Is Ezlo Plus ready to become my main controller?

Hi everybody

I purchased my Ezlo plus more than 2 years ago…but decided not to move from my reliable and friendly Vera because, at that moment, seemed to miss lots of stuff in ezlo functionality.

More than 2 years after I decided to try again de Ezlo hub. I came to the forums looking for some answers, but sadly still find lots of “coming soon” functionalities.

Its not easy to find documentation (friendly, user oriented documentation) on some simple tasks like:

  • how to create virtual devices
  • how to reconfigure devices
  • how to create diff kinds of meshbots (made a simple motion sensor notification meshbot…and didnt work…isn’t it as simple as Motion Sensor.motion==true then send notification?..note:dont read code literally)
  • how to use plugins

those tasks are made in a simple way on my vera controller (maybe the bots need some more work)

Also…the user experience sux…some things need to be done on the (small screen) phone app, some other on url1…some other on url2…etc etc

If i wanted to code my automations…i would pick open hub or some othe option…I want an easy/friendly/quickly way to do things.

Ezlo seems to have lots of potential…but I feel is not ready to become my main controller yet.

Am I wrong? (I wish I am)

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Hello @Otolosa,

Thank you very much for your insights. You’re right in saying that there’s a lot of potential to the new Ezlo platform. We’ve managed to cover most of what Vera used to do and we’re just getting started.

Don’t hesitate to make the Ezlo your main controller if you feel so inclined. There’re many users who rely on the new Ezlo as their main controller.

We’re working on new features and making our docs as user friendly as possible, too, so more users feel free to switch over.

Check out our MiOS Quickstart articles for examples and explanations for our new features. There’re also some How to videos to cover some of the most important Meshbot capabilities.

With your feedback we’ll work to make the platform better. Also, there’s the community and our support staff to help you along the way to taking the leap to the new Ezlo platform!

Hi @Otolosa

Just to follow up on Santiago’s answer with some help resources on the points you mentioned:

  • how to create virtual devices

The topic is about house-modes, but the part about virtual devices is generic. This shows you how to create a simple virtual on/off switch.

You can see a full list of devices you can create at https://developer.mios.com/api/hub/plugins/test-plugins/public-scripts/scripts-generate_devices/ (click ‘supported devices’ devices tab).

  • how to reconfigure devices

Click ‘Settings’ > ‘Devices’ in Ezlogic. The help page for it is here - Devices - help.mios.com. Each device is different, as you know, but this page provides, among other things, advice on generic Z-Wave settings and device associations.

We also have a section with guides for Ezlo devices and links to third party device manuals if you need help with specific devices - Devices - help.mios.com

  • how to create diff kinds of meshbots (made a simple motion sensor notification meshbot…and didnt work…isn’t it as simple as Motion Sensor.motion==true then send notification?..note:dont read code literally)

There are a few ways you can do this. We have a couple of pages which explain how you can set up motion detection meshbots in Ezlogic -

‘FOLLOW’ Function - help.mios.com (see the ‘example’).

… we also have a video on this topic at Use ‘For’ to create intelligent motion sensor triggers - help.mios.com

You can see a full list of our videos here - How to Videos - help.mios.com

As general advice on meshbots, good starting places are the triggers and actions overview pages - Overview - help.mios.com & Overview - help.mios.com

  • how to use plugins

This pages gives you a generic overview of how to use them - Plugins Overview - help.mios.com

… however, Mert has also been creating some excellent guides on this forum which give more details on how to use specific Ezlo plugins which you can also check out -

Thanks

Paul

Thanks @Thiago and @Paul_Whitehead for the quick response

I’ve seen those tutorials…but my GUI seems different and lacks some of the features shown in the videos/manuals.

for example…in a meshbot if i pick a motion sensor as trigger…i dont get a list with things like “if armed sensor detects motion”. In my case it shows:

  • fw_category
  • fw_subcategory
  • name
  • Connectivity
  • battery
  • motion_sensor
  • security thread

about the devices option…basically only can add parameter
image

how to poll node?..how to update neighbors?..etc

and bout the virtual devices…its an api documentation…seems like the only option available at the moment is to code.

Hi @otolosa

Yes, EZLogic undergoes frequent design and feature improvements which often come after the guide pages have been published. The core functionality remains the same but, as you noticed, it looks a little different. The actual new functions and features are covered in the guides as soon as they come out, but some older screenshots still need converting.

Each device is different, otolosa. Does your device show anything similar/with the same meaning as ‘if sensor detects motion’?

It’s actually quite straightforward if you try it. You really only need to install the virtual devices plugin - Recreate Vera ‘House Modes’ using Meshbots - help.mios.com. Then follow the advice here - Recreate Vera ‘House Modes’ using Meshbots - help.mios.com (you can simply copy-and-paste the code snippet into the api page).

There’s also a couple of Ezlo created plugins which create different types of virtual devices - Plugins Overview - help.mios.com and Plugins Overview - help.mios.com

Thanks

Paul

Nope…only what is listed

BTW…It’s an Aeotec DSB05 (4 in 1 sensor).

I ran into the same problem. The Notification MeshBot (as also the cloud Automation MeshBot) doesn’t list the same trigger capabilities as the local Automation MeshBot. You have to create a local MeshBot Automation with the motion as trigger and the notification as action.

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Hello Odysee,

Can you send us a screen cap of the dropdown content for the cloud notification meshbot capabilities? The capabilities are typically listed with a different wording but they should be the same, in essence.

local MeshBot:

cloud MeshBot:
image

One imporant trigger option I miss is for energy reporting devices is on wattage. To have a trigger is the wattage goes over or below a value. Instead I see some actions as triggers like meter reset witch to me does not make sense.
For example most switches report Watts, KWh, and some also Voltage and Amps. That are logical values for a trigger.

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You are right!!..tried with a local meshbot and it works!!!

however…the list of capabilities doesnt seem even close to the listed in tutorials.

this is the local meshbot capabilities list

and this the cloud meshbot with same sensor
image

Maybe the trigger setup has changed and they are no longer showing the full capabilities list, idk. This is a screen from the ‘for’ video which shows the full gamut of capabilities on a Fibaro sensor:

…but these have (seemingly) been truncated into what appear to be a generic list of capabilities as shown in your screenshots. Maybe it’s a temporary thing while they work on it, but I agree with you fwiw. ‘motion_sensor’ = ‘true’ and ‘motion’ = ‘true’ makes the user guess-hope it means ‘if motion is detected’.

Odysee, as it stands, fw_category and fw_subcategory for the cloud meshbot do not appear to have a practical use as of yet. However, notice that Motion_sensor and Motion are equivalents for the motion sensing capabilities. The battery level trigger is identical. Although not too clear in their wording, these capabilities cover most features for the sensor, both locally and as cloud meshbots. In our experience, however, local meshbots seem to work better for now.

A more natural language approach would be preferred and we’ll make sure to forward these suggestions to the developers.

But one thing is still missing if motion_sensor status == True is the same as motion == True:
In the local MeshBot you can specify at which armed state the trigger is active.

More important…on cloud meshbots…is not working!!!

1 Like

Hello @otolosa,

Your report helped us to identify an issue with Cloud Automation Meshbots.
We will investigate this and work on a fix as soon as possible.

Thank you.

1 Like