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The ZRW113s are working as planned.

I hung a 4x8 sheet of white masonite (or something that feels like masonite anyway) in the unfinished utility room in my basement, and recessed a 4-gang switch box for the ZWave switches.  I ran smurf tube behind the board so that I can add wires in the future. 

There were some interesting junction boxes and fittings available for the smurf tube.  I got a 2-gang box that combined an AC junction box with a low-voltage mud ring.  And I got another low-voltage mud ring that had brackets with holes to snap in the smurf tube fittings. 

I hung the power supply, power distribution module, and a couple of strips of Panduit on the board as well.  There's plenty of room left for a smart ZWave box and a digital video recorder.

I had some trouble early on configuring the PIR to trigger both a light switch and the alarm's second ZRW113 (the first ZRW113 arms the circuit).  I was sending a Groups[1].Clear, immediately followed by two Groups[1].Add messages, one for each controlled device.  Apparently, the PIR needs a little time between messages, and I should be waiting for some feedback before I send the second add message.  I don't know what I'm doing.  Just wingin' it.

With the ZRW113s clear down in the basement, there's a slight delay between the upstairs light coming on and the siren sounding.

One other thing for future reference:  I ran 70 feet of 18-4 to the siren, and the siren draws 1.1 amps.  So there's a bit of a voltage drop, and the siren isn't as loud as it was when connected directly to the power supply.  Next time I would run 16-4 or larger.

I'm concerned about nuisance alarms while I'm away, so I'll probably hook up a clock with a second hand to the circuit that the light switch is on.  If the second hand moves with nobody in the house, I'll know that I've got some adjustments to make to the PIR.  With the PIR's five-minute setting, I could probably just use the clock's minute hand.

It looks like I'm going to need a key fob with at least two channels.  If the last thing I did before walking out the door and arming the alarm circuit was to walk in front of the PIR, and the PIR has a five-minute delay before it shuts off the associated devices, then the alarm relay is still energized, and the siren is going to sound as soon as I arm the circuit.

<pre>
|       arm       alarm       siren      |
|--------| |---------| |----------( )--------|
|                                             |
</pre>

Right now I can use one channel on my remote to reset the alarm relay, and a second channel to arm the circuit.  If I re-enter the house after 5 minutes, the siren will sound as expected.  It works fine for me, but I wouldn't want to ask my wife to remember the drill when she arms the alarm.

Would there be the capability with a single channel on a keyfob remote to turn one contact on, and the other contact off with the press of a single button?  Maybe I've got that capability now with my remote and just don't know it.  Sounds like "scenes."

Gary,

With the 2.0 Z-Wave PC SDK, you'll be able to capture an event from your remote and turn one contact on and one contact off. Or if a remote understands multi-instance devices, you could set up a scene in the remote to do just that.

Maybe you want to pick up the InTouch base station and remote--which may make it so the InTouch remote could do that? I know it's not a keyfob though...

Chris

I've been looking at a preliminary version of the InTouch User Guide that discusses the programming of the Model CA7100 In-Wall Master Controller as well as the CA5500BR remote and base.

I'm still a bit confused by the whole thing.  InTouch pretty much assumes that you've got both products as they guide you through the setup.

You've got to have a remote in order to get within 2 feet of your devices when adding them to the network, and InTouch assumes that you are using the CA5500R for this purpose.  Also, it appears that you've got to have the CA5500R in order to add controlled devices to the PIR's association group.  They don't say whether the CA7100 can perform this same function.

The CA7100 looks like it will do what I need for home security.  You can create scenes with multiple devices, some on, some off, and some dimmed.  And you can define an event to trigger that scene.  The event setup uses the built-in timer in conjuntion with input devices.  So you can capture an event from a PIR but only use that event to trigger a scene during the user-selected time of the day.

The cool thing about the CA7100 is the display, which might actually show you what is going on in your setup.

If the CA7100 can also be used to set PIR association groups, I'll probably get it.  I don't need another remote.

Gary,

The CA7100 needs the CA5500B and CA5500R in order to function.

Sleikas,

I believe you, but I'm kinda disappointed.

With this product line, it looks to me like InTouch is trying to make it easier for the average Joe to integrate a PIR into a ZWave-based system.  The InTouch product line is a step forward from the ACT ZIR000, which according to what I've read, has not been easy to integrate.

But the CA7100 gives me a vision of what a purpose-built ZWave microcontroller could do as far as event programming and user interface.  I'm thinking that as soon as ControlThink hatches the micro SDK, we'll be seeing a wave of smart in-wall controllers and robust black boxes.  I just hope that the coming wave of ZWave microcontrollers isn't accompanied by a wave of factory-certified ZWave microcontroller installers.

From the CA7100 installation.pdf file on the InTouch site:

Note: Designed to work only in the presence of InTouch™ Server (CA5500B or other).

garylm:

Would there be the capability with a single channel on a keyfob remote to turn one contact on, and the other contact off with the press of a single button?  Maybe I've got that capability now with my remote and just don't know it.  Sounds like "scenes."

Cross-posted from ZWaveWorld:

It turns out that I've had the ability to do this with a single button on the Home Settings Controller all along.  From page 16 of the manual:

CONTINUE TO HOLD THE INCLUDE BUTTON. You may now set a scene for your channel by pressing the PROGRAM button on the module until you reach your desired light-level setting. Possible settings are FULL ON, FULL OFF or DIM LEVEL. Setting different light levels for different modules allows you to create "scenes" for each channel.

So I added the "alarm" module to the same channel that turns on the "arm" module, only the alarm module turns off when I press the button on the controller.  A cool effect is that the siren chirps momentarily as the two contacts transition.

------------------------------------------------- 

The PC SDK played a key role in the creation of this alarm system, as it allowed me to add the "alarm" contact to the association group of each motion sensor and door/window sensor.  At the same time, the SDK also sets the return routes from the sensor back to the target device.