Lots of components

The remainder of my orders arrived from a 3rd party reseller at Amazon and ASIHome arrived today. I now have a total of 2 plug-in modules, 3 switches, an Internet remote gateway, a remote control, a master remote, one USB stick transceiver and a huge bill.

I'll talk more about the Internet remote gateway later. Today I'll talk about the 2nd appliance module I bought, and the HA09C remote that came with the Internet remote gateway.

I was worried about the rated 42W for compact fluorescent bulbs of the HA02C. So I bought another module from Hawkins - the HRAM1. Unfortunately, I neglected to look closely at the module. This one does not have a 3 pin socket, meaning my fluorescent light cannot plug into it. So I ended up using the HA02C in the garage after all. I could have saved myself $40. Mistakes like this is going to be expensive.

To move the HA02C to the garage, first it has to be excluded from the existing network, moved, then included. The reason for this is that during the inclusion process, it builds a table of what devices are nearby and their signal strength. This all went very smoothly. In the garage, my laptop could not sense the living room modules until the garage module is installed, showing that the relaying of messages from module to module does really work.

I didn't expect the garage lights to be challenging, and it went quickly and smoothly. Next I tried to add the remote control as a secondary controller. This is impossible to do without reading the instruction manual. Unfortunately, no instruction manual came with the remote (as it was part of the Internet remote gateway package). Fortunately it was easy enough to find a copy online. A few button presses later, we're in business.

There are 6 pairs of buttons on the front of the remote. There are 2 more buttons normally hidden by a sliding door, used only for programming. Each pair controls one channel. Each channel can control up to 16 devices. You have to program each channel separately. You start with putting that channel in program mode, then going around and adding devices to it. I programmed channel 1, 2 and 3 for individual lights, and channel 6 for both lights in the family room. I could not program a channel to turn on a light but turn another off. I guess that's what Leviton (and others) call a scene.

One inconvenient thing about Z-Wave is that I can only use the primary controller (the laptop) to add modules, and after adding I need to transfer the information over to the secondary controller.

So now we finally have a handheld remote. I'd get a few more, except they cost more than $30 a piece. Not exactly pocket change (unlike the X-10 remotes). Logitech has a universal remote with Z-Wave function, but there seems to be serious issues with it. Besides, it's a little too rich at $250 each.

So, status so far, 3 devices and a remote, and a PC controller. Let's hope the rest of the install is as painless.