Need help getting started

[Simon Törner]

I bought my first batch of Z-Wave devices yesterday and been trying to get them to work with my older stuff but I'm having trouble getting started. The Wiki guide is a bit short...

Devices:

Aeon Labs - Z-Wave Series 2 USB Controller

Vision - Door & Window Sensor 

3x Fibaro - Motion Sensor v2.6 FGMS-001

I managed to install ZVS 7.0.949 and connect all the devices and got the EventGhost plugin working so I can see sensor changes in EventGhost where I have all my old home automation stuff. 

So far so good but I don't know where to go from here.

The Fibaro motion sensors have a lot of parameters (Manual) that can be changed, how do I do that? Looks like the sensor is too new to have a config file in ZVS yet but I can still see some things in the settings but I don't understand how to read them or how to change anything. I've tried updating values but they just reset the next time the sensor sends an update. 

ZVS no longer receives events after putting the computer to sleep and resuming. Is that a bug or intended behaviour? I have the same problem with EventGhost and have to restart it every time I wake the computer up.
The Fibaro sensor manual says it's bad for the battery if they can't reach the controller, is that something to worry about if I put my computer to sleep at night and when I'm out?

What does the Sensor property mean? The default seems to be to set it True while motion has been detected and False when the room is empty. Why does it do that? I somehow turned that behaviour off for a couple sensors while experimenting, is that bad? How did I do that?

The Fibaro sensors have a range test feature where they try to communicate with the controller. However they report they can't connect even when right next to the computer and are reporting motion events just fine. Does that mean the USB stick isn't set as the network controller? Should it be? How do I control that? Is it a problem?
Range is really short, even 5 meters away communication gets unreliable. I get the impression something is wrong but I have no idea how to test what or what I could do to fix it. Maybe it's linked to the controller issue?

[Aaron Drabeck]

When the computer is put to sleep the USB controller will power off and you will have to restart ZVS to re-initialize your devices/controller.  You should run ZVS on a computer with a 24/7 up time.  You can purchase very small and low wattage PC's if energy is a concern.  Only when the computer is on, can ZVS execute scheduled tasks/triggers/control devices from phones..also your controller will have power so your devices can communicate with it. 

You can use the sensor property to do something like trigger a light to turn on or off.  It looks like True means motion is detected on your sensor and false = no motion.  Be careful changing values on any device if you do not know what it does, it can be hard to restore the settings. 

I do not have a Fibaro device so I will defer that question to someone more knowledgeable. 

[Simon Törner]

Ahh so the sensor property is the motion sensor and not that the device should be treated as a sensor. That explains a lot, thanks.

A bit late to be careful about changing settings. Why are they hard to change? How should it be done?

"You should run ZVS on a computer with a 24/7 up time."

Sounds a bit narrow minded, I already have a computer that's running whenever I want to control stuff. Why get a second computer just to have it sit idle the rest of the time?

I got my computer set up to shut down after I leave home and start up before I come back. The only way I notice it's not on 24/7 is the power bill...