No products found.<\/p>\n
The Home Center 2 is Fibaro\u2019s flagship product. It\u2019s an ethernet attached ZWave controller based on a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, 1GB of RAM and a 2GB solid state disk. The Home Center 2 is housed in a custom milled aluminium enclosure which is both aesthetically pleasing and thermally conducting, which is handy because this puppy runs hot.<\/p>\n
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After prolonged use, the case is hot to the touch (in my stuffy, non-ventilated node 0<\/a>, that is) so you probably don\u2019t want to go piling other gear on top of it. \u00a0On the plus side, the passive heat sink means no fans, so the Home Center 2 is entirely silent in operation.<\/p>\n The HC2 has the obligatory blue LEDs, and plenty of them. They are, from left to right: SW update in progress, SW update available, Recovery, Learn Mode, ZWave connection, Internet connection, LAN activity, and Power. They all have unhelpfully cryptic little icons, and you soon forget what they all mean. Suffice to say that if the one on the left is blinking, a software update is available.<\/p>\n Round the back is the ZWave antenna, and a couple of buttons, one for power on\/off and one to enable the HC2\u2019s ZWave pairing function (to add or remove devices). The latter can also be used to enable recovery mode or to force the HC2 to adopt a static IP address in\u00a0case of network issues.<\/p>\n On the side of the device is a panel which requires a screwdriver to remove, giving access to the power and network connections. The idea is to thread the cables through the rear slot in the case and plug \u2018em in from the side, before replacing the side panel to tidy them all away. There\u2019s no strain relief however, so I left the panel off and secured the wires to the case with a cable tie.<\/p>\n My HC2 came with an alarmingly large 4 amp power supply, but I\u2019ve confirmed that it draws less than an amp in operation.<\/p>\n You may also notice that there\u2019s a USB memory stick in here that houses the HC2\u2019s recovery image, a spare USB slot, an audio out connection, and a mysterious blanking plate. You\u2019re probably wondering the same thing I did. The answer is, it hides some VGA and DVI video connectors.<\/p>\n In answer to your next question,\u00a0yes you can<\/em>\u00a0plug a monitor and a keyboard in there, but no there isn\u2019t much of interest being displayed, although you can watch the box boot. \u00a0As you can see this is a Debian 6 embedded Linux system, but you won\u2019t gain access by guessing the root password.<\/p>\n The recovery disk is a simple 2GB USB thumb drive containing a linux boot image that the HC2 uses in case of catastrophic failure – which I\u2019ve never had to use. I did have a poke around its filing system though.<\/p>\n A bit of investigation reveals an apache2 web server, a MySQL database, a raft of heavily obfuscated PHP scripts, a couple of custom processes that appear to be responsible for shunting info between the ZWave network and the database, and a GPIO process to run the buttons and LEDs.<\/p>\n All in all, a pretty solid foundation. There\u2019s much cunningness going on in the networking department: once your HC2 is setup and configured, it phones home and sets up an autossh reverse proxy to the Fibaro mothership – this means that when you\u2019re away from home and connecting to the Fibaro remote service, it looks exactly like your home setup because\u00a0it is<\/em>\u00a0your home setup – a nicely engineered solution.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve got your connections squared away, you can find the HC2 on your network at its static IP address, which you can obtain from your router\u2019s diagnostics, or by using the HC2 Finder apps that are downloadable from Fibaro\u2019s site. You can reconfigure the HC2 for DHCP, and then get on with configuring the device.<\/p>\n The HC2 needs to know where it is, both to provide weather information and to assist in its geofencing capability, which we\u2019ll cover shortly. (Unless otherwise noted, layout issues in the screenshots are from early development versions of the software which have subsequently been fixed).<\/p>\n The Fibaro access panel controls which remote devices (iPhones, iPads etc – sorry Android fans!) receive push notifications (via Apple\u2019s notification service), and also lets you set up remote access accounts. One particularly nice feature is that you can put the device in Hotel Mode and set up a remote access account that has limited access to the controllable devices – so you can let guests have control over their room lighting etc without monkeying about with the rest of your system. You can also set up extremely fine-grained permissions to control precisely which cameras, devices, scenes and configuration screens are available to individual users, as well as specifying whether they\u2019re eligible to receive notifications or not, and whether they get to play with the location tracking stuff.