Grievance!

[Eman]

kesterf ,

It's exactly your thread you started here : https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/au...missing-in-hs4 that prompted me to start this thread and now after seeing that addiction to those plug-ins, I suggest you be considered a special case as a goodwill gesture for the author/dev to remain on a one to one assistance... Now come on!... those are a lot of plug-ins to relay on.

I'm a plug-in hunter and I have been to the end of the Earth and back but couldn't find a good one for my Pioneer Amp...

That said, you tend to have a system you didn't want to change much and wanted to keep for long time... I know, today's youngsters relay solely on that girl "Alexa" and would care less for us...
I was born to tinkerer and at my age I hate stress and thus kept up with the ever moving target and found solutions to remedy that and also posted some about it here : https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/homeseer-products-services/cloud-service-integrations/node-red/1509404-node-red-configuring-zwave-
parameter?p=1509789#post1509789

I have this bad feeling the HST uses systems like CRESTRON and may be don't have that much interest left to take us to the future....weird insight... 😨 but I wouldn't expect them to be with us else...


Eman.

[kesterf]

Eman ,

I wasn't looking for any special treatment on my UltraTivo3 issue. It was an issue with HS4, but given that it is designed for HS3 it's not surprising there are issues. Therefore, I have no concerns with Ultrajones not troubleshooting HS4 issues with a HS3 plugin.

I'm happy with HST products and the developer plugins. There are always going to be issues. I'm amazed HST and Plugin Developers keep everything working as well as they do. Especially given the different hardware and software platforms HomeSeer is compatible with and the rapid development cycles for many of the technologies it integrates with.

I do use Alexa quite a bit to interface with Homeseer. Since I couldn't get it to work with HS4, I'll stick with HS3 for now. Alexa has issues too. For example I've built a number of routines in Alexa so I can use more common language for control. As far as I know there is no way to back this info up. So if you have to relink a skill, all the actions in routines associated with that skill are deleted. I ran into a similar issue with Homeseer Mobile losing all it's dashboards when I upgraded to HS4

I could be wrong, but I think HST is the longest standing system that supports DIY. It also has as a very active forum with many, many great people that share plugins, scripts and advice. I'm sure some of the changes to the software are at attempt to stay relevant and expand their customer base. I can't and won't fault HST for efforts to grow their customer base. Honestly, I'm surprised HST and Plugin Developers haven't shifted to a subscription based billing model to provide a more consistent revenue stream like so many other software companies.

Forrest

[Eman]

The subscription part is what would make all people run away in droves and they know that! Remember Quality!
Comparable to HomeSeer, ioBroker is far way ahead in terms of free (all plug-ins) The downside finding what you don't like which people may assume to be in Germany (they went miles ahead on that, it installs in many languages!) But that's only catch If you are like me and don't want to start from scratch, I just use the plug-ins side and leave everything as is... Then use HomeSeer to link in as old to control everything under the hood.

Their subscription is the same as HomeSeer. You only for remote connection/admin and control if you so wish.
I turned that off because I have no need for it, I can use MyHS...

You are not alone... We all loved HomeSeer and still do till the end... Read on : https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ho...ions-questions
The battle scars I had along the way defending HomeSeer My posts tell a tale.

I rest my case..

---

Eman.

[randy]

I'm going to bow out of this conversation, however if the plugin works correctly in HS3 but not HS4 then that is one for HST to manage. Rich stated at the beginning of HS4 that all HS3 plugins should work in HS4 and he would rectify any issues to do so. If they now don't work in HS3 correctly then that is a matter for the PI author to address.

I have several of Randy’s HS3 plug-ins (1wire, ECM, UltraMon and UltraLog) running under HS4. I have no issues with any of them. They are every bit as reliable as when I purchased them 6 or 7 years ago. I have no grievance with the author.

[upstatemike]

I have several of Randy’s HS3 plug-ins (1wire, ECM, UltraMon and UltraLog) running under HS4. I have no issues with any of them. They are every bit as reliable as when I purchased them 6 or 7 years ago. I have no grievance with the author.

Good to know UltraECM3 will migrate OK. I depend on that as well as UltraM1G3 and UltraLighting3.

[avpman]

Yes, I am pretty much done. I contacted HomeSeer and they told me they are not interested in acquiring my plug-ins. I am now looking to be bought out either by a single developer or the HomeSeer community. Please contact me interested. All source code exists in GitHub. I'll also provide the packages as well that include support files for each plug-in.

If there is no interest, I'll provide support as time permits.

