Fibaro RGBW Controller

You could use a RGBW amplifier to provide extra capacity at a small extra cost. Power half the load direct from the Fibaro and also feed this to the amplifier. The amplifier can then feed the rest of the load. Extra cost, less than 20 GBP.
Make sure the dc power supply is fully rated.[/quote]
I was thinking about that (after I posted). Wouldn’t I have to wire it so that it went PSU->Fibaro->Rope1->Amp->Rope2? If so, that’d make wiring a mess since I was planning on just having one point of access for power.[/quote]

Never used an amplifier so I cannot guarantee but I don’t see why you should. The amplifier should be able to take its signal from the Fibaro which also drives rope 1. The amp then drives rope 2. The dc supply drives the Fibaro and the amp in parallel.
You could use one amp to feed rope 1 and rope 2 but that means a bigger more expensive amp.
I don’t use an amp but I feed 4 ropes (each quite short) in parallel so I don’t see any real difference.

You could use a RGBW amplifier to provide extra capacity at a small extra cost. Power half the load direct from the Fibaro and also feed this to the amplifier. The amplifier can then feed the rest of the load. Extra cost, less than 20 GBP.
Make sure the dc power supply is fully rated.[/quote]
I was thinking about that (after I posted). Wouldn’t I have to wire it so that it went PSU->Fibaro->Rope1->Amp->Rope2? If so, that’d make wiring a mess since I was planning on just having one point of access for power.[/quote]

Never used an amplifier so I cannot guarantee but I don’t see why you should. The amplifier should be able to take its signal from the Fibaro which also drives rope 1. The amp then drives rope 2. The dc supply drives the Fibaro and the amp in parallel.
You could use one amp to feed rope 1 and rope 2 but that means a bigger more expensive amp.
I don’t use an amp but I feed 4 ropes (each quite short) in parallel so I don’t see any real difference.[/quote]

Ah, okay, I didn’t really consider driving both lines in parallel. So the wiring would be like:

PSU->Fibaro->Line1
->Amp->Line2
?

How does that reduce the power that the Fibaro unit has going through it then? Or does the Amp take in it’s own power supply connection? So that way I can evenly split the two?

The amp will need the dc supply connected directly so it powers the rope. The Fibaro connection to the amp only provides voltage levels and need not be considered as load.

yep, you have to use an amp for two reasons.

Your original method of wanting to run it all from the one point wont work as a single led strip of 76 feet wont be able to carry enough power to run them all even if the fibaro module could supply enough. You’d overload the power lines on the strip.
The fibaro module can’t supply enough power any way.

I’ve attached an image of how they are wired up. You can use the one power supply if you need to or use two power supplies like in the image. Remember that the power supply needs to be powerful enough for the whole strip if you want to use the one supply.

My rough sketch below.
If you only split the tape into two lengths, they will still both be quite long. To avoid volt drop and therefore dimming at the far ends, you could feed both ends of the tape at the same time.

Okay, thanks. If I can indeed wire the PSU to both the Fibaro and the amp for the other line at the same time, then that should work for me. I was thinking I’d need to wire it as MarcusB posted above with the Amp (and an additional) PSU in between line #1 and line #2.

If you have not yet purchased the amp and PSU I suggest you send your proposed scheme to the supplier to confirm they will work together as desired. Just tell them that the Fibaro is an RGBW source and they should have enough info.

Hi all,

I spend many hours to try to start animated programm from Fibaro RGBW 442 through a lua code.
Here is my code :
luup.variable_set( ‘urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveDevice1’, ‘ConfiguredVariable’, ‘157,1d,7,’, 48 )
luup.variable_set( ‘urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:ZWaveDevice1’, ‘VariablesSet’, ‘157,1d,7,’, 48)

And in advanced tab i put the reconfigure parameter on the fiabaro module.

But after that, the vera can’t control anymore the Fibaro…
Fibaro is not blocked becaus if i restore the vera to previous backup, I can take the hand again on the modul

What can be this problem, ! really don’t have any idea…

looks like your serviceId is in correct.
go to device and to advanced, then to variables click edit the variable you are trying to set. At the top will be the seviceId and the variable name. Use them.

