Vermont Energy Control Systems

Practical monitoring and control for the real world

Wireless Sensors

The Vesta Vantage and Pro models support a wide range of wireless sensors. These sensors will be detected by the Vesta if they are powered on and within range. The Wireless I/O tab allows you to add, remove, and configure wireless sensors as well as monitoring signal strength and battery levels.

A screenshot of wireless I/O in the Configue I/O tab

Figure 17.1: Wireless I/O

This page has three sections. The top section lists wireless devices that are being managed by the Vesta. For these sensors you can see battery level and signal strength. Depending on the battery type, above 2.8 volts and -95dBm is good. (Note: -63dBm is above -95dBm - these are negative numbers.) It's important to note that in multi-Vesta installations there may be wireless sensors that can be detected by more than one Vesta, but each sensor can be registered to (and managed by) a single Vesta controller.

The second section lists wireless sensors that have been detected by the Vesta but are not currently registered. In both of the two first sections, the red X will cause the Vesta to delete all record of the associated sensor. This might be appropriate if a sensor is lost or destroyed, for instance.

The third section lists the data elements associated with wireless sensors. There's a bit of added complexity here, since some wireless sensors provide more than one data element. The 'Add' and 'Unlink' buttons perform slightly different actions depending on the sensor. If the sensor is a multivalue type, it's possible that you may only care about a subset of the data elements associated with that sensor. For instance, if it's a temperature and humidity sensor you might only care about the humidity. By default, all data elements are hidden until the user selects them.

If the sensor is a simple single-value type, 'Add' equates to 'Register'. The sensor will now be managed by the Vesta, and the associated data element will be visible to be logged, renamed, and/or used in rules. The 'Unlink' button equates to 'Unregister'. The sensor is forgotten and all record of it is deleted.

If the sensor is a multivalue type, the 'Add' button will register the sensor and make the data element on the 'Add' line visible to the system. However, any additional data elements for that sensor will still be hidden. Clicking 'Add' on any of the additional data element lines will make the associated elements visible. In the same way, 'Unlink' will only hide data elements unless 'Unlink' is clicked for the last visible data element - in that case, the sensor will also be unregistered.