<\/p>\n The notifications panel lets you set up canned messages to be delivered by email, SMS, or Push notification. These can be triggered on a per-device basis.<\/p>\n The SMS panel lets you set-up trusted telephone numbers from the which the HC2 will accept commands via text message. In addition, you can buy notification credits so that the Fibaro service will notify you when interesting events happen on your HC2. Unfortunately the SMS service doesn\u2019t work yet in the UK as Fibaro are still trialling different network partners.<\/p>\n Another useful screen is the Events panel, which lets you examine the system log, in which you can see events on the ZWave network, filtered by time and date.<\/p>\n There are various other panels, mostly to do with configuring linked devices, which are composite \u2018devices\u2019 composed of multiple real ZWave devices, for example to provide Alarm, HVAC, and Sprinkler functionality.<\/p>\n One interesting example of a Linked Device is the\u00a0Video Gate<\/em>. This lets you bind together a camera device, a button to open the gate, and a button to act as a doorbell push. This composite device will then appear on the main screen as a single Video Gate device.<\/p>\n The next step in the process of setting up an HC2 is to divide your abode into Sections, each of which contains a number of rooms.<\/p>\n You can see that I\u2019ve split my gaff into\u00a0Upstairs<\/em>,\u00a0Downstairs<\/em>, and\u00a0Outbuildings<\/em>\u00a0(stables, orangery, servants\u2019 quarters, etc) and assigned rooms accordingly. There seems to be ample space for rooms and sections: the web page suggests that you can have 30 or so sections and about 50 rooms.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve got your rooms set up, it\u2019s time to start plugging in or wiring in ZWave devices and adding them to the network. Generally this involves putting the HC2 into joining mode, either by pressing the button or using the web page controls and then performing some sort of commissioning action on the device in question. For some devices (typically Fibaro\u2019s own) this is usually well thought out and involves pressing a recessed button on the module if you have access to it, or toggling an attached switch three times if you don\u2019t. Other vendors\u2019 commissioning procedures range from the inconvenient to the astonishingly brain-dead.<\/p>\n My advice is to configure all your devices on the desk near your HC2\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0you install them in their final resting place; this may involve building a little setup rig or the sort of cable that gives Health and Safety officers nightmares, but it will save you a lot of swearing up a step-ladder. Not that I\u2019m condoning this sort of thing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the funny commissioning procedures that can make device installation annoying: shortcomings in the ZWave protocol itself can make this absolutely infuriating. This is because ZWave uses what\u2019s known as a\u00a0Low Power Join\u00a0<\/em>procedure – when the HC2 is in joining mode, its ZWave radio operates at a much lower power than it would normally, so the device you want to pair it with must be much closer to the controller. The rational for this approach is that it prevents you accidentally adding your neighbours\u2019 ZWave devices, in the unlikely event that your entire neighbourhood is commissioning their ZWave networks at the same time.<\/p>\n In Fibaro\u2019s defence, they have included a \u201cthis device is far away\u201d option, which presumably runs the radio at a higher or maximum power during the joining process. However, if the device you\u2019re trying to add is still outside the\u00a0direct<\/em>\u00a0range of the HC2, you won\u2019t be able to add it, even if you have intermediate nodes forming a mesh between the HC2 and your intended location. I didn\u2019t know this before I started, which left me up a step ladder down the far end of the garage, rootling about in the rafters with a screwdriver and a torch whilst trying to use an iPad to control the HC2, cursing the 13-year old ZWave protocol. Don\u2019t think you can simply unplug the HC2 and move it into the garage temporarily either, you need a LAN connection for joining to work (I don\u2019t know why, and can\u2019t see any good reason for it, but my HC2 wouldn\u2019t set up the ZWave network without first acquiring a LAN connection). It turns out this is a well known ZWave-ism, and is the reason that some controllers can operate from batteries.<\/p>\n Having said all that, I concede that my target demographic probably have multiple gigabit connections to their garages, so feel free to disregard the above.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve got your ZWave gubbins all linked up, the real fun begins. Each device you added will be listed as \u201cUnassigned\u201d, and you get to assign them to rooms and sections, give them names, and generally tweak any of the other parameters on offer.