[APP] Remotec Technology app (v2.2.0)

TedTolboom · April 2017

Remotec Technology app

This app adds support for devices made by Remotec Technology.

Image: https://forum.athom.com/uploads/editor/09/smcmgv3zeqse.jpg

Athom Apps store: Remotec Technology Athom Apps (Homey ≥ 1.3.0 required)
Github repository: Remotec Technology app repository

Supported devices:

Remotec Scene Master ZRC-90 (BW8510)

With the Remotec Scene Master ZRC-90 it is possible control any other devices (including non-Zwave) or set states / variables via Homey's flows. The following triggers are supported:

Button Pressed 1x (within 1 second)
Button Pressed 2x (within 1 second)
Button held down (5x per secon)
Button released

Note: All commands will be send to Homey. With this device it's not possible to associate buttons to other devices to control them directly (without Homey).

Nice example about using the held down option to control dimming by the Scene Master by @cbh ;

Remotec ZXT-120 Z-Wave-to-AC IR Extender (BW8366)

The following capabilities are supported:

Temperature measurement
Thermostat Mode
Thermostat Target Temperature (setpoint)
Thermostat Fan Speed Mode
Thermostat Fan Swing Mode
Thermostat On-Off
Battery capabilities (measure and alarm)

Remotec ZXT-600 AC Master (BW8490)

The following capabilities are supported:

Temperature measurement
Thermostat Mode
Thermostat Target Temperature (setpoint)
Thermostat Fan Speed Mode
Thermostat Fan Swing Mode
Thermostat On-Off
Battery capabilities (measure and alarm)

Supported Languages:

English
Dutch

Feedback:

Any requests please post them in the Remotec technology app topic on the Athom Forum or contact me on Slack
If possible, please report issues at the issues section on Github otherwise in the above mentioned topic.

Donate:

If you like the app, consider a donation to support development:

Changelog:

v2.2.0
* Add full support for ZXT-600
* Extended ZXT-120 implementation to full support (all options, including fan mode)
* Major update for ZXT-120 driver / settings / polling intervals: re-inclusion of ZXT-120 is advised
* Add flow action cards supporting to set the Thermostat Mode, specific (mode based) Thermostat setpoints, Fan Speed Mode and Fan Swing mode
fix:
* Unable to set setpoint in cooling mode
update:
* Update Homey meshdriver to 1.2.23

v2.1.0
* Add initial support for the ZXT-120 Z-Wave-to-AC IR Extender (temperature and mode control)
fix:
* Fix issue where the battery alarm condition card cause the app to crash (flow rebuilding required)
update:
* Update Homey meshdriver to 1.2.8
* Add link to Homey community forum topic

v2.0.2
update:
* ZRC-90 fix issue where scenes are reported in numbers

v2.0.1
update:
* Update ZRC-90 to full SDK2
* Update meshdriver to 1.2.4

Future work:

* Add generic trigger card for 'A button has been pressed' together with tokens
* ZRC-90 add option to disable re-triggering when a button is held
* add ZXT-120 Z-Wave-to-AC IR Extender
* add ZXT-600 Z-Wave-to-AC IR Extender

RichardR · April 2017

Nice to see, hope you get it done

Eternity · April 2017

Great news. Really appreciated!

TedTolboom · May 2017

My Scene Master stayed over at Athom / @Emile for the weekend after the meet-up... to build a better relation with Homey (aka solve the issue)..

Just got feedback that, it turned out that there is was a generic bug hampering the inclusion of more devices.
Cause of the issue found: will be solved with the next release...

Thanx @Emile !

PS. I did show the scene master during the meet-up to a few participants...
just checked one of the biggest domotics shops in the Netherlands just ran out of stock

RichardR · May 2017

Thats good news!
Just saw that it is sold out

mruiter · May 2017

There much cheaper in the smaller shop and still have a nice stock

Www.hashop.nl

TedTolboom · May 2017

Brief update:
@mruiter confirmed that in the current Development Preview release (1.3.0-RCx), the issues with inclusion of the Scene Master are solved and that the Scene Master is recognized correctly and included into Homey.

