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Community Playground General Discussions
1

Hi, I’m just getting into home automation hardware/software and my research has brought me here. The Vera looks very interesting and promising but I’m thoroughly confused. I’ve been reading about different versions of hardware (some with dongle, some without) and different versions of UI (some html, some flash) and then whatever this Lua language is. Then there are fees or not? Limited emails/SMS or unlimited?

Some people talk about requesting older rev 1 units - why? Are they better? People are talking about the pain in using the scripting language. Is all control done via scripting or is anything done through a GUI besides configuration? Is any of the firmware stable or not?

As an embedded engineer I’m not worried about tinkering but it would be nice to just plug the unit in and be up and running quickly. I have no idea if that’s possible with this device or not.

2

So with a little follow-up surfing on the net, it looks like basic logic is available through the GUI (eg. lights on at 9:00) but advanced logic requires scripting (lights on when motion and it’s dark). I can handle that. I still don’t know about the different hardware versions and firmware UI versions.

3

@jonno2k, I’ve been using for about 2 weeks now. The first 2 weeks of ownership I was stuck with an EU dongle that wouldn’t communicate with any of my Z-wave devices. Support was hard to come by outside of this forum. Once that was finally fixed, my rev 1 running 1.0.979 began humming along quite well. I’ve heard the rev 2 boxes don’t have the 4 ports that the rev 1’s have - which are modified Asus routers anyway. On the plus side, the rev 2’s don’t need the RF dongle that ships with older models. Its embedded. Other comments…

  1. It does seem promising
  2. I’m not sure about the fee structure of Emails/SMS - I don’t use them
  3. Scripting is not required for basic functionality or simple events
  4. The GUI is not for the feint of heart, but if you’re an embedded guy you should likely have the required patience and fortitude to enjoy it
  5. The Mi Casa Verde (MCV round these parts) is busy trying to stabilize and enhance GUI and features, but not necessarily those requested by this here community

While I don’t regret my decision to purchase and keep the Vera, I would be careful who to recommend it to. On the other hand, I’ve heard the competition is a bit pricier and not much simpler to use. What else I enjoy about the Vera is that Home Buddy is available for controlling from Android devices. I wasn’t too thrilled with the site mushed together for iPhone/iPod devices, but it is usable. I’ve heard there is a JAVA based app for Blackberry’s - but no luck installing on my wifes Storm 1. Also, because the Vera runs as a web server, its not extremely difficult to develop against it.

my 2c

4

I think you assessment is correct. The setup and basic control is handled through the UI. If you have programming experience advanced logic is simple to figure out using Lua scripting.

As for the different hardware, unless you wanted to use Vera your router in addition to home automation (which I would recommend) the new hardware with it’s battery pack and smaller form factor is arguable better than the old.

In terms of the firmware, there are basically two branches. Both have the same backend engine, but different front ends. The 1.0.x line has a basic HTML UI and is referred to as UI2. The 1.1.x line has a flash based UI, referred to as UI3, that had some major issues in its first release, but many/most of them I believe have been resolved (I’m still using UI2).

Based on the poor response to UI3 in these forums, MCV has started working towards a UI4 and have reached out to the forum community to help in the process. There was a top level forum category for UI3 proposals and discussions.

5

Sorry missing you question about fees. Check out the following about the services provided free vs paid. There is apparently a limit of 20 emails/sms per day with the free option. There has been some question about the specifics of this limit, and MCV has promised to update the following page to clearly explain this.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Find_Vera_Service

6

Thanks BigConsumer and MikeHolczer - some great info there!

With a router already here, I’d be disabling the Vera’s wifi capabilities anyway and have it sit behind the existing router. I was just wondering if the HW differences meant certain versions of firmware would run on one but not the other but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case.

My system will be fairly simple initially with a door lock (either Schlage or Kwikset), an outdoor light, and maybe an electrical receptacle although all the ones I’ve seen thus far only control 1 outlet not both. I’ll keep reading and learning. I have a feeling this product could be a good place to start but I just don’t want to end up with a $300 lemon.

Thanks again guys!

Jon

7

Jon,
I’ve had my Vera since Nov-2008, and also “started small”. I lurked in the forums for about 7 months before I finally pulled the pin and got a real account, but I’ve upgraded through a ton of intermediate versions (etc) without ever replacing/upgrading the HW.

The V1 that I have is not that different from the V2 HW, as others have pointed out.

Switch ports.
V1 has a 4 Port switch, in addition to the “WAN” link
V2 has a 1 Port switch, in addition to the “WAN” link

USB ports.
V1 has 1 USB Port spare (as the other is consumed by the ZWave Dongle)
V2 has 2 USB Ports spare (since the ZWave radio is embedded)

Size
V1 is physically larger, since it’s essentially an ASUS 500G Premium
V2 is a different enclosure

CPU Speed.
From what I can tell, they’re they same

ZWave Firmware Flashing.
V1 Dongle has to be put into a PC to Firmware flash upgrade it.
V2 Embedded ZWave controller can apparently be upgraded “in place” by Vera

If you’re going to put this thing inside a Structured Wiring Closet, then the V1 might be a better option, since you can put the Dongle on a standard USB-Extension cable (as I have) and have the rest inside the [RF proof] Metal Enclosure.

Vera isn’t my Primary Router, so I really don’t use Vera’s Switch ports on the back.

This is mostly because:

a) I “play” with it a lot.
Changing Firmwares, writing Plugins (Etc) leads to lots of downtime (for me) as I write things, bounce services etc.
This likely isn’t a typical usage, but it’s common for me

b) My Primary Router (etc) is much more secure, since it’s focussed on being a Router/Firewall (actually part of a double layer)
I keep my Router OS fully upgraded and it’s much more modern/feature full than the stuff running on Vera.

… but there are many people here who do, so folks seem to be split on the fence as to which is the “better” one for them, depending upon their particular needs.

8

Thought I’d jump in with my $0.02.

Basically, I agree with BigConsumer. That is, I don’t regret purchasing the Vera for myself, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to any non-techie friends or family. Despite all of the marketing that pitches Vera as so simple and easy to use that even a novice could do it, that’s definitely not the case. Even with UI2 - which is much more user-friendly and intuitive than UI3 - many of the pages would be too scary for many novices. And UI3 (which is the default interface for the new hardware units) is just completely unusable for anyone but tech enthusiasts.

But, as long as you are a techie who doesn’t mind doing a little tinkering and occasionally writing a few lines of code, Vera is a great product. It has way more features than its competitors, (see this page for a side-by-side comparison), and yet costs much less. Also, I love that MCV has fully unlocked the device, giving us an open API, the ability to run custom scripts, SSH access, and even access to the underlying OpenWrt operating system. That is what truly makes the product so compelling to me.

Having said that, there is definitely still room for improvement. MCV’s customer service is not very good (you have a better chance of getting support in these forums than by submitting a support ticket), the FindVera.com service is not very compelling or well done, and many of Vera’s most touted features haven’t been fully implemented or don’t work (e.g. energy usage monitoring). Then, of course, there are the UI problems that have received so much attention recently. So, they definitely still have some work to do.

9

Great advice all around! And that list of comparisons by guessed should be on the wiki somewhere!

Well, I guess I’ll surf a bit longer and see what other info I can find. I have a home server running anyway and there’s another software solution along with USB stick that seems good too (not sure if I can mention the name but you’ll know). But then again sometimes I feel like shutting down the server and this little box can run on its own. The ability to get my hands dirty with Linux tinkering is appealing as well.

Sigh. No decisions are easy :slight_smile: