New user here. I've been using a Vera Plus for the last 4.5 years. Ever since then, the Vera platform has been unreliable for many different reasons, and although I've learned to workaround many of its issues, I'm finally fed up and want to move away. I use the Vera for many automations such as season-based control of pool filters pump control, shades, water heating, exterior lighting, pathway lighting inside the house, presence simulation and many other things. I use Z-wave mostly, but also control other devices through it the Vera, using webhooks (such as a door opener) and API connections, such as with Danalocks, Netatmo cameras and weather station, etc.
I do this currently using Reactor, which is an excellent third-party app and have used others to do the same, such as PLEG. I have programmed a bit of LUA as well, so I would describe myself as a power user with a fairly sophisticated house from an automation point of view.
BTW, I have no interest in Google or Amazon's assistants and interfaces, I'm not into voice control or cloud-based control at all.
But I'm getting sort of desperate to move away from Vera, which I believe to be a dead end, and will sooner rather than later, whither away as Ezlo is moving slowly and unreliably towards their new Ezlo platform which appears to be even worse than Vera.
So, based on this description, is the Hubitat Elevation a good choice for me? I'm mostly looking for reliability, wide compatibility with my existing gear, solid and sophisticated automation logic and long-term development and maintenance of the platform.
If you can handle PLEG and LUA you can handle almost anything on the Hubitat platform and if you want to dig in deep and drive your own integrations you just have to get used to Groovy as a coding language and the Hubitat api's and features. I moved a lot of Vera / PLEG users to SmartThings / WebCORE years ago and now have them moving to Hubitat with their simple apps or Rule Machine.
My advice has always has been to start slow with one thing at a time. Look at the compatible hardware lists, look at the native apps and services, and also the community written drivers and services and start making a plan if you decide to go Hubitat.
Thank you for taking the time to answer me. Actually I'm also looking at Homey Pro as well, I have to take some time to have a read of both forums and check the existing apps and compatibility lists. I think I will end up joining one or the other.
Long ago I was a vera user, learned some LUA and even wrote a plugin. I bailed on them and went to Homeseer.
Still am using Homeseer but slowly pushing more to Hubitat
You'll get charged up the ying-yang for decent plugins on Homeseer and I'm not sure of the longevity of them given it seems to not be a big company. I do have some Insteon devices that I'm using in Homeseer that I don't think there's a clear path forward. Anyway, give Hubitat a go!
I'm not really a programmer but I wanted to learn how to write my own apps in Hubitat. Mostly wanted to learn so I could customize community apps I was already using to suite me better. It took me about a week or so looking through other apps to figure things out but it's pretty easy now.
I've gone through several home automation iterations, starting with X11, then first trying out zwave with ADT and their pulse hub, then moving to vera, then smart things, home assistant, then finally Hubitat. I am now running about a 50/50 mix of Zwave Plus and ZigBee across about 300 devices.
The community here is what really makes it a great platform. Every single time I ran across an issue there has been someone that helped me get up and going again. I've gotten pretty good at finding ways to break things lol.
I started with Wink due to ease of implementation and inexpensive platform. Tried a HomeSeer Pi where I learned details of z-wave mesh networks. After Wink went south, turned to Hubitat, three Wink hubs remain unused and I haven't plugged in my HS Pi in about 2 years now.
As stated before, you won't find a better, more flexible platform with the support that comes with Hubitat.
Nearly every tech platform is turning to some type of subscription based feature, which in today's business environment is almost a requirement in a sustainable business model. While others (Wink in particular) have reduced functionality without a subscription, Hubitat just added additional subscription based capabilities (remote administration for example) at a reasonable cost. Additionally, existing non-subscription methods of accomplishing the same function, such as VPN, remain fully viable options.
Again, what really sets Hubitat apart, is the outstanding support. Just last weekend developers turned around a firmware update to add two new capabilities based my feedback. You can find countless examples of the same throughout this community. I know of no other platform that offers this level of support or responsiveness.
My 2 cents - your search for a Vera replacement is finished!
I started with Vera in 2015. Was constantly frustrated by the lack of support for new devices, the non-working firmware updates, and the infinite hoops needed to jump through to get even simple automations working. Got my HE in March and I never looked back. You'll find the various Apps (as they're called) will be able to do almost everything you can imagine. Take the time to learn how to use the Rule Machine and you'll be fine.
