New Almond Plus (Jan 2015) Arrival & Automation Update

[Ck32250]

Im new to HA and Almond, & thought I'd share my experience so far in effort to help others in my situation, and finish tweaking the A+.

It really helped when I finally understood that there are several user interfaces (UI) with the A+:
IOS UI: Accessed by installing the app from the appstore (sign up for credentials)
LCD UI: Means the front of the A+ itself (no credentials)
CLOUD UI: Accessed from connect.securifi.com (same credentials as IOS UI)
LOCAL WEB or ADMIN UI: Accessed from 10.10.10.254 (credentials are listed on the LCD UI)

When the A+ arrived, it was not ready for home automation and needed to be updated to the newest firmware, which is downloaded from this forum, then installed via the LOCAL WEB UI.

Im blown away by how great the router works, my normal drop out zones around the house have 2 bars now- I no longer have any WIFI dead zones. I added all my devices to 5ghz, well, because i'm a newbie and I thought 5 sounds better than 2.4 though i've since read that 2.4 has a much further reaching distance than 5 so I may switch if I start having any issues, but right now i'm leaving well enough alone on 5ghz. 

So far I have just set up a few GE Wink bulbs (the inexpensive ones form Home Depot) and the Peanut that the A+ came with. All are working great with less than 1 second lag on either web UI & IOS app. The rules interface seems pretty straightforward (only accessed by the Local Web UI) though I can not find a way to change the time on any of the UI's. When I change it on the LCD UI, it goes right back and does not save.  I need advice on this.

 

[Blueiris8]

To update the time, log into the Web UI.  Advanced (tab) -> OpenWRT -> System -> System.  Update the timezone to be correct and you should be good to go since in it automatically adjusts your time.

[Ck32250]

Perfect, Thanks! I would not have found that myself.

[LGNilsson]

We're working on improving things like the time, as right now it's a little bit too complicated to configure.
The weather app will also be working in the next release and we've made a lot of improvements to the rules/automation UI as well.

It's good to hear that you're otherwise happy with your Almond+ and that the Wi-Fi range is better than on your previous router.

[ericsondr]

I'd like to echo the range.  My Asus rt-n66u has pretty decent range and this router goes even further.  The desk in the corner of my office used to pull about 5Mb down because of walls and distance (I have a 110 down connection).  With this router, it's up to 40Mb at that same area.  For all the problems I, and others have encountered, this router will be awesome when the firmware is solid.

[Ck32250]

Apologies if this has been addressed- I tried searching for it: Can anyone tell me if the Smarthings Multi Sensor plays nice with the Almond+?

[mparadis]

Ck32250, check out the official list here -> http://wiki.securifi.com/index.php?title=List_of_compatible_sensors_-_Almond%2B_2014

Looks like its supported but has steps that are needed for inclusion. Enjoy!

[Ck32250]

Thanks- I did see the list, but was hoping someone would share their experience with it if there's anything notable to mention. I plan to give it a shot. I really just want a sensor to turn a few lights on when the front door is opened, but thought the temp and motion aspect of the sensor might be fun or useful too.

[fillibar]

There is also a huge volume of work in the "Almond+ tested sensors/devices" section of the forum. More than has made it into the list so far.

[Ck32250]

Just some feedback- I spent more time than I wish I would have fooling with the home automation functions in the cb release today. I have not been able to successfully execute any rules (correctly) yet. The webpage for the rules UI was mostly unavailable today and would not load, locking everything up. So I went to the web UI to reboot, it says it can't reach the router and says to refresh, it still hasn't worked. So I went to the LCD UI and tried to reboot and it is frozen on the "rebooting" screen now and has been for about 4hours. I read that there is a hard reset button on the router but I'm reluctant to do that as I'm not sure if I'll lose the hours I spent setting up the router in the first place, I guess I'll have to find out tomorrow unless I get some other advice on this board. 
When I get this router up again, I'm going back to "stock" firmware without automation until a (working) firmware is released that supports automation.

[LGNilsson]

Just unplug it and plug it back in.

I'm not sure what you mean by the webpage for the rules not being available, as it's running locally on the device itself.
If you're having problems, please don't hesitate to contact our support team, it's what they're there for and it's free.