Interesting re-branding of vera hardware

Community Playground General Discussions
1

If you go the MIOS site, and watch the little slideshow playing, showing the different areas their hardware will cover, you will notice a GUI for a device that looks like the UI5 branded Nonnatech.

A quick Google search turns up this:

Interesting re-brand/target market. You can see the Vera 3 Vera 2 (sorry, was almost bed time when I posted this) in the pictures.

Who wants a Z-wave enabled bed, chair or toilet sensor?

http://www.nonnatech.com/Products.html

Then there is the BeHome247 custom rebranding, seems to be targeting homeowners and vacation rentals. This one seems to be using a custom control unit.

Here is their kit:

2

you can find more of this sorta stuff on the developer website of mios system. nothing new…

3

SOlivas, Thanks for pointing this out.

Many of the Nonnatech sensors seem to be reselling of well-known Z-Wave devices such as the Everspring door sensor, but things like the chair, bed, and toilet sensors seem to be unique, along with the “Nonna button” which seems to be a more useful version of the Staples “That was easy” button. Unfortunately, there is scarce information about them on their web-site. Has anyone actually bought any of these and tried to include them in a Vera network?

The gateway itself looks more like a Vera2. The GUI is certainly different but familiar. It includes a nice list of past events with date, time, and event-specific information that I’ve never seen in UI5. Perhaps this is all being passed back to a custom website with notifications.

Finally, prices seem to be a bargain. For the price of a Vera3, you get what looks like a Vera2, motion sensor, door sensor, water sensor, wireless power controller and siren. (Indeed, the prices don’t even make sense. They are charging more for the gateway alone than for the Starter Set 1 which also includes the water sensor.) There does not seem to be any mention of an annual service contract.

Judging from various dates, this seems to have been around since late 2010/early 2011. Doing a quick “nonnatech” search on Google, this company seems to be quietly run by a guy named Gary German out of Stamford, Ct. ([url=http://stamford.dailyvoice.com/news/nonnatech-opens-office-stamford]http://stamford.dailyvoice.com/news/nonnatech-opens-office-stamford[/url])

You would think that you would hear more about this in the caregiver/nursing home/geriatric market, which is actually quite large. However, given the intended audience, setting one of these systems up is rather complex and probably needs a lot of support costing much more than price of the various components.

Has anyone had any real experience with this?

4

@genen,
They list their pricing (monthly/yrly) on their Benefits page:
http://www.nonnatech.com/Benefits.html

5

I spoke with Gary, the president on the phone. Indeed the bed, chair, toilet and button sensors are unique to their system whereas the rest are resold from elsewhere.

The bed sensor is designed to be placed beneath the bed-sheets rather than between the mattress and box-spring. It is battery operated, but according to him it is not “lumpy” but I’m sure that it would be noticed by anyone sleeping on it. I asked whether you could lay one of these bed sensors out sideways under the cushions of a couch and have it trip whenever someone sat or lied on the couch, but he did not recommend this.

The button is indeed very similar to the Staples button (His words, not mine!) and can be used either for notification or for turning on lights.

In general, all of this stuff will be fairly conspicuous and would not blend-in invisibly into a home’s decor to enhance automation - Typical of what you find in a geriatric home.

6

So, did he say how these things were connected to the control unit?

Some strange custom and obscure Z-wave device nobody knows about, or something that is hooked into a control module like a MIMOLite?

Or is it something completely different?

7

i bet its using a doorsensor external input for it. nevertheless this gives me a great idea. getting 2 “Staples Button” and attach it to my fibaro binary sensor ^^

8

Some ideas for the “Staples Button” interface:

-Vera as a party game controller. Make a plugin, then use the headline “Play Jeopardy with your Vera 3 party game controller”. Could be a whole new market/target audience. (Hmm, I wonder if someone’s tried rigging an interface to the Vera with a Wii remote, or Xbox controller to act as a scene controller? )

-Giant panic button?

-Interface for something like this: beer launcher fridge - YouTube

-Button to skip songs with your favorite media player?

-Garage door/door opener?

-Scene controller. Each button press launches a random scene.

The possibilities are endless.

9

LMAO
make a game : 4 lights with 1,2,3,4 make em go on 1 after eachother and then push button when correct answer light is on (for example 3 is answer and light 3 lites up, press button)

10

[quote=“Da_JoJo, post:9, topic:176274”]LMAO
make a game : 4 lights with 1,2,3,4 make em go on 1 after eachother and then push button when correct answer light is on (for example 3 is answer and light 3 lites up, press button)[/quote]

Better yet, make them randomly flash fast, you are told correct light, then the flashing starts. As time goes on, it gets faster and faster.

11

[quote=“Da_JoJo, post:9, topic:176274”]LMAO
make a game : 4 lights with 1,2,3,4 make em go on 1 after each other and then push button when correct answer light is on (for example 3 is answer and light 3 lites up, press button)[/quote]

With the lags and unreliability of Vera you would probably never record the button press while the correct light was lit!

12

I doubt that these buttons would work very well at all in a Jeopardy game situation where timing accuracy with near simultaneous button presses are important.

Panic button: intended use
Garage door opener: possible
Song skipping: you probably want more controls for volume on/off etc.
Random scene controller: why on earth?
Beer launching fridge: Go ahead, make my day! :slight_smile:

13

[quote=“ufd108, post:11, topic:176274”][quote=“Da_JoJo, post:9, topic:176274”]LMAO
make a game : 4 lights with 1,2,3,4 make em go on 1 after each other and then push button when correct answer light is on (for example 3 is answer and light 3 lites up, press button)[/quote]

With the lags and unreliability of Vera you would probably never record the button press while the correct light was lit![/quote]

Think of it as an adding complexity to the game. :slight_smile:

14

you just have to admit you love this all-purpose-piece-o-crap home-controller ^^
i would be bored without it… seriously… even beats GTA5 in terms of duration of fun i have with it.

15

The concept is a good idea. It is the little things that kill it (UI, up to date documentation, etc.)

Take time, money and a little bit of know how and imagination, and you can do just about anything with this device.

The fact that it tries to support everything under the sun is nice too.

16

indeed a lot of little things that spoil the fun. its nice to support everything but it seems it comes with the price of not being able to fully use the devices as one would like to.