Kind of new here… I Have a vera3 still sitting in a box. Trying to decide on a direction to control lighting, locks, cameras, etc from the Iphone… I’ve read enough in these forums to understand that many of the advanced setups of members require a LOT of tweaking…
I’m in a middleground. I really want something user friendly and fairly simple (AND DEPENDABLE), but expandable. Does anyone have any recommendations for a direction to point my sail? I’m stuck between doing it myself, and a packaged solution like ADT, vivint, etc…
but one thing I have sure now…my switches and dimmers I will buy GE…application for ipad SQREMOTE HD,
hand controller to have like secondary in table top…GE 45600
and primary controller VERA3 sure…
appliances…INtermatic HA0X
to use in wall dimmer without change actual switch…
Aeon Labs DSC19101-ZWUS - 300W Smart Energy In-Wall Micro Dimmer Module - US Frequency
I believe ADT Pulse uses z-wave but for eg the camera’s it runs custom firmware. However, from what I have been told, normal Z-Wave equipment is supported
BrightHouse/TimeWarner’s solution to the best of my knowledge uses Zigbee.
Both ADT and Time Warner’s solutions require a monthly subscription fee. Using Vera 3 there is no such fee. There are various smart phone applications, ranging from free to paid. For iDevices there is the free VeraRemote as well as paid apps such as authomator.app and iVera.
I have a Vera 2 setup with the Zwave devices in my sig and check it remotely from my iphone via veraremote or my Android ICS Touchpad using AuthomationHD and Homebuddy. Or just via my webbrowser at work.
Hard to set up? Not really. I just put a 50 foot power cable and cat5 cable on my Vera2 and dragged it around the house to include the various already installed devices.Which was pretty painless. Organized all devices by room and named them.
After which I created about 5 scenes. Took me a bit to figure out how to set up some of teh stuff under Ui5 but the docs since then have improved.
Reliable? It’s been running now for a few months without an issue.
The question is if you are ready to pay $20, $30 or more a month for ADT or Time Warner’s solution (on top of buying the devices) so you can have support. Or pay $0 a month and do a bit of digging and troubleshooting and get it set up yourself.
Although I’ve been in the IT field for over 30 years in various functions, I am by no means a HA specialist or pro. But setting up my system (by all means, pretty simple compared to some of the ones out there that also handle A/V and alarm systems) was not all that hard.
I’ve no 1st hand experience with either the ADT or TimeWarner or Vivint solutions but I am wondering if they allow as much versatility and configuration options as Vera does. I believe they do not and thus may be more fool proof and easier to work with.
I am looking for dimmer switches anyway for a LOT of lights, so I’m looking for any recommendations on which ones are best. GE mentioned above, but I’m really seeing a lot of conflicting information on which dimmer switches are best.
[quote=“st3r3otype, post:4, topic:172012”]Thank you so much! That post was fantastic!
I am looking for dimmer switches anyway for a LOT of lights, so I’m looking for any recommendations on which ones are best. GE mentioned above, but I’m really seeing a lot of conflicting information on which dimmer switches are best.
Cameras I don’t mind being on a separate network.[/quote]
Id recommend the Evolve brand.
They support beaming and relay of encrypted messages (important for locks).
Flo
[quote=“frichter09, post:5, topic:172012”]Id recommend the Evolve brand.
They support beaming and relay of encrypted messages (important for locks).
Flo[/quote]
I’m seeing that the GE does as well. The thing that is confusing to me, since I have a fairly small home, is… it seems the auto update of manual switch status that is apparently only present on certain Leviton and Cooper switches is a VERY good feature to have… I only need like 6 switches total for my whole house. That is like a 140 dollar total cost difference between going evolve/GE vs Leviton/Cooper.
Given that I dont mind the cost difference, are the leviton/cooper switches better in every way? Also which of those brands’ models would be “BEST” to control both led on/off outdoor lights, and dimmer based incandescent indoor lights?
[quote=“st3r3otype, post:4, topic:172012”]Thank you so much! That post was fantastic!
I am looking for dimmer switches anyway for a LOT of lights, so I’m looking for any recommendations on which ones are best. GE mentioned above, but I’m really seeing a lot of conflicting information on which dimmer switches are best.
Cameras I don’t mind being on a separate network.[/quote]
I have both GE and Intermatic dimmers and prefer the GE ones. They are made by Jasco and I know support the zwave format used by locks such as the Schlage ones. I just got a good deal on the Intermatic ones and stuck those in spots where they are not within the line of communications between the locks and Vera.
I believe at least some of the Evolve products are made by Jasco as well and probably are pretty similar technically to the GE models.
I switch my outside lights (CFL PAR38) via GE 45604 modules. The ones for the back yard I have created a scene on Vera so that they are linked to a GE 45609 switch I have at the back door. That one switches my porch light on/off and the Par38’s to light the yard connected to the 2 45605 modules. Makes it easy to let my dogs out. I also have a ‘all Outside’ scene hooked to a button on my GE remote that will kick on those porch and back yard lights as well as my front yeard lights hooked to a 3rd 45604. (Which does double duty if needed for christmas lights…
Note, although my 45604’s control outside lights, none is actually out in the weather getting soaked. One is in my shed, the second in my screened porch and number 3 is in my garage next to the side door, This way I could connect it on a GFI outlet for protection. As are the other two.
The instant status on the Leviton’s is a pro. You also get a visual indication of the dim level and can change it before turning on/off the light. Different color faces are available (like for some other brands). Folks often report not liking the single on/off toggle (you push on the bottom of the switch), and the locator LED is below the toggle switch (which sticks out) and can be hard/impossible to see when close to the switch.
(It doesn’t sound like you’re looking to dim LEDs right now, but doing that with a Leviton VRI06 may yield mixed results (as for other brands); I think primarily because there is no neutral in those dimmers.)
The instant status on the Leviton’s is a pro. You also get a visual indication of the dim level and can change it before turning on/off the light. Different color faces are available (like for some other brands). Folks often report not liking the single on/off toggle (you push on the bottom of the switch), and the locator LED is below the toggle switch (which sticks out) and can be hard/impossible to see when close to the switch.
(It doesn’t sound like you’re looking to dim LEDs right now, but doing that with a Leviton VRI06 may yield mixed results (as for other brands); I think primarily because there is no neutral in those dimmers.)[/quote]
This is a VERY good point.
If you are planning on dimming LEDs and if you have neutral wires in your boxes get a dimmer that requires a neutral connection!
That was actually the reason for me to go with the Evolve dimmers and they work flawlessly with almost any type of LED bulb (and I have tested many).
Personally I would never spent that much on a dimmer switch but that is just my personal opinion. I do aggree that the instant status feature is nice (although I never missed not having this feature). As Garrett mentioned, the 5-year warranty is very nice though…
Flo
[quote=“frichter09, post:10, topic:172012”]If you are planning on dimming LEDs and if you have neutral wires in your boxes get a dimmer that requires a neutral connection!
That was actually the reason for me to go with the Evolve dimmers and they work flawlessly with almost any type of LED bulb (and I have tested many).[/quote]
Nice. Yep, without the neutral the dimmer may have a hard time generating a steady power source for the internal electronics, with an LED-only load attached. Better results with a VRM10 or VRE06, as they have a neutral, but way more expensive than a standard incandescent dimmer with neutral.
As Garrett mentioned, the 5-year warranty is very nice though....
True; and it is honored. I've used it recently on an item that was from 2008.
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