Property Management Platform (Ezlo PropTech)

Community Playground General Discussions
#1

Hi @BenjaminB @melih ,

Im a current user of Home Assistant, Hubitat Elevation, Smartthings, Lutron, etc. I’m looking for a robust option to offer commercially to clients and Ezlo has caught my attention, specially the Property Management Platform (Ezlo PropTech), but i havent found much information about it on your website.

I would like to get some information about the following:

    • Can i control multiple properties from a centralize web and app (iOS or Android) interface? For Example: Multiple appartments on a building.
    • Can i connect multiple hubs in the same local network and have web and app (iOS or Android) interface for each one? For Example: Different Rooms in a Hotel.
    • Is the Ezlo PropTech Platform free? if not, How much does it cost?
    • Is Ezlo cloud control (Anywhere Access) free? if not, How much does it cost?
    • Is Ezlo Interface customizable. For Example: Adding a clients logo to the Web interface and APP.

Thanks in advanced for your attention.

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#2

I have put my answers below:

#3

Nice, thanks for the quick response. Can you show me some images of the interface?

Please, refer me to your team, im very interested in the pricing, so i can start creating my business plan.

Thanks Again.

#4

Screenshoots as follows,

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image_2022_06_07T18_50_17_687Z
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#5

My advice is to stay away untill they 1) get more resources, 2) stop spreading their resources too thin.

I still cannot get a basic dimmer to include in my network. Just comes up with “Pairing Process Stopped” No explanation as to why, no elegant handling of the error. Just “vague error” message. Stop trying to add things to a system that shamefully still can’t do the most basic of tasks!

#6

That’s a harsh thing to say man, but users are the ones who really experience the products. I’m really interested in testing this product to develop a business around in my country.

I think that I gotta test this product thoroughly, before making investment.

Any other issue that you have experience?

#7

My personal experience - I was one of the very first people to buy the Ezlo Plus hub when they announced the sunsetting of the Vera product line. I knew there would be issues with a new product so I expected to have to wait a year or so before it started to show any promise.

Well, here we are a couple of years later and the basic fundamental functions (include, exclude, delete, etc) still are not 1) reliable, 2) stable, 3) provide feedback to the user directing them on how to solve the problem. Just a bunch a vague error messages, or spinning Please Wait message that usually last at least several minutes, or often times, and all out lockup.

I’ve had to contact them countless times to delete devices that don’t delete when I ask them to. I have simple switches that just don’t add and don’t give me any reason as to why. These are the VERY BASIC, MINIMUM tasks of these devices and they cannot do it. And yet, they are spending an obviously HUGE amount of resources developing other platforms, interfaces, a marketing department that won’t quit - and still can’t make the basic system function.

An organization that puts the marketing before the product worries me. Clearly they are less concerned about making something that works, and more concerned on making a buck by hanging their users out to dry.

A month ago, I started from scratch in a new location. Not fewer than 3 devices in was I creating tickets on basic things that I couldn’t get working that should have been low hanging fruit and taken care of at least a year ago… still a problem, I’ve had a ticket open with them for over a year now on Minosten dimmers (a product that “works with ezlo”) that they have yet to figure out.

I hope your luck with them is better than mine.

1 Like
#8

Now this worries, thanks for taking the time to give me your feedback and I hope ezlo team come through and enhance the user experience. @melih @Randall_Patton

#9

Unfortunately pairing and unpairing zwave is not only function of the hub but also device. Pairing is a painful process for both zwave and zigbee in general…Something that I don’t like about home automation and we have some ideas that we are building to solve.
Of course users will automatically blame the Hub because thats their experience, but in reality we have a standard Zwave chip, we put it in “pairing mode” as per the manufacturer recommendation…not every device handles it well…But still its our user’s experience and we take full responsibility.

PS: we even did a video series showing these devices and how they pair with us How to pair Aeotec Led Bulb Gen 6 Multi-White ZWA001 with Ezlo Hubs? - YouTube but like I said, pairing unfortunately is a painful process that also depends on the environment, device manufacturer etc…

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#10

Yes, but…

It IS the job of the hub to handle the errors and failures elegantly, providing the user a clear reason (for god sakes, an error code at minimum), and a path forward.

Ezlo fails and does one (or both) of two things: 1) Says “pairing failed”, “exclude suddenly stopped”, or some other innane, unhelpful message; and 2) Sits and spins with a “Please Wait” spinner - no ticker of the process being executed with what status, no messages keeping the user informed about what their waiting for, and no idea if the spinning will stop in 5 seconds or never.

I’ve got plenty of difficult devices to pair, but NEVER do I get help from Ezlo about how to fix the issue, or even, what the issue was. It’s shameful that, 2 years later, I am forced to continually enter tickets for the same basic problems. No doubt, your guys are great about fixing things quickly. BUT, having to open a ticket ALMOST EVERY TIME I need to delete a device is SHAMEFUL.

