Jump to content

Welcome to Smart Home Forum by FIBARO

Dear Guest,

 

as you can notice parts of Smart Home Forum by FIBARO is not available for you. You have to register in order to view all content and post in our community. Don't worry! Registration is a simple free process that requires minimal information for you to sign up. Become a part of of Smart Home Forum by FIBARO by creating an account.

 

As a member you can:

  •     Start new topics and reply to others
  •     Follow topics and users to get email updates
  •     Get your own profile page and make new friends
  •     Send personal messages
  •     ... and learn a lot about our system!

 

Regards,

Smart Home Forum by FIBARO Team


Garage door crashed my car. Warning.


ocollus

Recommended Posts

Well... not exactly Fibaro crashed my car of course but it's poor algorithm probably. 

Situation happened while i opened my garage door by pressing widget on the phone. I drove into the garage backward and suddenly fibaro decided to close my garage door...

It happened probably because HC2 firstly read the scene via cellular and when phone enter the wifi area decided to run the scene second time. It never happened by using only the z-wave remote.

Warning - never use Fibaro to run important or danger situation. 

Edited by ocollus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ocollus Too bad for you. Sorry to hear this. But I actually do not agree with you. If you use Fibaro for important house automation (actually, this is not only Fibaro related), you need to build in safety mechanisme.
- if garage door is already is open --> don't execute scene again.
- if door is open --> don't lock the door
- ....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Normally the garage doors have emergency barrier sensor connected direct to local system to stop motions if any objects stay under door. 

I tested situations when my phone switch network from cellular to WiFi when I arrived to home at on the time of push widget. The situation described by you never happen for me if I shorty press widget and wait for reaction. But happen if I pressed longer. 

BTW. I use of course the open close sensor like colleagues in my code of VD or scene and separate buttons for open and close door to reduce risk. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear @ocollus ,

 

In your case Fibaro is last to blame for your loss and you know it. Making such titles here and accusing Fibaro solely on assumption is totally unfair and incorrect. Can you please for benefit of other users change title of this thread to something "Warning, never do stupid things with Fibaro". Oh, and there is no Fibaro algorithm but only user ones :-) 

 

I control my garage and gate doors for few years with Fibaro and they never unexpectedly open or close. Of course my garage and gate doors have their safety sensors. I also use Fibaro sensors so that HC2 knows door position. I can still control garage door with original remote since even the best home automation can fail sometimes. HA must be cleverly done that everything can still be operated even if gateway fails.

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Topic Author
  • I made a scene works exactly the same as Garage Door. By pressing the scene once - opening, second time - stop, third time - close (loop). Did not think that there is a danger from Fibaro run a scene second time by itself. Has anyone noticed a second "enter press" on a proper working computer keyboard ?  


    But there is a problem with using Fibaro to run important situations in general ( i'm using fibaro about 4 years ). Just to quick name a few:
    - using Fibaro Button as an alarm trigger ( eg. when there is a burglary ). Some of Fibaro Buttons just not always works... 
    - you can't trust HC2 because you never know the date of it's CMOS death ( blinking last led after power failure )... UPS helps only if there is a short power failure
    - i have many motion sensors but i have to wake two of them frequently. How can i trust and use Motion Sensor as eg. a move detector ?    
    - sometimes there is no low battery level information from Door Sensor. How o use this thing to secure a window ?


    It was just a quick examples so i repeat: Do not use Fibaro to run important tasks.  

    Edited by ocollus
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    13 minutes ago, ocollus said:

    Do not use Fibaro to run important tasks.  

    Hi @ocollus,

     

    imho your advice is totally wrong! So please mind your self. I use Fibaro for mission critical tasks without any problems for some years... The failures i've experienced in the past were ONLY due to my lack of knowledge and bad programming!

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    @ocollus

    • it is true that Fibaro button at least in its first generation was not working properly, so use other device for sensitive actions. Lets be honest, can't have decent automation without spending some extra money
    • CMOS death? What in the hell are you writing about? All computers have same problem even embedded ones like all HA gateways on the market so this is definitely not Fibaro "feature". BTW my HC2 motherboard died, but that was not immediately obvious 
    • motion sensors you have to check if they have good connection to gateway and provide relay device if not. Also on latest firmware you can check if they are out of sync with gateway and sync them. There is always solution and that tells you user that is also with Fibaro for 4 years. I had problems that you mentioned but after checking and syncing all  my devices and providing good connection to gateway by buying few more mains powered devices all this problems disappeared.
    • That is true, but again it depends on how z-wave network is builded and maintained. Not only Fibaro "feature" again.

    Anyway, after letting out your frustration through complaining, if you decide to do something positive about your problems with Fibaro I will be more than happy to help. Just ask and you will be answered either by me or other experienced users on this forum. 

     

    Here is first advice: After you calm down and start thinking strait again, first call manufacturer of your garage door and ask them to install safety circuit, or if you have one to repair it.

     

    • Like 2
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

  • Topic Author
  • 7 minutes ago, Bodyart said:

    Hi @ocollus,

     

    imho your advice is totally wrong! So please mind your self. I use Fibaro for mission critical tasks without any problems for some years... The failures i've experienced in the past were ONLY due to my lack of knowledge and bad programming!

     

    Agree ! The same in my case. But i can't imagine how can i stop hardware failure or really unexpected behaviour.  Maybe it was like @drboss described - longer widget pressed (i'm sure it was no longer than 1second) , but would you ever, ever suppose that 1 second widget press means double scene run ?  Also i have to say that it was a 1/100 case. Never happened to me before. But that day just happened. Looks to me that for some kind of reason scene was run twice - first when the phone was in a cellular range and second - in a wifi range. 

