pavalov

It continues to develop sophistication in the control system, with custom dashboards and apps, along with the ability to create even more complex actions and activators. The system works very well locally when broadband is out. I just added my second Iris camera today, although that is still in the development phase. One thing I especially like is the ZigBee routing information and control. I have found that my ZigBee smart bulbs are poor routers of commands. SRF gives you access to routing information in mesh and list form, so I can see what route the signal is taking for each device. If I don't like the route, I can manually change it. In my case, for problem devices, I can create a manual route that only uses Gen 2 smart plugs, which creates dependable routes. That said, there are still a few devices that have not been profiled successfully, and they have not yet created a facility for Alexa or Google voice control. I miss that a great deal, and will be glad when it is enabled. I am pleased that the cameras are able to be put to use, since I have 9 cams that I never switched from Iris. I appreciate the help you and Otto gave us in getting that worked out.

I hear you.

$50 here (SC).

I really am appreciative of the refunds they accomplished for us. But even with the generosity of that program (I got back about 4K), I would much rather have kept the system. Thankfully, SRF is showing me what potential Iris had if Lowes had not bailed.

Same here. I'm not going back and retro-fitting now.

With the Iris shutdown driving everyone to find alternative solutions, I imagine many folks are splitting their time between here and forums specific to their chosen alternative SH system. For instance, I'm spending most of my time with the gamma testing for SystronicsRF, but keeping an eye on my friends back here to see what systems they are migrating to and the problems they face. Regarding the new Jasco switches, I particularly like the physical changes they've made which should make installation much easier: "Jasco and GE have shrunk down the depth of its new switches by 20%, making it easier to fit in tighter spaces and making it more accommodating for homes new and old. The design duo have also eliminated heat tabs on the sides of the switch, which is designed to make it easier to install. . . . new smart control features including line-load sensing terminals. This is designed to eliminate any of the guesswork that comes with testing line and load wires while installing your switches. Dual offset ground ports also save time during the installation process, making it easier to install the switch and reducing the amount of wire congestion . . ."

SystronicsRF has added support for the following Orbit Sprinklers : - Orbit 12 Station Irrigation Timer (WT15ZB-12) - Orbit Hose Water Timer (HT8-ZB)

The SystronicsRF system natively breaks them out into Gen1 ZigBee, Gen2 ZigBee, and Z-wave coming next. This is my Gen 1 mesh graphically. It is a great improvement over what we had before because it uses device names rather than numbers as ID's, but I find their nested lists more useful. Using the mesh does allow you to mouse-over the devices and see the specific connection highlighted:

Otto, don't hold back -- tell us how you really feel.

With SystronicsRF, the current routing table is available as well:

I may have to go to that, but SRF wants to see if they can resolve it first. They released a control system update today that did the following: Improved event triggering for Light / Plug Turned On & Turned Off events. Improved turn on & turn off command where actions control numerous devices. Extended network level commands for OSRAM / Sylvania bulbs and similar. I'm testing it now. I think the old Sylvania IQ bulbs are going to be alright; I don't know yet about the OSRAM A19's, which gave me some trouble on Iris as well. Are the Link bulbs stable now that they have their own network?

Yes, the Iris rules options were sometimes limited, but I sure miss the plug and play aspects. The SRF humidity-based functions I mentioned are great, but it requires a pretty complex set of Actions and Activators, and takes a while to build it. Thankfully, they have good written documentation on how to do it.

That is strange. Like with Iris, I have found the Gen 1 plugs to be the most dependable devices I have on the SystronicsRF system. I'm fighting right now with some smart bulbs being unresponsive, but I've never had a single misfire with my many Gen 1 plugs. They pair easily, I never have to send a command twice, and they are always responsive to the Advanced Actions (rules) I've set up. I rely on the plugs to operate my dehumidifiers, which it is very important not to have running during my peak-rate electric periods. BTW, SRF has made operating the dehumidifiers much easier than with Iris because SRF has enabled humidity-based actions. I can now have a humidity sensor turn on the plug until the humidity drops back to a safe level in my crawlspace (but not during peak hours!). With Iris, I had to set up a time schedule to run them whether the humidity was high or not since Iris never enabled humidity-based device rules that actually worked with an Iris-capable device.

