Time for a change?

[MDC 78]

All of you that blame Fibaro try for few days Fibaro competition and let us know what do you think? Fibaro is limited whit some plugins but you have tons of VD to configure and tons of support in forum.

 

How other users says, we all love to play, to learn and to make custom solutions.  

 

Fibaro looks great on iPad on the wall, work great whit homebridge and Siri....if you not what Fibaro anymore....buy contol4 and let me know about limitations and....price.

 

I came from control4....

 

For home and business Fibaro is more than perfect.

 

 

[akatar 208]

54 minutes ago, Mediacut said:

All of you that blame Fibaro try for few days Fibaro competition and let us know what do you think? Fibaro is limited whit some plugins but you have tons of VD to configure and tons of support in forum.

 

How other users says, we all love to play, to learn and to make custom solutions.  

 

Fibaro looks great on iPad on the wall, work great whit homebridge and Siri....if you not what Fibaro anymore....buy contol4 and let me know about limitations and....price.

 

I came from control4....

 

For home and business Fibaro is more than perfect.

 

 

there is more then control 4,

try domotica or homeseer 3. and the fibaro  iPad app... some people think it's great, some think it's awfull.

i think it's useless, i want to decide what's on the screen and where it is, i tried it once and deleted it after one hour.

imperihome is the better choice if you stick to fibaro

 

[MDC 78]

8 minutes ago, akatar said:

there is more then control 4,

try domotica or homeseer 3. and the fibaro  iPad app... some people think it's great, some think it's awfull.

i think it's useless, i want to decide what's on the screen and where it is, i tried it once and deleted it after one hour.

imperihome is the better choice if you stick to fibaro

 

 

Thank you for news, imperihome is great, i just find about

[jakub.jezek 371]

@Mediacut, you are 1st person i know, for coming from Control4 to Fibaro.

 

I see Smart homes as 3 segment:

• Home Automation: Fibaro is geat for that. Control4 has pricy ZigBee.
• Fun (Audio/Video): Honestly, here Fibaro has some catching up. If you look at Control4 drivers for TVs (Sony, Panasonic, LG driver made by Annex), Denon, Kodi, ... then Fibaro has some catching up. In Fibaro, there is just player and basic control.
• Security: Just in case of look, Control4 has better UI since 2.8.2., but in case of functionality, it is almost the same.

[MDC 78]

1 hour ago, jakub.jezek said:

@Mediacut, you are 1st person i know, for coming from Control4 to Fibaro.

 

I see Smart homes as 3 segment:

• Home Automation: Fibaro is geat for that. Control4 has pricy ZigBee.
• Fun (Audio/Video): Honestly, here Fibaro has some catching up. If you look at Control4 drivers for TVs (Sony, Panasonic, LG driver made by Annex), Denon, Kodi, ... then Fibaro has some catching up. In Fibaro, there is just player and basic control.
• Security: Just in case of look, Control4 has better UI since 2.8.2., but in case of functionality, it is almost the same.

 

I had an old version, indeed was 3 years ago.

Fibaro is more easy to setup and to be frankly is more cheaper.

 

[jakub.jezek 371]

32 minutes ago, Mediacut said:

I had an old version, indeed was 3 years ago.

Fibaro is more easy to setup and to be frankly is more cheaper.

Look at the price of EA-1 controller and compare it with price of HC-2 .

[AutoFrank 372]

Might be worth a read if you're looking for a change 

 

Please login or register to see this link.

 

 

[petergebruers 1,268]

27 minutes ago, AutoFrank said:

Might be worth a read if you're looking for a change 

 

Please login or register to see this link.

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing. They seem to present the process as "just add Jeedom" then "just transfer devices". They present it as being effortless and painless. Well, adding the secondary controller is not the hard part. Fixing the failed stuff is harder. Also, writing code or using "whatever automation stuff" (I don't know what they are offering) on Jeedom is going to take time to learn and implement. And I think, as @tinman also pointed out, some devices might not get transferred and some devices will not work properly in a multi controller setup.

 

I think there are several separate use cases though... Some might benefit from this secondary stuff. That is exactly why I tried at least 10 different setups!

