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    Are there alternatives to HS3?


    #2
    Originally posted by aj84 View Post
    Why move?

    [...]

    My biggest bug-bear is instant status. Out of the 6 odd Fibaro Dimmer 2 modules, not one seems to talk to HS3 fully. This includes all power management figures (watts usage etc) or simple on/off via switch.
    You are hardly the only one that uses Fibaro Dimmer 2 modules. Quite frankly, they are used a lot in in Europe. And they do work.

    However, Fibaro being Fibaro, it isn't exaclty easy to figure out, especially since they have a tendency to change behavior between firmware versions.


    With HomeSeer you have more control, but you'll also notice that the world of Z-wave isn't as beautiful as other, simpler systems will have you believe.


    The basics is this:
    If ON/OFF commands are received, then power/consumption should also be reported, so let's fix that first.

    The solution that works for most people in my experience is this:
    - Remove all associations for all groups
    - Add one association: Group 1: HS3 (ID: 1), no endpoints. You can add HS3 (ID: 1) to all groups if you want, but skip endpoints.
    - Optimize (if necessary)
    - Fully Optimize (if you have performed the first optimization).


    Power status should in theory follow. But there are some parameters that you might like to change, see the manual: https://manuals.fibaro.com/content/m...-EN-T-v1.2.pdf

    Parameter 50 defines a threshold (in percent) that states that the change needs to be at least 10% change for the dimmer to report status. This can of course be lowered.

    Parameter 52 sets a time (in seconds) between each report. Note that the default is 3600 seconds, or 1 hour(!). You can set it to 300 seconds (every 5 minutes) for example, or lower if you really need it.

    Polling will always give the current usage.



    Regarding other systems
    If you use HS3 because you have more control of the rules you want, then I think you will find that not many come close to HS3. At least in terms of simplicity. There are other systems that can be made to be equally advanced, but will require coding to do so, and a lot more maintenance.
    HSPro 3.0.0.458, Z-NET with Z-wave plugin 3.0.1.190, RFXCOM + 2x RFXtrx433E, HSTouch, Squeezebox plugin, iTach IP/WF2IR & GC-100-6 with UltraGCIR, BLDenon, NetcamStudio, Jon00s Webpage builder, Harmony Hub plugin, SCSIP (with FreePBX), Arduino plugin, IFTTT, Pushalot plugin, Device History plugin.
    Running on Windows 10 (64) virtualized
    on ESXi (Fujitsu Primergy TX150 S8).
    WinSeer (for Win10) - TextSeer - FitbitSeer - HSPI_MoskusSample

    Are you Norwegian (or Scandinavian) and getting started with HomeSeer? Read the "HomeSeer School"!

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      #3
      I've tried a number of other systems and to me the benefits of HS3 far outweigh all its shortcomings. Agreed that there are a number of things that could have and should have been done better by now.

      Like yours, one of my biggest beefs is how much effort it takes to get some devices to work properly with HS3. Devices such as Fibaro that are z-wave certified get treated as if there is custom programming necessary. There is something to be said for the Smartthings way of using "device handlers" to make devices work with it. It seems only the HS3 staff can make device handler equivalents for HS3 and that's a problem because they can't keep up with all the new devices and they tend to favor their own name brand.

      I have a lot of other device issues that I've brought up via the bugzilla with virtually no response from support. It seems as though support is undermanned but that would require personnel which requires money and you know where that goes.

      Through all this, I still think HS3 is the lesser of all evils and I plan on staying with it.

      Comment


        #4
        https://forums.homeseer.com/showpost...9&postcount=18 and find out more what you can do with a HomeSeer system. Do not tie your system to using Z-wave only! I must admit that I have the Z-wave plugin installed but I don't use it. I run my Z-wave differently (that's not a topic for here though) through MQTT and/or other systems using HomeSeer plugins : Go here :
        https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?p=1281875 for more on that. There are two plugins for MQTT for HomeSeer ====> Which one you choose that's up you but they are both cool!

        Lightwave is another tech. which also controlled using the RFXcom plugin ====> http://www.rfxcom.com/hs3rfxcom in HomeSeer.

        Fibaro has a pretty interface but in functionality no where near HomeSeer. So on all the above you have not seen it all!