Take a look here I listed all the codes for all the animations for my Fibaro RGBW 441. Assume they are the same for the 442.

Note I am using this in conjunction with the RGB Controller plugin.

1 Like

Yes , I see your blog installation yesterday.
I install the RGB plugin for testing.

The plugin work well except animation part…

Is there something to do that it works for animation ?

Have you changed the device ID number in the code?

My devices number created by the RGB Controller plugin was 139. Yours will be a different number.

luup.call_action(“urn:upnp-org:serviceId:RGBController1”,“StartAnimationProgram”,{ programId=“6” },139)

Yes…
One question : is the plugin working well for the Fibaro animation without the scene ? (it’s not the case on my vera)

I think also that one problem can be that programm are located on param 157 and on Fibaro version 441 it’s 72!

Fianlly, I have found the soltuion.
I changed the value in the L_RGBController1.lua file for the Programm part from 0x48(which means parameter 72) to 0x9d (which means parameter 157)

You need to do this for Fibaro 442 version. RgbController is unfotunetly a little bit obsolete

2 Likes

Legend! Thanks, came across this problem too. Now to decide if its worth trying to run two copies of RGBController (since I have multiple v1 around) or if I should swap the v2 with a v1 somewhere where I dont need to use the animations.

So stupid by Fibaro to change a parameter like that between generations.

General questions for people with v2 of the RGBW (442 version). Do you also find that Vera’s native DimmableRGBLight1 does not work with it? I have several v1 (441 version) around and they work fine. I have to use the RGBController plugin to get a working colour wheel/chart.

For me it’s also a marketing question … there are some capabilities you can only use with a Fibaro Center…
Probably the idea behind is when you have enough with all these constraint, you buy the very expensensive FC3 box.

For the question regarding 442 version, if I remember, it Works well with native but you loose some specification which are only available on RGBplugin

Where is this L_RGBController1 located. I have had this issue with V2 also but have lived with it since I’m not well versed with programming in Vera.

In the /etc/cmh-ludl directory on the Vera, assuming you already have the RGB Controller plugin installed.

In the Vera web GUI you can go to Apps - Develop Apps - Luup Files.

Find the L_RGBController1 download it make the changes required and upload it again.

I only have V1 Fibaro RGBW modules. so as yet I haven’t had to do this myself.

Hello, I have had a Vera 3 for many years and am doing a remodel and added about 20 lights and 5 sets of LED strip lights throughout my home. So I have 5 Fibaro RGBW Controllers. I have the newer 442 model. So I have added the Controllers to my Vera and each device has all the different components added (11 I think for each Controller). The dimmer and 4 color dimmers work well but there is no color wheel associated with the main device. So I have read the above and several other posts on the web and tried several changes to get the color wheel and I have been unsuccessful. Can someone walk me thru the changes or setup required to get the color wheel and animations to show up on the device? Also, on the iPhone app if possible.

Secondly, I have down loaded the RGBW plugin and it works well except for the animations do not work. I tried the lua language discussed above and I could not get it to work. So could someone walk me thru how to get the animations to work with the plugin. Lastly, I would like to have the plugin control all 5 of the Fibaro Controllers at the same time. Could someone help me with this also. I have not used Lua language or edited Luup files so if this is required I would need to know what software to load the files in to edit them.

Thank you so much for your help! I greatly appreciate it. Also, if the information I requested has already been answered somewhere else I am so sorry. I have not used the new forum this is the first time and I am learning the new system.

Update: Ok I have been studying the comments above and finally figured out how to do what cwoessner said above – (Fianlly, I have found the soltuion. I changed the value in the L_RGBController1.lua file for the Programm part from 0x48(which means parameter 72) to 0x9d (which means parameter 157)). I downloaded the L_RGVController1.lua file and opened it in a text editor and searched for 0x48 and replaced it with 0x9d and then uploaded the file. Now the Animation is working. However, I still need to find out how to get the color wheel to show up on my iPhone (it shows up in the web application). Also, how to control the 5 Controllers with the plugin.