The “Fibaro Z-Wave Door/Window Sensor” hardware, available in US 908.4MHz version, supports 2 additional capabilities in addition to magnetic open/close :
temperature sensor (using an optional DS18B20)
wired switch/button
At this time, the SmartThings Hub built-in driver supports ONLY the magnetic open/close capability.
In the compatibility list it is noted as : “Only open/close is functional. Battery and other alerts supported by the device coming”.
I need the temperature sensing capability (the Fibaro is much smaller than the Everspring ST814).
My questions are :
a) should I wait for the full support (“coming” could mean next month… or next year… or never)
or
b) should I attempt to develop myself an extended version of the driver.
I can probably do (b), assuming the SmartThings framework is compatible, but I would honestly prefer to have it done by SmartThings and spend instead my time on developing the application I do need.
Send an email to support and ask them. Generally I’ve found ST to be willing to be open and honest about stuff they are planning or not planning. Just ask 'em if this is on the short term list (like… 2-3 months) or if this is a longer term project (like 1 year or more). Obviously they aren’t going to give you a specific date but they should at least be able to give an approx. time frame.
If I had to guess I’d say it’s more in the 1 year or more range. I don’t see many people talking about Fibaro sensors here at all so I don’t see it as a high demand item. I suspect ST is going to focus more on stuff that will effect a greater range of people.
Add in that ST already has the SmartSense Multi-sensor which does open/close and temp (as well as a few other things), I honestly don’t see this as a high priority item. That’s just my opinion of course… I could be completely wrong.
An email to ST support got me a tentative “may be early next year”.
I guess I will have to attempt extending the driver myself…
It will be interesting… in the Chinese sense