<\/p>\n Each sensor\u2019s settings are available by clicking on its wrench icon, either on the main page or in the list of sensors down the left-hand side. Device configuration is split into two tabs, one for the basics like the sensor\u2019s name, location, and icon, and an \u201cAdvanced\u201d tab that controls notifications, associations, and configuration parameters.<\/p>\n You can see that the Fibaro is able to inspect the class of your ZWave device and give it a suitable icon. A less obvious benefit of this capability is that the HC2 will provide much more descriptive labels for the various configuration options, so rather then getting \u201cParameter 3: ON\/OFF\u201d it will tell you that this controls the device\u2019s power saving mode, and what the available values actually mean. Impressively, the HC2 will do this for a wide array of ZWave modules, and not just Fibaro\u2019s own. Sometimes the icons it comes up with look uncannily like the actual device. (Fibaro\u2019s graphic designer is anxious for me to point out that these are renders from 3D models they made, and not photographs!)<\/p>\n Speaking of icons, there\u2019s a large pool of extremely high quality icons for the various room types and device types that you might want to use, but if you can\u2019t find anything suitable you are at liberty to add your own.<\/p>\n This is just a quick example I knocked up from an image pilfered from the internet – the image noise is my fault, not the HC2\u2019s. When it comes to adding a custom icon for an on\/off device, the HC2 will prompt you for two images, one for each of the states, and for a dimmable device it wants 10. I built a little 3D animation in blender of my garage door opening and imported that, and it looks fabulous.<\/p>\n If you have any network cameras knocking about the place, you can incorporate them into your HC2 setup using the \u201cadd camera\u201d dialogue. This lets you give the HC2 username and password credentials to access the camera and lets you specify the camera\u2019s URLs for grabbing stills, MJPEGs, driving the pan tilt zoom etc.<\/p>\n The camera functionality is a bit limited, the HC2 doesn\u2019t do any motion detection or recording, which is a pity. Being a Linux system, I am hopeful that some of the excellent open-source stuff that\u2019s out there (eg Ken Lavrsen\u2019s excellent\u00a0Motion library<\/a>)\u00a0can be incorporated in the future to beef-up camera support. In the meantime, you’re limited to using a PIR to detect movement, which can trigger a Scene to email photos to an off-site email address.<\/p>\n Strangely, camera images are not available on the main HC2 page, you have to click through to the camera\u2019s settings page to get a tiny thumbnail (and the PT and snapshot controls) which you then click again to get the full size image. This is due to change in a forthcoming software release.<\/p>\n Actual physical devices are not the only game in town: the HC2 lets you add\u00a0virtual devices<\/em>.<\/p>\n A virtual device is a device control which appears on your main HC2, but rather than communicating with ZWave hardware, it interfaces to some other system via TCP. You can add buttons and sliders to your virtual device and program each with a canned response, which can include the level of the relevant button or slider, before sending it off to an IP address and port that you specify.<\/p>\n In essence, this means that you can control any other HA devices with web interfaces from the HC2 main page. It\u2019s a pity that you\u2019re limited to TCP, the option to send UDP packets would be nice (for example to talk to a LightWaveRF<\/a> system), however the next release (1.037) will be limited to just sending HTTP.<\/p>\n When the tinkering phase is over, you can load up the main Fibaro screen and take stock of your domain. The main page provides an overview of the devices in your system, with each gadget displaying basic status and control information (except, as discussed, cameras). Battery powered devices report their battery levels, and every gadget has a little wrench icon to access its settings.<\/p>\n Down the left-hand side is a set of filters that let you filter per-device or per-room, and these are cumulative, so you can view just the sensors in the living room, for example. The speech bubble at the top is a kind of ZWave status area, you\u2019ll see notifications happen in here when interesting things happen on the ZWave network (like devices joining). On the right of the screen is an annoying floating toolbox that duplicates the functionality of the main tabs, but it does also have a \u2018logout\u2019 button, and also what has come to be known in our house as\u00a0the Blue Welder\u2019s Helmet<\/em>. When the Welder\u2019s Helmet turns blue, the HC2 wants you to save your config by clicking on the helmet. It\u2019s quite discrete and non-intrusive: I much prefer their helmet-based approach to the constant nagging of modal dialogue boxes you see on other systems.<\/p>\n If you interact with a device, not only does its icon change to reflect its new state, but a little \u201ctransfer OK\u201d message lets you know that the message was sent successfully (or not, as the case may be). Occasionally you\u2019ll see a gadget change its status to \u201cpolling device\u201d as the HC2 checks that the state of the world matches its internal representation.