Image: https://files.slack.com/files-tmb/T04E9KJ7T-F57SXK9A4-d355123585/knipsel_480.png

Once this version is released to experimental, I will be able to do some final checks and release it to the Athom apps (store) soon after.

TedTolboom · May 2017

The Remotec Technology app has been tested successfully on 1.3.0-RC5 and submitted for approval to the Athom Apps store

RichardR · May 2017

That is good news

TedTolboom · May 2017

Just an example of two flows using the Scene Master to start / pause / next song on my Sonos speaker in the kitchen (using 1.3.0-RC5):
Play / Pause:

Image: https://forum.athom.com/uploads/editor/4d/jrqy8vbx3rib.png

Image: https://forum.athom.com/uploads/editor/4a/zn51fpzs9ejj.png

Eternity · May 2017

Sweet!

RichardR · May 2017

Very nice, time to order some and waiting for V1.3.0

Also cool the "else" part in the flow

RichardR · May 2017

mruiter said:

There much cheaper in the smaller shop and still have a nice stock

Www.hashop.nl

Done

homesimplicity · May 2017

Any news on the approval status? I already own the controller. I can't wait to pair it to my homey

TedTolboom · May 2017

homesimplicity said:

Any news on the approval status? I already own the controller. I can't wait to pair it to my homey

@homesimplicity the app will be in the Homey apps store today... I had an issue with an image in the readme..
but I had to include a dependency with Homey SW version 1.3.0, since in that version the inclusion issue has been solved.

So you will be able to use the app when 1.3.0 will be released to experimental / stable (depending on your setting)

TedTolboom · May 2017

The app is published in the Athom apps store: https://apps.athom.com/app/hk.com.remotec

As mentioned above, Homey SW version 1.3.0 required due to the inclusion issue.

keverjeroen · May 2017

I see a new oppertunity for Domotica shops: selling stickers in the size of the Scene Master buttons, with more logical icons.

TedTolboom · May 2017

keverjeroen said:

I see a new oppertunity for Domotica shops: selling stickers in the size of the Scene Master buttons, with more logical icons.

@keverjeroen Not sure if you are aware, but they are delivering a set of transparent text labels with the scene master.

TedTolboom · May 2017

In the meantime, while 1.3.0-RC6 is being tested in the DP-group, I've updated the app to version 1.0.2:

Changelog 1.0.2:
fixed:
ZRC-90 Fixed issue with not flow card triggering when multiple scene masters are used
added:
ZRC-90 add 'A button has been pressed' trigger and battery condition card

The last two additional flow cards enable the following notification flow when a button has been pressed and the battery alarm is active:

Resulting in a push confirmation (notification shown) send to my mobile, only when I'm home.

keverjeroen · May 2017

TedTolboom said:

keverjeroen said:

I see a new oppertunity for Domotica shops: selling stickers in the size of the Scene Master buttons, with more logical icons.

@keverjeroen Not sure if you are aware, but they are delivering a set of transparent text labels with the scene master.

I didn't know that! That's nice, but I was more thinking about big recognizable icons. Something like this:
https://www.sketchappsources.com/resources/source-image/smart-house-icon-set-miart.gif

Eternity · May 2017

@TedTolboom

I have sent you a pm....!

Eternity · May 2017

I might have found a bug...

The App installed nicely and the flows are simple to program. Great App!
I am having some problems with the 'press and hold' and 'release' function.

I created 4 flows to control 1 button:

1x pressed - activate a Hue scene
2x pressed - activate another Hue scene
long pressed - speech output, to tell what the button can do
released button - speech output 'Oke'

The idea was to program all buttons with the speech function as long press'', so one doesn't have to remember what a button does. Just long press and Homey will tell you! ANd, if a long press gives you the AHA, release the button to trigger the 4th flow, which should mute speech again, so you don't have to listen to the entire speech output of the 3rd flow...

