Thanksgiving lighting took a holiday

[LibraSun]

I have a VeraPlus (daily driver), another VeraPlus (used/spare), an eZLO Atom 2.0 (unused), Vera Edge running the LInux f/w (unused), an eZLO Plus (beta testing / unused) and an old Vera 1 (connected / idle) divided among two different residences.

@toggledbits , surely others have made a similar offer by now, so I presume you are "set" for want of controllers -- but IF you require any of these for use in-house, just ask and I'll happily ship/donate.

Likewise, IF you need me to test some particular thing out from my side (Synology NAS > Docker > MSR > hub(s)), also just ask. Who knows, it might be the first/last thing I ever do with eZLO hardware, which otherwise is going in the trash at some point.

Glad you made this decision; I was concerned that you might inadvertently wind up with spare time on your hands. Oh, and THANK YOU for so thoughtfully grandfathering those who've toiled in the trenches alongside you lo these many weeks and months. For that you will not be sorry.

• Libra

[toggledbits]

@librasun I actually have a pretty big fist full of controllers myself. It's not really controllers I'm wanting for, it's devices and environments. The more hands this touches that aren't mine, the more things break, and the better things get for it. Hold on to them!

@librasun said in Change in Plans (Don't Panic):

Who knows, it might be the first/last thing I ever do with eZLO hardware, which otherwise is going in the trash at some point.

I absolutely doubt most users of the Atom or PlugHub would be a user of MSR (except in some fringe cases, like for an out-building). But those eZLO Plus's (in full or prototype/skeletal form) could be useful. They seem to have a similar architecture to the Raspberry Pi 4. Maybe once I get the ZWaveJS interface fleshed out (that's also been in the works), I can just publish an MSR replacement firmware for the Plus hardware. You know, for science.

[cw-kid]

@toggledbits said in Change in Plans (Don't Panic):

can just publish an MSR replacement firmware for the Plus hardware. You know, for science

So would it also act as a Z-Wave radio?

Or would you still need another second hub like Vera or the Ezlo or Hubitat etc, to act as the Z-Wave controller?

[toggledbits]

ZWaveJS would just talk to the on-board ZWave chip (via a serial/USB interface). Vera works the same way. So, yes, it would function as the ZWave radio in addition to being the rules engine.

[cw-kid]

@toggledbits

So an all in one controller then!

Might have to get my hands on another Ezlo Plus hub, so I can test both setups, native Ezlo or MSR with Z-Wave JS.

[therealdb]

@toggledbits said in Change in Plans (Don't Panic):

So, yes, it would function as the ZWave radio in addition to being the rules engine.

Looking forward to this, so I could add openluup to the mix and call it a day

[Elcid]

I have a plus, but not many devices on it. I use it for broad link as i could not get the broadlink2 plugin working on openloop. will to test though. Like the idea of Zwavejs, love science.

[Fanan]

I have as many before me, a Ezlo Plus laying around, and collecting dust. I've been waiting for a good reason to use it. When I got the Ezlo Plus, and I heard of the new Z-wave standard with better range I went really hopeful. Combined with MSR it looked like a winning concept. But the lack of stabilty, a working UI, and non-beta made me loose interest. If I can contribute in any way, I'd be honoured.

[toggledbits]

While I think a complete replacement firmware would be a fun exercise (and very possibly useful), we already have shown with openLuup and MSR that a Vera on its own is pretty stable in a reduced role as a ZWave radio and little else. So far my testing with the eZLO hub is yielding similar results, with the added benefit that it's demonstrably more stable when ZWave devices become unreachable (the Achilles Heel of current Vera firmware). I suspect we'll find that MSR running on a Pi, NAS, or other host against an eZLO hub still on its native firmware gives almost all of the benefits, without the need to replace the firmware on the hub itself. It will be fun to try it both ways, but I suspect that the simplest solution is going to be the best. And it will be here in a few days, where figuring out the firmware replacement will likely take a good bit more effort (and so is not really a goal, currently, just more of an experiment for a future weekend).

