Getting the level of a device or a sensor from the command line

This tutorial will assume you are doing this from a Windows computer. It should still work in a similar fashion on other OSes though.

Step 1: You need to get a copy of CURL. Some OSes such as Linux might already have this. If not, visit the CURL web page to download the appropriate version for your operating system.

Once you have that downloaded, extract the curl.exe to your hard drive.  To make this easier, put your CURL.EXE file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder. This isn't required, but makes it easier for the sake of this tutorial and helps prevent the "COMMAND IS NOT RECOGNIZED" errors that are common.

Step 2: Find out what your computer's IP address is. This is the computer where you have InControl installed. The quickest way to find this is to open up a CMD window (by clicking Start/Run and typing CMD). Once the window is open, type in ipconfig and hit enter. You should get output similar to this:

The important information is found on the line that says IPv4 address. In my case, it's 10.4.3.178 - make a note of this number because you'll need it later on.  Note: if you see many of these listed like I do, the most likely bet is that it's the only one with a value for Default Gateway. 

Step 3:Create a "Sensor" device. This step is optional and is only required if your device includes sensor readings. My thermostat is just such a device - you can recognize these types of devices because they'll have a table of additional values. Take a look at my thermostat device:

Notice in the above screen shot that there is a line that reads "Temperature" and shows a value of 69. That's a sensor reading. If you want to get that value, you'll need to create a sensor device based on it. Notice the blue button to the left of "Temperature?" Click that to create this new virtual device. Give it a name - I named mine "Main Temperature."

Step 4:Find out the device Id of your device. This will be the virtual sensor device you just created in step 3 or any other device you want to get a level on. For this step, we'll use a browser such as Google Chrome (note, this works in all browsers, but is easiest to do in Chrome). From your PC running Incontrol, open up a browser and type in this url: http://localhost:1178/zwave/devices?password=123. Be sure to substitute "123" for your password if you have one set. You should get a window full of something that looks like this:

Search for your device by hitting CTRL+F and typing in the device's name. Near your device, you should see a deviceId. I've highlighted mine in the screen shot above. You need to make note of that Id - it's everything in between the quotes. In my case, the id is 15647143-5913-486d-a932-76879000011d.

Step 5:Retrieve the level of the device. It's time to use CURL to get the device along with the level. Type in the following command into a CMD window: http://10.4.3.178:1178/zwave/device/15647143-5913-486d-a932-76879000011d&password=123. Be sure to substitute "10.4.3.178" with your IP address that you located earlier. You'll also need to substitute your device id and password. Here's how my curl output looks - you'll also notice that my main temperature is at 69 degrees ("level":69):

Using On{X} and InControl to activate your lights when you get home

Microsoft has a new product out called On{X}, which lets you add even more brains to your Android device. On{X} is basically an engine that let's you check your phone's many sensors (like GPS) and then perform special tasks when something important happens.

For me, I wanted to setup On{X} to watch my GPS and when I got near my home, it would tell InControl to activate my z-wave enabled garage lights (New to Z-Wave?) Here's how I set it up.

Step 1: Setup a scene inside InControl that activates the lights that should turn on when On{X} detects the phone arriving near the house.

a) Create a new scene. I named mine "Garage On."

b) Click Add Device, choose the Garage Lights, then adjust the slider to the "On" position.

c) Click Activate Scene to verify that the garage lights turn on properly

d) For this to work, you'll need to make sure you've taken a few steps to access InControl over your 3g phone network.

Step 2: Setup an account on On{X}. It's free and relatively painless since it uses Facebook.

