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[JimH]

Yesterday, I asked Bob and Brad to put the latest version of Engen on the JRiver Id I use at home.  The reason is that I put my Windows notebook to sleep when I'm not using it, and that makes the Z-Stick unavailable.

The Id is on 24 hours a day.  It draws about 7 watts.  The USB SSD drive attached to it draws another 3 watts.

I was concerned that the Z-Stick might use significantly more power, but when I measured the setup, the total usage was about 14 watts, so the stick is using about 4 watts.

I was also concerned that I might lose the settings, but the Z-Stick had stored most of them.  All of the individual switches worked after moving to Linux.  The only thing that didn't were the two scenes I had defined, so I set them up again.

We have plans to be able to back up the database on one machine and restore it on another, but that's a few weeks away.

So far, it's working as expected.  I don't have to wake the notebook from sleep in order to control the lighting.

We plan to add the Engen server to the Id, so an Id can become the hub for our IoT work.  We have tested it successfully on a Raspberry Pi.  Running on a Pi puts the price of the hardware under $100, where most IoT hubs are.

[hoyt]

We plan to add the Engen server to the Id, so an Id can become the hub for our IoT work.  We have tested it successfully on a Raspberry Pi.  Running on a Pi puts the price of the hardware under $100, where most IoT hubs are.

I'm just getting into learning more about z-wave and it's starting to come together.  Which is great because I'm moving into a new house in a month and will likely now be dropping a ton of cash on new plugs for my walls and really cool lightbulbs....  I remembered reading this comment and just came back to it.  Does the above mean that from JRiver, I would be able to get the controller and then be ready to hook up z-wave devices to it?  Or would the Id Pi still require a USB controller Z-stick from someone like Aeon?  Is the stick is more than just software?

I have a JRiver server that runs 24/7, so would the Id Pi be unnecessary in that arrangement?  If the stick is needed as a transmitter for z-wave that could be problematic because the server will be in a basement in a metal server rack (I assume that'll kill the transmission range even in a mesh network environment). 

Thanks!

[JimH]

The Z-Stick is a radio transmitter and receiver.  It has firmware that is capable of operating the radio, recognizing new devices, and keeping them in a database, even when unplugged.

So you would need a Z-Stick or equivalent.  You would need to plug it into a server that is on 24 hours a day.

It would probably work, even in the basement.  The limit of each hop is 100 feet, certainly less if it was in a metal enclosure.  You might use a USB extension cable to get the stick outside the cabinet.

You would need our software or the equivalent.   It's considered controller software, since the Z-Stick is a controller.  Together with the computer, they are considered a gateway.