Hey all-
I am trying to decide on which direction to take with my project. I’ve got a couple of properties I need to control door locks and tstats at. No need for any crazy automation stuff, just these things.
Trying to decide between the vera2 or the schlage bridge and have a couple of questions.
Do I have to have a separate account for each Schlage bridge used? - tried of digging around their website. Anyone know?
Reliability is a must. If I go the vera 2 route - what is the most stable version?
Any other recommendations?
I really dislike monthly fees (schlage account), but I just don’t have the time to waste messing around getting this going. Any insight would be great!
If you plan on using anything that Schalge doesn’t support like sprinkler control, then Vera would be your best choice.
If you want Locks, Lights, cameras, thermostats, and soon supporting motion sensors then the Schalge might meet your needs. I am not sure how Schlage works with multiple gateways, I assume you’d pay per gateway. If you absolutely do not want any monthly fees, then Vera is the best choice.
For light setups like you mention Vera as perfromed well for many people. Just remember that if Vera isn’t broken, don’t fix here. MCV is on the verge of releasing a firmware that fixes a lot of small issues, or you could stick with a known working older firmware.
I am running two systems, one at my home and one at my vacation rental. Both have large numbers of controlled lights (>30 each), a thermostat each, 3 Kwikset locks each , water sensors, iVera, etc. Both are simple systems in terms of functionality.
I am running UI4 and can honestly say that I have experienced no problems in months. They just work and I avoid monthly fees. I really find Vera to be perfect at the vacation rental, I have a scene to turn all power and heat off when vacant and keep a handle on the temperature (and drift it back to my prefered values) when occupied. Plus being able to set a PIN code of the renters choice on a schedule has saved me so much time…
I had the pre-LiNK electronic lock from Schlage and loved it. I bought a new place and want to automate the locks and thermostat. I would like to turn the heater on before I head up there and have it be the right temp when I get there and I would like to set visitor codes for guests or vendors. Don’t know the value of the other automation stuff as it’s a condo, so no outdoor sprinklers, lights to worry about. I use IP cameras for motion detect and video surveillance that works well as it is now.
Of course the downside of LiNK is about $100/year in fees. The downside of Vera is about $150 more upfront costs compared to the LiNK bridge. The question is, how stable are either of these products. Once setup, can I leave them unattended for a few months without worrying about if it recovers after a power outage or if it hangs due to a bug?
Last question, if I bought the Schlage LiNK lock only, no bridge, no Vera, can I still use it like an ordinary electronic lock? Can I change codes locally on the lock like the non-LiNK version?
They are both stable products, Schlage has the walled-garden approach of only supporting certain devices and functionality and this probably gives the system as a whole a bit more reliability, while Vera takes on the incredible task of trying to support all Z-Wave devices and does a good job of it. While Vera is open to the Z-Wave world, you can still pick and choose your devices to make sure they have been well supported by MCV and make Vera as reliable as possible.
The Schlage name means there is a larger company backing their offering, which could mean better support I am not sure. I guess you might be able to call and get them to reverse charges on a months service if service was terrible that month, I don’t know anyone with the system. If you don’t want to mess around with devices that may not be fully supported yet, then Schlage might be best as it only supports what they choose to. Be aware that some Schlage devices like their IP cameras are locked to Schlage and wouldn’t port over to Vera later, while most everything else should.
For a reliable property managment setup, I’d go with Vera, Schlage locks, Leviton or WD lighting, and either Trane or WD thermostats. But see what others have to say who are actually doing it, there is a sperarate forum section for vaction homes now.
I believe you can still add/delete codes, sans Vera, using the Z-Wave Schlage the same way you would use a standard keyless Schlage. Kwikset is coming out with a Z-Wave upgrade kit to convert one of their keyless locks to Z-Wave, I’m not sure if this is possible on the Schlage.
I used the Schlage link from 2008 - 2009 running about 30 devices (Schlage locks, Trane T-stat’s and switches) with at least a weekly bridge lockup that required a reboot. (pre 5.02)
After trying for hours to add some D/W sensors I gave up and called tech support (they did answer the phone) and was told they don’t support the devices. I then bought Vera and ran a paralleled system while the subscription ran out.
Although I’ve had my fair share of system let downs with Vera, Vera is leaps and bounds above and beyond the Schlage Link system.
You will need to pay a subscription for each bridge you connect.
Thanks guys. I would say the reliability part ranks above cost to be honest. Our properties are only an hour or so away, but today we had a guest lock his keys in one of the cabins. Last week we had someone turn off the heat when they left trying to be nice - but it’s 20 degrees out! I also like the idea setting the lock schedule too as Andrew pointed out.
I hope to install the routers\AP’s this weekend along with the locks and tstats.
Unfortunately the Schlage locks won’t do scheduling even with the updates they plan to put out soon. At least the update release notes don’t say it’s fixed for that yet. In that respect the bridge may be the way to go. If you want the scheduling to work on a Vera 2 with those locks you need to load UI2 .979 I tried that but then the zwave didn’t work because that firmware is meant for a Vera 1 with a separate zwave dongle. It wouldn’t recognize the internal zwave for some reason on the Vera 2. I think you get 3 months free when you sign up for the bridge account so if you already have them give it a go and cancel when the free period is up so they don’t charge you card. Maybe by then they will have the Vera sorted out.
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