Greetings!
I've been a Vera Lite (UI5) user for over three years now. At first I really liked the platform, but recently I've been less happy. It's been flaky, the automatic network heals every night often result in worse performance, and performance in general is pretty spotty, slow, and unreliable.
Has anyone here moved from the Vera platform to InControl and could tell me what their experience has been like?
ps- I'm sorry if this is answered somewhere, but I can't find it: how does the app calculate how much energy is used?
Considering a move to InControl
- 147 Views
- Last Post 22 June 2015
Dignan17
posted this
01 April 2015
Dignan17
posted this
03 April 2015
Nobody here has used Vera? I'll ask on the Vera message boards too.
And I'm still confused about how energy usage is calculated. Is it an estimate? Based on dim levels and how long lights have been on?
weidnerj
posted this
04 April 2015
Greetings!
I've been a Vera Lite (UI5) user for over three years now. At first I really liked the platform, but recently I've been less happy. It's been flaky, the automatic network heals every night often result in worse performance, and performance in general is pretty spotty, slow, and unreliable.
Has anyone here moved from the Vera platform to InControl and could tell me what their experience has been like?
ps- I'm sorry if this is answered somewhere, but I can't find it: how does the app calculate how much energy is used?
I can't tell you about Vera Lite, but from past experience of spending many years in the IT world, it really is up to you to make the determination if you want to move to Incontrol HA. That is one thing that is most difficult is change, we get use to a way of how something is done and we don't want to change that. If you are comfortable with experimenting, then I think that you will be happy with Incontrol HA.
As far as energy calculations are done, you have to be using a ZWAVE device that has energy monitoring capability. AEON Labs have a few devices that do that from whole house to individual circuits. I have one that I use on the TV to see if it is turned on or off than to turn the TV on or off.
Dignan17
posted this
05 April 2015
I can get used to a change in HA controller because it's a change I'm seeking. I've done this twice before, in swapping out my entire home's X10 system for ZWave, and then switching from controlling everything with GE remotes to Vera. I made the change when I saw a big advantage and when I was displeased with what I currently had. I'm currently displeased with Vera and would like to look into switching to something better. I've already looked at SmartThings and Wink, and determined that those were not going to work for me (their apps are terrible, and that's just the start of their problems).
I'm definitely considering InControl HA, but wish I could try out some basic features that aren't included in the free version, like configuring a controller. I really feel like that's something I should be able to try, as it's going to be a very frequent way that I control my scenes. Oh well, hopefully I'll get a good enough sense of the system from the rest of what's available to me...
weidnerj
posted this
05 April 2015
[quote=Dignan17]I can get used to a change in HA controller because it's a change I'm seeking. I've done this twice before, in swapping out my entire home's X10 system for ZWave, and then switching from controlling everything with GE remotes to Vera. I made the change when I saw a big advantage and when I was displeased with what I currently had. I'm currently displeased with Vera and would like to look into switching to something better. I've already looked at SmartThings and Wink, and determined that those were not going to work for me (their apps are terrible, and that's just the start of their problems).
I'm definitely considering InControl HA, but wish I could try out some basic features that aren't included in the free version, like configuring a controller. I really feel like that's something I should be able to try, as it's going to be a very frequent way that I control my scenes. Oh well, hopefully I'll get a good enough sense of the system from the rest of what's available to me...[/quote]
Sign up for the 30 day trial of the full version to help you decide if this is the solution for you.
Dignan17
posted this
05 April 2015
Bravo! Thank you so much! I just signed up and associated my first controller button, and... wow! I've got to say, I'm impressed. The response time is very quick, and the programming is pretty darn easy. Of course, I can't tell if things would slow down once I'd added all my devices spread across my house, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
I have three final questions:
1- how easy is it to transfer everything from one computer to another? I have my Z Stick 2 connected to my primary desktop right now, but that's going away in the future, replaced with a dedicated small system. Is it easy to simply move all the programming over to another machine?
2- at the same time, I'm going to be moving the location of that computer to another place in the house. What kind of problems am I going to be introducing here?
3- is there another way program the minimote other than pressing the buttons? If I have to program 7 remotes it would be nice to just assign all the buttons I need in software.
Thanks for your help here!
weidnerj
posted this
05 April 2015
[quote=Dignan17]Bravo! Thank you so much! I just signed up and associated my first controller button, and... wow! I've got to say, I'm impressed. The response time is very quick, and the programming is pretty darn easy. Of course, I can't tell if things would slow down once I'd added all my devices spread across my house, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
I have three final questions:
1- how easy is it to transfer everything from one computer to another? I have my Z Stick 2 connected to my primary desktop right now, but that's going away in the future, replaced with a dedicated small system. Is it easy to simply move all the programming over to another machine?
2- at the same time, I'm going to be moving the location of that computer to another place in the house. What kind of problems am I going to be introducing here?
3- is there another way program the minimote other than pressing the buttons? If I have to program 7 remotes it would be nice to just assign all the buttons I need in software.
Thanks for your help here![/quote]
There is a way to transfer from one PC to another. I haven't done this but it is located at: http://incontrolha.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/280758-backup-data
I can't answer that one directly. My suggestion is that you unassociated all your Zwave devices prior to trying to bring them Incontrol HA. I would say that it shouldn't be a problem as long as you are within specifications for Zwave communications or have devices that can mesh the network to the distant end. As always best to not move positions of zwave devices, so I would recommend trying to home your computer prior to building your Zwave network, and that is a limitation of Zwave and not Incontrol HA...
You can use your miniremote to control a scene directly instead of a Zwave device or devices: http://www.incontrolha.com/recipes/recipe/26
Suggest if you really want to know the ins and outs of Incontrol HA that you take a few hours and read the tutorials and forums. You will probably find what you are looking for and get good ideas what you can do with Incontrol HA and Zwave in general.
Dignan17
posted this
06 April 2015
Well, I'm posting here to get answers to those questions, because from what I've seen the tutorials are not that great, or rather they talk about specific use scenarios, and don't cover what I'm asking.
I'm also pretty familiar with what ZWave can do, having used it for about five years now. The problem is figuring out how InControl implements everything, because every company does this differently. That's why I'm posting here, despite it being a little on the quiet side...
Thanks for your responses and your assistance.
DarkStar
posted this
22 June 2015
I am nearly finished moving from VeraLite to InControl having used it from UI5 thru UI7. As Vera "improved" it got slower, objects would randomly vanish from the data base, and the interface, in an attempt to become idiot proof, reached a uselessly inflexible point of Fisher-Price, Sesame Street simplicity where only an idiot could use it. Okay... what if you're NOT an idiot?
The programmers in Hong Kong are completely unaware of the concept of regression testing (an old IT geek here) and introduced new errors or broke existing improvements with each release. Many of us variously ran toward InControl, Domotiga, HomeGenie, Domoticz, OpenHAB, OpenRemote, etc., depending upon our according skills and requirements and haven't looked back.
The box is now in a drawer and perhaps, out of curiosity, I'll check their site yearly to see if they got their sh*t together. I put a fork in it and called it done for now.
DarkStar
posted this
22 June 2015
In fairness I should point out that, with the exception of InControl, those alternative packages above are all open source (free) yet generally more complex and require programming skills that folks who simply want to "turn things off and on" do not often possess.
