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Vera, Z-Wave & I: Day 1

Today was the day that I finally got around to taking the Vera home automation system out of the box. It was a simple beginning as I have only one Z-wave device to control at present, a Monster Cable lamp dimmer. In about two hours I was able to get Vera on the network and upgraded to the latest firmware. I also had it controlling my one lamp. Woo Hoo!

Now I need to map out what switches and control modules I need to replicate my old X-10 installation. Also how many and what type of control keypads. Unlike some folks who build scene controllers into the wall where a light switch would be, we prefer to put a touchpad controller on a table near the entrance to the main rooms in our house.

Actually I have a second Z-wave device, a Wayne-Dalton controller designed to interface to garage door openers. I’ll install it in a couple of days. No point until I have a controller to be able to trigger the open/close from something other than a web browser.

Once I have the basic system working with physical keypad controllers then I’ll start looking into how to effect control from a custom web interface. That dovetails into leveraging the micro-browser on the Polycom phones. Another option is to effect control from AGI scripts and establish a controlling IVR on my Astlinux box.

This is not going to go quickly. There’s  much experimentation to be done, so much to learn. At least today I was able to get started.

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