ControlThink Forums

I ordered an Omnistat Z-wave thermostat, and I now want the SDK.  I see ControlThink has an SDK bundle with a desktop controller, and othe r places might bundle a handheld controller.  Will the (desktop, handheld) controller operate a thermostat?  I ask this because I presume most controllers only handle a simple on/off.   Also, I read on this forum that someone complained about a controller specifically not handling a thermostat.

If one of these will work and not the other, my decision is made.  If neither work, I might just skip the bundle for now.

Thanks,

Greg 

Greg,

Most (all?) of the handheld controllers don't have any kind of interface to control a thermostat.

The SDK lets you control thermostats.  We've also added "read only" support for thermostats to ThinkEssentials, and plan to release full control of them in a future update.

Chris

Thanks for the reply, Chris.

In the visual from the ControlThink page on the SDK bundle, I considered that controller a desktop unit as opposed to handheld, but I take your reply to mean all/most controllers with a simple array of buttons will fail to directly control a thermostat.

Never having played with Z-Wave:  In order to get a simple controller button to do something with a thermostat, might I be able to create macros, such that button 1 is assigned to a macro that sets the thermostat to temperature x, while button 2 sets it to temperature y?  However, I do not know if the SDK allows for creation of interrupt/event handling (I know C#.Net does), nor do I know if I can assign a key to a controller based on a "phantom" device (my macro).  I would prefer not to have to install a real device to the assigned key, then remove the device without telling the controller, and use that assigned device code (don't know what I'm talking about!) as the device code for the macro event handler.  But if that works and is the only way, I'm game to try.  Or perhaps there is a separate hardware/firmware device that has this macro ability? (doubt it for this complexity)

Thanks for any advice,

Greg 

OK, I saw in another thread that the SDK does support event handling (for the PIR), and the device ID terminology is a NodeID.  So the remaining obstacle may be the macro or phantom Node.

-Greg 

In continuing with attempting to answer my questions in public, I found this thread

http://forums.controlthink.com/t/675.aspx

in which it seems I should be able to add the PC USB as a device that the controller key is assigned to in order to fire an event on the PC.  I'm a bit disturbed that this thread seems incomplete, and this thread also discussed using a separate system, xPL, which may not actually be required for my scenario.  So, I think I have a chance at getting a controller key to cause my thermostat to hit particular presets!  Cool!

Let me know if you see any flaws or have any pointers.

Thanks,

Greg 

Greg,

You can push a button on the remote and have that message delivered to the PC--and then control the thermostat using the SDK.

1. Put the remote, computer, and thermostat in the same network.
2. Associate the computer into a channel on the remote.  Set the ZWaveController.Level to the number you want to associate with the channel "on" and then use the ZWaveController.EmitDeviceInformation (sp?) function while you're "adding it" into the channel on the remote.
3. Capture the ZWaveController_LevelChanged event.
4. Have fun!

Chris

or just get an act zth100 handheld controller.  it fully supports the z-wave thermostat class.  changes modes, setpoints; get current temperature, etc.