New Driver from Extra Vegetables Enables Complete Integration of 500+ Z-Wave Devices.
September 2, 2011

Extra Vegetables (EV), a UK software company specializing in Control4 Drivers, announced to Control4 Dealers today the availability of a Driver for the Vera 2 home controller from Mi Casa Verde.

Mi Casa Verde guarantees that Vera is compatible with all 500+ certified interoperable Z-Wave devices.

Control4 was architected to support networking standards 802.11b/g for IP networks and 802.15.4 for ZigBee mesh networks (for a comparison of wireless networks click here).

The EV driver connects Control4 systems to the Vera 2 home controller, a low-cost Z-Wave-enabled control system, which has an enthusiastic following among do-it-yourselfers, but is not a product typically recommended or installed by Custom Integrators.

In a nutshell, Vera provides a comprehensive and inexpensive ($238) Z-Wave gateway for Control4. “By installing the Vera 2 and the Extra Vegetables driver in a Control4 installation, the whole world of Z-Wave products and devices is suddenly made available,” according to EV.

Control4 has always maintained that ZigBee is a richer, more reliable mesh networking technology than Z-Wave, but the company has been open to Z-Wave integration. The Z-Wave camp has far more compatible devices from multiple manufacturers – garage door openers, thermostats, sensors, switches, plug-in modules and the like – at prices that are half the cost of their ZigBee counterparts.

The win here is the homeowner can protect their investment in Vera and Z-Wave devices and extend their system to include Control4 capabilities in A/V control and multi-room A/V solutions as well as security system integration. Control4 complements the Vera system by providing a complete smart home solution.

The primary Control4/Vera Z-Wave Integration Features are itemized below.

Controllable Devices:
• Dimmable Lighting - Can set to a level and switch on or off. Feedback from Z-Wave network.
• Switched Lighting - Can be turned On and Off
• Switched Devices - Connect to any defined Control4 'relay' device in the project to provide control of a motorized device.
• Blinds and Drapes - Specific driver for changeover relay.
• Security Sensors - PIRs, door and window sensors, pressure mats etc. Allows 'arming' input too.
• Temperature Sensors - Monitor temperature in room, current temperature available in Control4 variable. Alerts on high and low levels.
• Humidity Sensors - Monitor humidity in room, current humidity available in Control4 variable. Alerts on high and low levels.
• Thermostats - With scheduling from Control4 too

Seamless Integration
• Driver attaches devices such as lighting circuits to the Z-Wave network. Each device is then simply named to match the corresponding item in Vera. None of this is evident to the customer. A light is a light regardless of whether it is on the Z-Wave network or a Control4 outlet module.

Recall and monitor scenes defined in Vera
• Vera allows you to define scenes for lighting and other actions. You can define all your lighting scenes in Vera to offload this functionality from Control4. You can trigger Vera scenes within Control4 programming. Vera also informs Control4 when a scene is active.

Limitations
• Dimmable lights - There is no concept of a ramp time in Z-Wave, lights adjust their levels based on their internal settings. There are no raise or lower commands .
• Scene Setting Controllers - Some scene setting devices may not be compatible - contact your Control4 Dealer for updates.
• Associations - All Z-Wave 'associations' should be made in Vera. The driver does not connect directly to the Z-Wave network