Adding a Z-Wave power plug in Domoticz

It’s time to add our first device to our Z-Wave network consisting of:

  • Raspberry Pi 2 Model B
  • Razberry add-on card
  • Domoticz home automation software running on our Raspberry

power_plug_lamp

If you’re new to Z-Wave it’s recommended to start with a simple sensor such as a power plug. If you start with a 110 dB siren, you might have to go through a bit of configuring in front of your laptop using ear plugs until you get all the settings right. So, start simple and then build from there since that’s the beauty of Z-Wave; once you have a small network up and running, you can add devices stepwise.

Adding our power plug in Domoticz

Make sure your Raspberry is up and running with Domoticz (check this post if you need guidance). Open up the Domoticz user interface in the browser of your laptop.

domoticz_setup

In the ”Setup” menu select ”Hardware”.

domoticz_raspberry_hw

Click on the ”Setup” button on the row of your Razberry unit.

domoticz_node

In the ”Node management” dropdown list, click on ”Include Node”.

domoticz_include_node

For our Z-Wave power plug, it’s now enough if we simply plug it into the wall outlet. It will automatically enter inclusion mode. Other devices might require that you push a physical button on them. This is usually explained in the user manual of your Z-Wave device you’re going to add to your Z-Wave network.

domoticz_node_included

Now, our Z-Wave power plug is added to our Z-Wave network. It’s currently a very small network with one controller (i.e. the Razberry) and one device (i.e. the power plug). In the ”Setup” menu, select ”Devices”.

domoticz_setup

Here you can click on the light bulb icon to turn on and off the power plug. Make sure you have a lamp plugged in to the plug to really feel the magic as you wirelessly control the power plug through Z-Wave.

domoticz_switch

To make the switch appear under the ”Switches” tab, we click on the green arrow located on the right side in the row of the power plug.

domoticz_add_device

We name it ”Our power plug” and click ”Add Device”.

domoticz_add_device_popup

When we click on the ”Switches” tab, we see our power plug. If you want the device to appear on the ”Dashboard” you simply click on the little star in the power plug box (under the bulb icon).

domoticz_switch_tab

In future posts, we will go through how to connect a sensor with this power plug so you can trigger the lights to go on when someone enters the room. The same steps can be used to trigger a siren or make a curtain go up when the sun light level decrease below a defined level.