The first 2 flows work great
The 3rd outputs the speech, but never stops.... I have to PTP to stop Homey's output
Releasing the button doesn't do anything (mute aoutput is not an card)

bvdbos · May 2017

@Eternity Great Idea

Eternity · May 2017

@bvdbos
Thought so, too

Thanks!

TedTolboom · May 2017

@Eternity you've found my Easter egg earlier than we have found Athom's...
You're right button released is not fully working.

I observed that sometimes the commands as received by Homey are double or three times visible in the Z-wave log. To make sure that flows are not triggered three times based on one button pressed, I've added a measure to only allow 1 command every second... which works for all buttons, except for the button released..

I take another look how to improve this part of the code.

Nice idea indeed!

Eternity · May 2017

Thanks @TedTolboom, and also thanks for the great App!

TedTolboom · May 2017

@eternity I've just updated the driver and fixed the issue.
I've removed the time constraint and added a check based on the sequence number to remove echo's.

This means that the "key released" scene is no longer 'accidentally' suppressed, but also that all "key held down" reports will (re-)trigger a flow based on the interval of the remote, ie. 5 times per second, instead of 1 time per second in the current version. This is something to take into account in your flow(s).

Disabling the re-triggering while holding down a key would remove the creativity with this app....

I do foresee even more flow opportunities by using the duration a key has been held...
Flow 1: Scene is activated ('Button 1' + 'held down') THEN duration = duration + 0.2
Flow 2: Scene is activated ('Button 1' + 'released') AND duration > 4 and < 6 (seconds) THEN action 1 + duration = 0

In a future update, I might add a setting which enables / disables the re-triggering on the "key held down" reports.

The updated app / driver is awaiting Athom apps store approval:

Changelog v1.0.3
fixed:
* ZRC-90 Removed echo reports by sequence number > fixing "key released" being suppressed

Eternity · May 2017

I am not sure I understand you correctly...

The options are:
press 1x
press 2x
pressed
released

You are saying that if I press 1x I should do this within 1/5 of a second (0,2 sec), otherwise the 'pressed' action is seen?

And if I keep a button pressed, the App will register this every 0.2 second as a new trigger? So, if I have a voice output as 'then' in the button flow, it will repeat the voice output 5 times if I press the button for 1 second?

TedTolboom · May 2017

Eternity said:

I am not sure I understand you correctly...

You are saying that if I press 1x I should do this within 1/5 of a second (0,2 sec), otherwise the 'pressed' action is seen?

And if I keep a button pressed, the App will register this every 0.2 second as a new trigger? So, if I have a voice output as 'then' in the button flow, it will repeat the voice output 5 times if I press the button for 1 second?

@Eternity the options are (updated the opening post):

Button Pressed 1x (within 1 second)
Button Pressed 2x (within 1 second)
Button held down (5x per second)
Button released

The 'button pressed 1x' / '..pressed 2x' and '..released' will trigger 1:1; ie. 1 action on the Scene master will result in 1 trigger of a flow.
When you keep a button held down, the scene master will start triggering flows every 0.2 seconds; if no measures are taken in you flow, it will start the voice output 5 times per second.

With a minor modification to your flows, you can still achieve your envisioned actions:
Flow 1: Scene is activated ('Button 1' + 'held down') THEN speech output, to tell what the button can do and disable Flow 1
Flow 2: Scene is activated ('Button 1' + 'released') THEN speech output 'Oke' and enable Flow 1

v1.0.3 is now available in the app store.

Eternity · May 2017

Thanks Ted!

Eternity · May 2017

I'll have to do some testing, as this seems to open up more opens :-) I think I understand ;-)

I had the idea of using the "keep pressed' option as a non-action trigger, solely to explain the function of that key. If someone doesn't have a clue what the 8 different buttons can do, simple press and hold a button (for a bit more that 0,2 second). It will make Homey explain what that button can do.

In your example - as you will always have to release the button after a while - it will always do the 1x or the 2x pressed action. This can be handy and enhances the functionality :-)