<\/p>\n The web design is extremely elegant, in my opinion. The gadgets are well thought out, and the graphics superbly rendered. My only gripe is the fixed width layout: I\u2019m endlessly paging up and down to find the device I want because they all occupy a narrow central band that only uses the middle third of my monitor, whereas an elastic layout would make more efficient use of screen real estate. No doubt some folks would prefer a lighter theme too, although personally I quite like the dark look.<\/p>\n Inevitably with an RF based system, you will eventually encounter the dreaded\u00a0dead node<\/em>. Sometimes this can indicate a faulty unit, but mostly it indicates some sort of interference or range problem.<\/p>\n This node is a persistent offender in my set-up, it routinely shows up like this, despite being about 3 metres from the HC2, and having at least two other hops it could take to route data. I can accept these sorts of unpredictable RF behaviour, but what\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0puzzles me is this: if I click on that\u00a0wake up dead nodes<\/em>\u00a0link, or the big X icon on the gadget, this node is reanimated for a few minutes, during which time it behaves perfectly well, then after a while it will drop off the network again. What I don\u2019t get is, if the HC2 knows this node is \u201cdead\u201d, yet it has the means to communicate with it, why doesn\u2019t it do so automatically, without all the \u201cwake up dead nodes\u201d rigmarole? (Fibaro tell me that this will change in the verion 2 software).<\/p>\n I have another node (front-door magnetic sensor) that appears perfectly on the network, yet its status is never shown on the HC2 – it\u2019s permanently fixed at open. I know it\u2019s correctly sensing door events because I can see the light flash on the unit itself, but the HC2 isn\u2019t interested. It\u2019s physically quite close to my other misbehaving device, so I chalk this up to me having some sort of miniature ZWave Bermuda Triangle in my house, somewhere between the hall and the living room (the device works fine if I move it somewhere else). It’s worth noting that I’ve only seen issues like these with third party ZWave modules.<\/p>\n These are the sorts of RF peculiarities that you might expect a mesh network to route around, but it seems ZWave does not cope well with these sorts of problems. It seems to regard any given link in the network as good so long as it can hear some sort of traffic, even if that traffic is largely corrupted.<\/p>\n Having said this, a couple of dodgy nodes in a network of 20 or so is not bad going, and I could probably resolve these issues if I spent more time repositioning devices slightly. Fibaro tell me that future versions of the software will have support for diagnosing ZWave network problems.<\/p>\n The HomeCenter2 lets you set up custom \u2018scripts\u2019 using its\u00a0Scenes<\/em>\u00a0functionality. Scenes are a bit peculiar, as they use a visual programming metaphor, presumably in a noble attempt to bring programming to the masses. \u00a0But if you\u2019ve done any sort of coding before you might find them a bit unusual, as the interface is quite quirky and not well documented anywhere, as far as I can tell.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll do my best to shed some light on the matter, although my take on it is largely derived from trial and error so don\u2019t take it as gospel.<\/p>\n The first thing to understand is that a scene is basically an\u00a0IF condition(s) THEN action(s)<\/strong>\u00a0conditional command, or a predicate<\/em>\u00a0in other words. The condition can be an input device changing state, a timed event, a periodic event, a user defined variable, a weather condition, or a GPS event. The latter is triggered by one of your registered users (accompanied by their iOS device) approaching or leaving a pre-defined point that you\u2019ve set up in the Locations panel.<\/p>\n You can combine conditions using\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0conditions. The\u00a0actions<\/em>\u00a0you can perform are setting a variable, triggering a scene, sending a command to a ZWave device, sending a camera snapshot to a registered user, or triggering a virtual device. You can chain actions together using the\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0operator.<\/p>\n You can also apply a delay to an action: it\u2019s the red box on the rightmost edge. Despite appearing\u00a0after<\/em>\u00a0the action in the scene graphic, the delay is applied\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0the action is executed, which takes some getting used to. For example, if your scene is…<\/p>\n …then when it executes lamp2 will turn on immediately, and lamp1 will turn on 10 seconds later.