I know this has been discussed for specific devices in other threads on this forum, but though it would be useful to summarize the issues we are facing with our battery operated devices, and their ability (or lack thereof) to correctly report their battery level. As others have mentioned, it can be a real problem for some applications when a device’s battery goes flat without us realizing (e.g. door sensor used for security).
Here are the battery operated devices I use, and the experience I’ve had with them. Please correct me if I’m wrong, and add your own experiences with these and other devices. Once we get a good list, we can add this to the wiki for the benefit of new users:
In UI4 (version 1.1.1047):
[ul][li]HSM-100, 3 in 1 sensor- Does not report (always shows 100%) - (have heard some reports of it working, but unable to confirm.[/li]
[li]HRDS1, door/window sensor - Does not report (always shows 100%)[/li]
[li]WWA-01, water/temp sensor - Reports correctly[/li][/ul]
Schlage lever reports correctly.
Kwikset deadbolt and lever report correctly.
Fortrezz WWA-01 reports correctly.
Cooper RF9500 does not report at all.
Aeon D/W sensor reports correctly.
The big killer for me is that the 3-in-1s do not report correctly, but stay at whatever the level was at the time they were configured.
Good Idea fall-line.
In my experience the results are as follows:
Schlage deadbolt. Reporting OK.
HSM-100 3 in 1 sensor. Always reports 100%.
HRDS1. Reports Ok down to 30% [color=red]then shows fully charged, under advanced tab reports 255%[/color]
Interesting Ap15e. Have you notice that the reported levels are changing over time as you would expect, indicating a slowly draining battery? My HSM-100s have always just shown 100 (in both battery fields)
I don’t know whether the levels are changing over time. I am going to set up a scene which logs the current battery levels to a file on a daily basis - but as there are two variables named BatteryLevel, I cannot be sure which one will be returned by a luup.variable_get …
Understood, and thank you! It seems that you have the most interesting data of any of us to report. So we’ll appreciate whatever information you can provide after a while of logging.
HSM 110- same here, always reports whatever the initial reading was
HMTS001- put fresh batts in 3 of them 2 weeks ago, 1 reads 100% 2 read 60% you make the call
Ok. I have been out of town for the past week, and have been quite annoyed that Vera was reporting that one of my doors was opened. I checked my cameras, and the door was closed.
Got back in town yesterday, and checked the HSM1 sensor. The battery was completely dead. Vera never bothered to tell me that the battery was low, let alone DEAD!
How can we rely on this technology if there are so many daily ‘failures’? It is unacceptable for the user interface (Vera) to not notify the users when a battery operated device’s battery is low!
@TheGadgetGuy: Yep, this is exactly the frustration that led me to start this thread. At worst, I’ll be able to compile a somewhat comprehensive list of devices and their behavior so that users (new and old alike) can at least know what to expect out of them. At best, perhaps it’ll provide some useful information to MCV about our experiences which can help them prioritize fixing these issues.
Keep em coming folks.
Personally, I just added an HM-FS001 that I will be reporting on shortly. It’s got fresh batteries right now so it’s hard to say if the level 100 report is significant or not.
MCV needs to get this and the other myriad of issues fixed ASAP. This is not acceptable!!
They started off so well but I think they bit off more than they can chew; dumping UI2 without finishing it is cause for concern. FYI, MCV has already started a new project so UI4 could end up the same way as UI2. Not supported before the issues are fixed.
I’ve sent 13 emails to Aaron, Ovidiu & Anne this month with no response from any of them. I posted a not so nice thread last night that has gone unanswered & I’ll post more and escalate it if I don’t get an answer soon. Not having a fix is not an acceptable answer. Revert their changes and put me back on 1.1.1047 but don’t leave me dead in the water.
This equipment is totally unreliable and it’s not acceptable, I saw a thread last night of someone mentioning class action lawsuit. Other threads of people returning their units. My Vera 2 is offline due to not going into learn mode and other error messages but this stuff about the battery reporting makes my blood boil. This is equipment people are using to protect life and property. Fix it MCV.
Aaron, why have you not answered my emails? Where is my Aeon Smartmeter that was ordered over a month ago? Why hasn’t Anne responded to Ovidiu’s request to contact me? We are your customers, loyal customers who come here every day performing a somewhat customer support role to some users due to MCV support not getting back to them.
My remote Vera2 mysteriously offline since Sunday night.
Support ticket on Vera1-2 migration failure submitted Oct 11. No response. Resent. No response.
It’s a shame.
.//A.
[quote=“JOD, post:12, topic:166789”]MCV needs to get this and the other myriad of issues fixed ASAP. This is not acceptable!!
They started off so well but I think they bit off more than they can chew; dumping UI2 without finishing it is cause for concern. FYI, MCV has already started a new project so UI4 could end up the same way as UI2. Not supported before the issues are fixed.
