[OBSOLETE] Lightwave RF Integration (UK)

Yes you got it exactly. SmartApp will talk to the Pi and create the devices and then the devices communicate with Pi which proxies the calls to the Lightwave link.

I haven’t looked at the WeMo device type but I suspect it isn’t using UDP, I’ll take a look though just in case. The problem is the replies from UDP are just text and SmartThings doesn’t really parse ordinary plain text in the reply for http it wants json or proper xml. So that might be a none starter if the UDP can work. Lets see

Ah, WeMo uses SOAP over upnp. It’s a shame that you’ll have to have the LightwaveRF + a raspberrypi, however, with the new Raspberry Pi Zero, this is a viable option. Good work Tim!

Had another look at the UDP stuff this evening as have been getting some updates from smart things about hub updates. No luck though, ran wireshark and no messages are being broadcast.

Raspberry Pi Zero seems like an awesome idea,. Realistically you could just use a supper simple node js server to forward traffic from http (ip) to udp and let smartthings take on the ui. This would mean a fairly in and out replacement of the lightwave api and an instant response. State would still be an issue.

Pi Zero ordered!

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@adamclark_dev did you ever write dimmerSwitch.groovy or get dimmers working in some way?

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I have the basis of a NodeJS app that nearly does that takes a Http get call and converts it to a UDP packet, at the moment I was focusing on service discovery and then a call to the lightwavehost to allow population of lights, etc. I was trying to make this seamless like the Hue discovery.

Happy to share what I have when you are ready, time is my real problem to get this working.

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How does lightwave rf report its state to its own in app ui? Is this known, can it be converted like the udp method to update ST . . . Seems we have a great community collective above who could make a really great LWRF integration here . . . Hats off to you for thinking big - its implementation in the UK alone would be massive :slight_smile:

Hey Sam,

Haven’t done any work on it, it is relatively easy, however the current lightwave api response is to slow to do work on (until there is a better solution for communicating with the lightwave hub).

Adam

Hey Kyle,

Am working off of knowledge from a couple of months ago. But the app appears to store last state, there is no state sent over the network, just a completion response. The way around this is to either store last state in the smarththings app, which has the downside of physical input not being reflected in the app. The second option is to do what the LRF app does and just provide an on and off toggle.

Adam

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Hi just adding my thoughts…

I started using lwrf a few years ago but gave up because as Adam says it’s only one way communication. However what I did find when playing with this was that there are a lot of other items that use the 433MHz communication protocol and are fine as one way systems e.g. the magnetic window/door contact as sold by lwrf, and temperature and humidity sensors by Oregon Scientific amongst others. I bought a transciever of 433Mhz signals - here which may be of use to existing lwrf customers to move away from their hub and communicate directly over a local network.

Having said that I have not looked on this forum to see if someone has integrated the RFX tranciever already!!

Thanks Adam, works great! Any idea if it’s possible to trigger the All Off command for a room? Tried setting device number to zero, but no luck.

Hi Adam

I’ve checked out your great work on this topic, and watched your (late night) demo of LF working vi ST app. All looks great. We are building a house now, and I’m intending on fitting Lightwave RF as the only really viable (cost effective-ish) option for outlets and lighting. I was really wondering if you’d manage to work any further magic on either dimming functionality, or baked your pi yet? I have to confess I can’t/don’t code - but really interested in adopting this solution and helping fine tune it, somehow, if I can…

Open to any better ideas too btw (for lights and switches)…

Cheers,

KJ

Hi Ken

I’ve Got LWrf installed in some of my rooms and with ST it’s a bit patchy and doesn’t dim. sometimes it fails to trigger, which appears to be a LW cloud issue rather than a ST cloud issue.

The LW app works flawlessly as a back up though.

However I have just started using the Fibaro dimmer 2 driving 11+ GU10 LED’s and that is working flawlessly behind the switch. It’s good enough that I’m contemplating removing LWrf and put Fibaros in their place. Anywhere where there is more than two bulbs it is cost effective vs Hue and it only tends to by around 30%+ more than LWrf per switch.

If LW dimmed and could work locally with ST it would be the better option though

Hi Brian

Thanks for your thoughts - I guess ‘patchy’ isn’t really going to cut it if I’m being honest about it. I do hear the case you are making re proper z-wave being better.

Re the cost, I figured about twice the price (e.g. about £40 vs about £20), plus a switch to go on the front. What are you thinking of using as the ‘face’? Maybe you know an Auber-value way to but Fibaro that I haven’t yet come across?

Many thanks,

KJ

Hi Brian,
Out of interest how did you get the LWrf to talk to the smart things app? I’ve tried using the method that Adam originally posted put as a few others mentioned the version I have doesn’t come with the 4 digit code so hit a dead end.

I really like the LWrf switches but the app is terrible. It also makes things more awkward as I’ve got several hue bulbs set to come on and turn off when I arrive / leave home but this isn’t possible in the native LWrf app.

Thanks
Ciaran

Hi Ken
Patchy means I have 1 or two lights which won’t respond if I use a smartapp. Looks like LW can’t handle Switching several lights via the cloud at the same time. They always respond via ST directly

I’m not sure whether anyone has got LW working with ST since they changed the security codes. If you already have a hub & account with a PIN you should be if not it could be a problem.

I used to find LW was £30- £40 depending on the finish but I know maplins have a sale running and have dropped the price over time. But there are a lot of cheaper ones which don’t work well with LED’s. You’ll also need a LW hub.

My main issue with LW is they seem to have their own walled garden approach, they don’t integrate well with any other system. I’ve seen nothing that suggests that will change. If you can get ST working with it you have a slow work around. But if they change their API you’ll be stuck with the light wave app. And no automation.

Hi Ciaran
I was using an old Hub with an old account and this needed a PIN for me that worked but I’m not sure I can help with the new system

Hey,

Decide to make the node UDP server tonight. Works like a charm. You can install the server on your computer or on a raspberry pi and it will send commands from SmartThings to lightwave via UDP (very fast). This means there is no need to go via the LWRF servers and negates the pin issues that some of you have been having.

Going to write some instructions for it tomorrow evening and finish off the dimming commands. All as easy as original implementation.

Here is a video of it in action - https://youtu.be/WG4qNBCrdG0

and here is the GIT repository - https://github.com/adamclark-dev/smartthings-lightwave-node-server

Will create a new post with instructions and will link in this one tomorrow.

Would say the cost to integrate is probably the £15 or so to get a Raspberry Pi and the time to set it up, which should be around half an hour.

Cheers,
Adam

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Also forgot to mention, but new app allows you to control LWRF rooms as well as devices, so lag that @Silverpawn was mentioning should be resolved.

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Fantastic News Adam, thank you so very much for all your efforts. Are you interested creating this as a Pi Zero set up?

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Hey Adam,

Am going to provide instructions for Debian. Rasbpian (which is what the raspberry pi and xero run on) is pretty much Debian, so their shouldn’t be any deviation for the instructions.

Personally I wan’t it to run on the PI Zero, as means I can connect it to the router and forget about it.

Cheers,
Adam