I need a replacement for my 10 year old Vera Light Hub

[richard1058]

Hello

I have had a Vera Lite Hub for about 10 years that has reached end of life. I do not believe Vera provides updates, not even sure if they are still in business. I have about a dozen Z wave devices in my house.
The controller is also integrated into my hard wired DCS alarm panel.

Is Hubitat a good system to transition to ?
All my existing devices are Z Wave so they should be easy to pair
Anything else I am missing Please advise

Thanks in advance
RVF

[bobbyD]

@richard1058

All my existing devices are Z Wave so they should be easy to pair

That's correct, but if you can share the make/model of your devices, you may be able to receive additional tips for your specific devices.

As for your hard wired DCS alarm panel, there is no built-in integration for it, but there are some community users who were able to use it with Hubitat. Hopefully those users would chime in. If not, you may want to search the community for previous posts: Search results for 'DCS alarm panel' - Hubitat

[Charlie2023]

I’ve used a Vera plus for around 15 years or so. About 3 weeks ago my controller started acting up and many of my scenes did not fire correctly or completely. I have about 50 devices (all zwave) in the network. Vera/Ezlo is still in business but you are correct, they don’t update Vera controllers any longer. They do provide support and I went back and forth with the support team trying to fix my controller. After 2 weeks of this I came to the conclusion that the controller was basically shot. I decided to go with Hubitat after looking at other options including Ezlo which is the Vera replacement. Here are my thoughts.
All of my dimmer/switches paired easily in Hubitat. Most of them are Leviton zwave plus. I had a few older Eaton/Cooper dimmers/switches that paired easily as well…zwave not zwave plus.
I did have issues with some of my plug dimmer/switches. The older Eaton ones would not pair. I had a couple of Aeotec dimmer plugs that would pair but didn’t operate properly. I replaced those (about 4) with new Leviton dimmer plugs. There seems to be a shortage of dimmer plugs and these were the only ones I found available.
There was a short learning curve in recreating scenes but once I figured out that the Basic Rule app was the way to go for these scenes it was quite easy.
I had some Remotec remote scene controllers and a couple of other remote scene controllers (Hank and Zooz). Again once I figured out to use the Button Controller App, this was quite easy to do as well.
Long story short, this was not the daunting task I envisioned and had been putting off. Hubitat also was able to do some things with out using coding that was required in Vera. This community was a big help in helping me get correct drivers for my devices as well and how to install them It’s been a positive experience overall!
Hope this helps.

[neonturbo]

There have been quite a few Vera converts over the years, I am not one of them. I came from a different hub Wink, and Hubitat is a million times better. I am very happy with it for whatever it is worth. Most reports from former Vera users seem positive about the switch. A couple examples:

Migrating from Vera Edge to Hubitat C7

Aloha former MiCasaVerde & Vera users. Here are a couple pointers for those considering of making the transition to Hubitat. The biggest question on your mind is probably, should I make the switch? My answer is, yes. While I am slightly technical, I am definitely not a programmer, never messed with Lump code or any other code for that matter or used more than a single hub with a dozen or so various switches. But lately, Vera has become so unreliable, especially with its Alexa integrations which…

Another Hubitat Convert (Recovering Vera user)

Having migrated my first home easily/quickly to Hubitat in January, I just got around to migrating my second home (much larger network than my first home) from Vera Plus to Hubitat and, all things considered, it went perfectly. It took almost a full day, but all of my stumbles and delays were with my devices, not with Hubitat (for example, my Somfy shades didn't offer a way to factory reset only the Z-wave - the factory resets also wiped the shade set points. After learning this the hard way o…

[richard1058]

Thanks

Are there any fees for the Hubitat Hub other than the purchase price, like monthly service fees ?
What is the software platform you use to connect to the Hubitat module ?
Thanks
RVF

[bcopeland]

@richard1058

Are there any fees for the Hubitat Hub other than the purchase price, like monthly service fees ?

Nothing is required. There are a couple of extra cloud services tough:

Hub Protect: Cloud backup/restore and extended warranty with replacement.

Remote Admin: Remotely configure/control your hub.

But again neither is required for using your hub.

[user1383]

I am a old Vera user in 3 different family homes and just switched the last family member about 2 months ago. Although they do work somewhat differently, NO family member has had a issue with the switch. as far as my opinion on pay components, there are some but I have not found the need for any of them yet. But I do use team viewer to help family members with administration things because if you want admin access from a different location you need to purchase that I believe. but all dashboards work just fine anywhere I am home or away. I have never been happier with the Hubitat switch and not relying on the internet to work has been a Godsend! Just my opinion.

[aaiyar]

@richard1058

What is the software platform you use to connect to the Hubitat module ?

Any desktop or mobile web browser. Desktop preferred.

If you want to develop your own apps or drivers, they’ll have to be coded in Groovy. The majority of users just use built-in apps and drivers - so coding is not essential.

[richard1058]

Thanks
RVF

[neonturbo]

Not sure if you saw this, but there are some great tips and helpful information in this thread...

Are you new to home automation or Hubitat or coming from a different platform such as SmartThings, Vera, or Wink? This may help!

Just throwing this out there. It may or may not be a help and I'm sure many others will contribute to this thread. Here are a few things to start you off. Z-wave Devices: 1: You do not need Wink/ST/Vera etc. to exclude your existing z-wave devices. Hubitat can do the exclusion for you. (Make sure you turn off your old hub first!) In most cases this is sufficient before pairing. Sometimes though you may need to factory reset the device. Non Plus z-wave devices may have to be included/excluded …

[rlithgow1]

@richard1058

All my existing devices are Z Wave so they should be easy to pair

Just be aware that if your z-wave devices are older non plus versions, speeds will be limited to 40kbps and switches may not report status properly until you install the polling app. If you have a schlage lock, make sure that it's on firmware 7,10 or higher... Older locks like the FE99 run a 300 series z-wave chip and won't pair properly to the 700/800 series chips. (This is a lock firmware issue that schlage has no interest in fixing)