I’m living in belgium and looking for some hints to get started with Vera.
First of all, as Belgium customs are very strict in on radio stuff, anyone already tried ordering it directly from the states? Or is there a local (online) store that sells it (in netherlands or france is fine as well).
As we use EURO FR sockets here (the earth pin is sticking out of the wall sockets) i did some searching and so far i found HomePro selling Z-wave models that are EURO FR, any good or bad experiences? know of any other modules/vendors?
I’ve done some playing around with X-10 before, but might be putting my X-10 stuff that is left over on e-Bay, apart from what i need for my alarm system (marmitek) which i think there is no Z-Wave equivalent for yet.
Any other sort tips, tricks or online guides are more then welcome.
Just as an FYI, we are shipping Vera units all over Western Europe, including Belgium. I have not heard of any customs issues. Vera’s power adapter is universal, and Euro customers receive it with the right plug for their country. I think Merten, from Germany, makes one of the highest quality lines of Z-Wave devices, but they are pretty expensive.
FYI I got a tax of approx. 40 Euro from the Danish Tax department when I received my Vera. I Think I was just ‘unlucky’ - I know it depends on which carrier is used where they look…
[quote=“oTi@, post:8, topic:164258”]And ezHome came up the other day.
@Henk,
Perhaps you’re interested in expanding the Wiki page with a Europe section? (The current list is all U.S.)[/quote]
@oTi
I will look into the wiki section
As far as Ezhome goes, i know they exist. but since they run about 4 or 5 shops from the same IP address and they have a revoked subscription at our chamber of commerce i didnt take a chance on trying their webshop.
So i cant vouch for them personally.
Please refer to this info:
The "owner" was active up to 2010 here (before the chamber of commerce subscription was revoked)
http://www.zwaves.nl/
Those are probably domains that they still own and that still point to their hosting company (nedzone.nl), but are not active at the hosting company anymore.
Another tip: if you limit yourself to “Euro-FR” type plug, you will be very limited in terms of Z-wave device choices!
The “Euro-FR” type plug is only used in France, Belgium and Czech Republic (don’t ask me why…), and most Z-wave devices are made for the Schücko (European) plug type indeed.
This is a very stupid choice because Euro-FR and Schücko devices are 100% compatible (you can buy any device everywhere in Europe), but for some reason, the Z-wave manufacturers have forgotten to include the small hole in their devices for the Euro-FR type plugs.