Regards,
Ultrajones

Sorry to hear you're giving up. You've been a great contributor. May I ask a favor before you go? Please fix the "back" button on your Tivo plugin? The "Standby" button works after your mod, but not the Back button. Otherwise, I'm afraid it will never be done. Please...

[Dweber85rc]

Unfortunately this is the risk that you/we take with all third party plugins. When the authors decide its time to be done, we're all SOL.

[avpman]

Unfortunately this is the risk that you/we take with all third party plugins. When the authors decide its time to be done, we're all SOL.

Agreed. HS needs a way to archive code and then make it available when an author quits. Especially if the plugin is no longer for sale. At that point, we users are the ones that are losing value.

[TeleFragger]

Subscription and I am out...

Good to know UltraECM3 will migrate OK. I depend on that as well as UltraM1G3 and UltraLighting3.

my use for it is more to align with my bill and I hoped for more options... as right now does not do what i need.

when an author quits....

what if one passes away.. that is more tragic and can happen. Something should be in place...

[upstatemike]

Unfortunately this is the risk that you/we take with all third party plugins. When the authors decide its time to be done, we're all SOL.

What is the alternative? Have the company make all the integrations so their limited resources only allow them to focus on the most popular ones and fringe interest stuff just never happens? Have the company make all integrations and have to keep raising prices as the catalog expands and the support demand keeps growing?

[upstatemike]

Subscription and I am out...


my use for it is more to align with my bill and I hoped for more options... as right now does not do what i need.

.

I depend on ECM3 to trigger events when power thresholds are crossed and to speak power consumption alerts: "The oven has been left on and it is using 5,860 watts of electricity". There are not a lot of alternatives to replicate this without a major investment in new monitoring hardware.

[Dweber85rc]

What is the alternative? Have the company make all the integrations so their limited resources only allow them to focus on the most popular ones and fringe interest stuff just never happens? Have the company make all integrations and have to keep raising prices as the catalog expands and the support demand keeps growing?

At this point there isn't. The 3rd party plugins are part of why I keep using HS but it isn't a perfect system.

[avpman]

What is the alternative? Have the company make all the integrations so their limited resources only allow them to focus on the most popular ones and fringe interest stuff just never happens? Have the company make all integrations and have to keep raising prices as the catalog expands and the support demand keeps growing?

HS receives a cut from each plugin sold. In addition, and more importantly, plugins add significantly to the value of HS, because HS can connect to pretty much anything. That is the kind of advertising that money can't buy to help promote their product in the marketplace. As mentioned in other posts, there needs to be something in place for when a developer "goes away." When that happens we the users, are left holding the bag. We are out of our money spent on the plugin, our time to integrate it, and the value of using it. No obligation on HS or the author to do anything about it. I am not asking for anything unreasonable, just an alternative for us to continue to make the plugin survive HS upgrades. Perhaps releasing it on GitHub? You can argue all you like why HS or the author shouldn't be held accountable to keep the plugin alive. So, release it for us to do it.

[TeleFragger]

I depend on ECM3 to trigger events when power thresholds are crossed and to speak power consumption alerts: "The oven has been left on and it is using 5,860 watts of electricity". There are not a lot of alternatives to replicate this without a major investment in new monitoring hardware.

That is cool.. and someday I will get to that point. Well could start that now, but want to get a grasp on my power bill...

[billt]

I depend on ECM3 to trigger events when power thresholds are crossed and to speak power consumption alerts: "The oven has been left on and it is using 5,860 watts of electricity". There are not a lot of alternatives to replicate this without a major investment in new monitoring hardware.

Well, it can be done for no, or little, money but it will need an investment of time and mental energy.

I started my energy monitoring with the Open Energy Monitoring system (https://openenergymonitor.org/), which logs data to a local (or remote) server. The OEM measuring hardware wasn't very reliable in my situation so I moved to Brultech monitors. I run a python script (from http://lancet.mit.edu/mwall/projects/power/) whihc logs to an EmonCMS instance; that has an MQTT server which MCSMQTT can collect and send to a Homeseer device. The python script can run on any machine with python installed. Although Emoncms can run under windows with an Apache web server, .it's much easier to run Emoncms on a Raspberry Pi.

Aprt from historical reasons, I did it this way as I'm more interested in logging than automation and I like the Emoncms system.

The only cost would be a Raspberry Pi if you don't have one but that's trivial in the context of home automation systems. Configuring it all can get frustrating though!

It should also be possible to collect the data via Node Red but you'ld need to program data collection which isn't particularly easy.

I wouldn't use a Brultech system now though. I've found that the Iotawatt is much easier to use.