I’ve sent 13 emails to Aaron, Ovidiu & Anne this month with no response from any of them. I posted a not so nice thread last night that has gone unanswered & I’ll post more and escalate it if I don’t get an answer soon. Not having a fix is not an acceptable answer. Revert their changes and put me back on 1.1.1047 but don’t leave me dead in the water.
This equipment is totally unreliable and it’s not acceptable, I saw a thread last night of someone mentioning class action lawsuit. Other threads of people returning their units. My Vera 2 is offline due to not going into learn mode and other error messages but this stuff about the battery reporting makes my blood boil. This is equipment people are using to protect life and property. Fix it MCV.
Aaron, why have you not answered my emails? Where is my Aeon Smartmeter that was ordered over a month ago? Why hasn’t Anne responded to Ovidiu’s request to contact me? We are your customers, loyal customers who come here every day performing a somewhat customer support role to some users due to MCV support not getting back to them.
Incorporated in LV, the main development office California, (your neck of the woods strangely ;D) tech support in Romania.,
I hate threads that go on forever as they tend to lose the original reason of the post. But I am going to do something about this, I don’t mind speaking my mind to MCV about the lack of support or praising Ovidiu, Valentin & the rest of tech support for their efforts. I know these guys are swamped and trying to get the issues resolved but they can only do what they are told to do.
I wont speak for anyone else here as I have not been asked to and will try to use the word I instead of Us or we as this has been my experience over the last year and its got to come to a close with the issues.
*Granted, it’s a work in progress and a software based device, I understand that but issues that transfer from one FW to the next is not acceptable.
I know some users will blast me for blasting MCV and that’s OK. If your happy with your Vera that’s good news, for me its got something broken that I want fixed. I have been asked to reach out to a few forum contributors after my last post to move this complaint list forward and I will do that. If you want these issues fixed then lets do something about it collectively. If not then I will try on my own.
If you don’t agree with me or my views, that’s your right but I will not sit idle waiting for a fix. I have literally spent thousands of hours on this project that seems to be heading for an unhappy end. My wife told me I should have bought the HomeSeer, It’s too late for that now as I am in the thick of this project and want it to succeed (as I’m sure everyone else does here) We as end users have gotten Vera to where it is now.
I know this forum is monitored by MCV, even the personal messages. Great. I have a lot to say!! And what I feel we are here is an experiment, V1 & V2 were the prelude to test the waters for where the project should go. V1 & V2 need a fix before the plug is pulled. We as end users need to band together and get the issues fixed. ASAP.
I agree 100% with what JOD just stated … including offering praise to Ovidiu and others in Tech Support. JOD and others on here have always had a positive attitude and did everything they could to take the pressure off MCV by helping others. It is time for all of us to proactively ( not negatively ) inform MCV management about finishing what they start before moving on to other projects.
We should keep in mind that we are customers - not co-developers.
For me, the time I dedicate to help MCV improve Vera and to support other customers depends on the time MCV is willing to spend on my issues.
IMHO, there are three main issues MCV has to cope with:
reliabilty, security, usability
We can point out reliability/security/usability issues, but as customers we are not able to fix these issues. We can observe how MCV handles the issues raised by the community (via forum and via Mantis) and draw our own conclusions.
Things we can do:
Submitting trouble tickets (if submitting a trouble ticket doesn’t fail …) and documenting bugs in Mantis.
I don’t need a scene to tell me how UN-reliable Vera is. I have my wife for that. ;D I brainwashed her saying don’t turn the lights on / off “Let Vera do it” as though it was the maid, butler or servant. My wife now stands in the foyer when she comes back from the store with an arm full of groceries waiting for the lights to turn on after entering her code at the door and those words have come full circle and biting me in the *#! “The lights didn’t turn on” or “the A/C has been running all day with no one home”, like finger nails on a blackboard…LOL
I also know I am a customer, a paying customer, TWICE; and we are somewhat of co-developers due to our bug reports and feature requests. Remember the thread about MCV’s web site?..Cmon, why would there be any discussion about MCV’s web site if people didn’t feel that they had a HUGE part in the product? Do you really care if the site is well laid out or if there are typo’s on their pages? I just want the product I paid for.
My point is this. I WANT TO PUSH TO GET VERA FIXED BEFORE IT GETS DROPPED. I’m on that path but collectively we can make it happen sooner. We all know it needs fixing so that should not be a come back discussion.
You are right about the three main issues and to run through the logic of the list I think the priority changes. Who cares about security if you do not have usability and reliability. If you do not have reliability you don’t have usability. So the main issue comes back to fixing the code and I’m not trying to split hairs.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to bash MCV, the product or any user. I’m just stating my user experience which is the same as ALOT of other users and I’m not happy. MCV is not answering the phone or emails. I am thankful for this forum and the contributors to be able to reach out to those that need a little help in getting their units running. Just to end on a positive note.
