Vera reliability

[Minnies]

I have quite a few GE switches and dimmers. I also have Leviton/Monster and Intermatic. I use the Intermatic only in the garage (game room) for fan and light because they are too noisy. All told I have about 75 devices installed. This is in a rental home where security and reliability are of the utmost importance.

Each time I install a new device, or group of new devices as I tend to do these only twice a year, I do the full system heal process twice. If any modules are not having as many neighbors as I expect I do individual module heals. This includes the battery operated modules like door sensors (which a re a pain by the way). Doing it this way I have never had a system lock up that required intervention. Yes I have experienced some down time, whether it be the network, communications or something like that. But not once in over a year have I needed to do a manual restart. One clude I received some time ago was to change the settings to eliminate the nightly heals. With manual heals my battery devices stay in synch whereas the nightly heals messed them up with no one around to place them in communicate mode.

Note I have not yet done an update to version 3.2 as my 2.78 is operating well.

My $0.02

[Les F]

My rental is 3 hours away so is a real pain if something fails.   My vera has been rock solid.  What has not been solid was the Motorola Netopia dsl modem (had one fail), the cheap UPS that I originally put on the system failed within a year.  I put it on UPS to at least try to extend life of power supplies, smooth power out (get a lot of power blips at the cabin).  So what have I done to make things as stable as possible?  I spent money on a decent APC UPS.  Make sure wherever you have all your 'stuff' is ventilated well. 

Now this may be overkill but I picked up a spare dsl modem off ebay, set it up (and tested it at the cabin).  Labeled everything. 

Not sure what kind of friends or arrangements you have at your place, but my cleaning person has agreed to at least do a quick check lights etc while on the phone with me.  (I have cheat sheet there showing what should be lit, its much easier to deal with someone on the phone that is not a technical person if they already have a piece of paper showing how things should look) and is willing to swap out router, or modem if asked. 

To me the cost of purchasing the extra bits is easier/cheaper than a single drive down and back.  You could do same with wall warts. Call it overkill, but I hate going down there, working and turning around and coming home.  Or having to explain to a renter they won't be able to check their email. 

To some this is overkill, to me its me being proactive so that vera is available and the renter can get their wifi as well.

Hope this doesn't muddy the waters further
Les

[haveitall]

You know, I was thinking this through ...

Modem/Router/Network gear on appliance switch 1
Vera 1 (main, on appliance switch 2) - maintains luup code that watches the internet.  If the internet goes down for more than a few minutes (hour?) then it cycles the power on appliance switch 1.  It could cycle the power on appliance switch 3 if it detects Vera 2 has failed, or if the user logs in and chooses to do so.
Vera 2 (backup on appliance switch 3) - maintains luup code that watches vera 1.  If that goes down, or if a user manually logs in, he can cycle power on vera 1 (appliance switch 2). 

This should be 'fail-safe' - but I was wondering how you can use luup to watch Vera 1 and detect a real-time (sub-hour) failure?  Any thoughts?

[I have had great success with Vera - but it is not built to run a nuclear power plant - it will fail.  I just want to handle it gracefully that time that it happens when I really wish it didn't.]

[anthonyris]

Having a vacation house and a rental property over 3 hours ago, I struggled with the reliability of many of my devices - Vera, cable modem, router, Ooma, Ted, Microcell, etc.

We have a fair amount of power and Internet outages that cause decidedly ungrateful hangs. The result was an unending stream of something not quite working right. One device didn't get an IP addy, another one lost connection, Vera in a coma. Was a real drag, and frankly not worth the hassle.

Finally, after experimenting with various software monitoring, lua code, watchdogs, cron job reboots, blah blah, I had an epiphany: every cluster of devices I have are now connected to good ol' analog appliance timers. $10 bucks apiece. Cable modem and router now reboot at 5am every day, and LAN devices at 5:30am. As a side note, I added a whole whose surge suppressor to my AC panel too, as I have dozens of $$ z-wave devices.

I haven't had a significant issue since I hooked up the timers. Was something ironically enjoyable about pressing in a springy switch to set the on/off time...

Sometimes ya just gotta go retro.
.//A.

[Minnies]

I have quite a few GE switches and dimmers. I also have Leviton/Monster and Intermatic. I use the Intermatic only in the garage (game room) for fan and light because they are too noisy. All told I have about 75 devices installed. This is in a rental home where security and reliability are of the utmost importance.

Each time I install a new device, or group of new devices as I tend to do these only twice a year, I do the full system heal process twice. If any modules are not having as many neighbors as I expect I do individual module heals. This includes the battery operated modules like door sensors (which a re a pain by the way). Doing it this way I have never had a system lock up that required intervention. Yes I have experienced some down time, whether it be the network, communications or something like that. But not once in over a year have I needed to do a manual restart. One clude I received some time ago was to change the settings to eliminate the nightly heals. With manual heals my battery devices stay in synch whereas the nightly heals messed them up with no one around to place them in communicate mode.

Note I have not yet done an update to version 3.2 as my 2.78 is operating well.

My $0.02

I should provide an update as I have been experiencing all sorts of problems over the past few months.  First I had a Schlage deadbolt fail which may have created problems as I was not able to exclude it properly.  Then, in the midst of trying to get things running normal again MCV reset my controller to 3.20. I have not had a clean day since. Now I experience the nightly heals and eery other day or so a device that does not work. But worst of all I do not get very regular device updates. I need to poll llight switches to see their state. The most incredible thing is that for me to go back to the older version I need to be on site which means it will be this way for 4 more months. Ugh!

[stealthjumper]

I have had the return loop systems in my homes is definitely the better choice if you are able to install it without major disruption of your home’s interior. If the installation proves to be too costly then I would opt for the temperature controlled by-pass valve. My primary motivation for installing either system was convenience. I just got tired waiting for the water to get hot! I can't attest to the water savings covering the cost of either solution but I'm happy with the result anyway!

[Qrp]

To prevent tenant tampering with Vera, the DSL modem, and Linksys router, I installed all three into a pelican case which can be secured with a combination lock. All three devices take 12.0 Volts, so I purchased a TDK Lambda switching power supply from Newark electronics, and all three devices are powered from this one source. I drilled ventilation holes in the pelican case, and installed a computer fan to force air into the enclosure and keep everything cool - to improve reliability. Since the fan when running on 12 volts (from the common power supply) is louder than I wanted (the whole system is in the master bedroom for connection considerations), I used a LM7808 voltage regulator to reduce voltage to the fan so it runs more slowly and quietly, while still providing plenty of air.

When all is said and done, there is one 120v power cord and one phone cable coming out of the enclosure. It has been operating reliably for a year now. I also have the tenant's wireless net set up as a subnet with no access to the subnet that the Vera resides on, so tenants have no access to the Vera via WiFi.

Chip