Some questions on UZB1

Discussions about Z-Way software and Z-Wave technology in general
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sirfratus
Posts: 3
Joined: 05 Jan 2017 01:53

Some questions on UZB1

Post by sirfratus »

Hi,

I'm a newbie in the world of domotics, so sorry in advance if some of my questions are not "high-level"
I'm currently testing a "proof of concept" installation using my Raspberry 2 with Jeedom distribution + your ZWave UZB1 stick + 1 Qubino ZWave controller.
I finally manage to get the things working quite correctly, but I've some questions left:

1) Initially, I had 4 nodes recognized by Jeedom: node 5 was the Qubino, node 1 was UZB1 and node 2 and node 3 appeared dead (I've no other Z-Wave apparatus yet). I've seen elsewhere on the web that I was not the only one to have such 2 dead nodes (ex: https://github.com/cdjackson/HABmin/issues/223). Jeedom allowed me to get rid off them pretty easily but I wanted to know what may explain these initial dead nodes: does UZB1 stores information about the equipment it was linked to? One explanation found in a forum was that the key was maybe not new (second-hand) and UZB1 remembered 2 nodes from a past installation. A similar explanation was that it was due to some factory testing. So does UZB1 really stores information (ie does it has some built-in memory?)? If yes, do you make some factoring testing which could explain the 2 dead nodes?

2) Sometimes, after a reboot of the Pi, the UZB1 is mounted on /dev/ttyACM1 instead of /dev/ttyACM0, so I have to change a setting in Jeedom to get the Zwave network working again. Is there a way to prevent that? I tried some settings with udev following some explanations found for USB (ttyUSB) but it didn't work.

3) About the range: I had initially some big issues concerning the range of UZB1 (seems a little bit less problematic since I deleted the dead nodes, to be confirmed). A 11-12mg range without obstacles (walls) was sometimes to much and the Qubino appeared dead. It seems short compared to what is announced (100m outdoor, up to 40 m indoor). Is there a way to know if it comes from the UZB1 or from the Qubino?

4) By the way: I've seen that Razberry version 2 has a better antenna compared to version 1 (I hesitated when I choose the ZWave controller between UZB1 and Razberry) : is it better than UZB1 concerning the range?
Another question on Razberry v2 : what is is power consumption compared to UZB1? And is it possible to use the GPIO power pins with a small sensor even if Razberry is in place?

Thanks in advance for your answers
Last edited by sirfratus on 11 Jan 2017 02:08, edited 1 time in total.
sirfratus
Posts: 3
Joined: 05 Jan 2017 01:53

Re: Some questions on UZB1

Post by sirfratus »

No answer at all? At least on the /dev/ttyAMC1 mounting?
It seems to happen when a plug a Bluetooth USB dongle on the Pi.
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PoltoS
Posts: 7649
Joined: 26 Jan 2011 19:36

Re: Some questions on UZB1

Post by PoltoS »

1) looks like sombody have used it before you
2) this happens if some s/w tried to allocate the port. It might also happen if the dongle is re-plugged after power on. This is why it is better to use RaZberry on the Pi
3) the range indoor is always way smaller that outdoor. Mostly due to interference. I strongly recommend you to use a 20 cm cable between UZB1 and your Pi - this will improve a lot!
4) RaZ 2 antenna is better that UZB1. You can use GPIO except for UART pins. Consumption is 100% same.
sirfratus
Posts: 3
Joined: 05 Jan 2017 01:53

Re: Some questions on UZB1

Post by sirfratus »

Thanks for your answers. It was not clear from the technical sheet of UZB1 that the stick had some internal memory.
I will send back the UZB1 to the seller and buy a Razberry 2 then. Not the first time I suspect to received an object which is not new, this time I have a proof. It would not have been issue if it worked, but it seems this one has problem: sometimes the node appear dead after some hours or days, but everything goes back to normal after I reboot the Pi. I thought it was a range issue (explaining my third question), but it happens also at short range.
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