<\/p>\n The other great mystery with Scenes is what do the RUN and STOP buttons do, and what does that\u00a0active scene<\/em> tick-box mean exactly? My take on this is that an active scene is continuously running in the background waiting for some sort of active system event that matches its\u00a0if<\/em>\u00a0clause, and when that happens it executes the corresponding action, if appropriate. If you disable the\u00a0active scene<\/em>\u00a0tick box, then this scene is no longer continuously monitoring events.<\/p>\n The RUN button bypasses all the conditional parts of the scene and runs the action part regardless, so its a way of forcing actions to execute without any of their preconditions being met. I\u2019ve no idea what the STOP button does, it doesn\u2019t seem to have any effect at all. Using my above example, clicking the STOP button after lamp2 comes on doesn\u2019t prevent lamp1 coming on 10 seconds later.<\/p>\n The visual programming widget is a lot of fun, but the user interface has quite a few quirks. For example, you add clauses using the big + and – buttons, but these are always present regardless of whether it actually makes sense to add or remove a clause at that juncture, so they do nothing.<\/p>\n The menu that pops up when you want to add new stuff is the same for both conditions and actions, even though only half the top level menu items apply in either case. The rest are empty, so it would be nice if it were context-sensitive and they weren\u2019t shown at all. The\u00a0then<\/em>\u00a0operator has a dropdown to change it to\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0or<\/em>, but immediately changes itself back to\u00a0then<\/em>\u00a0again. The comparison operators include less than, greater than, equal to\u2026 but no \u201cis not equal to\u201d, which is a bizarre omission. Also some of the comparisons can be mildly amusing: what does\u00a0weather condition GREATER THAN fog\u00a0<\/em>actually mean?<\/p>\n These are all minor user interface quirks that you quickly adapt to. The one more serious omission that I\u2019ve noticed is that there\u2019s no way to randomise time intervals: you can trigger scenes at particular times, or at fixed intervals from sunrise or sunset, but I\u2019ve not discovered any way to add a random offset, or a random action delay, which means that it\u2019s not possible to write scenes to simulate occupancy very convincingly while you\u2019re away. I\u2019ve mentioned this, and it\u2019s being looked in to.<\/p>\n Seasoned code-monkeys will be glad to hear that there\u2019s a beta version of the software kicking about that lets you program scenes using the Lua scripting language rather than the visual interface. I was planning on switching to beta once I\u2019d finished the bulk of this review to give you a preview, but unfortunately the beta trial option is currently not available, however expect this functionality to appear shortly. You can get a feel for the sorts of things it will be capable of by perusing the docs at\u00a0Fibaro\u2019s documentation site\u00a0(Polish only, so Google Translate is your friend here. English docs will follow shortly).<\/p>\n If you enable\u00a0remote access<\/em>\u00a0in your HC2\u2019s settings, you can create an account on their Remote Gateway service at\u00a0home.fibaro.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once in, you get a choice of different web interfaces optimised for whatever your mobile poison is, or you can go for the full-fat interface, which looks exactly like your home HC2 interface for all the good reasons discussed above.<\/p>\n Fibaro provide an iPhone application which you can download from\u00a0the App Store<\/a>. This gives you local or remote access to most of the functionality of the HC2, with the deliberate exception of the more sensitive stuff like adding or removing network devices, setting up scenes etc.<\/p>\n I found the setup procedure to be mildly perplexing; make sure you\u2019ve enabled remote access and set up an account at\u00a0home.fibaro.com<\/a>. If you get a dialogue like the above, what it\u2019s trying to tell you is that it wants you to go to the iPhone\u2019s system settings app, and put the relevant credentials in the Fibaro section.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re in, you can use the various icons to access device functionality, swipe screens left and right, and swipe the navigation bar at the top left and right to access more options.<\/p>\n One intriguing option on the iPhone app is Lili – like Siri, but for home automation. The idea is that you can set up voice commands in your main HC2 device settings, and then bellow them into your iPhone, whereupon Lili will do your bidding.<\/p>\n The iPhone app can also use location services to monitor your position, which you can use with the HC2\u2019s scenes functionality to provide geofencing-like behaviours, ie you can tell it to turn the heating on when you leave work, and turn the lights on whenever you reach home etc. You can configure how often the location data is reported from the HC2\u2019s Access Control Panel on a per-user basis, from 1 minute to 1 hour. Obviously, for maximum accuracy you want to report as often as possible, but be warned that this level of location reporting absolutely spanks the iPhone\u2019s battery and you\u2019ll be lucky to make it to the end of the day (which, ironically, is probably when you need the location sensing).