ZigBee Relay for Momentary Contact Closure

Hardware
1

I am new to this community. I am wondering if anyone can suggest products for this application.

I am wanting to control an automatic door opener. Thus far, I have used 2 different relay control devices. One uses a mesh control protocol called INSTEON (instead of WiFi, Zwave or Zigbee). I have also successfully used the WHDTS WiFi Momentary Inching & Self-Locking Relay successfully on these door openers.
I install controls for people with disabilities (disabled veterans) and many of them need to use voice as a user interface to control electronics in their home. The INSTEON device (https://www.smarthome.com/i-o-linc-insteon-2450-low-voltage-contact-closure-interface-1-in-1-out.html) uses INSTEON PowerLine control protocol (not RF). I am able to set people up with voice control using the cloud-based Amazon Alexa with a cloud integration smart home skill with a controller capable of controlling INSTEON and Z-wave nodes.
However, I am trying to come up with a solution that will let individuals use “Local Voice Control (LVC)” (https://amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GCC6XV9DX58VW5YW&sa-no-redirect=1

) in the event they may have unreliable Internet service and are needing to exit the home in the event of an emergency. The LVC capability is built-in the Amazon smart speaker (Echo Plus and 2nd gen Echo Show) and it uses a built-in Zigbee controller for interfacing with Zigbee nodes. I am looking for a Relay Control that can link with the built-in Zigbee controller.

I am providing a summery of what I believe are the key features the Zigbee Relay Controller will need to provide. (I know these specs work with the circuit I am using on the Automatic Door Openers).

Requirements:

Low Voltage Zigbee Relay Controller capable of Momentary Contact Closure

SPDT Low Voltage Control

Momentary Relay Mode

Zigbee RF Mesh Operation Mode/Interface

Mechanical

I/O Terminals:

GND

N/C

N/O

Common (28-16 gauge wire)

Electrical

Voltage Supply Requirements (12 Volts)

Retains all settings without power: Saved in Non-Volatile EEPROM

Certification: Safety tested for USA

2

Hi,

Thank you for your interest in our products. Unfortunately we do not have any products I would suggest for that application. It’s possible this could be developed using our off the shelf hardware but some fairly heavy development would be required and you would need a developer with experience in C/C++. If you do have in house capabilities to complete this development please let me know and I can direct you to the hardware that could potentially be used.

Lastly if you used our hardware and developed the firmware yourself it of course would not have any certification.

Thank you,
Travis Elliott

3

Kevin -
If you’re willing to breakout from Zigbee/Insteon solutions, EU Qubino offers a Z-Wave dry contact relay that can be programmed as a momentary contact ZMNHND3 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01MSEG2J1). This has several programming options most Z-Wave switches don’t. See their documentation https://qubino.com/products/flush-1d-relay/ We have four of these installed (three for garage doors) and works great.
Good luck.
Dale.

4

Thank you for your reply. For Z-Wave, I have used the MIMOlite from FortrezZ. The goal here is to use ZigBee because that is the controller contained in the Echo Show (2nd gen) and the Echo Plus (gen 1 and gen 2). These 2 devices will only “speak” ZigBee and not Z-Wave. It is only these 3 devices that have a built-in controller allowing the use of Alexa via “Local Voice Control” (LVC). This means if a person has unreliable Internet connectivity, they would still be able to use LVC for activating a door opener with the ZigBee node (momentary contact closure bridge).