Z-Wave or Insteon... in Australia?

Hi

I have setup a Vera Edge to control lighting, curtains, watering, locks and IR via either Z-Wave or Global Cache gateways in our showroom at work. At a basic level its okay but getting sick of delving into Lua code every time I want to do something a bit clever, and before diving into Pleg I thought I would check Indigo out as I am a Mac/iPhone/iPad addict.

I now want to get serious about automating the home I am renovating at present. One of the problems we face in Australia is that the radio frequencies used for Z-Wave and Insteon are different to the US and the UK, so we don't have access to as wide a range of devices, and they are pretty expensive to buy, so I am wondering which way to go - Insteon or Z-Wave... or both.

I only have z-wave devices at present - lock, sensors, switches, dimmers, but before I get an electrician to install them, is there any reason to rather switch to Insteon rather than z-wave? I have a feeling that in Australia we are going to have access to a wider range of Z-Wave devices than Insteon devices if Ebay is any indication of what is available.

Things I am looking at automating are irrigation (I have a wired Irrigation Caddy), lighting (dimmers), pool pump. I'd love to automate ceiling fans as well, as they are a big part of life in the tropics, but I don't think there will be an Australian product any time soon. At work the Vision z-wave door lock is a big part of opening up in the morning and closing at the end of the day, but I understand Indigo does not support locks, until possibly version 7, which has a mystery release date, and if locks are supported they won't be z-wave! So I might be forced to use multiple protocols anyway.

Any background on whether to stick with z-wave, switch to Insteon, or just accept that I will need to use a hybrid.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome! I have tried Insteon, Vera, Fibaro HC2 and have finally settled on Indigo.
Like you, I'm in Oz and am frustrated at the lack of AU ZWave devices. But as you note, they are slowly appearing "Down Under"! Check out Black Cat controls - they are importing a range of interesting AU stuff. As you note you already have started with ZWave!

I use a mix of ZWave IR and WiFi to achieve automation of a both a period home and a beach shack -the latter being the envy of those who learn I can turn the heating or cooling on as I leave home for the beach!!

On that subject, I have managed to achieve control of my Daikin AC using Indigo python scripts to communicate with their SkiFi system (peculiar to Oz), so all sorts of possibilities exist with Indigo!!
Good luck with your decision making!!
mclass


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Down under here too. Tried Vera, tried home seer stuck with Indigo. Won't get a more stable product out there although it's getting a little dated now but no doubt v7 will change all that soon!

I've thought of delving into insteon but indigo doesn't support the hub which is our only option here. So that may influence your decision if you decide to stick with indigo. Personally I've found the z wave range wider than insteon as to what's available for us here. And from what I can see, all that insteon can do z wave can do and with the gen 5 stuff it's even better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jay (support)]

Indigo doesn't support Insteon in Australia because there is no Australian PowerLinc available. Just FYI...

Jay - thanks for resolving that dilemma in one go! So it's z-wave of nothing, but that does leave the problem of z-wave locks not being supported. I know there is a work around via the Vera, but if I am going to have to have a Vera, I might as well stick with the Vera and not run two separate systems - too complicated.

Coolcaper - thanks for the feedback, nice to know there are some fellow Aussies trying to work our way through this maze. I was leaning towards z-wave apart from the door lock dilemma - as you say the range is bigger and more active.

mclass - sounds like you are fully immersed in this HA jungle! I don't have a beach shack (yet?) but would be interested in cooling the house before I get home from work. I have a mixture of older aircons as its a 30year old house so I was contemplating using a Global Cache IR gateway to control the A/C and fans.

Still keen to give Indigo a trial, all sounds good apart from the lock situation which will hopefully be sorted at some point in the future.

Thanks all

Rather than use a Z-wave lock, have you given any thought to automating an electronic strike.

For most people, the Z-wave lock would be battery powered, and the batteries go flat at inopertune times. The strike however can be hard wired, and then it is a question of either using a z-wave switch, or if you have an Alarm system such as the DSC with the Indigo plugin, then you may be able to control the strike using one of the powered outputs of the alarm. (There may be other Alarms that have that ability such as ELK/Ness). This is on my list of things to do, but I want to incorporate a video camera at the door as well.

Cheers

Jay - thanks for resolving that dilemma in one go! So it's z-wave of nothing, but that does leave the problem of z-wave locks not being supported. I know there is a work around via the Vera, but if I am going to have to have a Vera, I might as well stick with the Vera and not run two separate systems - too complicated.

Ahh, but a short amount of time SHOULD resolve your locks dilemma... the Indigo 7 sneak peaks (hints) have very strongly pointed towards full lock support in Indigo and the last hint from Jay suggested it would be done within a month or so ("should be a happy [US] Thanksgiving barring any major setbacks" or something to that effect). Just an FYI there in case locks were your biggest sticking point at the moment!