Lightwaverf via Wifi link

Configuration
21

many thanks again jono

will definitely delve in further once I get the LightwaveRF installed

22

Good luck :+1:

23

thanks!

Silly question - I understand you can control the light dimmers and switches in HA with your implementation

if for example, using HA, you turned on lights (connected via LightwaveRF)
then someone turns off the same lights via the LightwaveRF dimmer/remote

will the new ‘off’ state be reflected in HA? (i.e. move from On > Off)

24

sorry - another silly question

you have full control over your LightwaveRF dimmers/switches without the need for the RFX device?

25

Lightwave RF Switches are only receivers, not transmitters (i.e. they’re only 1 way) so any change on the physical switch is never reflected back into HA (or the LWRF hub/mobile app) only the last state it new about.

26

You don’t need an RFX device to have full control if you have the lightwave hub.
You can use a slider and a bit of automation for the dimming feature, and command switches as above to make it work, but you’ll have to create the HA devices yourself.

27

thanks for the additional info pembo - it’s really helping me make an informed decision with regards to how/what to implement

so - without the RFX it appears I can get a fairly decent level of LWRF control - but in order for the HA front end to re updated with the correct LWRF state, I need to use the RFX device - is this last part correct?

and it looks like you went RFX in the end too.

  • would you mind elaborating a little further re the pros of choosing this option?
  • how is your set up? did you plug the usb of the RFX into a Vera controller, PI etc?

cheers again

28

even with the RFX device you won’t get the state from the switch - that’s a hardware limitation of LWRF unfortunately. You’d need z-wave/wifi/ZigBee/etc based switches to do that, but in my case, that meant dropping a neutral everywhere which wasn’t worth the effort.

I went RFX in the end for a couple of reasons

  1. I don’t want to rely on LWRF cloud being there - which the LWRF hub does - who knows when this could disappear
  2. RFX covers more than LWRF
  3. RFX can detect the devices from remotes/the original hub, mood switches/etc
  4. RFX connects to vera, and creates switches, which are then included in HA without having to manually create them

My RFX plugs into my vera hub as I use this as the central device bridge.

Of course, you can use RFX direct without vera, I wanted vera to cover Zwave/ZigBee also

29

excellent

So to get the states of my LWRF dimmers/switches in HA, I would need to use RFX in combination with a Vera Plus controller for example?

30

In short no.

Lightwaverf is one way. You send it a command, no acknowledgement or state change is returned to you. HA allows you to setup switches. HA will show state based on execution of the script used to send the command to the lightwaverf unit. On occasions HA tells me a lightwaverf unit is on, when for whatever reason the lightwaverf unit didn’t receive the command.

Lightwaverf is inexpensive however has many faults. HA certainly improves the usability of it when used in conjunction with automation.

Matt

31

thanks for the response mhaylock

i hear what you’re saying re LWRF and HA and not getting the states

My question above was more about whether I could get the states in HA using LWRF, RFX and Vera all in combination

32

Lightwaverf would still be the weakest link, the state would be the response from whatever is issuing the command to it.

33

exactly as @mhaylock said…
When using the LWRF hub and using command switches, I held the state in a text file, but because the physical switches don’t transmit state change, regardless of how you do it, it’s always possible to get them out of sequence with HA still (and its the same with Vera or RFXTrx).

I just make sure all my automations don’t toggle the switch, but that they actually force an on or off irrelevant of the state its in.

Re the scripts for a switch with the hub, I did this as follows:

(
flock -x -w 10 200

state="O"
if [ $3 -eq 1 ] ; then
  state="I"
fi

echo -ne "001,!R$1D$2F$3|$4|$state" | nc -u -w1 192.168.1.x 9760
echo $3 > /scripts/conf/$4

) 200>/var/lock/lwrflockfile

The reason for the lock was so the scripts queued on the lock - I was convinced that if you sent multiple messages to the hub at the same time, if got a bit confused so automations to power everything off ended up being a bit hit/miss till I put the lock in.

Then I use the value in the file it wrote as the status check on the script.

34

thanks everyone

feel like i am stuck between a rock and a hard place

I am embarking on a full house refurbishment project which gives me an excellent chance to start with a blank canvas

however it seems there is not a total ‘smart’ solution that can also look great too (LWRF dimmers/switches look far better than ‘smart/z-wave’ equivalents.

installing LWRF dimmers/switches through out the house is also a much more cost-effective solution

i think the LWRF solution through out may be my way forward - looks of dimmers/switches (imho) , wife friendly in the sense she can just turn on/off without having to reach for smartphone app and ability to control via voice (echo/google home) - only sacrifice i would have to make is that i could not get a real representation of ‘state(s)’ in the Home Assistant front-end :frowning:

would be good to hear if others encountered the same situation/dilemna , what they eventually chose and their reasons for doing so

35

personally if I was starting from a blank canvas, I think i’d go one of the micro/nano z-wave dimmers/switch behind a ‘standard’ retractable light switch.

I’ve had LWRF for a number of years now and it’s just grown to be part of a wider home automation solution, and I’ve enough invested in it, plus lack of neutral in light circuit that basically puts me in tight spot also :smiley:

36

i thought that might be your view :disappointed:

can you suggest some links for the micro/nano z-wave dimmers/switch and ‘standard’ retractable light switches?

also - would i be limited to buying just z-wave lights/bulbs?

37

With a z-wave dimmer, such as Aeotec Nano Dimmer or, fibaro dimmer module to give a couple of examples, they can sit behind the switch in the patress box (assuming its deep enough) though they aren’t exactly cheap… The Aeotec one even works in a two wire system so its got my interest!

retractable/retractive switches are available from a few places. Example of one is here:
On screwfix - 5729J. Once the dimmer module is in, then you don’t need special bulbs as the module does the z-wave… just remember that if using LEDs, you nearly always need the dimmable variety (which is the same with LWRF!)

The retractive switch means it’ll click straight off again, so a click will turn on and off and the switch always returns to the same position.

38

Hi there,
I’m also starting with a blank canvas, however I think I’m going to stick with lightwaveRF, I was originally going to get a smartthings, however I just ordered a raspberry pi 3 and will setup hass tomorrow.

Just so you are aware, on the samsung smartthings website, there is a thread where a user got ST and LWRF working without cloud interaction and he got dimmers working also, his script is open source and on github, and he provides a tutorial, I believe (if homeassist isn’t already working with dim) the code could be ported over, once I get my lights, I’ll be taking a closer look.

39

I’d hold off on lightwave purchases. They’ve recently announced generation 2 which supports ‘2 way communication’ but it looks like it won’t be backwards compatible with previous generation of LWRF

40

Will do :slight_smile: