I have a weekend home in the desert, about 500 miles away. I’m down there usually about twice/month. When I first got the place, my primary objective around home automation was thermostat control. I wanted to be able to cool the house down (or heat it up in the winter) before my visits. My search for remote-controlled HVAC eventually led me to Vera, and what started as a way to remotely control my HVAC has now turned into my little home automation hobby.
I now use Vera to control HVAC, lighting and some security sensors, as well as a Schlage lock on my patio gate. I have a small amount of LUUP code controlling certain events based upon whether I’m at the house or not. For example, the “Evening Lighting” scene is different if I’m there than when the house is vacant. I also installed a lot of in-wall scene controllers so I can control lighting from nearly every room. And finally, I have an IP camera as well.
For the most part, I think I’m pretty close to max’d out on what I could do with the weekend house, with the only possible change being upgrading my Vera 1 running UI2 to a Vera 2 on UI4. I’ve come to rely on Vera so much for remotely managing this house that I’m reluctant to “fix what ain’t broke” with an upgrade. I did have some reliability issues in the early days, so like many others in this user community, I ended up installing a simple timer to power-cycle my Vera every other night. Otherwise, it continues to perform well. And I’ve just heard too many horror stories about the upgrades. I have since purchased a Vera 2, which is still sitting in the box, to potentially setup my primary home. Just haven’t decided if/when to take that plunge.