I have a vacation rental that I want to be able to monitor and control while away. I’m nervous about making this jump, as I am reading that home control / automation is significantly less robust than I had hoped. I am a bit confused by this, other than I know that trying to get inter-company cooperation can be a pain.
Seems odd that there is not a consortium for all these vendors to have plug and play standards similar to USB. Or Bluetooth or whatever.
Anyway, my initial needs are simple. In order of priority for me, I need temperature reporting in the lowest floor, thermostat control on the middle floor, deadbolt lock, door sensor, motion detector, lighting control. I’d like to eventually add smoke and CO detection too.
I’ll probably order the VeraPlus.
I don’t have a ton of time to figure this out, and I also don’t have a ton of patience
So here is my question… Is there a hardware compatibility list of items which are known to work well with the Vera interface and UI7? I don’t want to have to be the guinea pig as the vacation home is not easy to access.
Just FYI, temperature and door control are the absolute highest priority. I probably will not use the touch panel Yale but will use their pushbutton lock.
So… is there a list of “known good to 99% compliance” sort of list?
From what you have listed as you needs it looks like mostly battery operated devices. Depending on the distances and what physical limitations you have in your vacation home you may need to add repeating devices to repeat the Z-Wave signal to all of your devices. You can find out more about that in our Tips & Tricks video on Z-Wave that you can find on our YouTube Channel. Ezlo Innovation - YouTube.
To answer your question about inter-compatibility, we agree! Z-Wave was designed to be that, it is a standardized protocol but some devices do need some tweaking. Some manufacturers take the approach of trying to lock you into their ecosystem; it is totally self serving on their part. At Vera, we want to work with as many devices as possible to give our users as many options as possible and we do that without charging a monthly fee while providing our Customer Care Team as long as you have your controller as well as providing regular firmware updates at no charge.
Remember that to monitor your vacation home you will need to maintain internet at your vacation home.
As Marc said, VeraPlus is perfect for monitoring a vacation or second home.
I have a second home about three hours away and I turned to Vera in 2011 to help me keep tabs on the house while I was away. I started simple with a Vera Lite, a Z-Wave lamp module and a Trane thermostat. Next, I added more light modules, receptacles and switches. Then came door locks, motion sensors, temperature-humidity sensors and cameras. Now, my Vera is interconnected with Nest Protect, freeze sensors and an automatic water valve.
Along the way, I installed another Vera Lite (and gadgets) in my home to keep an eye on it when we travel.
Now, we’re building a new house and the builder tried to sell us a $14,000 Control4 system (including audio system). Nice, but no thanks. A new VeraPlus will work just fine for what i need.
As Marc said, VeraPlus is perfect for monitoring a vacation or second home.
I have a second home about three hours away and I turned to Vera in 2011 to help me keep tabs on the house while I was away. I started simple with a Vera Lite, a Z-Wave lamp module and a Trane thermostat. Next, I added more light modules, receptacles and switches. Then came door locks, motion sensors, temperature-humidity sensors and cameras. Now, my Vera is interconnected with Nest Protect, freeze sensors and an automatic water valve.
Along the way, I installed another Vera Lite (and gadgets) in my home to keep an eye on it when we travel.
Now, we’re building a new house and the builder tried to sell us a $14,000 Control4 system (including audio system). Nice, but no thanks. A new VeraPlus will work just fine for what i need.[/quote]
Lonestar, love it! Thanks for sharing. Yours is a very common story, same story here. You start with a little and then discover little by little what else you can to make life better.
You touched on an interesting area when you mentioned temperature and humidity sensors. I learned about how people in humid climates like South Florida deal with humidity; they run their air conditioner 24/7. Not very efficient but it keeps mold from growing in the walls. With a humidity sensor and a thermostat you’re covered, you’ll only have to run the AC when it is actually needed and saving big money!
I know you probably knew that but I wanted to share it our loud. That and water/leak sensors and shut off valves are both intended topics for videos on our YouTube channel. Ezlo Innovation - YouTube.
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