<\/p>\n It would be nice if there was a facility to only enable location tracking at certain times of day; for example in broad one hour slots that I could program to roughly cover my likely arrival and departure times. I\u2019ve mentioned this to Fibaro and they are in agreement, so hopefully something will appear in a future release of the software.<\/p>\n Fibaro are continually improving the HC2 software: I think I\u2019ve had about 8 software updates in the space of about 4 months, one of which seemed to be targeted at me directly as its changelist was basically a cut and paste job from my most recent email to Fibaro support.<\/p>\n When a new image is available, a discrete sentinel appears on the HC2\u2019s main web page prompting you to upgrade. It\u2019s a relatively painless affair that takes about five minutes or so, and the HC2 persists your settings across each upgrade.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never had a software upgrade fail, but if it did you could hold down the recovery button and boot to the factory firmware that\u2019s on the supplied USB thumb drive. It\u2019s worth mentioning that you can also use the HC2\u2019s Configuration tab to make backups of your current settings to the recovery disk, and also restore them.<\/p>\n Fibaro Universal Dimmer<\/a><\/p>\n No products found.<\/p><\/p>\n The Fibaro dimmer module is a 500W leading-edge unit capable of dimming mains halogens, LV+transformer halogens, dimmable LEDs, and incandescents. \u00a0It can also act as a switch for compact fluorescents, fluorescent tubes, and non-dimmable LEDs too. It has a minimum load requirement of 25W, but a dimmer bypass (FGB001) is available if you need to control lower power loads. It can be installed with or without a neutral connection, and features two physical switch inputs, although it can operate from a single switch. In addition, it can use both momentary and regular latching switches, although you lose the ability to control the dimming level from the switch with the latter. \u00a0The dimmer module is an extremely diminutive 15x42x36mm, and fits easily in my shallower backboxes.<\/p>\n The module features a surprisingly sturdy screw-down terminal block for making connections and a vast number of configuration options which are accessible from the device settings page in the HC2. \u00a0For example: percentage change per dim step, time to switch between min\/max dimming level (manual), time to switch between min\/max dimming level (remote), max. dimming level, min. dimming level, wallswitch type, double click behaviour, stair switch mode, synchronised dimming level. In addition it has two association groups (one for each switch) of up to 16 devices, and group settings for All-On\/All-Off and Alarm memberships. This is an extremely well thought out and superbly engineered module that is an absolute joy to work with.<\/p>\n Fibaro Relay Switch<\/a><\/p>\n No products found.<\/p>\n This module is the same size as the dimmer, but features on\/off switching of a single 3kW maximum load. A neutral connection is required, and the switching inputs are line level, but the switched load can be a different voltage if necessary (eg switching a low voltage load). It too has a plethora of configuration options, including an auto-off timer. A nice feature of this module is that it has a secondary switch input, which you can use as an independent switch input on the HC2 main page.<\/p>\n Fibaro Switch \/ Relay<\/a><\/p>\n No products found.<\/p>\n This module is a two channel version of the above dimmer, except now you get two channels of 1.5kW switching, each controlled by its own physical switch.<\/p>\n In the HC2 web page, this device\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0appears as two separate switchable devices, which can be irritating if they\u2019re both controlling the same thing. For example, I attempted to automate my garage door opener with a single Dual Relay module, using one channel for \u201cup\u201d and the second for \u201cdown\u201d, but this is how the HC2 represents this setup\u00a0whereas what I was really after was a single \u201cgarage door\u201d widget with \u201cup\u201d and \u201cdown\u201d buttons on it. Fibaro acknowledge that this would be a useful feature, and it\u2019s on their to-do list. In the meantime, I solved the problem (sort of) with the cunning application of a roller\/shutter module.<\/p>\n Fibaro Shutter Module<\/a><\/p>\n No products found.<\/p>\n The Fibaro Roller \/ Shutter module is designed for controlling mains voltage shutter and blind motors, or indeed any sort of motorised device which has a live feed that makes it spin in one direction, and another feed to make it spin in the opposite direction. It can handle a load of up to 1kW at 230V. The module has two switch inputs and two switched outputs and a common ground which connects to the motor.