Seperate Switch & Dimmer setup - Best Practice?

[cjnicholl]

Long post - Sorry!
I am moving from a LightwaveRF lighting setup to complete ZWave lighting and I am looking for the best way to set this up.

I am using AeonLab Micro ZWave Dimmer modules with seperate Nodon Zwave wall switches.

Micro Dimmers:https://www.intellihome.be/en/z-wave-ae ... -2399.html
Wall Switches:https://www.intellihome.be/en/z-wave-pl ... white.html

The reason I am using wireless wall switches is that I live in an older build UK house and none of my current standard switches have a 3 wire configuration, only 2 wire. Also, the Nodon switches are one of the few ZWave wall switches that are not a "paddle" type switch which I don't like the look of

The Nodon switches have 4 "buttons" which can be setup in 3 different modes:

• 1. Scene - Can be setup in Domoticz as a device. Each device (16 in total, 2 per button) can activate a scene.
  2. Mono - Cannot be setup in Domoticz as a device. Each button talks directly to a node (dimmer). This can be done by including the node directly with the button or associating the button with the node in ZWave setup in Domoticz.
  3. Duo - As Mono but the buttons are paired resulting in 2 On/Up buttons and 2 Off/Down buttons.

After all that the questions are - What is the best way to set up the switches and dimmers?
Do I include everything in Domoticz and manage it from there?

• Pros
  • Everything can be controlled and managed from Domoticz and Domoticz App.
    Scene Activation.
  Cons
  • It makes Domoticz very messy with lots of devices to do even a simple task.
    There is a noticeable delay when switching the lights on. I assume this is because the button has to talk to Domoticz which then talks to the dimmer.
    If my server goes down I can't use the lights!

Do I include the dimmers but not the switches in Domoticz and pair the switches seperately?

• Pros
  • Dimmers can still be controlled and managed from Domoticz and Domoticz App.
    Cleans up the amount of devices in Domoticz.
    Can still use the lights even if the server goes down.
    No delay when switching the lights on.
  Cons
  • Not sure I can even do this. Is it possible to pair more than one device to another device??
    Would need to constantly poll the dimmers so Domoticz can see the changes the switches are making.
    No scene activation?? Not sure if this would still be possible in some way?

A mixture of both?
Another option I haven't thought of?

[georgesattali]

Hello cjnicholl,

IMHO, the "If my server goes down I can't use the lights!" sentence has got a very (very very) low WAF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor, so be sure of your choice

the second solution is good but hypothetic, you have to check first and do some trials.

don't know if that's really helps, but I couldn't resist.

See you, Geo

[bluepi]

I find the advantage of Domoticz to use the best item for the job as it talks so well to so many devices and becomes the central portal for everything.

If the server goes down... What are you planning to run it on?

Spare raspberry Pi with imaged SD card and daily offsite backups and UPS would be resilient. This is the model I have gone down.

I use Hue for my lighting but have some Qubino relays. I am just about to wire my lights to always on and put the Nodon battery controller over the place of the now missing switch.

There is a slight delay between a button press and my hues coming on but it is around a second. So something I can live with...given the same switch will turn on the sockets and/or the whole room.

My issues is having a old house is I dont and cannot have the depth in many of the walls to put in a relay behind the light switch 45mm...

You can have the relay in more than one group if the Nodon supports it. (I know the POP etc do)... So it can be controlled from the switch and Domoticz. The Polling is fine as its wired.

[cjnicholl]

After some testing I have settled on adding the dimmer modules and the Nodon switches to Domoticz. If I associate the dimmers to the switches in the group table they work quite happily without Domoticz running at all.
This way I can still manage all the devices in Domoticz but the lights are not affected if the server goes down.

Best of both worlds

[Lectere]

Hey cjnicholl,

I'm having the same issue, can you please share your solution?, I need some details, on how to configure the Nodon (gateway/duo mode?), and some details on how to make the group table in domoticz.

Thanks in advance

[cjnicholl]

I gave up using the Nodon dimmers in the end. I now use Aeon Labs micro dimmers triggered by Lightwave Mood switches.