First time post been playing with VERA for a couple of months seems that VERA and I have a love hate relationship. We have the main house and a out building with a living area above the garage. the out building is about 30 feet from the house both house and out building have wireless access on the same network. I do not have network cable to the out building.
I would like to install a second VERA in out building and connect wireless (Bridged) to the other VERA in the house. but from the documentation that I have seen and all the version out there would like to hear comments before purchasing another VERA
Questions
is this the best way to set it up?
if config this way would there be one zwave network or two?
My recommendation is not to tread here unless you have a really good reason. I base this on experience. At this point, if you do want to venture here, set up two separate z-wave networks. There is info in the mios docs on bridging… [url=http://docs2.mios.com/doc.php?page=multiple_mios]http://docs2.mios.com/doc.php?page=multiple_mios[/url]
That being said, 30’ is not that far… and I have read about two networks interfering… although I haven’t witnessed this. The only reason to do this is if your z-wave network isn’t reaching the out building.
Bridging two Veras is possible, I did it after a couple of hours of struggling ;). To do that, you have to connect the secondary directly to the primary either through the primary wifi or the ETH2 port.
On the other hand, woodsby made a point. 30’ seems not too far. If your z-wave network doesn’t reach the building you can add an ourdoor screw in to extend your range
I have two Vera’s bridged about 150’ apart but I am using a buried Ethernet Cat6 cable. It works very well and all the devices on the secondary Vera show up on the primary and can be controlled and added to scenes. I tried the WiFi bridge and never got it to function. I’m glad I gave up since WiFi is not always reliable and two (or more) systems on the same frequency can cancel each other out reducing the range of both.
I have two vera units a Vera II and a Vera I as slave via hard wire.
Haven’t used it that long but no problems with just having a slave. Set up in about two mouse clicks.
I have not bridged the wireless. Why bridge it? My smart phone jumps to one to the other no problem. They both have the same network privileges.
Can you describe how you have your two Vera’s connected? One is primary and the other as secondary? Is one connected to the other or are they both connected via a router? Also, how were you able to get to that configuration. Did one Vera automatically become a secondary?
I have a related question to this thread.
I’m in Australia, and unfortunately we use a different z-wave frequency to the US (or Europe) over here.
I can get an Aus frequency Vera 2, but I can’t get an Aus Schlage lock.
Until I can get a “legal” one, I want to use the US version (which I already have), but that won’t work with my Aus Vera
Would I be able to bridge an Aus Vera with a US Vera? that would allow me to have two seperate frequency networks, but still control them neatly.
I’m hoping when they are bridged the two networks would still be completely seperate (no shared routing, etc) and just controlled by a single interface. In which case the frequency difference shouldn’t matter…
I would think that the AUS regulations would not permit a US Vera to be sold or used in your country. This would be related to RF interferrence in the specific spectrum which is what causes a US & EU differences.
Can you describe how you have your two Vera’s connected? One is primary and the other as secondary? Is one connected to the other or are they both connected via a router? Also, how were you able to get to that configuration. Did one Vera automatically become a secondary?
Thanks[/quote]
Sorry, just now saw this.
To add using UI4, add/remove device (icon on top of screen)
Scroll all the way down to “Add control over another UPnP device, such as another Vera.” It scans the network and list the vera. Just select it and it becomes another device on the master. All devices on the slave show up on the master.
The slave is hooked up via a router (two actually)
Everything hunky dory…
[quote=“markbannister, post:13, topic:167399”][…]
The slave is hooked up via a router (two actually) [/quote]
Are both your Vera’s primary controllers (in the Z-Wave sense)?
I have a similar situation. I have some z-wave nodes that are obstructed from the rest of the zwave network, and vera (a vera 2). I’d like throw in a vera lite as a slave. Should I pair the isolated z-wave nodes to the slave vera, then attach the slave to the primary? After the slave vera is added, are there any special considerations when pairing new devices i.e. do I have to always pair with the master, or always pair with the vera closest to the z-wave device?
Have a look at the bridging wiki page. Both Vera’s would run their own network, but you can see all the devices on a single Vera, as the Vera’s exchange information through the LAN.
Do you think it’d be worth my while to copy the network I have on the vera2 (currently the primary) to my new vera lite, make it the master, and then use the vera 2 as the slave? Does that offer any performance advantages?
Yes, considering that the Vera Lite has a faster cpu and double the ram. It would be an advantage if you run or intend to run many plugins and add more devices.
Yup, would definitely do it that way around, so the plug-ins and scenes run on the better Vera.
Not sure if you literally meant to copy your network, or were thinking along the lines of backing up Vera 2, then restoring to Vera Lite, then clearing Vera 2 and get the remote nodes on there.
