HCL impressions from a new user

[CopyCatz 4]

I decided to buy the HC lite as primary home controller, since I do too much tinkering with my aeon stick setup which easily annoys my girlfriend. So I needed something stable, a "production environment" if you will. I am currently busy moving all my z-wave devices from my old setup, and so fare this is my impression. I do have some questions as well so maybe someone can help me with that.

I already had a bunch of fibaro modules, but the HCL came with one of the new motion sensors so I'll share my thoughts on that one too

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1. The HCL build quality is outstanding, not much required to get it installed and running.

2. First setback however seemed to be that the network cable included in the package was faulty. The network led on the HCL did not come on until I used another cable. Strangely a friend of mine who recently bought a HC had the same issue.

3. There is no software included, so you have to go to the site to download the finder app. Setback number two: the download page was down for maintenance that night. Oh well, looked up the ip in my router so not a real problem, but less technical people might have an issue. Also registering on the forum can take a while so no option to ask questions to the community right away.

4. Started testing the HCL with the new motion sensor, which is awesome. The range on it is huge, my vision and aeon motion sensors seem to have about half the range! Detection is fast and accurate, the "earthquake" sensing is more sensitive than I thought (although a shame that is not in the interface yet). The lux measurement is also reliable enough to detect sunset/sunrise (setting variables), something I cannot do with the aeon 4in1's.

5. Since I have the HCL, there is no Lua. I will have to live with that, because I wasn't willing to pay 600 euros for the HC when I saw so many issues on the forum. In the near future hopefully v4 will fix a lot of things and I can start building a domoticz or rfxcom plugin

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6. However the variables and scenes offer me a lot of what I was planning to do with the HCL, so far only a few issues: I can't seem to close my shutters to 50% in a scene, and I cannot seem to find a randomize option in a scene to switch on lights around sunset. Also the fixed times "15 minutes after sunset" seem a bit strange; why can't I specifiy minutes myself? Without lua these things should be supported in the scenes as a minimum.

7. My duwi remote can be added to the network, but I don't see any groups so I can't configure it throught the interface. It also seems strange to me that my water sensor has no config yet whereas the newer motion sensor does have one.

So that's it for now. Overall I'm pretty happy with the HCL. If anyone could show me how to close blinds/shutter to a percentage in a scene I would be even happier

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[K.Bergmann 2]

CopyCatz,

Thank you for your feedback. In case of Roller Shutters please try to use TURN ON block and enter the value in green window. If you will need any help please feel free to ask!

[ivan.ruban 3]

Thanks for a positive feedback!

5. Since I have the HCL, there is no Lua. I will have to live with that, because I wasn't willing to pay 600 euros for the HC when I saw so many issues on the forum. In the near future hopefully v4 will fix a lot of things and I can start building a domoticz or rfxcom plugin

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You can use external scripting server (f.ex. php/postgresql - can be any) together with HCL to make all complicated logic and then call API on HCL. That was discussed several times on the forum. With HC2 it is nevertheless much easier. RfxCom devices are extremly cheap, I worked with them and they are not bad. The only problem with them is single-side no-meshed protocol and interference issues. I like LightwaveRF devices.

7. My duwi remote can be added to the network, but I don't see any groups so I can't configure it throught the interface. It also seems strange to me that my water sensor has no config yet whereas the newer motion sensor does have one.

That is what must be fixed asap I believe. Even if you configure your remote, you cannot trigger scenes from it, just direct association to devices will work. Please see

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4. Started testing the HCL with the new motion sensor, which is awesome. The range on it is huge, my vision and aeon motion sensors seem to have about half the range! Detection is fast and accurate, the "earthquake" sensing is more sensitive than I thought (although a shame that is not in the interface yet). The lux measurement is also reliable enough to detect sunset/sunrise (setting variables), something I cannot do with the aeon 4in1's.

Looking forward also for delivery of my Fibaro motion sensor. Fibaro engineers forgot to incldue a very important functionality - DC power, but otherwise it's good that everyone has just positive experience with it! Thanks for that Fibaro!

[CopyCatz 4]

CopyCatz,

Thank you for your feedback. In case of Roller Shutters please try to use TURN ON block and enter the value in green window. If you will need any help please feel free to ask!

I've tried that, but nothing happens. Are you sure it should work that way?

Also I set my blinds to close at sunset + 15 minutes but nothing happened. Is there a place in the interface where I can see what the current sunset and sunrise times are, I can't seem to find it..

[Rami 0]

Agree with all the points here. I just loved from veralite to HCL a month ago but unfortunately it's not a full move yet since I have a couple of issues with HCL. Software and interface is way better than vera. It's the best out there but it's not so stable yet specially with virtual devices and http commands.

