Is Ezlo Plus Ready for Prime Time?

[meathead88]

I’ll give you $1000 for your extra Vera Plus!

[meathead88]

Wait, “no scene execution validation”?!

What is this, X10!!!

[meathead88]

Almost pains me to write this, but I received my Hubitiat and have been learning it all day…
The Hubitiat interface leaves much to be desired when compared to Ezlo so I have to give props to Ezlo there.

The local access works, though, which is very nice and fast. Also, the device firmware updater that is built in is the awesomest thing I’ve seen yet!

But a huge disappointment is Hubitat’s lack of built in Wi-Fi… I have 200ft Ethernet cable strung about around the house now while pairing…

Going to use Hubitat for 2nd floor for now and compare more.

OOH! Hubitiat gave me a warning that when including a device using encryption may cause it to perform slower. Is this true? I have 30 or so Zooz with encryption on my Ezlo as an Ezlo tech told me that if it didn’t include with encryption the device’s functions wouldn’t all be available.

so far not sold on Hubitat so please get our Ezlo’s reliable!

[melih]

@meathead88

Wait, “no scene execution validation”?!

Zwave Protocol Multi Casting does NOT have the validation built in…

[melih]

@meathead88

so far not sold on Hubitat so please get our Ezlo’s reliable!

On it!
We are fixing that scene execution stuff as a priority now.
Please keep the feedback coming, we are here for you.

[meathead88]

Welp…how about letting it be up to us to risk no validation? Make multicasting a scene option, please.

[meathead88]

And what about encrytion? If i include without encrytion are devices more responsive without losing functionality?

[melih]

@meathead88

Make multicasting a scene option, please.

Multicasting is good to avoid the “pop corn” effect etc…
Old Vera was sending the same command 5 times etc (dirty tricks but worked)…we might employ some of these tactics as well…All this is merely some basic firmware logic we have to restructure…
the more feedback the better please…
Once we have this new firmware released, if you can test and provide feedback pls will be much appreciated.

[ryantatum20]

Well, I’ve been using ezlo since Mar '21. Lots of pains, frustration, and interaction with support, some good some bad (or shall I say, no resolution and/or following on responses). All that said, most of the time, everything works ok. But there are times, ezlo craps the bed in certain areas at odd times. I have over 70 devices which consists of wall sockets, switches, iblinds, power plugin modules, and fan switches. I also have quite a few scenes running and for the most part, things run ok.

My issues that I’ve submitted but seem to still be a problem include:

1. zigbee devices when added, only shows 32% power, but they are constantly plugged in. Ezlo looses connection cause it things the battery is dead.
2. Smart Start still does not work/include devices
3. On occasion, inclusion does not work (I move ezlo right next to device, doesn’t matter)
4. At times, devices don’t function based on the scene being executed (not sure if this is a device issue or ezlo issue)
5. Not really an issue for me now but when upgrading from vera plus to ezlo, I had to exclude and include each and every single device. That alone can make customers EXTREMELY HESITANT to make the switch.
6. Multiple google home and voi entries that I cannot delete. At present there are 4 x Google Home’s and 4 x VOI’s listed under No Room. Why? Why? Why?
7. Hard, no, impossible, to actually talk to a support person
8. Most of the time, the battery power displayed on devices is incorrect.

All that said, my set up is pretty simple and therefore I don’t have near as many issues as others here. My scenes are fairly simplistic. Mostly cause there is very little instruction / guidance available for more complex functionality.

I hope that sometime VERY SOON, ezlo will work out all my and other customer concerns.

[melih]

Hi Guys,
I am trying to structure all the issues reported so that we can address them one by one! We will create a report based on all these reporting back with either what we are doing about these to fix them, or ask more information etc.

@JimMac

• No DSC alarm plugin that supports the IT-100 interface board. Current Ezlo plugin gives a “failed to get file data” error during install
• No TTS support
• No working voice assistant integration
• Can’t program negative temperature values in scenes
• Unreliable scene execution
• Many devices stop responding until hub is rebooted and even then they don’t always work. (main issue)
• Many Zooz device still don’t work or work sporadically even after the firmware update that was to fix the issues.
• No Big Ass Fan plugin (Haiku)
• Some device still refuse to respond to the delete command
• Controlling devices from multiple Ezlo hubs is not possible even using cloud MeshBots
• Smart Start does not work
• Exclude function does not always show the proper LED status

@meathead88

Again, the Ezlo fails to run any scene that has more than 1 target device, like 6 in-wall dimmers, reliably. I spent $2000 to have professional Christmas lights installed and Ezlo FAILED EVERDAY to turn on all 5 zwave plugs and switches. One day these 2 switches would turn on and not the other 3, then 4 would turn on but not 1, then none would come on, no reasoning at all. …and if you dare say it’s a range issue…

@meathead88

I have to reboot Ezlo daily to get any kind of acceptable responsiveness.

@meathead88

Smart start doesn’t work, skips to the end most times after scanning QR code then if you are able to add it correctly, it never really deletes.

@meathead88

The new version of the mobile app has issues too… Some device’s power toggels don’t do anything but make a clicking noise when tapped. funny that if the device is a dimmer, the dimmer slider works while the power toggle doesn’t do anything but click.

