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Seeking Advice:
G
The locksmith is trying to persuade me to purchase the BE-TECH K35 touchscreen lock with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, claiming it's better than the Yale Assure Lock 2. What are your thoughts on this? Which one would you recommend? Here is the link to the Chinese brand BE-TECH: BE-TECH Smart Deadbolt K3S. The other smart lock I am considering is the Schlage Encode Plus. Thank you!
Blogs
15+ Smart Home Automation Ideas from Pros
L
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Blogs
Finally gave up on my Ezlo Plus
CrilleC
The promise of "all available devices will be supported" gave me hope for including more Zigbee devices into to my home as Vera was not a good option for Zigbee devices. Despite the support for new devices is extremely slow, the implementation of Zigbee has a lot to wish for and it seems a low priority at Ezlo I managed to include 22 of my 23 Zigbee devices as generic. But after 2 years of devices still missing attributes and randomly/every controller reboot loosing connection to the controller and had to be power cycled to connect again, and some even dropping off the network completely without any reason, I decided to give up. The positive outcome of all this: I bought a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus and installed Zigbee2MQTT and never been happier. Suddenly the pairing were no pain and took a few seconds per device, all my devices were recognized, all capabilities of the devices were exposed and it never misses a signal to/from a device ever. I'm surprised how stable and configurable my new setup is. I can set device parameters, offsets, send messages handled by the bulbs them self like effects, broadcast for groups, transition time for power on/off. I can handle debounce for MQTT messages, do OTA firmware update on devices and much more! Most of this is probably standard for the common branded hubs like Hue etc but I never had one so this is new to me. A big plus for me is the MQTT part of Zigbee2MQTT as I'm migrating as much as possible to MQTT. My Ezlo Plus is now serving as a modified WiFi access point to my network and only have the VistaCam 1203 Doorbell still connected for evaluation. Time will tell if I ever move my Z-wave devices to it. Conclusion: I could really recommend both the Sonoff 3.0 USB Dongle Plus and Zigbee2MQTT to anyone going the same path!
Blogs
Another transition from Vera to OpenLuup And now to HASS - PerH
PerHP
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Blogs
Half-way migration from Vera
therealdbT
In a quest to further stabilize my Vera before I'll move to Z-Way+openLuup or something else later this year (I'm tempted to go the Home Assistant route, since all my friends are here, apparently), I've spent a couple of days removing HTTP calls from the system and I'm now fully using the UDP sender @akbooer has written in the past, to push all variables (and custom events/request as well) to my MQTT broker, then to some code doing the actual work. Responsiveness seems to be at its maximum now, and stability has improved. There's still a lot of code locally on my Vera, but it's mainly doing variables comparison/scenes, while all notifications and heavy logic are now running in my linux box. So, maybe, not insisting on the sockets and just use the same UDP server is the way to go for me.
Blogs
My Home Automation Story
rafale77R
Share your blog or adventure here. Here is mine: https://rafale77.blogspot.com
Blogs
My migration from Vera, or what I did on my holidays
CatmanV2C
Well here we go. A slow, considered migration from Vera to something (I hope) more reliable. Hopefully we'll end up with a decent documented process for people as right now I'm still not quite clear Starting point: I have a 'mature' Mios set up running on an extrooted Vera Plus with roughly 100 devices, both physical and virtual Integration with Alexa both voice control and TTS iPhones for Geolocation Volumio devices for music playing around the house. I have no user defined scenes, all automation is run from Reactor. My impetus is final dissatisfaction with the quality of UI7 software delivery and operational rigour (for full disclosure I am a senior IT Operations leader with circa 20 years experience delivering properly stable systems, so I probably have un-realistic expectations ) So initial steps: Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (I think this is my 5, and 6th Pi in total. I may have a problem) Raspbian OpenLuup Verabridge That I think is stage 1 C
Blogs
Not so much a blog
CatmanV2C
...but I now only have house mode scenes left on Vera. All other automation is by Reactor and Switchboard / Alexa routines. WAF may be low tomorrow if it doesn't work C
Blogs
My Wandering
ElcidE
I am a Electrician. I installed hundreds of smart devices for others prior to having my own home automation. In 2013 I bought a new house and decided to make it smart. I did some homework and settled on Z-wave and VeraPlus. My installation comprises of 25 Z-wave dimmer/switch inserts 3 Z-wave door sensors 10 sonoff devices(basics,TH16 and Mini) , 4 Tuya(lamps and RGB strips) , 6 shellys(connected to motion sensors and 2 controlling dead DIY bolts ) 3 Amazon Dots(gen2) 2 Broadlink (RMPro's) 4 DIY RF Venetian Blinds 2 Multi button DIY remotes 1 NVR 1 Network drive/Media server/ftp server. 1 smart thermostat heating and hot water 4 wired 240v/battery Aico smoke and heat detectors (connect to zwave via Relays) 1 robot hover. 1 Siren Node-red server running on android. Testing openluup on android. Automate App running on andorid Boxes/phones. All tv's are connected to android boxes. No windows PC. Debian running on android box. Plugins Reactor, AlexaTTS, Switchboard and Virtual HTTP Switch. I can control all of my devices from anyone of these platforms Vera/OpenLuup, Node-red, Automate(phone/tv box) or Alexa. All devices have a standard/manual switch for anyone to control, and can be controlled even if my VeraPlus stopped working or internet out. My system is stable and may get a luup reload every couple of weeks. None of my sonoff's or tuya have been flashed. I found Shelly very late into game and will be using these more now i found them, as they offer local control. I have some coding knowledge from the 90's, but have never worked in the industry.
Blogs
This is me
CatmanV2C
Well, if I see further, it's because I stand of the shoulders of giants. I've got where I got because of the experts here. I started about 15 years ago with some really basic X10 stuff. When we moved in 2011 for some reason it simply would not work in the new house, so z-wave was the thing. Vera lite then Vera Plus. I'm a child of the 70s. I want the car on the drive to be KITT and my lounge a cross between the bridge of the enterprise and the Lars farm on Tattoine. Not there yet, but with about 250 devices (virtual and real) things are fun (when they work!) The absolute killer app for me is Alexa bi directional speech. To the extent that I've walked into hotel rooms and said 'Alexa turn the lights on....' I'm within a spit of never buying another control and doing everything via Alexa and Reactor (had to drop that in) So that's pretty much me. C
Blogs
My Home Automation Setup...
DesTD
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Blogs