• As @tinman pointed out, Fibaro -> Fibaro migration or secondary controller for whatever reason (upgrade HCL to HC, HC hardware issues). I see 
• You can use a secondary controller to toy with two controllers of different brands, without going through the effort of exclude and include. But I doubt it will be effortless and painless. My tests revealed not all my devices got the correct status on both controllers. And regarding code, it is not all magically going to work on both controllers.
• There are probably other use cases, I just cannot think of any at the moment.

There is an alternative approach, if (and only if!) I wanted to move away from my HC2. Exclude and Include devices. If it is important to glue automation on both controllers I would use the API offered by both controllers. Because of my bad experiences with "secondary controllers" I would go through some effort to avoid this specific Z-Wave feature. BTW if you buy IoT stuff you are likely going to need the API approach as well... So knowledge of APIs might be the key to future success in HA...

 

I cannot give hard facts, why that alternative approach would work. I did some very basic tests (RaZ <-> HC) and the only drawback I found was the time you spend to learn an API, one that you might not be using ever again after you have migrated from "Brand A" to "Brand B".

 

I'd love to hear some opinions...

Edited August 16, 2017 by petergebruers

[alandee 79]

On 05/08/2017 at 11:08 PM, robmac said:

Other than the Aussies chipping in now that I have admitted that I am a winging pom

 

I said nothing ! ( But then I've known for all the years I've been active and lurking here ) 

Great read though Rob, way to poke the hornets nest ! I've been away for a few months, but back into it. And as my house is now nearing completion also, I'm also looking for either a change/upgrade or some more functionality.

I've been on the roller coaster so long that a simple cheap and easy solution doesn't seem right, but Samsung have come pretty close, Homeseer to me is a bit lacking compared to what I have, I don't like Domotica the open source version I've run, and I'm not comfortable with many of the other offerings... They all have limitations that shouldn't be evident but are.

If .. big IF ..  Fibaro come up with a winner for their next box I'm in ( to be fair I'm that comfortable with the work arounds I have in place I'd stick with it anyway unless they stick with the USB backup frailty  ) so that means for me at least .. I just want plugins for clever people to make my life easier to become available. I want google home to work out of the box, & I want full integration of everything I currently cobble together in a fast configurable interface .. will I get it ? .. probably not, but hopefully they come close enough to keep me on this roller coaster, if not I'll keep exploring other options, and I sincerely believe there will be viable alternatives very much sooner rather than later ( Samsung when it hits Au ? ).  Fibaro have a battle ahead of them, so I hope they have a full arsenal of tricks and weaponry to pull out when the gloves come off. I have been using a Samsung in the US whilst there for the past little while, and It was pretty bloody good. Full google home, zwave zigbee wifi integration and all really quite well supported.

 

I'd buy one tomorrow to replace the HC2 down the farm that recently turned up it's toes ( Bloody USB ! ), but which I have openHAB running for what I have down there, more or less reliably, but it is very basic.

 

Cheers,

al.

 

 

 

 

[petergebruers 1,268]

@alandee thanks for sharing and great to hear again form you!

[JackTheMan18 0]

Please excuse my relative ignorance, I'm new here.

I'm evaluating the Fibaro HC LIte as the controller that I will be installing as part of my Home Automation Business.

I have previously tried/evaluated SmartThings, VeraPlus, ZipaBox, Homeseer ZeeS2.

So far, although I am not happy with any of them. I think that the following table might be interesting to many:

	SmartThings V2	VeraPlus	ZipaBox	Fibaro HC Lite	Zipatile
CPU	1GHz ARM Cortex-A9	880MHz MIPS SoC, dual core	208MHz	ARM Cortex-A8 (720MHz)	ARM Cortex-A9, Quad-core 1.6GHz CPU
RAM	512MB DDR3	256 MB DDR3	64MB	128 MB RAM	1024MB
FLASH	4GB	128 MB	128MB	128 MB SLC HDD	8192MB
Introduced	Aug-15	Feb-16	Feb-15	Apr-15	Jul-17

 

 

[petergebruers 1,268]

5 hours ago, JackTheMan18 said:

Please excuse my relative ignorance, I'm new here.

 

Welcome!

 

5 hours ago, JackTheMan18 said:

I have previously tried/evaluated SmartThings, VeraPlus, ZipaBox, Homeseer ZeeS2.

So far, although I am not happy with any of them.

 

What makes you unhappy? What is the goal? Controlling 10 devices in a "remote control fashion"? Or 100 devices with "full home automation"? Or managing a (small) hotel?