#11

When pairing fails because of the Device, because we are not the manufacturer of the device, we do not know the reason why that device has failed.
We know we have put the Hub into “exclude” mode…
why the device hasn’t completed is NOT known to the hub.
Did you talk to the Device Manufacturer?

Also, we would welcome your recommendation about what you would like to see us improve…we are happy to see if/how we can improve on your suggestions.

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#12

My biggest complaint is the hang time. Particularly when setting up devices that have the “Advanced Settings” the pairing routine goes into a long “Please Wait” cycle… I’m sure there’s a lot going on with negotiating keys, and setting up references and whatnot… But please TELL ME what’s going on. I’m not asking for a fictional status bar - (think Window’s old installs when the get to 95% in 5 seconds and 10 minutes to finish).

Please just put on the screen what process is running (pairing device) and update that as often as possible. Think of last-ing a log file. Some of it flies by so fast it isn’t legible, but those few lines that kind of bloop, bloop, bloop along let you know it’s still doing something.

As far as pairing. Surely they device sends some sort of termination code (otherwise, you couldn’t tell me it had failed, short of a timeout, because, without some sort of code, you wouldn’t know that it had failed). What was the termination code? Did Ezlo just get bored waiting for a response?

I don’t expect an analysis of the code, only, what it was (and perhaps a standard reference, e.g. “0x2B usually means that communication failed” so that I can do my own research. Right now I have literally NOTHING to go on… was it a termination code, did the iOS app crash, was it intercepted by another action???

#13

Hi @Dan-n-Rand ,
I see that you want more information and feedback about the pairing process,

  • While waiting feedback from the device/process you want to see an update about what’s going on in the background (maybe advanced log output of all steps ?)
  • If the process terminates unexpectedly in any manner, you want to have a more detailed explanation of the termination reason (Including z-wave codes ?)
    any other recommendations on how we can give more details about the process / improve ?
#14

@Dan-n-Randy …Osman is our Product Manager who will take all your requirements and push it to development. FYI

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#15

Osman, thank you for your reply and exploring some of these possibilities.

The pairing process, at best, is a long process and 90% of the time it is long enough that any absence of feedback can lead to a conclusion that it’s “stuck” or otherwise stopped working. Anything that can be done to reassure the user that things are moving along normally will keep the user from unnecessary early termination of the process.

Now, the question as to what that feedback consists of… 1) It should NOT be fake like a software installation progress bar, because they are always inaccurate. They are an artificial construct not reflective of what’s REALLY going on in the background. 2) I think is should have significant information that the user can convey to tech support when something does go wrong. Wouldn’t the help desk much rather get a call saying that, the pairing process stalled at “negotiating” rather than, “it’s just spinning”? 3) As a User, I don’t need a detailed log that I can read through, but as a Power User, I would love the opportunity to try to solve the problem myself and not bother the help desk.

A potential solution that jumps out at me is: A single line at the top (or bottom) of the screen, maybe where it say’s “Add Device Now”, where you could display the activity. Until the speed and reliability of pairing/unpairing is improved, I think a Linux-package-manager-level of detail is a great start. For the time being, I think that a log.debug-level of detail is appropriate at this time. It doesn’t need to be slowed down so that it’s legible,… just the details of factual feedback scrolling by is enough for me to know that I shouldn’t be force quitting the application.

And then, for the power user in me, access to the full log, easily accessible from the pairing screen would be a godsend. So far, Ezlo has been notoriously awful about providing easy access to log files.

Again, at this point, 2-3 years into development, I shouldn’t need this level of detail… The pairing/unpairing process of the hub should have been nailed down, cleaned up, optimized, and the last thing the help desk should be getting issue reports on. Ezlo needs to stop pouring resources towards all of the other web interface, enterprise solutions, marketing functions until these fundamental/basic functions are bullet proof.

Ezlo should be ashamed that I have to call the help desk to delete orphaned items off my device. Whatever the help desk does to finally get rid of the orphans, should be included in the “delete” routine. If a lot of these all-too-frequent help desk issues are repaired with some maintenance routine, the user should have a button to execute that routine.

Thanks,
Randy

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#16

Hi Randy,

We appreciate the time you spend to give those valuable feedbacks.
To sum up I would like to bulletize the items we mention;

  • Add a single line to top/bottom of screen to show log.debug-level/linux-pacakage-manager-level activity updates
  • Have an option as a power user, to easily access logs
  • Have a seamless way / maintenance routine to delete orphaned devices

Will those match your expectations for start ?

1 Like
#17

A good distillation of my thoughts. Thank you.

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#18

I had to reconstruct my z-wave network today. I know it’s an hours-long process, but after 5 hours, I started to wonder. This would be another great place for additional progress information.

With something, like reconstruction, that takes longer than a few minutes to complete, I think there will also need to be some sort of progress bar or some other indication of how much of the routine is left to do.

Thanks

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