Hi everybody, first time poster with new Vera system sitting on my desktop.
I have some ambitious plans and probably need some help until I get the hang of programming these devices. Reading through the forums I see a few folks with the desire to “start over” and therefore I would like to solicit some help so I can get it done right the first time. The house is a single level ranch style home with a separate office next door. I am fairly technically saavy being an electrical engineer but I am starting to lose my patience with these systems. I also have done some HVAC control system programming years ago so I thought this would be much easier than it is proving to be.
My system so far:
1 - Vera Lite
3 - ZTS-100 battery thermostats
1 - controlled outlet for my hot water circulation pump
2 - single pole light switches for porch light and kitchen lights
1 - 3 way light switch for patio lights
4 - occupancy sensors for rooms, with the probability of adding 4 more
Here are my initial objectives:
1 - Program the thermostats with time/temperature schedules, 3 thermostats, 3 zones, some common program points but initially I just want them to be programmed thermostats with smartphone enabled overrides.
2 - Time controls on hot water circulation pump
3 - Time controls on porch light (sunset on to midnight off)
4 - Time controls on patio light (same as porch)
Phase 2:
Add occupancy control to thermostats
Phase 3:
Add scenes and dimming controls to interior lights
Phase 4:
Security system and surveillance cameras
At the point when I have a fully operational system that has been tweaked to my family needs I am sure I will start adding other controls to other systems like the gas fireplaces (currently on a wall switch, two fireplaces). No plans to do the locks or garage doors at this time but that could change at some point in the future.
Help! I hope I can hire somebody to help me get at least the thermostats programmed and light switches programmed before I get too overwhelmed. My wife has seen me spend about 6 hours in the office on the computer working on my box of goodies but is starting to get worried that my little project will interfere with the other projects she has on our list.
I hope that you can find someone in your area to suit your needs. I will say that Vera and, to a lesser extent, Z-Wave are targeted at the DIY market. Even major providers like ADT don’t have stellar Z-Wave installation support.
I’ll further warn you that home automation, especially DIY home automation, will consume MANY fold more hours that you have already invested. If you don’t want to invest the time, I would recommend you look into a professionally installed home automation systems, but you will be paying someone else for their time, so don’t expect DIY prices.
[quote=“mikeskiw, post:1, topic:178578”]Here are my initial objectives:
1 - Program the thermostats with time/temperature schedules, 3 thermostats, 3 zones, some common program points but initially I just want them to be programmed thermostats with smartphone enabled overrides.
2 - Time controls on hot water circulation pump
3 - Time controls on porch light (sunset on to midnight off)
4 - Time controls on patio light (same as porch)[/quote]
With Vera you are very much in the world of DIY, but this forum, is one of the very best out there at helping oldies and newbies. Also knowing how your HA system works (behind the scenes) can give you (and the wife) some reassurances should something strange occur or you want to make subtle changes. (My Mrs always wants the temp changed or the scheduling altered, so being reliant on someone while a quicker route in the initial set up, can create some challenges/stresses after they leave)
So, taking one thing/phase at a time, your initial objectives seem relatively straight forward to do - for example Time & Temperature can be set up as Triggers to fire scenes to do what you want to occur.
Can I assume all you devices are installed and visible in the Vera UI?
If so, have you created any scenes yet ?
Obviously if you’ve completely given up on the DIY route, then please disregard the above
Well Mike it certainly doesnt sound like what youre asking of the system is anything it cant do. However you will have to invest a lot more time as there is TONS to learn and with infinite number of ways to do it. I am an electrical engineer as well and already it has taken me many many hours just learning all the nomenclature and commonalities within these products. Just like learning any new system of any kind you have to invest the time up front to learn all about it and understand it well before you can actually work on or with it.
Thank you for the replies. I have been very busy with the system and have been spending more time working on it than I have reading and posting in the forum.
I have made a ton of progress. Part of my issue was with the Remotec battery powered thermostats. I have since replaced them with powered Trane thermostats that are now up and running with programmed setbacks through my Veralite. The Trane units offer lots of advantages over the more expensive Remotec units, so glad I made the change. One of my favorite features is the setpoint limit, I have mine set to the ladies of the home cannot ramp the heat up to 75 degrees, I locked it and 70 and hid the Thermostat manual!
I now have the 3 thermostats, porch light, side light, and hot water circulating pump on schedules. I will add more diversity and individual day programs to the thermostats as I have time and see the need. I also have a Evolve controlled relay running my gas fireplace. I bought the remotec relay and the evolve relay and have found the evolve unit to be a much better unit with much greater range. The remotec won’t work in the master bedroom even though it is only 40’ from the Trane thermostat that works perfectly. The evolve unit in the same place works perfectly. I have the kitchen above cabinet lights on a zwave dimmer and a Schlage be469 lock on the side door of my guest house. It was a bear to get the Schlage to work with my Veralite, took me about 3 hours over 2 different evenings before it was fully recognized and functional. I have a second Schlage lock for my mainhouse but I have not been as successful getting it to pair with the veralite. It gets recognized but fails to establish a secure connection. I have 2 different programming sequences I have found in these forums but neither of them have worked getting the second lock to pair. At this point I almost think I just got lucky with the first unit and it paired before the unit timed out. Anyway, I will keep at it as I expect I am making a simple mistake stepping over a critical step in the process. These things tend to work out if you set the subconscious work on them for a few days.
