Newbie questions on HC3 before migrating from homee

[person2000 1]

Hi everyone,

 

I am currently using homee and consider to change to Fibaro HC3. Main reasons for that several Z-Wave functionalities (e.g. associations) are not supported by homee and commands are not executed by the system in a reliable way (often delayed or completely forgotten). Before doing the effort of changing all devices from homee to HC3, I would very much appreciate your answers on these questions:

 

- What are currently the main flaws of the HC3 system? What are the biggest problems / shortcomings?

- Is the system running stable and are commands being executet without delay? And are they being executet reliably?

- What is your experience with adding devices via the S1 method? I am not keen on disassembling my whole apartment 

- Is it correct that ZigBee has not been activitated by Fibaro as of today and that I would have to include a Hue Bridge into HC3 before being able to send commands to ZigBee products?

- What else shoud I be aware of, before making my decision?

 

Any adivse to a possible newcomer is highly welcome. Thanks in advance, guys.

 

[Orgli 13]

Hi @person2000,

 

1) The main issues can be seen here in the forum on a daily basis (lucky you - you won't migrate from a old system, but set up a clean new one) - like 

2) The final releases run stable, normally. Also, commands are beeing executed without delay (depends on the device - for example short delays with some relays). If you're using the app outside your own network, there is a short "cloud-delay".

3) -

4) -

5) Never touch a running system. I've tried several other systems (some proprietary some open) and got rid of most of them (even the HClight). Therefore, Fibaro is a very open system with a great (forum)community an a hard-working marketing dept. You won't get templates for all devices, but the main functions will work always and you can parameterize on your own. So, if wan't to change to Fibaro, you'll need some hours...or days to set up your system (depends on the scenes, VDs etc.). And it will be fun...mostly.

 

Let us know your final decision and your experinces with your new HC3 ?

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Orgli

[person2000 1]

@Orgli thanks for that valuable response. I am tempted to order now, but I will probably waint for Fibaro to open up the usage of the integrated ZigBee controller. Until then, I will probably come up with more questions once in a while

[olekenneth 7]

The Zigbee part is not worth waiting for. Zigbee vs Z-wave is a long discussion, but by including a Hue Bridge you get Zigbee if you absolutely want to.

 

I've now returned to HC3 after some years on another system. As you, I was tired of slow and sometimes unreliable Z-wave response, something I did not experience on my old HC2 that died some years ago.

 

My impression of the new HC3 so far. Impressive.  Some limitations, but still. And the new approach to API / IP devices through QuickApps is very promising.  

 

Good luck with your home automation.

[person2000 1]

... HC3 is ordered, I will be part of the crew soon

[ich 0]

Hi,

 

I am currently in the same situation you were back in April - frustrated Homee user thinking of alternatives. A difference might be I am evaluating Homee only since two weeks. However, my frustration with several caveats of Homee has grown considerably these two weeks, and I don't anticipate anything improving there. Below my main issues with Homee, and it would be great if you (or anyone else) could comment - based on your experience with HC3 - whether HC3 is a better solution or if I would experience similar or other problems here. Looking forward to everyone's suggestions and feedback!

 

1. Documentation: the not existing documentation, especially with regards to Homegramms. HGs might be a powerful tool, but without a consistent documentation a Homee-project is basically a Trial-and-Error, in German a "Jugend forscht", project.

2. Homeegrams: HGs are by far not as powerful as it seems at first glance, for they are lacking concepts like variables, the concept of "else" and many other basic features. Last but not least, in order to get a Smart Home implemented in a standard house, one probably needs several hundreds of HGs - all of these need to be configured completely manually, and the UX of both the WEB and mobile apps are fully lacking concepts to make this manageable. Just one example: to make a simple two-button switch control a Hue bulb for only on/off and brightness, you need to create six (6!) Homeegrams. Well, my home has ~60 Hue devices - that would make 360 Homeegrams, and I would still not be able to control color. Ultimately, with the concept of Homeegrams one is somehow stuck with huge complexity that does not provide much flexibility.

3. Stability: while I have (as I am still in evaluation phase) yet only installed one (Fibaro) Roller Shutter and one (Fibaro) Dimmer switch, I am already experiencing delays and instability. I am not keen on learning how the system would run once fully installed.

4. User Experience: the overall user experience of the system is somewhat old fashioned. More important, it lacks means to organize and cluster (see above) a typical home, e.g. there is not even floors, groups can not be cascaded etc.

5. System openness aka Extensibility: when I got my Homee, I did right away start with all the cubes (except Hörmann) and my expectation was that e.g. all z-wave devices would be supported. Boomer - this is by far not the case. In fact, I tried several z-wave devices, only to learn that non of them was supported. Quite disappointing.

5. Community: supposedly, the Homee community is happy to help new users, and there is certainly quite some members that really try their best to achieve just that. However, I also had to experience that just asking the simple question "where can I find the documentation" created some really interesting results: suggestions that documentation is anyway not necessary nor possible, that if you need documentation you are probably to stupid for the system, and much more like that.