This was the Systronics guys' answer to that question, at least as to their system: "Regarding device limits, there’s no real upper limit. The ability to extend the mesh by adding additional routers, in the form of SmartPlugs & Range Extenders, allow the system to support many devices. There are users with ~100 Gen 1 devices on a single Gen 1 network."

That's a significant development for attracting users from other platforms. I'm especially pleased to see they've included the First Alert Smoke/CO2 sensors and GE switches.

Any gamma testers that have not yet bought your equipment, Vett has a good deal on some of the needed modules:

Systronics RF has significantly opened up uses for the Iris Gen 1 Key Pad as compared to its use in the Iris platform. This post is limited to describing the 10 different sounds from the Gen 1 key pad that can be assigned to Actions in the SRF Control System. Here's the list of names, with a subjective attempt to describe the sounds emitted: 1. Alarm: two-tone siren, British style 2. Armed: 3 fast beeps, high (freq.) tone 3. Arming: 3 slow beeps, medium tone 4. Bad Pin: 2 beeps, fast/slow, medium then low tone, repeated once 5. Home: 3 ascending beep tones, repeated once 6. Key Click: 1 beep, high tone 7. Locked: 2 quick low tones 8. Lost Hub: 2 long low tones 9. Night: 6 high tones 10. Open Door: (same as #1) 11. Panic: very rapidly repeated two-tone beeps, high freq. (like a cordless phone used to sound)

In contrast to Vett's views,I think the color scheme in SRF is one of its advantages in comparison to the crude appearance of the Hubitat system. I have not liked the screen shots I've seen of the Hubitat web browser UI, or dashboards, or whatever they call the interfaces. The SRF interface seems much more polished and well thought out from a user perspective. With SRF, each device has a picture of the device itself, along with text describing where the device is (both as to the room and location within the room). Devices are sorted by room and floor level, and each room of the house can be designated with different colors so that finding a particular device within a list is quicker visually. This is probably more easily shown than described: That said, I agree with Vett that they have not yet developed profiles for some key devices: deadbolts, thermostats and garage door openers. There also continue to be some glitches with rules firing and devices falling off. They are aware of the problems and have an update scheduled for tomorrow. I'm hopeful about SRF (but continue to watch the Hubitat discussions with interest). One reason I'm sticking with the SRF beta is that, as mentioned by Vett, they plan to incorporate the Iris cameras. Since unlike some others I continued to rely on Iris for camera monitoring rather than going to an alternative system, I've got a strong interest in salvaging my current nine camera installation.

I know they were working this weekend on control system stability issues, with a control system update due tomorrow. That may be delaying the software version they plan to send out for the gamma test.

Looks like you could download the MyTouch app from Jasco and control them through Alexa integration: https://www.gearbrain.com/mytouch-smart-wifi-plugs-review-2622282998.html

Two issues regarding the "Lights" tab: 1) It would be preferable if the Rooms groupings under the Lights tab were in the same order as those under the Devices tab. For instance, in my Devices tab, the "Office" room grouping comes first, but in the Lights tab, the "Deck" room grouping is the first listed. This makes it harder to quickly find the device you are looking for. 2) Items under the Lights tab have no dimmer controls, either in the full group view or in the individual device view. The only way that I see to dim a light is to go the the full Devices tab and find the relevant device.

SystronicsRF has actually been developing its system for the Gen 1 devices a lot longer than Hubitat has. I think SRF is closer to the finish line although there is more work to be done.

Thank you for an invaluable tool.

That's the big question. At this point, SRF appears to be a lot closer to the finish line regarding integration of Gen 1 devices.

All I can tell you is that it is improving every day, and the SRF guys have proved their commitment through their work ethic and tangible results. There are still a few device-specific problems, either regarding limited device functionality or pairing issues, but I'm using 50+ devices on the SRF system now with a lot more to migrate this week. As you can see from his list, Vett has much more than that already working on his system. SRF is the system I have opted for due to its non-cloud design and expansive rule-building flexibility. I do think it may take a while to reach parity, and I'm willing to spend a few weeks with a less-than-fully-operational system in order to get there. Cameras, thermostats, and GDO's are the main device types that still appear to need significant profile work.