Buying a Vera controller tomorrow- What else should I have in the basket ?

Community Playground General Discussions
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I’m going to buy “my” Vera tomorrow and would like, at the same time, to buy some basic devices to start using it.

I want to eventually control the door locks, the lights, many appliances. I already have a TED5000.
What about HA-02WD, HSM100, ZRP100, Aeon Labs micro-swirtch ?

In summary, what would be the recommendation for a “starter kit” ?

Thanks

Gast

2

Go to Radio Shack, and say “I’ll take 2 of everything”. They have a great clearance sale on Schlage equipment, and GE modules and switches.

Buy it all while you can. You can always return (or sell) the things you end up not needing, but my guess is, you’ll find uses for it all!

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Trane thermostat (if you can get it at RS, all the better).
HSM100, definitely
Leviton 4-zone controller
Lamp modules (Levitons are best, but GEs are cheap, especially at RS)
Camera. Got to have a camera or five.

4

??? No Radio Shack in Canada…Just The Source. Others suggestions ?

:wink:

5

You have to get some door/window sensors. They’re great for HA!

6

Quite expensive! What do we use zone controllers for ? What is the difference with a scene controllers ?

7

Check out this thread. It has good information on zone/scene controllers:

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=4926.0

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For 3 Way Circuits I highly suggest going with Intermatic’s CA600 unless of course either some Goblins or Space Aliens did your Electrical Wiring in your home then you might be one of the lucky few to have the GE/Jasco 3 Way kits work properly. lol. If you don’t have some out of this world 3 Way circuitry going on in your home then I would stay away from the GE 3 Way kits. lol.

Definitely go with the Trane Therm (thats my most want right now), oh and for camera’s cant go wrong with iCamView.

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[quote=“iflym3, post:8, topic:167741”]… unless of course either some Goblins or Space Aliens did your Electrical Wiring in your home …[/quote] :slight_smile:

Thanks to all.

If you think about something else, you are very welcome!

Gast

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I just installed a GE 4 way yesterday. It could not have been simpler to do.

Unless you have an older house that does not have a neutral in the switch boxes, all you need to do is follow the included instructions.

Now if you do not have neutrals in the switch boxes, then you will need use something else.

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[quote=“aa6vh, post:10, topic:167741”]I just installed a GE 4 way yesterday. It could not have been simpler to do.

Unless you have an older house that does not have a neutral in the switch boxes, all you need to do is follow the included instructions.

Now if you do not have neutrals in the switch boxes, then you will need use something else.[/quote]

Exactly. I have installed over 25 GE/Jasco switches/outlets, and have no problem, at all. Of course this house was built in 2009, and ALL of the switchboxes have neutrals, and are wired to “current standards”, not “old school style”, where power was not run to the box, but sometimes to the fixture, and just a “switchleg” down to a switch, in that case, you will have issues. It all depends on who did your house wiring, and when it was done… current standards and recent houses will have zero issues with GE/Jasco, older houses, you might have a problem.

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[quote=“mitch672, post:11, topic:167741”][quote=“aa6vh, post:10, topic:167741”]I just installed a GE 4 way yesterday. It could not have been simpler to do.

Unless you have an older house that does not have a neutral in the switch boxes, all you need to do is follow the included instructions.

Now if you do not have neutrals in the switch boxes, then you will need use something else.[/quote]

Exactly. I have installed over 25 GE/Jasco switches/outlets, and have no problem, at all. Of course this house was built in 2009, and ALL of the switchboxes have neutrals, and are wired to “current standards”, not “old school style”, where power was not run to the box, but sometimes to the fixture, and just a “switchleg” down to a switch, in that case, you will have issues. It all depends on who did your house wiring, and when it was done… current standards and recent houses will have zero issues with GE/Jasco, older houses, you might have a problem.[/quote]
Well, that’s not 100% true. My house was built in 2009 and my GE switches went in ok but started to fail at an alarming rate after 6 months. I had 14 - 3ways go out on me after about a year. I’ve replaced them with Leviton and not a single failure since. At one point I called an electrician in to make sure something wasn’t wrong and his response after looking at them was “I wouldn’t put these switches in my house, they look like thy’re built by Fischer Price. I mean, why a candy cane striped wire, who does that?”.

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The “candy cane stripe” on the AUX switch was to indicate you could use either a
Neutral or a Hot, Jasco has since changed the recommendation to use a Neutral.

I can’t comment on the longevity, these have just been put in, but I think it has more to do with the quality of your incoming power and “surges”, than the quality of the switches. I’m sure the Levitons are built better, but for 5 times the price, I would hope so. I’m any case, if Radio Shack wasn’t selling these for almost nothing, I wouldn’t have done the entire house. We’ll see how mine last, this house is in a private condo area, and only 3 houses are on the transformer, and the house has a 200A service. I don’t expect any problems.

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[quote=“mitch672, post:13, topic:167741”]The “candy cane stripe” on the AUX switch was to indicate you could use either a
Neutral or a Hot, Jasco has since changed the recommendation to use a Neutral.

I can’t comment on the longevity, these have just been put in, but I think it has more to do with the quality of your incoming power and “surges”, than the quality of the switches. I’m sure the Levitons are built better, but for 5 times the price, I would hope so. I’m any case, if Radio Shack wasn’t selling these for almost nothing, I wouldn’t have done the entire house. We’ll see how mine last, this house is in a private condo area, and only 3 houses are on the transformer, and the house has a 200A service. I don’t expect any problems.[/quote]
Yes, understand what it’s for but his point (and I kind of agree) is it’s not an industry standard. Why go out of your way to make something as simple as a wire color different?

I’m actually not totally trashing them, I still have 3 3-ways that work and have worked for over a year now and they are cheap (in all sense of the word). I’ve just found that the Leviton are a bit higher quality and have held up better…for me. If the GE’s work well for others, awesome.