Z-Wave Gateway

Discussion about Z-Uno product. Visit http://z-uno.z-wave.me for more details.
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Andys1970
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 Apr 2018 16:46

Z-Wave Gateway

Post by Andys1970 »

Hi there,

I would like to build my own Z-Wave gateway - can I use this board as the gateway device connected to a Beaglebone black?

Z-WAVE.ME ZMEEZUNO Z-Uno Board for Arduino

Or do I need a different style of radio chip?

Best Regards,
Andy
petergebruers
Posts: 255
Joined: 26 Jul 2015 17:29

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by petergebruers »

By gateway you mean "controller", like Z-Way or Fibaro HomeCenter?

Z-Uno is for developing devices, not controllers. Though, for sake of completeness, you might be able to turn a Z-Uno into a controller by flashing it with the published generic image (in the Silabs SDK), but there might be no way back (because... I am not sure you'll be able to burn the Z-Uno bootloader after you have ran some other firmware on that board!). I think it is too expensive to do that.

I think you should start by reading this:

https://www.silabs.com/documents/login/ ... -Guide.pdf

It is part of the official SDK

https://www.silabs.com/products/develop ... bedded-sdk

You'll have to make a login to download those files.

It describes the protocol, over serial or usb, spoken by dongles like:

https://z-wave.me/uzb/

The SDK contains a demo app, which acts as a complete controller.

I have never done this, but I am reading the SDK and developing an tiny application on a ZM5101 on a Aeon Z-Stick. So I stumbled upon this documentation ;-) I hope it is useful or at least a starting point.

I think www.openzwave.org might inspire you as well...

At the moment, I think there are no affordable bare-metal (chip breakout) boards of Z-Wave chips. Someone on Aliexpress sold some, but that shop no longer exists.
Andys1970
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 Apr 2018 16:46

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by Andys1970 »

Hi Peter,

I now have setup a very simple Gateway using a RaspberryPi running Hassio and have a Aeoteck Z-Stick Gen5.

I am now looking to implement my own devices on the Z-Wave network.

I would like to create a device that is measuring device with a piezo sounder. When a measured parameter exceeds a predetermined level, it will beep an alarm. It will send out a message that will cause remote devices to beep an alarm.

I have read something that states that a Z-Wave device can be either a Sensor or an Actuator - I think my requirements mean I need my device to be both Actuator and Sensor - Is this possible?

Thank in advance.
Andy
petergebruers
Posts: 255
Joined: 26 Jul 2015 17:29

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by petergebruers »

Yes, your Z-Uno can implement a relay and/or a dimmer and/or a sensor at the same time. For instance, I have a n RGBW light behind my TV and it also has a CO2 sensor at the same time.
Andys1970
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 Apr 2018 16:46

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by Andys1970 »

Would that implementation be power hungry?
petergebruers
Posts: 255
Joined: 26 Jul 2015 17:29

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by petergebruers »

My implementation is "power hungry" if you consider 40 mA at 3.3 V "power hungry"...

I don not think you can power down the CO sensor. So trying to optimize the Z-Uno seems not worth it in this case.The Z-Uno is always on.

You could make devices (actor + sensor) that run with less than 1 mA (and even less, if you take the effort to tune your solution, 0.1 sounds possible). Search term: "FLiRS" = battery powered, but can respond to commands in about one second. Not as fast as "always on". It is a compromise.

To give you an example of a possible application... You could combine a relay with a light sensor (eg. BH1750). For the relay, use a latching type so it only uses power when it changes state. The BH1750 is low power (has standby mode). There are quite a few things to learn before you build such a thing. For instance, what sleep mode means and how pins respond at wake up. There are a few posts on this forum.
Andys1970
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 Apr 2018 16:46

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by Andys1970 »

Peter,

Thank you so much for this information.

I am not using the Z-Uno, I am planning to use a PIC micro controller and ZM5304AE( https://www.digikey.co.uk/product-detai ... 1074-1-ND/)


So a Sensor can only send information to a Gateway, an Actuator can only received information from a Gateway.
A combined Sensor and Actuator is possible, but may consume 100uA...FLiRS maybe even lower?

I will do some research on FLiRS this evening. I can live with maybe a 2 second latency of the other units sounding the beep, when one unit trips the threshold.
petergebruers
Posts: 255
Joined: 26 Jul 2015 17:29

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by petergebruers »

I can't help you with that ZM5304 because it uses a "serial interface protocol" and I have not read the docs in-depth (see ""Serial API Host Appl. Prg. Guide"". It is totally unlike the Z-Uno... It does not look like "building a device with the SDK either". I think it is mostly used by controller software. I can't help you with this serial interface at all.

I measured 70 uA while running my "LED FLiRS" sketch - at room temperature.
Andys1970
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 Apr 2018 16:46

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by Andys1970 »

I think I may be running before I can walk.

Maybe I should buy a Z-uno first to experiment.

Can I see your sketch?
petergebruers
Posts: 255
Joined: 26 Jul 2015 17:29

Re: Z-Wave Gateway

Post by petergebruers »

Since you say sou want to interface a PIC with that SoC, I'd say you kind of regard the ZM SoC like it is a merely some kind of transceiver. Z-Wave is actually controller, transceiver, radio, SDK, standard for messaging, standard for commands and sensors and much more... You can have good reasons to use a PIC, they make everything from tiny 8-bit MCU to ARM with lots of memory and peripherals (Atmel)...

A Z-Uno will certainly help you to get a grip on Z-Wave. Once you get things going, you can study the SDK published by Silabs to "get to the bottom of all this".

Th FLiRS demo sketch is here:

https://github.com/petergebruers/Z-Uno-FLiRS-LED-DEMO
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