My migration from Vera, or what I did on my holidays

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  • therealdbT therealdb

    Look at the logs. The group name is the way to go. ALL will still cycle.

    CatmanV2C Offline
    CatmanV2C Offline
    CatmanV2
    wrote on last edited by
    #43

    @therealdb said in My migration from Vera, or what I did on my holidays:

    Look at the logs. The group name is the way to go. ALL will still cycle.

    Logs don't log stupidity 😄

    Was firstly using the Vera instance, then trying to set announcements on the Vera instance. Setting it on the Openluup instance and using that worked first time 😄

    C

    The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

    akbooerA 1 Reply Last reply
    1
    • CatmanV2C CatmanV2

      @therealdb said in My migration from Vera, or what I did on my holidays:

      Look at the logs. The group name is the way to go. ALL will still cycle.

      Logs don't log stupidity 😄

      Was firstly using the Vera instance, then trying to set announcements on the Vera instance. Setting it on the Openluup instance and using that worked first time 😄

      C

      akbooerA Offline
      akbooerA Offline
      akbooer
      wrote on last edited by
      #44

      @CatmanV2 said in My migration from Vera, or what I did on my holidays:

      Logs don't log stupidity

      ...we could add it as a feature, but you’d have to sign up to be a beta tester. 😉

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • CatmanV2C Offline
        CatmanV2C Offline
        CatmanV2
        wrote on last edited by CatmanV2
        #45

        One thing I could test with aplomb 😄

        Cheers

        C

        The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

        1 Reply Last reply
        1
        • CatmanV2C Offline
          CatmanV2C Offline
          CatmanV2
          wrote on last edited by
          #46

          Amusingly and with full reference to this:

          I've not had a Luup reload since Monday lunchtime. Odd since all my automation is still on the Vera. I have, however, killed all the Vera / Alex skill availability

          C

          The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

          therealdbT 1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • CatmanV2C CatmanV2

            Amusingly and with full reference to this:

            I've not had a Luup reload since Monday lunchtime. Odd since all my automation is still on the Vera. I have, however, killed all the Vera / Alex skill availability

            C

            therealdbT Offline
            therealdbT Offline
            therealdb
            wrote on last edited by
            #47

            @CatmanV2 not suprising at all. If you remove all the load from the controller, it will be stable. If you don't have too many (let's say 60+) devices, Zwave will be stable enough. When you have a lot of devices and/or some not-really-supported-but-works-with-Vera (TM) devices, the Zwave network stability can dramatically decrease.

            --
            On a mission to automate everything.

            My MS Reactor contrib
            My Luup Plug-ins

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            0
            • CatmanV2C Offline
              CatmanV2C Offline
              CatmanV2
              wrote on last edited by
              #48

              But I haven't reduced the load, is my point. All my devices, all my automation apart from stuff that I use Alexa for, is still on the Plus. In fact, the load should be higher since it's getting polled by the Vera Bridge.....