[wmarcolin]

Hi,

I have already commented on the other forum that my VeraPlus was saved from an incinerator or the tires of my car a few times, thanks to Reactor, and gained new life with MSR, so Patrick you know that you have in my person a collaborator (with limitations of technical knowledge), but a person who likes to explore and especially give suggestions that help users.

But, in my humble opinion, I will not make the mistake of buying an eZLO, I am seriously considering investing now in a Hubitat because I am tired of my VeraPlus being incompatible with any ZegBee or other devices with S2. The eZLO developers should follow the same line of not listening to the 3PP, the independent developers, and go back to repeating Vera's mistakes in my opinion.

This way I recognize your huge effort for the HA community, I am sure you have done a lot but in this new eZLO endeavor I will not be able to help, count me full on MSR for VeraPlus and Hubitat.

[toggledbits]

My unwillingness to base my own HA on eZLO is what delayed this eventuality, so I completely understand. There's a community that needs this, though, and they are my community from the Vera days. While we may be of the same mind with respect to the future, it's clear that a great many people are still clinging to hope. If they want to stay and wait it out (now nearly three years in the making and not near completion, IMO), at least I can throw them a lifeline to make straddling the Vera-eZLO divide less painful.

[cw-kid]

I have to say my Ezlo Plus is extremely fast as far a Z-Wave communications are concerned. I don't have many Z-Wave devices directly paired to the Ezlo hub yet, but the ones that are, are very quick !

I setup a Z-wave door contact sensor on a walk in cupboard door and a Z-Wave light bulb and two scenes created on the Ezlo Plus, one for open and one for close.

The bulb turns on instantly and I mean instantly as soon as I open the door even just a little bit when it breaks the door contacts connection.

Yes the Ezlo software is still very lacking and buggy and all still being developed.

But we have MSR support coming for Ezlo hubs soon and Bill the Home Remote dashboard app developer told me only yesterday he is still planning to support Ezlo hubs and it will hopefully happen this summer. So with MSR and Home Remote what other interfaces do you need?

The Ezlo hub can act just as a Z-Wave radio as my Vera Plus does now today.

I am in no rush to replace my production Vera Plus but I will likely one day migrate all the devices to the Ezlo hub, especially if it works also well with Zigbee 3.0 devices, which Vera hubs do not.

[Pabla]

@cw-kid The only thing Ezlo is missing is proper plugins, I use plugins for my car, A/V amps, harmony hub etc these will likely never make it to the Ezlo platform. Otherwise with MSR + Ezlo its not a bad set up

[cw-kid]

Yeah that is true.

I use the Harmony plugin as well.

And I'm still upset with Logitech..

[CatmanV2]

@cw-kid Why? I'm going to have to replace my aging Harmony one soon, and no idea what with....

C

[cw-kid]

Exactly replace it with what?

I've used Harmony remotes for longer than I can remember.

The Elite is the best remote they ever made.

[CatmanV2]

@cw-kid Oh! I see. That's why.

Personally I loved my Pronto. Was so easy to get codes on.

C

[cw-kid]

Yes Philips Pronto another great dead product.

[parkerc]

@toggledbits said in Change in Plans (Don't Panic):

when the venerable Vera Plus on which my house has operated since 2017 dies

No… don’t say that ! (Don’t jinx it !!)

While i didn’t think it would get much better than my Vera 3 (way back when) I’d be sad to see my VeraPlus go…

[kfxo]

@toggledbits said in Change in Plans (Don't Panic):

Maybe once I get the ZWaveJS interface fleshed out

Curious about progress on this. I was just messing around with ZwaveJS today and was thinking of utilizing it to move all my zwave devices from openluup+zway to HA+ZwaveJS. Obviously a direct ZwaveJS interface to MSR would be optimal.

Also is there any plans of a tool that might allow us to swap an entity reference in the rules? Moving zwave devices to ZwaveJS would require going through all MSR rules one by one and remapping to reference the ZwaveJS entity instead of the openluup entity.