Advantages of Vera3Lite over Vera2

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Searched around a bit and couldnt really get a definitive answer.
I bought a Vera2 last fall and due to some problems with my lock and door, I didnt get around to pulling it out of the box until now. Now I see Vera3 is out, but I see lots of complaints about the new UI.

Im a techie so Im always inclined to think “newer is better” so Im tempted to sell the 2 and buy the 3/lite if it is a worthwhile upgrade.
Ultimately though reliability is the most important, I cant have any unreliability when it comes to my front door unlocking or locking!

Does the vera3/lite additional memory and faster CPU have any real world differences? Ill probably not have a house full of zwave devices, but I will most likely have some scripts and scenes for a few different things.

is there a range difference between the two? any additional features of the 3lite?

I dont need a wifi router (and dont want my local spectrum further polluted) so I assume I can turn the vera2 wifi and routing totally off?

is the UI of the 2 actually make it more desireable and reliable than the newer 3 which I hear complaints about?

if they were the same price, which would you rather have? would it be worth the hassle to you to sell the 2 to get the 3?

thanks for the feedback

2

Hello,

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,11311.msg81490.html#new give you details of the upgrade offer and includes the link to http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Comparison_of_Vera_units which details the specification.

Now you do not have to sell your Vera 2, the offer above will give you a refund $150 if you send it back to MCV. Noting the offer ends soon.

The Vera 3 is by spec a lot more powerful than the Vera 2 and therefore, if you have a large amount of devices and scripts, the Vera 3 will manage this better. The Vera 3 has twice the memory of the Vera lite but both are very capable units and with the rebate offer the Vera 3 is cheaper and yes, you can turn of wifi.

The current UI5 firmware release is very reliable and most details you have previously read are not relevant anymore. I have had mine running for months without error and only interference has come with me playing with things.

Relate threads and opinions to assist in your decision:
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,11304.0.html
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,11220.msg80897.html#msg80897

3

based on the issues I have run into here http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,11342.0.html , until I have some technical resolution I will not be confident that VLite is fully capable

4

I am not sure why you are having issues with vlite and vera 3 bridging. The hardware is exactly the same minus the ram, wifi and ethernet ports. Did you ever hear back from MCV? If not, you might want to contact MCVFlorin directly via pm and ask him with assistance on getting you help.

  • Garrett
5

[quote=“garrettwp, post:4, topic:172265”]I am not sure why you are having issues with vlite and vera 3 bridging. The hardware is exactly the same minus the ram, wifi and ethernet ports. Did you ever hear back from MCV? If not, you might want to contact MCVFlorin directly via pm and ask him with assistance on getting you help.

  • Garrett[/quote]
    Thanks for the thought Garrett, no reply from support yet, dont want to steal this thread but what is the best way to start from acratch on VLite? i dont have much on it so not worried about the network, have already “reset network” and “reset zwave chip”, anyway to completely blow out the old firmware in case something is corrupted?
6

What is the difference in available memory between Vera3 and VeraLite? I assume that much of Vera3’s additional memory is consumed by its router functionality. FWIW, my VeraLite has about 12 MB free as configured, but I don’t know what it was out of the box.

7

The second post above, from @Brientim, has the link to the comparison.

8

Sorry I wasn’t clearer. I was asking about ‘available’ (free) memory, not total installed memory (which is what I see in the comparison chart). Since the Lite is running much less software (no router), the installed memory comparison does not accurately reflect the difference in the amount of free memory available.

9

My Vera 3 has about 84MB free out of the 128 total. I believe my Vera lite is around 34MB.

  • Garrett
10

[quote=“garrettwp, post:9, topic:172265”]My Vera 3 has about 84MB free out of the 128 total. I believe my Vera lite is around 34MB.

  • Garrett[/quote]
    Wow, your Vera Lite has 20+ MB more free memory than mine. I wonder where the biggest difference is. I do have 65 devices (including from plugins), but I don’t have any cameras. I’m running 1.5.408.
11

Could be that I do not have much running on it. It is more of my test unit than anything.

  • Garrett
12

[quote=“garrettwp, post:9, topic:172265”]My Vera 3 has about 84MB free out of the 128 total. I believe my Vera lite is around 34MB.

  • Garrett[/quote]

Garrett, is there a way to see the free memory through the UI or do you have to remotely access the Vera?

Thanks,
Don

13

There was a plug in, but you’ll have to go through ssh.

  • Garrett
14

Can you elaborate on how to check the free memory?

I’ve used ssh/free to check the memory usage on my V2(UI5):
It initially showed Mem=30540, used=29832, free=708, shared=0, buffered=624 (swap=0).

I then downloaded 3xApps (combination switch, virtual switch & variable container)
When I rechecked the memory is shows: Mem=30540, used=29588, free=952, shared=0, buffered=2192 (swap=0).

This seems to indicate more available memory after downloading the Apps than before. I have about 20 devices, 12 scenes and 5 Apps. I’m trying to get a feel for how much free space there is for additional devices or Apps but this is confusing?

15

Try running top instead of free. Top show the process allocated memory for the main LuaUPnP process as well as the cached-memory (that can be used when needed).