Help with picking switches (compatability/features)

WebThings
#1

Heya guys,

I have set up a mozilla webthings gateway and really like what you guys are doing here.
I unfortunately got a Raspberry Pi 4, which means my Z-wave stick isn’t working so well right now (I’ll be shifting the gateway onto a laptop “server” I have set up soon which would allow the dongle to work).
Anyway - the bits I’ve had working so far look great and I look forward to progressing with bulbs and switches going forward - but maybe want to run some ideas past you guys, as the wiki / plugin information seems like it has holes or may be hidden from easy research to help me pick the right items / methods.

I have been looking at it, and am thinking I would prefer most of my bulbs to be “smart”, and have different Hue Dimmer Switches for different lights / purposes covering up the dumb switches, allowing me to on/off/dim/brighten the bulbs (and it would be good to allow set colour rotation through a rule maybe)… Obviously I would like to skip the hub (and give Philips as little money as possible).
The thing I think I need to know is - what functionality can I get from the dimmer switch?
I think I saw a git commit / comment somewhere for support for the Hue switches in the Hue plugin, but what does the plugin give me for the dimmer switch? Does it see the button presses as 4 buttons - or as specific “on/off/up/down” presses? Long-press support? Double-press?
I cannot see how the switch would look, and I don’t want to go wasting money on these things without knowing the basics… I know I could set up rules, but I just don’t know what the switch offers through the plugin, so any advice would be extremely helpful here.

Are there better products? I’ve done lots of searching and Aeotec seem nice - but triple the price. And there’s an Osram Mini Switch which is half the price (or the Ikea Tradfri which is smaller).
Is it really just “reset the zigbee/z-wave device and ‘+’ on the device page of WebThings” for these (TP-link needs them on the wifi so needs them to initially register… then I can block the internet access after).

Thanks for any help

–
old486whizz

#2

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but here are a few comments:

  • I still use the free Mozilla IOT GW as my Z-Wave controller and like the ease of use and no-cloud requirement. If it was still supported I would be very happy.
  • The Mozilla IOT project was cancelled a couple months back and limited/no development is taking place by Mozilla staff.
  • M-IOT supports many devices. There are devices with unknown device IDs that are not coded (supported). Asking if new or less-popular devices will work could be an increasing crap-shoot moving forward (unless end-users step up to code those device IDs in).

I have my GW installed in a RPI docker container using an AEOTECK Gen5 v2 Z-wave controller and discounted GE v2 switches found at Lowes that work flawlessly.

The IOT Wiki has a supported device list.

#3

Thanks Eric.
If the Webthings/IOT project is “cancelled” then shouldn’t they at least update the website+wiki with such information!?
It would have saved me getting my hopes up with the Mozilla GW and would have had me doing research into other GWs.

Thanks for the list to supported devices - I just couldn’t see much detailed info there really… like how are they set up/instructions? The functionality of the devices that are available, and any requirements (eg, I had to look at the code JSON files for Tradfri to see that I needed an IKEA hub to get those switches working… I’m not sure if that’s 100% accurate but seems like it… And the Philips switch seems to have a state internal of on/off, so it’s effectively a 3-button switch where 1 is locked to changing the state between on+off).

But none of this type of information is available readily and it all affects the products functionality.

I don’t mind stepping up to code some stuff myself - but I have little interest in a dead project as nothing major will change.

#4

@EricEdberg I’m still actively working on the project, but certainly at a different pace than I previously was. On top of that, we’ve been seeing a growing number of community contributions, both to the gateway and with new add-ons.

@old486whizz The Hue Dimmer Switch is supported by the Zigbee add-on. The PR about it is here: https://github.com/mozilla-iot/zigbee-adapter/issues/69

#5

@mstegeman Sorry, I did not intend to mis-characterize the extent of support for management of the Mozilla IOT GW software. You are prompt and helpful providing technical oversite helping to resolve issues encountered by 3rd-party users and developers. Hopefully, there will be enough volunteer support to continue with upkeep.

This is a tidbit from the pinned article in this forum:

“More broadly, since we have no commercial product development plans for WebThings in 2020, there is no longer an active roadmap for WebThings Gateway and no plans for end-user feature development. However, we still plan to provide technical oversight for the WebThings Gateway open source code base and engage with the community that has grown up around it”