I have not yet installed any of my occupancy sensors or zwave remote. I will probably get another evolve unit and hook it up to my garage door. I am not that excited about having to turn it on then turn it off, I would prefer it worked like a TDODE relay where it unlatches automatically after a few seconds. Maybe I will need to just program a scene with short timeout, that should work. After I get the lock on the main house and a few occupancy sensors I will probably try to work on some scenes that use some logic to control the thermostat setbacks.
Anyway, I think I am over the initial learning curve and have become somewhat addicted to this new affliction called home automation.
I will probably start posting more on specific issues in different forums.
Mike
Electrical Engineer
Certified Energy Manager
Solar Power Engineer
Lighting designer
(I guess I felt compelled to tell a bit about my related knowledge)
I have a second Schlage lock for my mainhouse but I have not been as successful getting it to pair with the veralite. It gets recognized but fails to establish a secure connection. I have 2 different programming sequences I have found in these forums but neither of them have worked getting the second lock to pair. At this point I almost think I just got lucky with the first unit and it paired before the unit timed out. Anyway, I will keep at it as I expect I am making a simple mistake stepping over a critical step in the process. These things tend to work out if you set the subconscious work on them for a few days.
Does the Schlage lock work if you relocate Vera(at least temporarily) close to the lock? If so, you might be facing an issue where the last node in a route, the node that communicates directly with the lock, does not support Beaming. With locks, the node that communicates directly with the lock must support Beaming.
I will probably get another evolve unit and hook it up to my garage door. I am not that excited about having to turn it on then turn it off, I would prefer it worked like a TDODE relay where it unlatches automatically after a few seconds. Maybe I will need to just program a scene with short timeout, that should work.
I know you said you don't care for the Remotec relay, but the Remotec ZMF-80 does have a "fail safe mode" that will switch it off automatically after a configurable period of time(I use the 1 minute minimum). Also, Fibaro relays have a similar better feature, though they are not yet available in the U.S.
The Garage door plugin, by @RichardTSchaefer, combines a relay and a door senor into a single virtual device that appears to be a lock in the Vera UI. When activated, this plugin sends the On command to the relay and then follows it with an Off command. It works quite well.
I may be paranoid, but even with the above two Off commands for the garage door relay, I still go a step further. I create an Off safety scene that uses the activation of the garage door relay as a trigger. When the relay is turned on in any way, the scene immediately sends an Off command. When everything works correctly a garage door relay will receive an Off command from the Garage door plugin, an Off command from the safety scene, and if it’s still On after one minute the relay’s fail safe will turn it off.
I use the Evolve Dry Contact module at the end where the garage door button was. I expanded the one gang garage light two two gangs and put the Evolve unit hidden behind a blank gang panel.
This way you can trigger the garage door via the button you currently use, but allow the evolve to also close the circuit at the end too. I have a lighted button and it works fine with this setup.
Lastly, when you use the Evolve via the Vera, this plugin has the short close then open circuit built in…and just needs any zwave sensor to let you know whether the door is closed in the plugin. For the sensor could go magnet (getting the magnets to align can be a challenge) or a new z-Wave tilt sensor. http://apps.mios.com/plugin.php?id=2998
I echo the others comments, unless you want to pay someone thousands of dollars to design (and then adjust things to your liking a few times), you’ll need to wade through the learning process. For me personally, I have more time than money (which is all spent on ZWave gear)
So what is with the verification required to post on this site??? Higher security protocol than accessing my bank accounts.
So I was finally able to pair my second Schlage BE469 deadbolt yesterday and it’s now working perfectly. Comparing home automation with a buddy that has the Xfinity system I freaked my wife out as she knew I was away then she heard the locks locking/unlocking and the kitchen lights were dimming by themselves. She sent me a text to stop messing with the house as I was freaking her out, whoops.
My buddy has some cameras on his Xfinity, he can check on his dogs or other areas in the house. I think I need to add this functionality to my system so cameras are next on the to do list.
Ha! I had to laugh when I saw your post. I could have posted this, right down to being in the SF east bay. Just sitting down to spend another Saturday and see if I can just get the basics up and running?wish me luck. And after logging in I see that my UI has changed and says ‘beta.’ Oof! That’s all I need to make things even more confusing!
I actually tried customer support and they sent me here??
Best Home Automation shopping experience. Shop at Ezlo!
