My Vera Plus Experience

I setup my Vera Plus on February 20th. My device list is really small. I have a Kwikset deadbolt, Dimmer module, 2 door contacts, Appliance module and a micro module. I did have a few days there when my dead bolt had the error “Can’t Detect” but after a few days it went away and it’s been fine since then. I set up Geofencing and the first week it was giving false notifications so I tried to remove it but that didn’t work but since then my Geofence has been fine and accurate. No other problems come to mind right now. All has been good. I have been reading here that their has been a lot of problems. Why do some have more problems than others? Could the number of devices or type of devices on the Vera Plus causing issues for some and not others?

I do still have the _Scene Controller 1 Error but GetVera tech support said they are aware of that and to just leave it there for now and the next Firmware update should take care of it. So far I keep reading of the problems people are having but is there anyone here that have their Vera Plus running with out problems? If so how many devices do you have setup? How did you setup your Vera Plus Fresh install or migrate from another controller? Just curious.

Jim

My VeraPlus is alls working fine with about 40 z-Wave devices, 20 devices trough the RFXtrx433 Plugin, 15 devices trough MySensors Plugin, A netatmo station with 2 additional indoor modules wind and rain. Plugins like PLEG, VeraAlerts, GCal3, MySensors, Netatmo, RFXtrx, EventWatcher, Day or Night, Virtual Switch and Simple Alarm. I did it as a fresh install excluded z-wave devices from VeraLite and included to VeraPlus then created inputs to PLEG and copy/paste all the conditions.

[quote=“jbfoster, post:1, topic:191499”]I have been reading here that their has been a lot of problems. Why do some have more problems than others?[/quote]For the same reason that you read elsewhere that some people have trouble with WiFi and others seem to have zero problems. For the same reason that there are appliance repair companies all over town, but I’ve never called one.

There are hundreds of variables in consumer use and environments. Distance/signal penetration issues - called attenuation - interference, lack of knowledge/understanding(so many of these), misguided expectations, the list of reasons go on and on. HA is young and complex and wireless is complicated and can be difficult.

A lot of people expect a seamless experience and so far no one has been able to provide that for all cases. Go to any HA manufacturer’s forum and you will see lots of problems, some of them exactly the same as here. This is partly the reason that some vendors try to do the walled garden where there are only a few devices that work with their system and, at least theoretically, those devices just work. But, even then, we see problems.

But, make no mistake, there are also numerous real issues with Vera. Some of them you have encountered yourself. Some of them have existed for FAR too long with Vera unwilling or unable to overcome them. These issues may be inconsequential to some and total show stoppers to others.

Also, don’t forget that people who have a good experience don’t typically sign up for the forums just to say how satisfied they are. Most forum members came here to educate themselves or to resolve an issue. As you can see, some are not adept enough to resolve their issue even with step-by-step instructions and diagrams and they are often the most vocal. The world is full of people who mask their own ineptitude with demands and rancor.

So far I keep reading of the problems people are having but is there anyone here that have their Vera Plus running with out problems?
There are probably "binders full of" satisfied users. ;D But, like I said, they probably won't be joining the forums. I myself have never had a problem out of Vera itself and my network has more devices than I really want to know. Although I haven't tried Vera Plus yet.

I did have a Z-Wave device recently die after a couple of years of use. I completely forgot to make a petulant post to the forums whining for some magical Vera parameter change that would resolve a hardware failure, exclaim my dissatisfaction with the product, Vera’s inability to anticipate and work around the problem, the vendor’s unwillingness to warranty it a year past its warranty date and ask if all Z-wave devices are this worthless, complain about the $40 cost, lament the woeful inconvenience of having to replace the device and reconfigure my scenes… I should probably work on that.

As I read on this forum I see that many of the persons happy with their Vera Plus experience are new users or those that choose to exclude from an older system and include those devices on the Vera Plus, basically a fresh install. What about those that migrated a system? Like me, I don’t believe that crowd is as happy. Here’s what migration Vera 3/UI5 to VeraPLus did to me so far:

  1. Changed all of my device notifications based on DISARMED sensors to ARMED
  2. Changed the logic in my Scenes using motion detectors from “Disarmed and motion detected” to “Armed and motion Detected”
  3. My door/window sensor logic was based on “ARMED and Open” now it is “ARMED and Closed”
  4. Any Scene that triggers from a door/window sensor now won’t execute at all

Your problem with scenes is really with upgrading from UI5 to UI7.

Why ? Because of the following:

  1. A Trigger for a device (Scene, or PLEG) is a Trigger Type Number which indicates the type of trigger for that device.
  2. When you upgraded the UI5 NUMBER that represented: “motion alert” with the Tripped variable determining the type of motion alert now means "“Armed and motion Detected” in UI7 and does not refer to the tripped variable.

They (NOR I IN PLEG) never though about or handled correctly the implications of changing the trigger type definitions for a device.
To handle correctly you would have to map every UI5 trigger that change to it’s new definition when you FIRST upgraded from UI5 to UI7.
It’s too late now, when you have created or fixed some scenes in UI7 because you do not know the original intent of a trigger.

In my case I did not know they changed it until I just reviewed the changes in D_DoorSensor1.json in UI5 with the version in UI7.

I do not know what other devices they changed the Trigger Definitions for … so I do not know the scope of this type of problems.
But you many need to delete and re-create ANY trigger (Scene or PLEG) that does not behave correctly after upgrading from UI5.

When I upgraded from a UI7 Lite to UI7 Plus, all of my battery sensors needed to be removed and re-included regardless. They’d work initially, but only partially and not reliably at all. From what I read, anyone counting on upgrading should make sure they have the time to do this process. By removing/re-including, you’d likely have to recreate all of your triggers associated anyhow.

My Plus has been rock solid for a couple of weeks now.

[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:5, topic:191499”]Your problem with scenes is really with upgrading from UI5 to UI7.

Why ? Because of the following:

  1. A Trigger for a device (Scene, or PLEG) is a Trigger Type Number which indicates the type of trigger for that device.
  2. When you upgraded the UI5 NUMBER that represented: “motion alert” with the Tripped variable determining the type of motion alert now means "“Armed and motion Detected” in UI7 and does not refer to the tripped variable.

They (NOR I IN PLEG) never though about or handled correctly the implications of changing the trigger type definitions for a device.
To handle correctly you would have to map every UI5 trigger that change to it’s new definition when you FIRST upgraded from UI5 to UI7.
It’s too late now, when you have created or fixed some scenes in UI7 because you do not know the original intent of a trigger.

In my case I did not know they changed it until I just reviewed the changes in D_DoorSensor1.json in UI5 with the version in UI7.

I do not know what other devices they changed the Trigger Definitions for … so I do not know the scope of this type of problems.
But you many need to delete and re-create ANY trigger (Scene or PLEG) that does not behave correctly after upgrading from UI5.[/quote]
@RichardTSchaefer…thanks for your explanation. You would think this issue would be widely complained about from those that migrated to UI5 to UI7 but you aren’t seeing those complaints on this forum. Let me ask you about my other problem of sensor device triggers not being executed in UI7. MCV gave me this explanation and I’m asking you does it make sense:

MCV says: “I have checked the issue you are experiencing with your sensors and it seems that the issue is related to the secure classes commands. Basically the unit is setting the command class as Both secure and unsecured, therefore the unsecure message from a command class that was declared both secure and unsecure is being ignored. This issue was already fixed by our development team and the fix will be included in a next firmware update. For the moment, I don?t have an ETA on this matter.”

A terrific, well-reasoned post if ever there was one. Kudos. I would suggest everyone read his entire post.