Got it working with XBMC , iTach flex and all my other devices except my danalock , remotec AC controller and minimote so now I'm working with both vera and HCL and running scenes via http on both which is not bad.

My other main problem with HCL is the remote connection which is not working 99% of the time . Not to mention the scenes limitations and lack of documentation.

Just it my fibaro motion sensors 2 days ago. They are great and solving a couple of my day/ night scenes problems since HCL never detects my sunrise and sunset hours correctly.

Finally HCL is the best controller out there for me. I don't want to pay the full price for HC2 and I'm not good with LUA anyway so I'm not missing much but I believe fibaro team should work on the scene creator and make it more advanced and fix all the issues of the non supported devices.

I'm still happy I bought HCL and can't wait for the software update.

[CopyCatz 4]

They are great and solving a couple of my day/ night scenes problems since HCL never detects my sunrise and sunset hours correctly.

So you're saying sunset/rise doesn't work for you either? I waited till 10 pm last night and my shutters didnt close at "sunset + 15 minutes". I think sunset stuff is the most basic of all scenes so it should always work. And a spot in the UI where I can see what sunrise is supposed to be would be a minimum too since I dont have lua to debug it.

[wasil 0]

As far as I know there is bug with sunset and sunrise scenes in HCL. You will have to wait till firmware update...

[-TiTo- 1]

Yes i also think HCL has bug in sunrise/sunset feature.

But you can check the time with this url:

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[CopyCatz 4]

Ah thanks! As we already discovered today by the blinds going down, the sunset hour is -5 hours off. The sunrise about +1 hour... This is bad. I have the same long/lat as a friend with a HC but it isn't working for me...

The HC has: "sunriseHour":"06:32","sunsetHour":"20:45"

My HCL has: "sunriseHour":"07:48","sunsetHour":"15:42"

Same lat/long...

[waveuk 0]

Ah thanks! As we already discovered today by the blinds going down, the sunset hour is -5 hours off. The sunrise about +1 hour... This is bad. I have the same long/lat as a friend with a HC but it isn't working for me...

The HC has: "sunriseHour":"06:32","sunsetHour":"20:45"

My HCL has: "sunriseHour":"07:48","sunsetHour":"15:42"

Same lat/long...

Same problem here with HCL. I had to change the scenes to work with LUX.

[Dalle1985 16]

Have you checked your date settings? That it looks like it might be off by three to four months. The time corresponds to a mid winter time schedule.

[Johan71 0]

Ah thanks! As we already discovered today by the blinds going down, the sunset hour is -5 hours off. The sunrise about +1 hour... This is bad. I have the same long/lat as a friend with a HC but it isn't working for me...

The HC has: "sunriseHour":"06:32","sunsetHour":"20:45"

My HCL has: "sunriseHour":"07:48","sunsetHour":"15:42"

Same lat/long...

Same problem here with HCL. I had to change the scenes to work with LUX.

the support said to me it is a bug and will be fixed in 4,0....... odugligt.

[Dalle1985 16]

That seems to be their autoresponse nowaday "will be fixed with 4.0"

[KristianO 15]

I sent in 7 question and got the same same answer on all of them... Guess what?

[waveuk 0]

That seems to be their autoresponse nowaday "will be fixed with 4.0"

When is v4 supposed to be released?

I also noticed some advertised functionalities like multimedia management are also not available until v4.

[Dalle1985 16]

That seems to be their autoresponse nowaday "will be fixed with 4.0"

When is v4 supposed to be released?

I also noticed some advertised functionalities like multimedia management are also not available until v4.

Thats a great question! We are all waiting in suspense for it and fibaro isn't giving any info! A lot of the functionality will be added, but there is still a lot of unknowns... Like whether they'll turn the http api upside down so all external scripts will need remodding... Or how the plugin structure will work.

[savage 0]

Next to the issues that will be fixed in v4 (like the sunset/sunrise) I have some peculiarities, Ï'm wondering if other's have the same issues:

1. Newly created scenes often don't work, but magically work after creating it again

2. The checkboxes in the general scene-tab are most of the times not stored (Active Scene/Start when Home Center 2 starts/Protect by PIN/Do not allow alarm to stop scene while alarm is running)

3. Lights/roller shutters are triggered without a reason and I also can't find a reason in the event panel, just that it was started (yesterday this broke 1 of my roller shutter motors)

4. Newly added images for scenes are deleted

5. If I arm a device the image is changed to an alarm light (bug or feature?)

6. Some devices are forgotten a couple of times already (Aeon Labs multisensor)

7. Motion sensor of Aeon Labs multisensor are changed to temperature sensor (always shows 0 degrees). I need to unlink the sensor and add it again.

Are these issues that other HCL users also have? Do you think moving to a HC2 will solve the problems?