        Eman.
        TinkerLand : Life's Choices,"No One Size Fits All"

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          #5
          I've been a UK Homeseer user since version 2 and have been running HS3 since the first beta releases so I suppose not spending much time with any other systems I could be a little HS biased.

          I have 18 Fibaro Dimmer 2 devices (firmware version 3.2 and 3.3) and they all perform fine in HS3, instant status and all. The only polling on my 52 node network is of the battery status on 3 Fibaro multi-sensors. Everything else is instant status.

          The HS Z-Wave plug-in does things differently. Instead of using predefined device configurations (as many other systems do) it queries the device being included for the classes that it supports and attempts to set it up according to what was discovered.

          In practice, this doesn't always work as it should and I know that they have added various workarounds in the past to cater for device firmware bugs etc which can then cause problems when new versions of the same device are released.

          Whilst this approach to including devices may seem ideal, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work when it comes to configuration parameters of devices, so some degree of predefined configuration is needed if you want to bring all the parameters out for easy user editing. They (HST) have had a go at doing this for various devices but in my experience the result has been variable to say the least so I choose to set all parameters manually.

          In their (HST's) attempt to make things easier for the end user, IMO they make it worse. They insist on setting unnecessary and or incorrect associations for devices at inclusion and also setting unnecessary polling intervals for devices that don't need polling.

          Paul..

          Comment


            #6
            Being new and still undecided (running on trial). I of course have the same question? Is there something better than HS?

            I'm coming to the conclusion that No, there isn't. Not within the DIY market anyways and I'm not looking at dropping 100K for a managed system that I can't play with.

            I have looked at CQC and Allonis (MyServer formerly MainLobby) and they both look really nice for media management and visual/audio related things. However (to me anyways) device management seems second class to those systems and they use/depend on other systems, Homeseer, Vera, etc for device control. So to me it's a very expensive GUI front end. If I'm mistaken please correct me as I only have their websites and forums to base my information on. I have thought about installing them but the lack of documentation around devices just made me say... eh.. why bother.

            Back from my distracted rambling.

            Is there something better/comparable to Homeseer? I ask in genuine interest to look at and evaluate because at this point in time I have not found it.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Moskus View Post
              The basics is this:
              If ON/OFF commands are received, then power/consumption should also be reported, so let's fix that first.
              Thanks for your reply - If possible can we take this to the other thread...maybe https://forums.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=193547 ?

              Reason being is despite having done this hundreds of times...it actually worked today for two of the dimmer modules after your comment. The bedroom and guestroom are working as expected with metering values.

              The Office and other room are both set the same in terms of assoc and parameters, but neither report back.

              Comment


                #8

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                  #9
                  The grass may look greener on the other side, but you might just find a bunch of manure being the reason..
                  RJ_Make On YouTube

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by ServiceXp View Post
                    The grass may look greener on the other side, but you might just find a bunch of manure being the reason..

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by ServiceXp View Post
                      The grass may look greener on the other side, but you might just find a bunch of manure being the reason..
                      I've spent the last several months checking out the other side... sometimes it's a nice adventure... sometimes, well it stinks

                      I have a write up I'm updating on the SmartThings community of my findings and lessons learned as well. But I'm trying to see/learn/evaluate everything I can to finalize on my own automation solution and documenting it along the way for others.

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                        #12
                        For me, one of the must have features of my automation software was that it needed to be independent of any sort of external host and must not rely on a working internet to be able to function properly. HS was the product that met that need best. Few others came close.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by logbuilder View Post
                          For me, one of the must have features of my automation software was that it needed to be independent of any sort of external host and must not rely on a working internet to be able to function properly. HS was the product that met that need best. Few others came close.
                          Requirements:
                          Local control
                          Local automation (events, scenes, robots) whatever you wanna call them
                          Stability
                          Extendable - plugins, scripting, developer friendly
                          Alive - as in has a community, growing, not a ghost of the past

                          Those are my primary requirements for a system. I have tried all of the "normal" options. Most recently Vera which I'm migrating off of and Home Assistant are the only two I've tried that checked most of the boxes. Vera came up short on the Stability and being Alive. Vera is mostly dead (community wise, plugin dev etc). Home Assistant nailed everything with exception of stability, but that's expected as it's not even a 1.0 release and still under HEAVY development. It's a nice system. I think between the 3 systems (HS, HA, Vera) it's a perfect combination.

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