Step 3: Click the Create button to start a new script. You'll end up with a screen that looks like this:

Step 4: Delete all the code you see in your script, then copy & paste the following into the window:

    // Initializing variables 
    // This requires InControl Home Automation (http://www.incontrolzwave.com)
    var location = { name : "Home",latitude : "28.482657",longitude : "141.935347" } ;
    var inControlServer = "http://208.15.221.12";  // Enter your external IP
    var inControlPort = "1178"; 
    var inControlPassword = "";
    var sceneName = "Garage On";  // Enter the name of your scene
    // End of variables initializing 

    console.log('Started script: Turn on Garage Lights when arriving home');
     
    // create a geo region for the trigger to take place at
    var region = device.regions.createRegion({
        latitude: parseFloat(location.latitude, 10),
        longitude: parseFloat(location.longitude, 10),
        name: location.name,
        radius: 500
    });

    // Assign the callback when entering the region
    region.on('enter', function () {
        console.log('Entered target location!');
        
        // Create a notification that the timer has been started
        var notification = device.notifications.createNotification('Welcome to ' + location.name + '.');
        notification.content = "Your lights have been turned on.";
        notification.show();
        
        device.ajax({
          url: inControlServer + ":" + inControlPort + '/zwave/activateScenePost',
          type: 'POST',
          data: JSON.stringify({
            password:inControlPassword,
            sceneName:sceneName,
            activate:"1"
          }),
          headers: {
            'Content-Type': 'application/json;charset=utf-8'
          }
        },
        function onSuccess(body, textStatus, response){  
            console.log("Sucess:" + textStatus + ":" + body);
        },
        function onError(textStatus, response){   
            console.log("onError:" + textStatus + ":");
        });
        
    });
    
    // start monitoring the region
    device.regions.startMonitoring(region);

    console.log('Completed script: Turn on/off garage lights.');

Step 5: Customize the script to work with your home

a) Change your lat and long to match where your house is. To find mine, I used Google Maps. Just right click on your house and choose "What's here?" to have it show you the Latitude and Longitude (you'll need to hover your mouse over the green arrow that shows up).

b) Change your IP address to match what your own external IP is. Just go to www.whatsmyip.com and copy the IP address shown.

c) Change the scene name to match the one you created earlier in InControl.

Now just save your rule and send it to your phone. Next time you come back to your home, your garage lights should activate automatically for you.

Kids leave the garage door open... again? (And how to close it with your cell phone)

My kids are notorious for opening the garage door and leaving it open.  When a neighbor called me at 2 in the morning to let me know the garage was open, I decided that I was going to figure out a way to monitor the garage door from my computer. 

This job took me about 4 hours. My friends and neighbors will be shocked to find out I did it, because my wife is the handy-man around the house. She asks for the power tools for Christmas while I ask for the NewEgg & Best Buy gift cards.  If you are truly handy, this should be a quick and simple project.

The first step was to get me some z-wave hardware. I ordered an Evolve LFM-20 relay and an Aeon Labs Door / Window Sensor.  The LFM-20 would be used to actually open and close the door, while the sensor is used to tell me if the door is currently opened or closed.

Door sensors are sensitive to metal, otherwise I could have mounted them directly to my garage door railing. Instead, I needed to figure out how to raise them "above" the rails and still have the paired sensor halves match up.

I went to my local hardware store and purchased a "Garage Door Top Bracket." After removing part of it and forcefully bending it into a desired shape, I was able to mount it to my garage door along with a sturdy piece of 2x4. This piece would go up and down with the garage door. 

On the other side I mounted a 2x4 to the fixed side of the door. This part wouldn't be moving anywhere. Here is the finished sensor mount:

I purchased a $5 plug kit and wired it onto the black/white/green wires of my LFM-20 relay. My garage door opener is conveniently located right next to an outlet, so this worked out great.

The next step was to wire the Evolve switch into a parallel circuit with my existing garage door opener button. The "diagram" of how I did it looks like this (please don't mock my artistic ability!)

One problem I ran into with this setup is that while the Evolve LFM-20 is active, the normal button used to open the garage door won't work. The fix is to find a way to shut the relay off just after it activates. For this, I used InControl's "auto-toggle off" feature to turn the relay off after a few seconds.

Using InControl, I'm able to monitor my garage door. When it's open past 9 PM, I get a text message at which point I can use my Android phone to close the door.

Here's a complete shopping list of z-wave items to make this work:

• Aeon Labs USB Stick - This enables the software to communicate with the LFM-20 and door sensor
• Aeon Labs Door/Window Sensor
• Evolve LFM-20 Module
• InControl Version 2