<\/p>\n The module also incorporates\u00a0position sensing<\/em>, where it is able to estimate the position of the shutter based on how long it\u2019s been driving the motor for and in which direction. It takes a couple of full open\/close cycles for it to build a picture of what\u2019s going on, and if you have some other external means of controlling your shutter, you\u2019re probably going to confuse it mightily. The documentation mentions that this only works for shutter drivers that have mechanical limit switches, which suggests that the module is looking for a sudden absence of current to detect that motion has finished, and that it can\u2019t detect the increased stall current of the motor (caused by it not being able to turn any further). Alternatively, you can just turn the position sensing off entirely, which is what I’ve done here.<\/p>\n (A version of the roller\/shutter module with electronic limit sensing is due 2013Q1.)<\/p>\n The roller\/shutter modules does have the \u201cup\/down\u201d user interface that I wanted for my garage door, so I set about interfacing my (low voltage) garage door opener interface to the (mains voltage) roller\/shutter module, using a couple of mains voltage relays mounted in an enclosure, as seen above. \u00a0This finally gives me the interface I was after:<\/p>\n accompanied by a lot of satisfyingly SteamPunk clanking and flashing from the relays. I agree it\u2019s not the most elegant solution, but it will do until they fix the dual-relay problem. Unfortunately it\u2019s not an ideal solution either, as the iPhone interface seems to have issues with roller\/shutter modules:<\/p>\n For some reason there are no \u201cup\u201d and \u201cdown\u201d buttons. Also the slider doesn\u2019t work, and neither does tapping on the icon. This means that if I want to open the garage from my phone, I have to exit the Fibaro application and use a browser to access the web interface instead, which is hardly ideal. I\u2019ve pointed this out to Fibaro, so hopefully it will be remedied in a future version of the iPhone app.<\/p>\n Fibaro Universal Sensor<\/a><\/p>\n No products found.<\/p>\n The Universal Sensor module is a svelte 14.5×27.3x12mm bare PCB with some pig tail wires poking out. It\u2019s coated in some sort of thick clear polymer, so it\u2019s reasonably robust. The Universal Sensor is intended to act as a ZWave \u201cT-piece\u201d into any existing alarm wiring you might have. \u00a0For example you might install a Universal Sensor in the wiring between an existing PIR sensor and an existing alarm panel, so that the HC2 can monitor the state of the PIR without disrupting your old alarm\u2019s functionality. To this end it has two low-voltage inputs (which can attach to a single alarm sensor with tamper detection, or to two parametric alarm sensors), and a pair of output relays which connect towards the alarm panel and whose output state mirrors the corresponding input. Its tiny size and thick coating means that it can be easily tucked inside an existing enclosure.<\/p>\n One nice added bonus of the Universal Sensor is that it includes a one-wire interface, to which up to four Dallas DS18B20 temperature sensors may be connected. In the second photo above, you can see the Universal Sensor mounted on a paper clip at the bottom, with four DS18B20s above it (the row of 4 black blobs). The corresponding HC2 main page gadget is also shown above.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unfortunate that you can\u2019t control the relays independently from the HC2 web interface, as this would have made this module a generic ZWave low-voltage I\/O unit, for which I can think of plenty of useful applications. Hopefully this will be addressed with a future firmware upgrade, or maybe a separate module.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve already mentioned, Fibaro innovate at a fairly rapid rate and are extremely receptive to suggestions and improvements sent either via their support email or the\u00a0Fibaro forums<\/a>. You can glean some likely future software features from the\u00a0beta documentation site, but the headline items are likely to be scripting scenes using Lua scripts instead of the graphical blocks, and the new VOIP support panel. There\u2019s also some talk of an API, although it\u2019s not clear whether this is what you and I might mean by an API (eg a RESTful HTTP interface that other applications can use to control the HC2) or whether they\u2019re just talking about the new Lua scripts.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_front1.jpg?resize=550%2C398&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_rear.jpg?resize=550%2C242&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_side.jpg?resize=550%2C237&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_side_secret.jpg?resize=550%2C198&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_boot_screen.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_recovery_usb.jpg?resize=104%2C200&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_rescue_image1.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSystem setup<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_house_settings.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_access_panel.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_notification_panel.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_sms_panel.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_events_panel.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_video_gate.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nConfiguring sections and rooms<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_sections_and_rooms.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAdding devices<\/h3>\n
