Hey Folks: My Vera 1 crapped out a couple of months ago for a variety of reasons. I bought the Vera 2 upgrade during the introductory period but haven’t hooked up yet. I have motion detectors, switches, cameras and thermostats, no locks.
My experience level is Electrical Engineer in a previous life but I certainly cannot write code but can do the Vera basics.
My problem is that I am absolutely mentally exhausted with the constant tinkering and rebooting and upgrading and instability that Vera 1 required/exhibited. I am exhausted with the random problems of Vera and I am exhausted with MiCasaVerde’s questionable support and most of all I am tired of defending MiCasaVerde.
My question is: Is Vera 2 reliably working for you with just nominal day-to-day effort, without coding and advanced knowledge levels. Will Vera 2 be another source of mental exhaustion for me? Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
After many, many years of struggling to get X-10 stuff working reliably, I finally threw in the towel and decided to migrate to one of the RF based systems. I settled on Vera2 after reading the marketing literature and the technical docs on Z-wave technology. My first purchase was Vera2 so I have no experience with prior versions.
My experience has been that the z-wave equipment for the most part is quite reliable. The Vera2 system, on the other hand, has been very challenging. The most significant challenge is that many configuration changes seem to take a very long time to take effect even if I reboot the Vera2 device. It almost seems that some of the changes go into a very long queue that can take 24 hours or more to process. I think the UI needs a lot of work, but that is fairly low on my priority list.
I have my Vera2 installed in a 2nd home and it is fairly stable since I am not making any changes. I do, however, depend on notifications (motion particularly) and those have not been consistent. Recently I filed a ticket on this issue and was told that an upgrade to their notification system should resolve this issue.
My expectations were fairly low and unfortunately were met. I would be more satisfied if the product roadmap was clear and progress towards improvements and bug fixes was well communicated. I feel, as apparently others do, that I’m not sure if I’m waiting for the product to be abandoned or improved. I sometimes feel that I’m wasting time and money that could be better spent with a competitive product. I haven’t seen any substantial communication from Micasaverde that helps me have confidence that my ‘waiting’ will be rewarded.
I have had similar experience with both Vera1 and Vera2, 90% (maybe 95) of the time it works perfectly (well at least reliably) and I love it. The other 10% drives ya crazy. Problems usually arise when making changes (with some exceptions) so when the setup is working I have had periods of months that have been very solid. Then add an upgrade for some functionality that was missing and other things that worked previously can get broken. Notwithstanding moments of intense frustration I still believe it’s a hellofalota functionality for the price including the only free all secure online service. Guess it’s too late for me I’m already addicted, musta drank the coolaid. 8)
I have a similar set up to yours at my lake cabin on a Vera 2 running UI3. I have not had a problem with it since installing early last spring. My advice is to use one of the older UI’s - not UI4 … and wait for a stable release from MCV.
Vera 2 works great…the mobile apps are wonderful. And haven’t had to do much. But I am at a point where I’m no longer able to add any devices with that wonderful Failure to Learn error. I have a wall switch to replace and have to re-add my lock…and can’t do either.
I have Vera2 in my residence, and it works really well for what I want it to do. Schlage door lock, multiple thermostats, multiple switches, motion detector.
I wish I had more control over the program, though. It would be really nice to have a “random” event (within parameters) for security reasons. It would also be nice-and in some cases needed- to have “if-then” control. For instance, turn certain lights on upon keypad entry-ONLY AT NIGHT.
Overall, it’s a great unit. I have no idea what UI I’m on…
Even though it does not happen particularly fast… and they aren’t the best communicators… I can assure you the team at MCV is steadfast on sticking with and improving the product.
I will agree with you that their communication here on the forums assuring you of that should be improved. But I can say with confidence that MCV has the full intention of making vera the best it can be.
Have you thought of using LUA coding. All that you wish for is there!
I use a virtual device that is turned on at sunset and turned off at sunrise. I then use LUA code in my scenes to decide if it is night or not, and thus turn on or not turn on lights as appropriate.
I have, but I don’t have the time nor the interest to learn the code or how to implement it.
For you folks that do coding, is there any interest in selling your code? I think if the numbers were reasonable, there might be a sizeable market for good code. Might start a “LUA Marketplace” heading!
I have a vera2 running ui2 at my cabin. Rock solid… had some problems pairing an hrds1 this weekend, but on reflection it looks like the hrds1 was the problem.
I have a vera2 running ui4 at home. Rock solid as well. They are both running latest version that is available via the gui.
Not running any beta or special releases and have no major gripes with stability. I have held off upgrading my remote ui2 to ui4 as my first go round at home was a bit painful. Was waiting for them to announce a newer release that made upgrades a bit easier.
Got my Vera2 about two weeks ago and it set up well on my home network while I held my breath. Just tried it with one lamp module and it was great. Cool, no problem. I then took it to my vacation home and tried to get it to communicate with the router there, LOL. No documentation that is written by a native English speaker, for sure. Lots of conflicting instructions, frustrated owners and my being on the verge of a nervous breakdown after 8 hours of of resetting routers and obscure settings. Ah, if only the Vera2 reset button worked (it didn’t). Then there is the unmarked button on the back and confusion about which charger to use, etc. When I was on the verge of standing on a chair and jumping on it, I came across this simple procedure posted in a forum by someone whose psychic kharma is better than mine…
“connect to lan 2 with your pc
Set your PC LAN settings to static IP
192.168.81.2
Reboot as necessary
log into vera with 192.168.81.1”
It worked. Great solution when you can’t get in otherwise. If only there were some reliable documentation updated even once a month. Functionally, the Vera2 is probably worth the $200 but, as a finished product, it is an insult to anyone who buys it now. I love the plain white box which tells me (no surprise to any of you) that any thoughts of “marketing” are about as close as the planet Jupiter. I try to rationalize my purchase by thinking that it will retail for $500 once it is finished, if ever. Hmmm, rather have a iPad with real support. I’m a retired engineer and I enjoy a challenge but developing a product for someone else and having to pay for the privilege is utter insanity. Lack of attention to courageous customers will kill this project eventually. Best of luck to all.
My experience has been the same as everyone here. I switched to Vera2 out of frustration with Vera1. Guess what I got? Frustration!!! Most of it works most of the time. But that is not enough when it is your house! In particular, one of my switches bricked during the upgrade and no one can tell me how to make it work again.
Also- my girlfriend is ready to kill me after all of the hours I spend reseting, tinkering and banging my head on the desk…
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