              The only real difference so far is that I use HA bridge running on the new Openluup box to do voice control. And that's hilarious. Even running through UI7 by doing a get to the Openluup box which which then goes through Verabridge, 90% of the time the switch has changed before Alexa has managed to say 'OK' 😄

              C

              The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • CatmanV2C Offline
                CatmanV2C Offline
                CatmanV2
                wrote on last edited by
                #49

                OK this is a significant issue.

                Guess who installed 32bit Debian......

                Any thoughts on a Z-way server binary?

                C

                The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • CatmanV2C Offline
                  CatmanV2C Offline
                  CatmanV2
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #50

                  Hmm so this looks like a no win scenario. Torch and start again 😞

                  C

                  The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • CatmanV2C Offline
                    CatmanV2C Offline
                    CatmanV2
                    wrote on last edited by CatmanV2
                    #51

                    So plan to get me back. It shouldn't be too hard but I'll probably leave it for today because of the Alexa / HA bridge stuff will stop.

                    Install 64bit Debian
                    Install Lua
                    Install jq (for Alexa TTS)
                    Install default-jdk and jre
                    Install HA-bridge

                    Restore the copies of the service definitions I created
                    Enable them in systemctl

                    Restore the Open-luup backup
                    Restore the HAbridge backup.

                    Hope?

                    @akbooer @rafale77 @therealdb does this sound like a good test? 😄

                    Regards

                    Chris

                    The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    1
                    • rafale77R Offline
                      rafale77R Offline
                      rafale77
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #52

                      Yeah sorry I never thought about 32bit installation... have not done anything on 32bit OS except for the vera for ages.

                      CatmanV2C 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • rafale77R rafale77

                        Yeah sorry I never thought about 32bit installation... have not done anything on 32bit OS except for the vera for ages.

                        CatmanV2C Offline
                        CatmanV2C Offline
                        CatmanV2
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #53

                        @rafale77 hardly your fault! I only grabbed it because the NUC was something of an unknown 😄

                        C

                        The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • akbooerA Offline
                          akbooerA Offline
                          akbooer
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #54

                          The openLuup transfer should be straightforward. I’d save the whole of the cmh-ludl directory tree with all your device files, etc. There’s nothing that’s 32/64 bit dependant.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          1
                          • CatmanV2C Offline
                            CatmanV2C Offline
                            CatmanV2
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #55

                            I pretty much have 😉

                            Just overwrite the lot on the new install, yes?

                            Thanks!

                            C

                            The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                            akbooerA 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • CatmanV2C CatmanV2

                              I pretty much have 😉

                              Just overwrite the lot on the new install, yes?

                              Thanks!

                              C

                              akbooerA Offline
                              akbooerA Offline
                              akbooer
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #56

                              @CatmanV2 said in My migration from Vera, or what I did on my holidays:

                              Just overwrite the lot on the new install, yes?

                              Yes.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              1
                              • CatmanV2C Offline
                                CatmanV2C Offline
                                CatmanV2
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #57

                                Well that was fun 🙂

                                Debian re-install. Restore of Openluup instant.

                                Restore of HA Bridge not so much. Or in fact at all. But there we are . Not too much more to do 🙂

                                C

                                The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                1
                                • CatmanV2C Offline
                                  CatmanV2C Offline
                                  CatmanV2
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #58

                                  Spoke too soon, but HA Bridge is finally back where it was. No idea why I was having so many issues, but I suspect there were overall Vera issues which shouldn't be a problem but....

                                  Anway.

                                  To get Z-wave running on Debian I followed the Z-wave manual and then @rafale77 's excellent tutorial on Debian install. It's up running and hooked into Openluup but tomorrow and the weekend are busy so I doubt I'll get much progress.

                                  C

                                  The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  1
                                  • CatmanV2C Offline
                                    CatmanV2C Offline
                                    CatmanV2
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #59

                                    It looks like tomorrow is the day....

                                    C

                                    The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    1
                                    • CatmanV2C Offline
                                      CatmanV2C Offline
                                      CatmanV2
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #60

                                      Hmmm

                                      So how long should a restore take? Mine seems to be stuck at 91% and none of my actual devices are visible in the dashboard. Z-wave network is not starting.

                                      Maybe I'm being too impatient

                                      C

                                      The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • CatmanV2C Offline
                                        CatmanV2C Offline
                                        CatmanV2
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #61

                                        Hmm total nightmare. Never gets past restoring to 91%. Won't start Z-wave. Wont' show my devices. dev/ttyACM0 keeps being replaced by tty/ACM1

                                        Might just burn it and start from scratch

                                        C

                                        The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • CatmanV2C Offline
                                          CatmanV2C Offline
                                          CatmanV2
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #62

                                          OK that's looking better after a second restore. Lots of devices. All with dumb arse names, waiting for wakeup in many cases. Good

                                          C

                                          The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

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