There are some pretty good DTH implementations out there – as well as some crap! Bringing in features from some of the better ones to improve upon existing ‘official’ functionality would be awesome!
Everyone has a favorite device (mine is Aeon multi sensor 6) they would love to run local. You have talented developers in the community who would gladly give the code to ST. Corporate America rewards executives who “manage” expenses and actually deliver product.
Seems like a no-brainer, assuming you can manage all the players
Not much in the way of zwave announcements this year.
In addition to the Jasco/GE battery operated switches, Jasco also announced two new zwave plus sensors. One is a motion sensor, and the other is a motion/light/temperature multisensor. The motion sensor is available now, and the multi sensor is supposed to be available in a few months.
Requires a supported Z-Wave hub like SmartThings, Wink, Nexia, Trane, LG Smart Security, and Iris.
Nodon, a French company, also announced that its two battery operated zwave remotes will now be available in the US. Some of our UK community members have been using the octan model and there is a community created DTH for it. Looks like a nice device. With its wallmount, it’s the same size as a UK single gang switch.
Kwikset didn’t get a lot of coverage for their chunky “Obsidian” zwave plus model lock coming this spring, but I think it’s a nice option. The promo pictures didn’t really do it any favors, though.
An interesting announcement from Sigma designs, who make the Z wave chips. They said that 80% of IOT devices are still professionally installed. So they are reaching out to the group of independent installers, something they started at last year’s CES. This year they introduced Z-Wave Smart Start, which depends on some technical features now available in zwave plus and some new things coming with the Z2 security standard. They’re obviously trying to make installation look more like HomeKit installation.
What this will specifically let them do is let a company like, say, Xfinity, preconfigure devices while they are still at the warehouse to match a specific customer’s Z wave network, basically said the hub knows the device is coming ahead of time. They’re saying this should cut installation time in half for those situations. It’s not clear whether a DIY customer would get any advantage from this, maybe not, but it’s an interesting trend anyway.
Too bad their new multisensor doesn’t include humidity. Otherwise, it would be comparable to the Aeon Labs device (ignoring UV detection, which is pretty useless indoors).
My main application is home monitoring and in one place it is important to keep an eye on humidity in the summer when we’re not here.
Otherwise, the new Jasco/GE device looks quite attractive…
Yeah but they didn’t update anything new. It’s still in pre-release with an expected indiegogo date of August 2017.
It’s a cool idea, but I’ll wait until it’s actually shipping to evaluate it. I had a very disappointing experience with their last product, the hug one sleep sensor. The marketing description just didn’t match the actual device features.
Agreed. Great hardware. I spent a lot of time talking with them at CES, and they just don’t get it. They are part of the old guard where they expect people to just open up different apps for everything all the time. It’s completely closed…
Yeah, I think Apple has completely missed the boat and is to late to the party. Having to add a chip and the closed nature puts them at a severe disadvantage. Alexa and Google Home (especially Alexa) are the stars of the current home automation/smarthome buzz and momentum. Anyone that works with everything is going to have a part to play, which leaves Apple on the outside looking in.
