I hope this post is appropriate for this forum - I couldn’t see any more suitable place for it
I’m ready to buy a Vera 3 and a few other bits and pieces to do a trial before I move house. I’ve found a few places online, I’m looking for comments from people who’ve bought online and how well treated they were.
I’m less interested in the technical support aspect (as I appreciate all these places are just re-selling kit, and there are plenty of places - like here - to get support), more in how well the pre-sales and shipping is handled.
The I have purchased from all three primary Australian sellers and I have never really had an bad experiences with any of them.
The biggest thing is to confirm availability (by email and do not accept quantity on their sales page as always being correct) before you order.
There are also a few more opening up at the moment to distribute Fibaro and it will be interesting to see how they go because their prices are considerably higher then you may expect.
I live within a very short distance of Smarthome (au) and never used their shipping but I must state, I have had excellent service from them always.
I have items sent from DIYHOMEAUTOMATION and ZWave (au) and before were very quick.
I had one faulty item from DIYHOMEAUTOMATION when it was sent back, it was tested and had to wait for them to get a new unit before it was sent out. It did not take long.
I had three faulty (yes three) Aeon Labs Smart Switches from Smarthome and they replaced them very quickly without question.
Edit: Smarthome (au) is the licensed distributor from Australian Vera units.
I realise now that some distributors are supplying US frequency Veras - so you need to get a USB dongle to go with it.
While this is no doubt convenient for setting up the network, and it could be nice to be able to use the USB stick and the Vera z-wave to access both US and AU devices (is this possible?), I’m a little leery of using the US version in Australia. Is there any reason to worry?
[quote=“tardisx, post:3, topic:172302”]USB dongle […]
While this is no doubt convenient for setting up the network, and it could be nice to be able to use the USB stick and the Vera z-wave to access both US and AU devices (is this possible?), I’m a little leery of using the US version in Australia. Is there any reason to worry?[/quote]
The USB dongle works in a US Vera Lite. It’s what I do. Only one Z-Wave radio will be active at a time, though, so this is not a way of using one Vera to control two frequencies. (The limitation is in the software. If MiOS gave you a way to say which file in /dev controlled which device, you could do it; but there’s no incentive for MCV to help you to violate local RF laws, so unsurprisingly it’s not an option. Bridge two Veras if it’s that important.)
ObTopic: I have ordered twice from SmartHome AU. Once without a hitch and once I had to follow up by phone because my emails to them were being blackholed.
Were those the micro in-wall units or the pluggable ones?
I’ve had two in-wall dimmer units fail, one for no apparent reason and the other (seemingly) because of the failure of one of the transformers it was controlling. I’m about to send them back to DIY for ‘testing’ to confirm warranty replacement (or not) but it doesn’t fill me with confidence in these devices if they are that fragile. If the failure of a cheap lighting transformer can take out an expensive automation module the design of their output protection leaves a lot to be desired.
On the subject of service though, I’ve also had good experiences with DIY, Smarthome and Zwave. Hopefully I still feel that way after I send these units back…
Regards using US/EU Vera with AU dongle, I do this as well and it has no problems and the potential advantage that if you choose to dump Vera for a different controller in the future you can probably still use the dongle.
In my case, it was three pluggable that were faulty. The only issue I had with the one in wall was due to a cheaper transformer that was in one of the lights, it was replaced (edit: the transformer) at that time and have worked without error.
I have had two fail as well. Well, when I say fail, one shows up in the Vera dashboard with “unable to get any information”, and the other only works sometimes; for the majority of times, it just makes the light come on for a second and then immediately turn off, or makes it flicker. They were the ones from ZWave.com.au
http://www.smarthomecontrol.com.au/ has just started selling the Fibaro ones, so hopefully they are more reliable. They would want to be for the price.
What type of light had the flickering? That was the problem I encountered and it was a result of the transformer, when I had the transformer replaced, it worked fine.
There are going to be a few resellers of Fibaro in Australia in the near future. I was in contact with the distributor in the NZ and they were of course cheaper by about 10% but I did not get a final shipping cost.
I do suspect some of the issues such as flickering could still occur as I have read other threads on EU devices which identified either transformer or type of lights as the cause.
They didn’t have a transformer. It was just a 240V bulb, and I have tried both a normal incandescent one, and one of the new compact fluoro ones.
There are going to be a few resellers of Fibaro in Australia in the near future. I was in contact with the distributor in the NZ and they were of course cheaper by about 10% but I did not get a final shipping cost.
Yes, that will be good. At the moment they are over 20 bucks per switch dearer than the competitors, which certainly adds up if you are going to do a whole house.
I do suspect some of the issues such as flickering could still occur as I have read other threads on EU devices which identified either transformer or type of lights as the cause.
Yes, the type of light seems to be pretty crucial.
I can’t believe Beacon have Z-wave gear. I live about 200 metres from the Subiaco store - I am definately going there on Saturday to see if they have any stock!!