Configuring devices<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_pir_general_setup.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_pir_advanced_setup.png?resize=138%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_custom_icon.png?w=550&ssl=1\"){kind=icon}
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_camera_config.png?resize=200%2C178&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAdding cameras<\/h3>\n
Adding virtual devices<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_virtual_device.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_virtual_device_config1.png?resize=200%2C371&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSurveying the state of the nation<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_main_screen_large.png?resize=206%2C350&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_welders_helmet.png?resize=45%2C374&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_transfer_ok.png?resize=190%2C148&ssl=1\"){kind=spacer}
In the gadget to the left, you can click the ON\/OFF buttons, drag the slider, click on the slider track, or click on the little bar graph to jump to a discrete level. The icon changes state to reflect the current status of the device. This is the same for all devices; door switches show an open or closed door, PIR sensors show a fleeing man etc.<\/p>\nDead nodes<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_dead_node.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAdding scenes<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_new_scene.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_new_scene2.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_scene_example.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIF every-minute THEN lamp1 = ON delay 10 s AND lamp2 = ON <\/code><\/pre>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_scene_ui.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_scene_conditions.png?resize=248%2C110&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_scene_then_and_or.png?resize=243%2C136&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_weather_comparison.png?resize=490%2C42&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nRemote Access<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_remote_access_english.png?resize=549%2C356&ssl=1\" "\\"Fibaro")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_remote_access_english2.png?resize=527%2C407&ssl=1\" "\\"Fibaro")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_iphone_app1.png?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\niPhone app<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/lili_hc2_settings.png?resize=351%2C97&ssl=1\")
The only drawback with Lili is that she doesn\u2019t seem to work\u00a0at all<\/em>, not even once, just a little bit. Possibly she\u2019s optimised for Polish speech, but she wasn\u2019t able to fathom my attempts at Polish either, although it did provide considerable amusement for the rest of the household.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/lili_still_not_working.png?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFirmware updates<\/h3>\n
Fibaro Universal Dimmer, 500W, FGD 211<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_dimmer.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_dimmer2.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_dimmer3.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFibaro Single Channel 3kW Relay \/ Switch, FGS 211<\/h2>\n
Fibaro Dual Channel 1.5kW Relay \/ Switch, FGS 221<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_dual_relay.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_dual_relay_madness.png?resize=391%2C186&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nFibaro Roller \/ Shutter Module, FGR 221<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_roller_shutter.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_garage_up_down.png?resize=178%2C136&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/fibaro_garage_iphone_madness.png?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFibaro Universal Sensor, FGBS 001<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_universal_sensor.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_universal_sensor2.jpg?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/automatedhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/fibaro_universal_gadget.png?w=550&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nUpgrade path<\/h2>\n