simplifying Zigate with Ikea Trådfri dimmer button/remote

[pocock]

I have a mixture of devices from different vendors, including Philips Hue, Osram, Mueller Licht (Aldi) and Livarno Lux (Lidl)

I tried to set up the groups using the groups function in Domoticz. This was also discussed in Github

a) I can successfully discover the buttons in Permit Join mode but when I try to add an Ikea button to a group, I click "Add Device", I press a button and Domoticz does not see it, it says "Timeout... Please Try Again.". I tried pressing all the buttons on these devices.

b) I looked at the instructions on the wiki here and here. It feels like there are many steps, while I can do this myself, it will be difficult for people with very many bulbs and for people supporting Zigate remotely. Will it be feasible to make the setup procedure easier?

c) does the native pairing strategy described on the wiki work with combinations of products from different vendors, for example, an Ikea remote with a Mueller Licht bulb or Livarno Lux LED strip?

[pocock]

(edit: I subsequently got the remotes mostly working with non-Ikea bulbs, see later post below)

On point (c), I tried to join the small Ikea dimmer button with three devices, a Philips Hue bulb, a Mueller Licht bulb and a Livarno Lux LED strip. It does not appear to work with any of them so I feel that it is important for this to work within the Domoticz groups / scenes tab.

(edit: I subsequently got the remotes mostly working with non-Ikea bulbs, see later post below)

[pipiche]

The mixture of brand is not the problem, the issue is more related to the mixture of remote , as remotes usually behave differently from one brand to an other one.

I have no clue of the Aldi and Lidl one. never saw it.

Here is how Groups work with ZiGate: https://github.com/pipiche38/Domoticz-Z ... agement.md

[pocock]

I do not have any other remotes connected to the bulbs I tested, these are spare bulbs that I use for testing.

The Lidl products were launched in December, they still have some in stock at very cheap prices, I put some pictures on my blog. I got one of the LED strips and one of the multi-colour GU10 bulbs.

[pocock]

I did some more tests today

In this case, I was more thorough about fully resetting each bulb before testing it with an Ikea remote

Here are my updated observations, some success and some limits with the Ikea remotes:

Ikea big and small remote with the Philips Hue bulb:
- need to reset the bulb with a Philips Hue dimmer remote (holding ON+OFF together until it flashes) before pairing with an Ikea remote
- reset the Ikea remote (hidden button in battery compartment, 4 presses in 5 seconds)
- disconnect every other Zigbee bulb and relay switch in the house (this seems to be necessary with many products, when I tried an Osram remote it paired itself to the central heating instead of the bulb)
- hold button in battery compartment for 10 seconds, bulb starts to flash
- dimming works on both big and small remote
- on the big remote, the left and right buttons appear to have no impact

Mueller Licht (Aldi) bulbs:
- factory reset: 5 quick ON / OFF of the bulb
- exactly the same results as the Philips Hue bulb

Livarno Lux / Lidll Bulbs and LED strips:
- I tried a GU10 bulb and LED strip, not the same as the previous bulbs
- the pairing procedure worked as described above
- on these devices, the dimmer results were a lot worse, dimmer buttons had no impact on the GU10 bulb and only marginal impact on the LED strip

Overall, I'm now more optimistic about the Ikea products than on my first attempt. The open questions:

- can the Domoticz-Zigate plugin be enhanced so that users don't have to manually check the MAC address or edit any details during setup?

- can the left/right buttons be used on the big remote? Do they only work with the Ikea bulbs? People without Ikea bulbs would be better just buying the small dimmer button perhaps, it is incredibly cheap for controlling Hue and Aldi bulbs

[pipiche]

I don’t understand your first question.

Fir the 2nd please check the wiki. If you add the bug remote to a group and then add the zigate to the group the left/right button work


Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

[pocock]

The first question relates to Phase 2 in this document.

The user has to "Remove the file Data/GroupList-xx.pck in the Domoticz-Zigat... Edit (or create if not existing ) the file Conf/ZigateGroupsConfig-xx.txt (where xx is the ID of your Zigate Hardware in Domoticz). And add a new line xxxx, Group Remote Command, Zigate IEEE, Bulb IEEE" ....