[AutoFrank 372]

Adding the specs of the hc2 for completeness... 

Please login or register to see this attachment.

[Sjekke 87]

Welcome Jack.

 

Add ...

 

Fibaro and Zipatobox are not Zwave Plus. 

Some other support more then 1 protocol (Zigbee, 433Mhz, ...)

You also have Homey, Zwave USB sticks with Rasp PI, ...

Lua support Y/N

...

 

All depends what your need is (like Peter asked). 

 

I’m happy with my HC2 else I won’t be on this forum 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Sjekke

[JackTheMan18 0]

Please forgive me, I should have stated the context as to why I am not happy with any of them.

I started a number of years ago, by automating my own home. I was asked many times, by numerous friends and associates to change their home into a "smart home". So, (with a colleague),  I decided to get into the business of Home Automation - primarily residential. 

The situation in North America is very different from that in Europe. For example, Homes of 5,000 square feet and larger are not uncommon among those who want to automate their homes. As a result, z-wave plus devices with their much greater range are much more important in network planning. Furthermore, for those large homes, energy measurement and conservation is not such a great need. However, monitoring and interface with existing sophisticated alarm systems is a very important priority.

From an installers perspective, tinkering and daily updates are a disaster. We have to be able to deploy systems that are as close to 100% dependable as possible. Maintenance of existing installations is a money losing proposition. While I enjoyed doing that as a private individual, as a business that's a disaster. I really need a system that's quick and easy to deploy, that will work with no (or little) maintenance (and the maintenance must be able to be done remotely), and will have as high an up time as possible (95% is not acceptable).

I was attracted to the Fibaro name by rumors of its rock solid dependability. I'm still in the process of evaluating it.

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by JackTheMan18

[1152 33]

At the moment I think you will have to continue your search. BTW why did you choose the HCL? Hardly my choice among the Fibaro portfolio for a 5000 square feet home and customers with that kind of money.

[Bodyart 231]

11 hours ago, Sjekke said:

You also have Homey

Hi @Sjekke,

 

just to mention... Homey speaks not only Z-wave, but also Zigbee, RF (433MHz) and IR. It has also Lua/Python like scripting see below example:

 

Please login or register to see this code.

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Bodyart

[Sjekke 87]

 

 

26 minutes ago, Bodyart said:

Hi @Sjekke,

 

just to mention... Homey speaks not only Z-wave, but also Zigbee, RF (433MHz) and IR. It has also Lua/Python like scripting see below example:

 

Please login or register to see this code.

 

 

I know ... it’s was only to mention that there also other controllers available except the one mentioned.

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Sjekke

[JackTheMan18 0]

On 9/12/2017 at 3:43 PM, Sjekke said:

 

 

 

I know ... it’s was only to mention that there also other controllers available except the one mentioned.

 

A few notes:

Unfortunately, Homey is not available for North American frequencies (as far as I have been able to find out).

Zipato apparently does have support for z-wave plus.

 

In my humble opinion, I thought that the HC2 was too expensive to re-sell. Even though I'm sure that it is a cut above other controllers in terms of reliability and dependability, it's just too expensive for most installations.

 

I have also found that HC2/HC Lite don't have the support or the knowledge of the latest/most popular North American z-wave products. 

[Sjekke 87]

3 hours ago, JackTheMan18 said:

A few notes:

Unfortunately, Homey is not available for North American frequencies (as far as I have been able to find out).

Zipato apparently does have support for z-wave plus.

 

In my humble opinion, I thought that the HC2 was too expensive to re-sell. Even though I'm sure that it is a cut above other controllers in terms of reliability and dependability, it's just too expensive for most installations.

 

I have also found that HC2/HC Lite don't have the support or the knowledge of the latest/most popular North American z-wave products. 

 

I agree that houses are bigger then in Europe but you have 1 big advantage ... mostly there are made of wood. In the EU we use mostly stone. If you check the youtube movies about installing a network it’s much easier then in Europe. The reason I went for wireless is because I live in an old house and installing cables in the wall is not an option. Personally I would go for wired if possible. (LAN, alarm, home automation, ...). My collegue has everything in KNX ... more expensive but very reliable. 

 

My 50 cents.

 

Cheers

Sjekke

Edited September 14, 2017 by Sjekke