Hello Everyone,
I know there are some forum posts related to this. But my question is different. I want to see if it’s entirely possible in which a Micasa Verde light can be a secondary controller to my Simon XTi. To provide some justification, here is my brief background. I currently have a Simon XTi under contract with alarm.com. Various zWave devices are present.
In all honesty, I am quite happy with alarm.com. But they are lacking some advanced features that I am looking for. For example, I want to program “scenes” and do some scripting. In a nutshell, I am looking for them to “peacefully coexist” And I know that is quite a loaded expectation. I don’t really care about alarm integration at all as the alarm.com app meets my needs with that. Im looking to control my zWave lights, thermostat, and even door locks.Is this possible with my setup? I’m just looking for this solution until my contract is over and then I will look at a DSC Powerseries. Fyi, I have my installer and dealer code. I can provide any other details you need. Just didn’t want to bore you with the details
Sorry for bringing up an old thread. But I just added in a Vera to my setup and wanted to update this thread in case anyone is doing research. From researching online, I couldn’t find anything. And with no responses, I assume no one knew anything either.
So I tried making the Vera a secondary controller and use the replicate function in the GE Simon Xti. For some reason, it wiped out all my devices. Nothing on Vera when I chose the copy from Z-wave network option. And all the devices from Simon were out. I did use the send node info function on the Simon prior to that. Maybe that has something to do with it.
Although the devices were wiped out. I had to use the Simon (in retrospect, I could have used the Vera too,) to remove all my devices. I had about 30 devices, so that was fun! I then decided to add in just my door lock to Vera. Then as a test, I added in just my door lock to the Vera. I then used the replicate function on the Simon. Simon Xti indicated it synced. But I then had to choose, update z-wave network configuration function on the Simon Xti. The lock ended up displaying on the Simon Xti unit. Then at alarm.com, I tried the lock and it worked. Went back to the Vera and the lock worked there too!. There has been a lot of talk on these forums and online to where you can’t have a lock on the secondary. In my case, the Simon Xti was the secondary device and the Vera is the primary. I went through all my devices including a Z-wave thermostat. Everything synced perfectly.
While I accomplished the opposite of what I am asking for. The Simon XTi and the Vera are successfully managed together. Obviously alarm system integration is not there, but I really don’t care about that. Alarm.com’s rules have decent automation at the arming level. I was looking for advanced scenes when I am at home. I get the convenience of alarm.com integration to where I can use a cellular connection (I can even power toggle my modem and routers remotely which is a +1 on the alarm.com side.) But I also get the power of faster device response and scenes with Vera. I’m hooked with the Vera.
In conclusion, I have exceeded my expectations and combined both of these systems together. If anyone is looking for assistance, feel free to either ask on this forum or PM me.
This is good to hear. I just started searching for this today as I have a Simon XT through frontpoint and I wanted to add a Vera controller.
Cool.I’m glad I could offer some insight and it’s a great setup. I believe that with a Simon Xt, it has the same capability. Mine is a bit different due to the touchscreen interface on the Xti. But according to this doc, you should be able to do the same thing: http://www.interlogix.com/_/assets/library/466-2461_H_Simon_XT_XTi_GSM_Module_Install.pdf.
One thing I forgot to mention is that the Vera has to be extremely close to the Simon Xti. On the Vera Lite, I used the battery mode and literally had to place it on top of my Simon Xti. I couldn’t get it to respond within 6 feet.