I now have a working controller, using the demo software provided with the RaZberry board. However, I did waste some money and time in learning the following about incompatibilities with the IRIS system.
Unusable Hardware - IRIS Smart Plug
My first experiment was to attempt pairing with one of the IRIS Smart Plugs. I picked it up at the local Lowes, along with one of the IRIS Smart Hubs, because the box says "works with Z-Wave". Europeans will recognize it as a relabeled Alertme system.
The short version of my experiment is that the IRIS system is now on my list of products to avoid. Things not readily apparent:
- The "works with Z-Wave" statement applies only to the hub. The Smart Plugs appear to have encryption permanently enabled which prevents them from being used with any other controller. The Smart components (e.g., Smart Plug) do not work with any other controller.
- It looks like the IRIS Zigbee components are in a similar condition. This is a shame especially, since the Smart Button definitely falls into the "really cool to have" list, being battery-powered, portable, and having a built-in temperature sensor.
- For anything other than the most basic lighting control, you are expected to pay a monthly subscription fee for their online service. Given the recent hacking demos, why would you give control of your appliances to a third party?
Unusable Hardware - IRIS Smart Hub
The RaZberry has the capability of becoming a secondary controller (or a device) in another controller's network. There appears to be an interface software shortcoming (vice the above technology shortcoming) with the IRIS software in that, while the RaZberry can join the IRIS network, it is "seen" as an unknown device and there may be difficulties in removing it. I couldn't get IRIS to recognize the RaZberr as a second controller, though the RaZberry did recognize the IRIS as one. However, from the RazBerry, I was not able to "see" the IRIS devices via the Smart Hub (probably for the previous reasons that I could not access them directly).
Also, in two out of three attempts, I managed to leave a "ghost" device in the IRIS configuration. There also appears to be no means of forcing a removal of any device from the IRIS network, short of calling customer service and requesting a manual removal from their software's database. There were a couple days between my submitting the trouble ticket and their calling to get better explanation.
While the product labeling wasn't outright deceptive, I was a bit angry to discover that, after I'd spent the money, I was expected to pay a subscription fee. The IRIS system is okay if you don't mind being locked into a single vendor's solutions and don't mind paying a monthly subscription (I'm still a bit irked by that discovery). However, my recommendation to any other DIY'er: avoid the IRIS system and it's associated hardware.
While Lowes does encourage "hacking" of the IRIS system, I believe that their definition of legal "hacking" is limited to writing your own software via their API (which they've not yet provided). At the time of this blog post, the Skookum post had five comments about the IRIS system, all negative in nature (none of them mine).
Useable Hardware - GE ZW3101
My first success with the RaZberry came after purchasing a GE Lamp Module (Model ZW3101). It paired with the RaZberry with no extra fuss (i.e., under "Basic Network Management", click on "(Re)include device" and then just push the button on the lamp module). After the above frustrations, the simple success with the GE module was exciting enough that I'm moving the RaZberry to the "production" RPi (I have another project planned for the "development" RPi) and will start experimenting with software (or writing it) to control various components.