HomeSeer development 2016 - what was in for you

[John245]

Looking back to last year of home automation I has to conclude that there is not many progress.

For me the positive things were

1. Release of a Modbus PI for HS3 which makes it possible to connect my solar inverters, heating pump and koi control system to my home automation system
2. HS3 iOS app crash when "getting data" issue solved

Of course I'm interested in how you have experienced last year.

---

John

[waynehead99]

I personally am happy with the Alexa integration. I'm still working to fine tune things and with Jon's Alexa helper script, it's made it very user friendly.

[Kerat]

HomeSeer development 2016 - what was in for you

So, I am a noob with HA, having only started this year. I was able to get homebridge installed on my RPI server that hosts my HS3 install and integrate it with HS3. This allows me to use HomeKit from my IOS device and control my HS3 Zwave devices.


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[csullivan2005]

love this stuff

Homekit
Alexa
and biggest thing was whole house is now setup with sonos


already excited for 2017 for when sonos and Alexa will work seamlessly together
and will be hooking up zwave locks and garage sensor and openers.

also thinking of getting a battery backup surge protector to keep homeseer up and running for short power failures so no need for hometroller to boot up first.


also looking to spend more time helping newbies get things up and running

[bebaldin]

I moved from Vera to Homeseer (with a brief attempt at using Axial In-Control) and am in process of converting all of my in-wall installations to smart switches.

The move to Homeseer has not been without pain, but I am glad to see Vera and the remainder of my X10 devices out of my life.

[rmasonjr]

Voice control finally arrived with Alexa. That has had the biggest impact on my automated home.

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[tenholde]

I personally am happy with the Alexa integration. I'm still working to fine tune things and with Jon's Alexa helper script, it's made it very user friendly.

Alexa and the AlexaHelper are the winners for 2016

tenholde

[tenholde]

Homekit
Alexa
and biggest thing was whole house is now setup with sonos


already excited for 2017 for when sonos and Alexa will work seamlessly together
and will be hooking up zwave locks and garage sensor and openers.

also thinking of getting a battery backup surge protector to keep homeseer up and running for short power failures so no need for hometroller to boot up first.


also looking to spend more time helping newbies get things up and running

I am working on Alexa and Sonos integration using HomeSeer as the bridge. Easy to control play/pause/volume etc, working on selecting source of music, ie playlist, track, radio station. This is more challenging.

tenholde

[dem5867]

Alexa.....

[drozwood90]

I'm finally going to finish moving over to HS3! :-)
So, in a way, I'm happy a lot of new flashy - fancy things did not come out at this time. I know the HS guys are super busy updating and working on things, but I'm happy all the new things that DID come out since I kind of fell off the map were things that did not matter as much to me.

My HS2 install is still pretty solid, although the VM has some corruption (came from the original image created from an actual PC install...it was not too happy becoming a virtual machine). It has taken more than two years for me, but things are calming down a bit and I'll be moving into my HS3 install - a fully dedicated VM purpose built from the ground UP to being my new Homeseer box.

--Dan

[regm]

In 2016 I decided that less is more. I actually reduced my home automation. No more complicated scripts or long list of plug-ins. We built a new house, had the HS Z-Wave light switches installed and upgraded to HS3 and Z-NET. The lights automatically turn on and off. All is good!

[Pete]

In 2016 mostly hardware tinkered with my table top touchscreens adding RTC / playing with firmware, et al.

Further explored and used Homeseer 3 in the Linux worlds adding remote a la carte stuff running in Linux or Windows (virtual or real).

[Steve Q]

Mainly worked on getting HS3 stable. I'm happy now!

Alexa and HomeKit are the 2 new things in 2016 for me. Both are great. My goal for 2017 is to not touch anything related to Home Automation. I'm taking the year off[emoji3].

Steve Q




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[waynehead99]

Mainly worked on getting HS3 stable. I'm happy now!

Alexa and HomeKit are the 2 new things in 2016 for me. Both are great. My goal for 2017 is to not touch anything related to Home Automation. I'm taking the year off[emoji3].

Steve Q




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I lasted about 2 months last time I said the same thing. It's an addiction with no cure .

[kesterf]

Homeseer didn't produce anything new that helped me. I had hope to use the new HS dimmers, but apparently they cannot predict when they will be able to produce "Light Almond" dimmers. Therefore, I decided to standardize on Leviton DZMX1 dimmers (They ship with White, Almond and Light Almond).

2016 Failures: My Z-Net died, so I had to shell out $142 bucks to get a new one shipped from Amazon in two days. Sure wish HS3 had the ability to run an event to back up the Z-net interface periodically, since I'm bad and remembering to do it after I've made changes.

2016 Successes:
- Integrated Alexa! Big for our household. First time I've reached a WAF above zero (Wife favorites are being able to turn a pedestal fan on/off, adjust AC temp, timer, and shopping list)
- WAF success 2: Built events to turn TV on at 5:00, switch to preferred 5PM news channel, and then switch to preferred channels at 5:30, 6:00 and 6:30. At 7:00 it opens the TIVO guide.
- Updated to Sparkman's new Doorlock Script. Working Great!
- Automated all outside lights
- Started using tenscripting and learning visual basic and HS (sure wish HS documentation had more examples. I spend a lot of time guessing and searching the forums for examples.) Very nice apps that must have taken many, many hours to develop.
- Installed a WiReboot unit that reboot's my WIFI AP if the WIFI signal drops.
- Installed 3 Web Power Switches to include a functional HS3 script to access them from HS. I use two to shutdown Automation & AV equipment when my UPS kicks in during a power outage. They also allow me to control the sequence and speed each outlet is reactivated after a power outage. The third unit powers my Modem and Router. I have it's autoping feature activated, so if I lose my WAN access it will reboot my modem and router sequentially.

2017 Hopes:
- Build events using Jon00 BlueHS3 Script
- Working calendar integration. Exploring Sparkman's script and Blades plugin. I haven't succeeded with either yet.
- Counter integration for two water meters (Planning on trying the FortrezZ MIMO2. My arduino efforts have failed)
- Water Softener Salt level.
- Oven Temp Announcements using the latest features from Ultra's 1-Wire plugin
- Start automating inside lights/fans

I guess by bottom line is for 2016 my home automation successes are due to the very active forum with incredibly talented and generous people that contribute info and free plugin's/scripts (jon00, sparkman, cfguy, mattyjee, mrhappy and scott12v to name a few) combined with the paid plugins from authors to include pcp, enigmatheatre, blade, spud, mnsandler, yoyo, b_weijenberg, and ultra.

Forrest