     

    @Sankotronic I'm calmed already. Situation happened 3 weeks ago. All damages will be covered by insurer. All i wanted to say is - do not trust Fibaro as it looks like you can trust. It's not like a stable cable alarm system. From my side it looks like you are nervous a bit saying: "What in the hell are you writing about?"...

    My CMOS battery problems started 3 years after purchase. I'm not sure if we can compare it to any computer, can we ? You are a long time forum user so i'm sure that you already saw the problem of blinking last led many times.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    10 hours ago, ocollus said:

     

    Agree ! The same in my case. But i can't imagine how can i stop hardware failure or really unexpected behaviour.  Maybe it was like @drboss described - longer widget pressed (i'm sure it was no longer than 1second) , but would you ever, ever suppose that 1 second widget press means double scene run ?  Also i have to say that it was a 1/100 case. Never happened to me before. But that day just happened. Looks to me that for some kind of reason scene was run twice - first when the phone was in a cellular range and second - in a wifi range. 

     

    @Sankotronic I'm calmed already. Situation happened 3 weeks ago. All damages will be covered by insurer. All i wanted to say is - do not trust Fibaro as it looks like you can trust. It's not like a stable cable alarm system. From my side it looks like you are nervous a bit saying: "What in the hell are you writing about?"...

    My CMOS battery problems started 3 years after purchase. I'm not sure if we can compare it to any computer, can we ? You are a long time forum user so i'm sure that you already saw the problem of blinking last led many times.

    If you don’t trust Fibaro then go for another system. Problem solved.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

  • Topic Author
  • 18 hours ago, Sjekke said:

    If you don’t trust Fibaro then go for another system. Problem solved.

     

    You guys may take me wrong. Maybe it's my fault because you don't know my specs and i described only a few "dark" situation. All i wanted to say is to warn people to not use Fibaro for important situations e.g. using Fibaro as alarm system instead of dedicated one. 
    Fibaro for me is rather a powerful toy for big boys and hobbyists.
    My system welcomes me everyday in the morning telling me what the day is today, what is the temperature etc. Automaticly open shutters, turn on the morning radio, warn me if something is wrong with the house, warn me if eg garage door is open too long, warn me if i did not turned off something before sleep, ability of house steering via apple watch, full control while abroad, watering the plants and many more.  All of this tasks works almost perfectly so definitely this is the best system on the market right now. Abandon is not a solution. The solution is constant pressing the manufacturer to make his products stable. All you guys know the early problems with Intercom or Heat Controller, right ? Life with Fibaro is not black or white. It's a mental swing from being angry to enthusiastic mood. But you already know it, don't you ?

    Edited by ocollus
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    18 hours ago, Sjekke said:

    If you don’t trust Fibaro then go for another system. Problem solved.

     

    Nope, I would argue there are more than one dark horse out there and Fibaro does not own them all...

     

    4 hours ago, ocollus said:

     

    You guys may take me wrong... Life with Fibaro is not black or white. It's a mental swing from being pissed off to enthusiastic mood. But you already know it, don't you ?

     

    As long as you raise your finger it is okey. But I think maybe this time it was pointed to directly at Fibaro - when you easily could argue the design of the solution and programming could (or should) have been more robust. That said I think most of us tinkering in the HA business have had some lessons learned, and relearned. As to mental swing, I think most of us can remember a high and low or two...

    Edited by 1152
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    1 hour ago, 1152 said:

     

    Nope, I would argue there are more than one dark horse out there and Fibaro does not own them all...

    I know ... but he was pinpointing specifically to Fibaro ... 

    Edited by Sjekke
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    3 hours ago, Sjekke said:

    I know ... but he was pinpointing specifically to Fibaro ... 

     

    ...and blaming Fibaro for the material damage. I never trusted 100% any electronic device in my entire life and Fibaro is not exception. So everything I do with any electronic must have a backup solution. Just one example:

     

    Last year my swimming pool original pump control died. I was ready for that and Aeotec heavy duty switch was ready to be installed. So I replaced original pump control with Aeotec switch and give Fibaro HC2 complete control over our swimming pool. In the same time I buy electronic timer that can be programmed to turn on/off devices several times for each day of the week and also install it as a backup. I have on control box one switch with 3 positions:

    1. HC2 control
    2. Off
    3. backup timer control

    Few weeks later when HC2 refused to reboot my wife just flip the switch to backup timer and all OK. Our swimming pool didn't became swamp :-) 

     

    Everything else in my house is done with backup in mind. In four years HC2 died on my family twice and in both cases I was away for work. Thanks to this approach they continue to live normally missing automation part, but still able to control all devices and lights manually.

     

    I will use Fibaro also as alarm system because I trust it same as I trust some dedicated wireless alarm system available on the market. Only question is which of this two will be backup :-) 

     

     

     

     

    • Like 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Hello,

    Sankotronic you think twice and build a system with back up.

    The first thing is to think what can happens if that or that will happen.

    In my opinion the garage door was a quick fix just open/close the door.

    I will reconsider my kitchen hood and blame Fibaro!

    To give my wife some advantage of home automation I modified the kitchen hood to switch on if induction plate comes on power.

    Connect the wrong wire and blew up my kitchen hood motor.

    Result;

    I informed my wife I did something wrong!Difficult to deny if hood is broken

    Bought a new hood with higher capacity

    Wife is happy

    succes all with the HA

     

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

    Guest
    Reply to this topic...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

    ×
    ×
    • Create New...