yet another new member.....

[Ph1lby]

Hi all,
I have been looking for a forum on which to pose some Z-Wave questions and I'm hoping this is it!.
I'm trying to work out a solution for a remote house, one that I visit from time to time and never know when I will be able to get there next. There is a telephone line only, and I want to control lights, thermostat and boiler hot-water - so it's warm when I arrive and there is hot-water!. At some point I would like to add a link to the security system.
I'm planning on using an old laptop for the network controller, using the built in dial-up modem to contact a server running at my house. The laptop would be the SUC in the Z-wave system (I guess), but would the server then be the SIS?. I should also add that the laptop has been chosen because the screen doesn't work! - so I'm planning to have the GUI on the server and not at the house.
I have requested the Z-Wave SDK with USB - which I will be using to write the neccessary software, but it's the controller, SUC, SIS bit I'm not sure about.
Currently I can make the laptop poll my server via the modem, and can transfer HTTP to the laptop over the internet - so I can transfer commands. If I can understand the network set-up side, and the operation of the SUC I'm sure I can get remote control using this set-up.
Any thoughts help?
Thanks
Mike

 

[upstatemike]

Welcome Mike! I understand your reasons for trying to put the laptop to good use but I think you may want to be able to access it locally when you are at the house. Don't you think the dead screen is going to be a problem at some point?

 

[Ph1lby]

Hello upstatemike,
Hmm, yes.... but my intention is that I could still alter things locally manually - adjust the thermostat, lights etc as required. My way of thinking is that the controller (laptop) will only override local settings if they are instructed from the server, and the server will apply changes only once. Thus I can turn on heating before leaving, then play with it while I am there as much as I like, then when I return home I can adjust again through the server. That way the dead screen is not a problem. I think Z-Wave and the on-site controller (laptop/SUC) can work this way?
Mike

 

[upstatemike]

But for setup and troubleshooting... ?

 

[Jay C]

I hate to belabor the point as I'm sure you had other intentions for answers, but ... are you sure the screen is dead or is the backlight just burned out? I have replaced one of these recently at a cost of $13 for a new CCFL tube. On the otherhand, most laptops have a VGA connector and pressing FCN+F8 will send the video to it. Connect an external monitor and you are good to go on that front.

Your use of acronyms SUC and SIS is foreign to me.

FWIW,
Jay

 

[Ph1lby]

Thanks again for the replies,
upstatemike you are correct about the setup and troubleshooting elements - and in part thats wehere my question about the SUC and SIS comes in. The laptop will operate normally as a SUC - but for the setup it will need to eithre be the SIS as well, or have another device as the SIS (poss my other fully working laptop). The SIS will then need to allocate SUC control to the (old, non-working one), and let it monitor/control the network.
Jay C - As I understand it - SUC is a Static Update Controller (keeps the routing database and advices the other nodes about routing changes. SIS is a SUC which can issue ID's to new nodes on the network - thereby allowing them to join.
Provided there are no extra nodes to add, and that no nodes go down, I think the SIS can be removed from the network once it's job is complete. Allowing the SUC to run the network.
In my scenario, the SUC is the controller which issues instructions to the nodes. The server is behind the SUC (in this case) and invisible to the nodes. The srver issues an instruction to the SUC, it forwards this to the nodes and gets a status check back. Status is forwarded to the server. Job done. Hopefully.

But if I have the SUC and SIS roles wrong - none of this works.
Mike