Move your devices to the Hubitat slowly. A few at a time and then let the system settle for a day or two before adding more. Don't try to do them all at once, especially if you have older, non-reporting, Z-Wave devices. I think you'll really like the ZigBee support. I've added quite few that were out of reach with the Vera.
And most of all, post your questions here. You'll find this community very helpful and patient with new users.
Second this...one of the best online communities I've ever participated in - helpful, smart, tons of ideas and app/code-sharing, problem solving, just great.
Oh, and by the way, don't forget to turn out the lights as you leave the Vera community.
If you use your Hubitat for exclusion (which in hindsight I also which I did), just be very careful that no one in your household touches a switch already included while the Hubitat is in exclusion mode.
I'm a Vera user who is Hubitat curious. I bought a hub so I can run in parallel and test things out before making the leap. This might be anathema to the Hubitat concept, but is there a way to easily auto-generate a dashboard by room so all my devices are visible. I would look at this as a troubleshooting/startup panel from which I could then come up with dashboards. (This is similar to what I would see by just going to my vera homepage and scrolling through all of the devices).
I'm being a bit cautious as I have 2 properties on Vera, each with a bunch of devices.
Create a new dashboard in the Hubitat Dashboard app and select the devices that you want to include in it when you are creating the dashboard.
Save the dashboard from the Hubitat Dashboard app, then go to your "Dashboard" tab and select the new dashboard.
When the dashboard opens you will be prompted to either auto-load tiles or do it manually. The simplest approach is to allow HE by selecting the "Auto Fill Grid" option to automatically add all the devices you included in the Dashboard app. Tiles appear and then you can work to customize/modify as desired.
Click on "Hubitat Dashboard" to create a new dashboard
Dashboard appears w/tiles for each device, as well as HSM status and a Mode tile. You can remove them if you don't want them - click on three dot menu on each tile for options.
I too am moving from Vera Plus after many years to Hubitat. I am very pleased with the user community here and reminds me of the early days of VERA which was also a strong community but has dwindled recently due to the platform change.
I have been dabling with HE to get a feel for the capabilities given the many applications available. I have added a few devices and have been working on getting some stuff set up such as Alex voice control which we use everywhere. I have a few issues that I would like insight on how best to implement which should give me insight on my other implementations.
I have a sensor that when opened, will turn a light on if after sunset but only leave that light on for 10 minutes. How do you set a timer or create that 10 minute off action?
Modes: I am not sure how I want to set these up yet. VERA has a four state mode, AWAY, VACATION, HOME, NIGHT. I only use AWAY and HOME essentially toggling between these two modes. I have SCENES to change the mode state, so when I 'turn off away' the scene changes the mode from AWAY to HOME. What is the best way to achieve this?
Maybe along that same line, I have SCENES that appear as devices to Alexa, so I can turn off/on these scenes using ALEXA. Again what is the best way to do this with Hubitat?
I am pouring over the documentation and community posts but hope your answers will get me moving in the right direction.
I hope that you don't mind, but after hearing (and using) many different dashboards associated with Hubitat, I'd like to put in a plug here.
My advice is two fold - depending on wheather or not you have an android audience or an apple audience. In deciding to do these two routes, I value speed, ease of use, and functionality. This is what I came up with:
For the Apple ecosystem:
Use HomeBridge, and then use the native Home (HomeKit) app on the device. Unfortunately this does require 2 additional components that you may have, or may be purchased. One - a small tiny PI (I have even used a PI Zero 2W $15), the second is on old IPad to serve as the "recipient". See the following add on: [RELEASE] Homebridge Hubitat v2.0
Great information from both of you. I have started to play with the Android Dashboard (android house...) and believe that will work for our phone use.
I will need to play with the Rule Manager some more to learn the capabilities. I have other questions which I think I will submit in a separate post so that they don't get buried here.
I'd also mention that you should try to craft your rules the way your family and guest use your house. With a little effort the dashboard could become unnecessary. I haven't touched a dashboard in 6 months and my family don't even know about them. Just be sure to get their feedback if you take this approach. We don't even use voice control other than turning on a camera stream to the toddlers bedroom when they're being too quiet.
lewis.hedrick: That is really one of the main uses for the tablet is to be able to turn on camera streams. Still working on ways to do this using BlueIris and Lenovo smart display (google). Haven't come up with a great solution yet.
Yeah the Lenovo Smart Display isn't a full google home device. It does not have a browser. I might be thinking too big here but was trying to figure out how to show on this display or pop it up when motion was discovered.
