Vera home management

[Golfdriver97]

Vera can control many things, from lighting and your climate controls, to security with motion sensors, security cameras, and door and window sensors.

Anyone have this set up? How do you like it?

 

[kigmatzomat]

I cast "thread Necromancy"!

I have a VeraPlus. It controls my iris/zwave thermostat, my pipe heaters, a set of hue bulbs, two zwave locks, a garage door controller, three appliance modules, and a doorbell/mp3 player. It has motion/temp sensors inside and outside, several door sensors, a smoke detector and a flood detector. My pebble watch can adjust the temperature, lock doors and turn off lights.

The Vera emulates an ecobee, using different temp sensors to adjust the thermostat. It uses internet and physical temperature monitoring to keep my pipes from freezing. My doors lock themselves after they have been closed, and I get text/email notifications of unlocked/open doors depending on time of day. My washer pings me when the clothes are done and my space heater turns itself off at bedtime. The "doorbell" gives weather alerts and if the fire alarm goes off, lights turn themselves on. And I get texts in case of fire/flood.

So your basic home automation system.

 

[Emy2017]

home management

How good are they? I think they support Zwave certified devices.
A big remodeling is going on in my home. I’m pondering over options of a new home automation system with the most modern features like the iPhone door lock system, control the climate, lights and the alarm system. I’m in search of builders who install such wireless home automation who are spot-on with the trends I prefer. Some of today’s modern automation systems are quite complex.
I was scurrying online for benefits of managing home security through smartphone (The Benefits Of Managing Your Homes Security Through Your Smartphone | Canadian Security Professionals) which offers better security, interactive solutions, video monitoring, image sensors, automation and energy management. With automation, I should be able to turn the lights on/off, lock or unlock doors and change the temperature through the mobile app.

 

[kigmatzomat]

You can do all that with Vera.... But I wouldn't. Certain functions are sufficiently complex that they need their own solution. Security systems, video cameras and automation should work together but be separate platforms.

Most automation systems aren't as reliable as a security system has to be. Most security systems that have zwave controllers are too limited to make good HA systems. Video has enough i/o and cpu demands that it stresses shared systems.

If you want a pro installer, give up on "trendy". Pros live on having zero support calls so they use bullet proof tech, which is usually vertically integrated product lines using custom Zigbee hardware. Control4 jumps to mind.

If you want to split the difference, lowes carries zwave locks, light switches and wall outlets that install like any non-zwave versions. Have the remodeller use those. You can sync them to a controller later.