Vera 2 or Vera 3???

Community Playground Getting Started & Initial Setup
1

I just jumping into Z-Wave for my HA system now. I have an Elk M1 Gold panel that I need to integrate with Z-Wave. I understand I should get a Vera 3 for the Z-Wave controller and it will talk to the Elk as well. I just found out I cannot get a Vera 3 here (China). I can get the Vera 2 here.

What is the difference? What will I lose? Can UI5 be flashed to a Vera 2?

I will need to control lights, receptacles, curtains, power sensors, audio and video. Also using iPhone and iPad.

Thanks…

2

Vera 3 is a newer unit with a faster processor and much more memory (Vera Lite is 2x Vera 2; Vera 3 is 4x Vera 2). With that said you can run UI5 on Vera 2; many people on the forum do (although I still run UI4 on my Vera 2). All the devices you mention can be controlled by a Vera 2. The real question is how many devices in total are you planning to control? The total number of devices, and the number/complexity of scenes, will determine if Vera 2 has enough memory to run your setup effectively.

Hope this helps.

3

Thank you ufd108 for the response.

I will have 30-40 devices in total. Maybe only 5 scenes configured. I will have 5 cams as well. Also later I want to use it for audio/video control and use maybe xbmc. I have a Dune player I would use with that purpose.

Mainly I need it to interface with my Elk M1 panel as well because I need the Vera to trigger lighting events based on zone status from the Elk.

Is this too much for the Vera 2? Seems I can only get the Vera 2 in China.

4

I currently have 28 devices (between switches, sensors, and controllers), 4 IP cameras, and 17 scenes on my Vera 2. For the most part it runs fine. Occasionally some of my scenes take a while (5 - 20 seconds) to trigger. I’m not sure if that is something with particular scenes (it happens on two scenes working the same lights most often) or devices, or just Vera. One thing about Vera, if you’re not an expert it’s very difficult to troubleshoot (and I’m an electrical engineer). You can judge for yourself based on this.

If I had a choice I would go with Vera 3. But if you can only get Vera 2 where you are it should be adequate.