without turning it off first. These controllers work better with HomeSeer since you can trigger a different event with each button, just hit the button on the left side.

Not sure if you noticed this, but click on the "Configure" button under each button device in HomeSeer. This will allow you to add devices to the scene, then program the controller. This is far easier then running around the house and setting the dim levels. From this screen you can also read the controller to obtain the scene configuration (if you programmed the controller manually) Note that this screen only displays devices that support the Z-Wave scene class (which as of this post is ViziaRF only). You can add older devices to the scene, just use the association settings in the Z-Wave setup. You can associate any device, but the controller will only send an ON or OFF command to these devices. HomeSeer adds a nifty addition where you can add delays for the scene actions. Turn off light A now, light B in 15 seconds, etc.

Hope this helps some.

-Rich
HomeSeer Technologies LLC
 
KenM said:
The box says these have 'IR Remote Capability'. The IR detector gets covered up by a standard switch cover plate so I guess you would need to get a special cover plate (or do a field mod to a standard plate) to use an IR remote.
I see in the instructions it says:

"To make IR capable, replace with a DIM/BRIGHT button that has the IR window."

So how does one get a button with an IR window?

UPDATE:

I see in the separate product specification document it indicates"

"IR Window Button included with product".

Can anyone verify that it is included?
 
mbreeden said:
Johnny:

Yes, I can confirm. I have a a couple of Scene and Zone Controlers.

-Mike
Great, thanks.

Also, I understand that the 4 button scene controller buttons set lights to a predetermined levels which can differ per light. However the leviton documentation for the zone controller seems to indicate that the 4 paddle buttons turn the lights in that zone/area on or off... but to their maximum set level, or to as scene like the scene controller, or...?

Thanks.
 
I depeneds on what you set the button to do. You can make a zone controller into a scene controller and vice versa. It depends on what button style you like. Also, you can do a combination of both area on/off and scenes on the same controller.
 
Worthdist said:
I depeneds on what you set the button to do. You can make a zone controller into a scene controller and vice versa. It depends on what button style you like. Also, you can do a combination of both area on/off and scenes on the same controller.
Really? I didn't get that out of the install docs. I'll reread them in full.
 
johnnynine said:
Worthdist said:
I depeneds on what you set the button to do. You can make a zone controller into a scene controller and vice versa. It depends on what button style you like. Also, you can do a combination of both area on/off and scenes on the same controller.
Really? I didn't get that out of the install docs. I'll reread them in full.
I'm sorry but I have re-reviewed the documentation and watched the training video again and I do not see anything that indicates that the 4 button zone controller can set lights to dimming presets.

As for the 4 button scene controller, the training video, the install docs and the product specification doc all explicitly indicate that the buttons can be set to control lights to a preset dimmed level based on the scene. However I see nothing that indicates this for the 4 button zone controller.

edit: I attached a screen shot from the training video. I assume it's ok copyright wise as it is used for educational purposes... otherwise feel free to delete it.
 

Attachments

  • sshot_2.gif
    sshot_2.gif
    43 KB · Views: 35
Worthdist said:
I depeneds on what you set the button to do. You can make a zone controller into a scene controller and vice versa. It depends on what button style you like. Also, you can do a combination of both area on/off and scenes on the same controller.
This sorts of makes me believe that you cannot include 'on/off' and 'dim level' commands on the same button.

That might explain why one scene I tried with light 'dim levels' and appliance module 'on/off' levels, would not switch the appliance modules to anything but 'off', while the light levels worked just fine. I will try a little more 'R&D' scene programming this weekend.

Ken
 
Hi,

I did a experiment today, the results are confusing (after 3 hours of trying different things). Keep in mind that I am using HomeSeer 2 and only have a little experience with it.

I got home today and found a UPS package with some more of the Vizia-RF modules that I had ordered, cool... I was able to finish setting up my living room with Vizia-RF and the scene buttons on my first controller.

I first removed an older Z-Wave dimmer, from the Net, with the Z-Troller, and added the new Vizia-RF dimmer in its place. That worked well. I could control my scenes on the Vizia-RF 'button #1' (that is the button I used for the dimmers). I also added one appliance module to the #2 button, and that worked.

So I said "what the heck", lets see what would happen if I added some Vizia-RF appliance modules to the 'button #1' scene. I added three, and they all worked flawlessly.

For me, after this, it got a little weird.

I removed all of the 'appliance module' associations from button #1 and #2.

After that, I could not figure out a way to make appliance modules associate to the #2 button, with anything, other than an 'OFF' in HS.

I did try the 'remove everything from that button', save and retry. No Joy. I even stopped HS and rebooted twice.

I am suspecting operator error at this point. I did confirm that a single button will control both light levels and 'on/off' appliance functions.


FYI

ken

edit: added info, this morning HS appeared to be operating normal as far as adding appliance modules with an 'ON' level. All is now working.?
k
 
After having some times with the 4 button zone and scene controllers, can someone with some hands on experience give any advice on situations where one device fits better than the other?
 
Back
Top