@Odysee

• Smoke Sensors are not displayed in the Dynamic Dashboard
• Heating control is unreliable, because not all commands are always executed (ECS-987) and impractical, because you have to create many MeshBots and you quickly lose track. There has to be some kind of special scheduler GUI for that case (ECS-830)
• Devices with negative values are displayed as offline
• MiOS App is very slow and you need a lot of patience if you want to check something or switch a device. It feels like an eternity from the start of the app until you see something in the device tab. Sometimes no devices are shown here at all. Then you have to end the task and restart the app. And if you briefly switch to another app and back to MiOS, you usually end up back at the controller selection and the waiting starts all over again. That’s not fun. This is also completely independent of whether I am local or remote.
• Adding devices usually requires several attempts and seems very tricky. It is also still not possible to add devices via the web frontend.
• Setting Z-Wave parameters is anything but intuitive. It is not possible to read out the parameters. Once the parameters have been added to a device, it would also be nice if you could copy them to other identical devices. And it would be great, for those who are not programmers, if the Z-Wave parameters could be integrated step by step into the corresponding devices in such a way that you only have to set a slider or something similar.
• The " Ezlo Community Feature Request and Bug Tracker" seems to be falling asleep again. There was a momentum again a while ago when I pointed this out. But now it gives the impression that people only look in there sporadically. The idea of the feature request and bug tracker is good and has huge potential to move this platform forward, but it doesn’t seem to be a priority. If you have problems/requests, you get better feedback if you contact support directly or write something here in the forum.
• Designing dashboards is not exactly intuitive. You can theoretically do a lot of really cool things with it… if you know how. I once had an online session with Ezlo, where the whole thing was explained/showed to me. Nevertheless, a few days later I couldn’t manage to recreate it. Either the designer has to be rebuilt so that you can do it without studying or we need (video) tutorials with many examples “how do I do…”

@ibrewster

• No local Command/control/configuration web interface (EZLogic is cloud-only). Hubitat explicitly lists the local configuration/setup as one of their features.
• False advertising: the ezlo plus webpage states the device (and this is a direct quote from the website) enables “…control of thousands of Wi-Fi devices paired to your Amazon Alexa”. But this feature has been non-functional since time immemorable.
• There still seems to be no easy way to transfer everything from my Vera to my Ezlo. If I’m going to have to move everything manually, it seems to make more sense to move everything to a platform that is stable, well supported (not four months+ for tickets), and actually gives me everything that Vera does (such as a local web interface)

@ryantatum20

• zigbee devices when added, only shows 32% power, but they are constantly plugged in. Ezlo looses connection cause it things the battery is dead.
• Smart Start still does not work/include devices
• On occasion, inclusion does not work (I move ezlo right next to device, doesn’t matter)
• At times, devices don’t function based on the scene being executed (not sure if this is a device issue or ezlo issue)
• Not really an issue for me now but when upgrading from vera plus to ezlo, I had to exclude and include each and every single device. That alone can make customers EXTREMELY HESITANT to make the switch.
• Multiple google home and voi entries that I cannot delete. At present there are 4 x Google Home’s and 4 x VOI’s listed under No Room. Why? Why? Why?
• Hard, no, impossible, to actually talk to a support person
• Most of the time, the battery power displayed on devices is incorrect.

[Nameless]

@meathead88

a huge disappointment is Hubitat’s lack of built in Wi-Fi… I have 200ft Ethernet cable strung about around the house now while pairing…

I’m not a Hubitat user, but apparently there’s a WiFi dongle for this.
Also, just read the C8 hub (name may change) will be out this year with an 800 series Zwave chip and built-in WiFi.
If you can return the hub, may want to and wait to see what comes out or improvements to Ezlo.

[meathead88]

Yeah, i saw you can hook up a wifi dongle but since there is only 1 usb port on the Hubitat, you also need some weird usb power splitter. So I’d be walking around the house with the Hubitat, connected to a usb splitter that is connected to a wifi dongle and a usb power pack.

Super user friendly.
/s

[meathead88]

This is a nice list. The Ezlo group is definitely tenacious!

Fix all my issues first please

[JimMac]

The Zooz models that are not working have been investigated and support and I spent many hours gathering logs on each of the devices I have. What happened to the logs and the trouble shooting records? Its all in your files.
As I have stated in previous posts and to tech support many times is seems that as more devices are added to the hub, devices starts to slowly stop responding or there is a very noticeable delay. This has a direct effect on the scene reliability.

[Nameless]

@meathead88

So I’d be walking around the house with the Hubitat, connected to a usb splitter that is connected to a wifi dongle and a usb power pack.

I’m surprised that would be needed for pairing. A friend of mine has a C7 and has never needed to move his hub for pairing. I’m on a DIY platform myself and have never moved anything except 2 junk Aqara devices would only pair within inches of my Zigbee coordinator.
I suppose the age/type of devices will make a difference, though.

[meathead88]

So does a device added with encryption take more resources than if it was added without?
And then if i dont add with encryption, are all features of that device available?

Google had not given me a straight answer.

[osman]

Hi @JimMac , @meathead88 , @ryantatum20 , @ibrewster , @Odysee

We have gathered all the problems as a list and created tickets on our end to keep track of those more closely.
You can access/view/comment on the list here

FORUM BUGS/REQUESTS

Some of the problems are already addressed and the others will be addressed immediately.
Some of them needs more information since they may be related to specific device models/case etc. We will be communication directly for those.

You can watch the progress from there as well , we will also be updating this post about any progress.

Thanks for your feedback.

[meathead88]

Great! Where do i provide more info for my issues?

[melih]

you can put it here in this thread pls…
or directly in the sheet…

[retireditguy]

An important question to answer is that of local control. The architecture of Vera, Hubitat, Home Assistant, and OpenHAB were built to provide local control/processing and therefore are not dependent on “the cloud” to operate. Smartthings/Aeotec, Amazon, Google are all cloud dependent, when connections to the cloud are down or their servers go offline, your automations are crippled. I decided against a cloud-based architecture because of both reliability and security concerns regarding cloud-based solutions, especially immature ones.