I’ve searched the forums/net and can’t find the answer to a qustion that I’m sure has been asked before, perhaps I’ve just got the wrong end of the home automation stick, but here’s my question.
I have a FIBARO double relay switch, OP1 goest to the hot water control valve, OP2 goes to the Central Heating valve. Both work as planned, I can turn both of them on/off with my phone/pc. HOWEVER I have several issues that I can’t seem to figure out
- in the UI5 control panel under the DEVICE heading, they are listed as LIGHT, how can I change them to be under Climate?
- for some reason instead of two new devices appearing I have 3, one appears to be the controller for both of the outputs. Can this be ‘hidden’?
Perhaps I’ve jumped in at the deep end before being able to swim, but if anyone can throw me a ring I’d be most appreciative.
Cheers,
Philip.
[ol][li]You can’t, at least not easily and without some side-effects. Suggest that you create a Room called “Climate” into which you can place such devices.[/li]
[li]Ah, this must mean that you are not using the latest 1.5.622 firmware, which fixes this problem. See [url=http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,14189.msg107498.html#msg107498]http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,14189.msg107498.html#msg107498[/url][/li][/ol]
Thanks for the info akbooer,
re 1) good idea, although I find the lack of ability of the vera system anoying (from the Fabaro controller screen shot, changing the category can be done simply by selecting from a drop down box).
re 2) thanks for the heads up, the wierd thing is when I click on SETUP-FIRMWARE, I get this message ‘Testing connection to download server … OK
You are running the latest version: 1.5.408 .’ which obviously isn’t true acording to the link you kindly added! Bizarre!
Cheers,
^^^
rE 2:
I had a similar problem downloading up to date firmware, you will need to lodge a ticket and ask support to download (or is that upload) to your Vera.
You should be able to do this yourself if you follow the instructions in that link.
If you try to do it from the firmware tab from the Vera UI, you will fail.
followed your link, updated the firmware and now only two devices show, EXCELLENT! many thanks for the link.
Did as you suggested and created a room called ‘boiler room’ to put hot water and central heating devices in (which groups them logically) but they are still under the heading of ‘lights’ which is not logical.
Is this something that can’t be done or is it a limitation of the current vera firmware? I can’t be the first to raise such a fundimental issue. Is it worth while putting a feature request in to MCV? Sorry for all the questions :-[
@webdesco, these are all very fair questions, but indeed you’re not the first. A forum search on topics such as ‘custom icons’ or ‘device types’ will probably highlight some of the challenges. It is due to the firmware, but, more fundamentally, to some design choices which have been made.
The solution is to change your mindset: you are assuming that the Vera UI is (as it rather implies) a USER interface. It’s not, it’s a barely functional and poorly designed installation and configuration tool with a dash of developer customisation features.
In order to have an enjoyable user experience (sometimes here called, rather chauvinistically a WAF - ‘wife acceptance factor’) you really need to use a third-party phone / tablet app. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the excellent HomeWave app if you’re an Apple aficionado. But there are apps for Android phones, etc., if you must.
Would you ask a non-techie to use the Vera UI to switch on a light? No, you would (should) not!