This is not so difficult for a developer but for 99% of users, they would like a more plug-and-play experience.

Do you think you can automate all of this with the plugin or within Domoticz? Do you need help from more developers to improve this code? I realize it is a big burden maintaining a plugin for so many devices.

[pipiche]

Hops using old stuff. You have everthing is the Web UI ( Group Management section ), no file edition anymore

https://github.com/pipiche38/Domoticz-Z ... agement.md

[pocock]

I saw that you made new tags, stable-4.11.014 and beta-4.12.098, is this included in both of those versions? I'd like to build an updated version of the package and then test this as part of the package upgrade process.

[pipiche]

Yes this is available in it. The Web UI is there since few versions and the group management was refactor some time ago also.


Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

[pocock]

I tried 4.12.102, web UI, Ikea buttons, Zigbee native groups

It isn't completely working. The left/right buttons still don't work. Here is what happened:

- installed 4.12.102 and domoticz 2020.2 using my latest packages
- updated the Zigate firmware to 3.1d
- restarted domoticz
- it complained about the Zigate:

Code: Select all

Status: (zigate0)  [ZiGateForwarder_2] Installer Version Number: 031d
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized

- I went to the Domoticz Hardware tab and chose the option "Initialize ZiGate (Erase Memory)"
- then it started working

- went to the plugin, port 9440
- Settings: enable the groups
- Reset the bulb (Philips Hue, colour) using a Hue dimmer
- verified the bulb is visible in Domoticz
- reset the Ikea big round dimmer by pressing the button on the back 4 times
- verified the dimmer is visible in Domoticz
- hold the dimmer beside the bulb, hold the button on the back for 10 seconds to join it directly to the bulb

- in the web page, port 9440, I tried both the Full Scan and the single device scan
- on the groups page, it found a group that only contains the bulb
- I tried adding the remote dimmer to the group on that page and also ticking the box to add the ZiGate
- I looked in the regular Domoticz web page and I could see it as a new entry in the Devices tab with the name "ZiGate Group f294"
- I tried pressing the left and right buttons on the remote, they still don't have any impact on the bulb
- the other buttons on the dimmer (on, off, dim up, dim down) are working correctly

[pipiche]

I tried 4.12.102, web UI, Ikea buttons, Zigbee native groups

It isn't completely working. The left/right buttons still don't work. Here is what happened:

- installed 4.12.102 and domoticz 2020.2 using my latest packages
- updated the Zigate firmware to 3.1d
- restarted domoticz
- it complained about the Zigate:

Code: Select all

Status: (zigate0)  [ZiGateForwarder_2] Installer Version Number: 031d
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized
Error: (zigate0) We are having difficulties to start Zigate. Basically we are not receiving what we expect from Zigate
Error: (zigate0) Plugin is not started ...
Error: (zigate0) Zigate not correctly initialized

When it's happen just restart the plugin, usally is solve the issue.

- I went to the Domoticz Hardware tab and chose the option "Initialize ZiGate (Erase Memory)"
- then it started working

- went to the plugin, port 9440
- Settings: enable the groups
- Reset the bulb (Philips Hue, colour) using a Hue dimmer
- verified the bulb is visible in Domoticz
- reset the Ikea big round dimmer by pressing the button on the back 4 times
- verified the dimmer is visible in Domoticz
- hold the dimmer beside the bulb, hold the button on the back for 10 seconds to join it directly to the bulb

- in the web page, port 9440, I tried both the Full Scan and the single device scan
- on the groups page, it found a group that only contains the bulb

This is working as expected. Only the Bulb (main powered device) can be found.

- I tried adding the remote dimmer to the group on that page and also ticking the box to add the ZiGate

This is what needs to be done. You add ZiGate to the group created (where the bulb is), then you add the Remote in the group

- I looked in the regular Domoticz web page and I could see it as a new entry in the Devices tab with the name "ZiGate Group f294"

is that the group ID ( f294 where the bulb was member ) you also add the ZiGate and the Remote .

- I tried pressing the left and right buttons on the remote, they still don't have any impact on the bulb
- the other buttons on the dimmer (on, off, dim up, dim down) are working correctly

What does happen if you do a Scan Device ( in the Admin -> Group Section ) ?