9 months is enough, I'm out.....

[jnowland]

I have had enough with the lack of support and answers to my questions/concerns.  The changes and updates recently made and the focus more on Nest and/or garage door opening compatibility instead of Amazon Echo and Linear devices has gotten me all wound up.  I have several Wink Bulbs on a Wink hub just so I can use my Echo to control them.  I use two apps now to operate my devices, with 2 (Linear FS20z-1 & WD500Z-1) not working properly.  I have to continually remove and re-add these two switches, only to be frustrated when I cannot connect again.  These 2 particular devices are located in my garage, which does require my A+ to communicate through 2 walls and across a small patch of my back yard.  However, my A+ has no problem at all communicating with my Aeon plug located in my shed even further away.  I have addressecd this issue many many times to no avail.  I understand Securifi has stated they are doing their best, but addressing things that the average user does not care about has convinced me to spend yet more money and buy a Smart Things Hub.  It is compatible with my Echo and supports all of my devices.  I now have an over-priced, over-hyped WiFi router in my home.

[xtbs26]

Not a ringing endorsement from a beta tester. I will most likely be following suit. I was waiting for the upcoming release, but it looks like we may have flying cars before we have a release of firmware.

[lgkahn]

I have an  FS20z-1 and have no issues but I am not on beta (haven't heard back since I sent in my request) what are your issues.
I use it to open a garage door. and all I had to do was add a rule to turn it off 2 secs after it is on so that it acts as a toggle switch.. Is it a range issue you are having..
I have found after adding new switches such as wall switchs or even the  FS20z-1 I needed to reboot the router to get devices working again, presumeably because they are now going through the wired devices as repeaters?

[rldreams]

I jumped ship this past weekend when my ST V2 arrived.  While the ST UI is non-existent and I have to find the code to do what I want it to do. At least it is open and I can actually get it to do what I want.
 In 2 days I had it all set up with my dusk-dawn outside lights. Hallway lights on/off with door unlocking, locking. Added my Harmony Home , TCP connect hub, Echo, Honeywell thermostats ,and Wemo switches all without a hitch. After adding a few custom codes I now have full voice control over 90% of my house and the wife is happy because I was able to add most of it to Harmony so she also has a physical "clicker" ( if she remembers which button controls  which light, and she doesn't end up dimming a light when she wanted to turn up the heat/AC LOL )

Now I just need to decide what I want for a reliable and stable router. A+ can join its almond predecessor as a secondary AP . I had not realized how BAD the range had gotten on A+ WiFI until I was outside yesterday ( attempting to ) streaming music to my phone less than 30' from A+ and it kept buffering. When I first got my A+ I could stream video from 2 houses away without buffering. Now I can listen to music in the hottub downstairs.

[rldreams]

Not a ringing endorsement from a beta tester. I will most likely be following suit. I was waiting for the upcoming release, but it looks like we may have flying cars before we have a release of firmware.

ST V2 has 30 day return policy so IF ( BIG IF) this update we have been promised for 3 months actually is anything at all. I should be within that 30 day window. However based on past FW failures I am really not holding out much hope for Securifi and their attempt to enter HA market.  Hardware that was ahead of it's time 2 years ago is now obsolete before they can actually get the firmware to make it work.  Simple things a $20 router can do like have network printer driver is beyond the reach of Almond+ . Why do we have all those pretty 2 USB ports if they are non functional waiting for FW updates ? 

[Richel]

What is "ST V2?"
Thanks.

[obmd1]

Smart Things V2. Why don't you like the UI there? Itching to do HA for real, and securifi clearly isn't up to the task.

[rldreams]

Smart Things V2. Why don't you like the UI there? Itching to do HA for real, and securifi clearly isn't up to the task.

Once you figure it out, the UI is fine. It is just a steep learning curve when you need to start finding and plugging in custom apps into the api. If you enjoy coding and know Groovy it is fine. The forum reminds me of how helpful and full of information this forum used to be.
On functionality it is light years ahead of A+. They just need to actually organize the wealth of information .  As I said over their earlier today " I'm a guy, I don't want to have to publicly ask how to do something that I know I should know how to do " It took me 2 days after I got the hub to figure out how to get into the API and build my custom device drivers and apps. LOL.
 Documentation that came with it was 1 install app on phone. 2 Hook up hub 3 add things 4 enjoy.  If only everything in life could be so simple

[obmd1]

Thanks... I'm not a coding guy. Thanks for your food for thought. Sounds less than plug-and-play, though maybe you're doing higher order stuff?

[rldreams]

There are a few basic , lighting, automation, security apps built in to the main app. The "custom" code is all available through their API and Github. It is just a matter of actually finding what you want  then copy/paste.  With the G5 Z-wave chipset you can just scan and all ALL your devices at once. That was too much for me, so I kept stopping after it found 5 or so, so I could remember what they were and label/name them appropriately .

[jnowland]

lgkahn,
I have been having issues with my FS20z from the beginning, even before upgrading the firmware.  I am assuming it is due to the fact that it is located in my garage, which as I satted is seperated from my A+ by a small patch of my backyard.  I say this because the Linear WD500z light switch installed in the same garage has connection issue too.  My other Linear switches located in my home do not have issues.  The ones locate din my home are actually further away from my A+ then the ones in my garage.  So, what is it about the outdoors that would prevent my A+ from communicating with the switches?  I ask this because the Aeon outlet I am using in my shed, which is even further away connects just fine.  How do you have your FS20z set up, as a binary switch or....?

[tdogz]

[...] So, what is it about the outdoors that would prevent my A+ from communicating with the switches?  I ask this because the Aeon outlet I am using in my shed, which is even further away connects just fine.

Your outdoor problems probably come from one of two common factors...

1) the materials that make up your exterior walls most likely block a lot more of the zwave signal than your interior walls. They are thicker, contain more insulation and often use things like aluminum.

But in your case, the most likely answer is....

2) each device has its own antenna built-in. It is possible that the antenna in the Aeon device functions better than the Linear antennas.

[rldreams]

If it is just the devices in the garage with the issues, I will also chime in that it is probably the construction of the garage interfering with the radio waves. You can try putting a repeater ( be it a standalone repeater or any hardwired device that acts as a repeater) on the wall of the house closest to the garage and wall of garage closest to the house. See if that helps with the loss. If the Aeon outlets are working in the shed, I would start with one of them in the garage .

[d.kiran]

I remembered something that went wrong during install. I have the FS20Z as a garage door opener. One of the wires on that relay (white I believe) is the antenna. It paired well but it did not communicate when I attached it to the garage door. I re positioned that antenna wire so that it was not touching anything and was clear of obstruction. From then I have had no issues. Maybe worth a try ?

[rpr69]

If it is just the devices in the garage with the issues, I will also chime in that it is probably the construction of the garage interfering with the radio waves. You can try putting a repeater ( be it a standalone repeater or any hardwired device that acts as a repeater) on the wall of the house closest to the garage and wall of garage closest to the house. See if that helps with the loss. If the Aeon outlets are working in the shed, I would start with one of them in the garage .

I tried that, and it doesn't work. I have a hardwired Z-Wave relay switch plugged in in my garage, and a wireless garage door sensor (both from Monoprice). Apparently there is no way to setup the hardwired switch as a repeater with the Almond+, so it's useless. The switch itself pairs fine, the garage door sensor usually works, but it's flaky, if it were going through the repeater I believe it would work perfectly, but alas, at this time there is no way to do that via the Almond+.