- on/off button in the hub
- small battery/supercondenser to allow smooth shutdown and “last message” send
- device management: groups, alternate names, editable labels, editable replaced battery date
- presence feature for any device
- python interface (at least a REST wrapper)
*… I agree… no more reboot to let hub run correctly - resources monitor/resource saturation alarm
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Here’s my take, it’s not an easy task … There’s always likely to remain a single point of failure even if it’s just the Z-Wave, Zigbee, Intranet / Internet interface and this will require manual intervention to remedy. The Z radio implementations indirectly impose this because of ID based restrictions. A controller/hub failure is often more easily recoverable via backups or a ‘fancy’ failover but are more widespread in impact. I continue to look at fall/failover setups and MQTT helps.
Choose your important key ‘island’ areas like lighting, security, Audio/Video, heating/cooling, key access, electric gates etc. and choose those well regarded solutions that can operate as a standalone system should your controller go down. Then your house remains functional at a ‘normal’ level.
Now use your HA system to overlay ‘smarts’ to that ‘island’ functionality like scenes, auto night lighting, modes, presence triggered heating, zone control , scheduling, rules, touchscreen control etc. Now should the controller be down the house still functions in a manageable way for others, especially important if you are away from home with the family potentially in darkness.
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I 100% agree with this. Don’t try to make one device control everything. Instead, use best-of-breed subsystems for HVAC, Lighting, Security, Video Surveillance, etc… Tie them all together with something that can talk to everything!
This is why I recommend users go with a Smart Thermostat that has its own cloud connected ecosystem, like Ecobee. It can be integrated with many other systems. Ecobee works on its own, locally to control your home HVAC, while still offering remote control/configuration via the Ecobee cloud. Ecobee works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and APple HomeKit (locally!), as well as with Hubitat, SmartThings, and many others.
Note: Hopefully Nest will get back on this list once developers finish cracking the new API ‘nut’.
I recommend Lutron Caseta/RadioRA2 lighting systems for switches, dimmers, fan controllers, pico remotes, shades, etc… I also recommend Philips Hue for smart bulbs. Both of these systems have their own dedicated standalone controllers that integrate with tons of services, like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Hubitat, SmartThings, Node-RED, HomeAssistant, Logitech Harmony Hub, etc… Why limit yourself to direct paired Z-wave/Zigbee switches, dimmers, and bulbs when these complete lighting solutions offer so much more, and are considered the best in class solutions?
The great things about having these best in class subsystems, is that it frees you to try various home automation controllers from various vendors. Wanna try Hubitat, go for it. How about HomeAssisant? Sure, why not try it at the same time as Hubitat? No need to un-pair and re-pair any of your devices. Wanna try Oh-La Labs? Hopefully their upcoming product will support direct integration with numerous sub-systems as well.
Home Security systems - pick the best solution for your needs, that also can easily be integrated with other systems like those mentioned above. General Purpose home automation controllers have never been great at home security, and none have ever really claimed to be. Get something that runs locally and is supported well.
Home Audio/Video - the Logitech Harmony Hub is widely supported and is able to control a ton of devices. It also can work 100% on its own, or in addition to other systems like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, Hubitat, HomeAssistant, Node-RED, etc… I love that I can just pick up ONE physical remote control and know it will work, regardless of whether or not my home automation systems is up and running. But its great that I can trigger a lighting scene based on what Harmony Activity I have started or stopped.
So, my hope for the Oh-La Labs team is that they make sure their solution can easily integrate with all of these other best-in-class solutions.
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… and if you can interface to these islands via MQTT as a common denominator that really empowers you to use whatever controller or controllers you wish.
The reverse is also often true - if any one of these controllers has a plugin for the island device (and also MQTT) then you can re-publish the device to MQTT making that device status & control available to all your controllers…
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Since I have to be careful not to accidentally slip any details, I Will just quote Markus
Keep the input coming!
Oh, and you guys are so going to love what we have in store… 
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RRodman ‘Founder’ interesting… do we know you from somewhere familiar already, apologies if it hasn’t registered with me… I think I recognise the dog …
I’m dreaming already about my new controller…
I wish it was already
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roflmao 
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Making an assumption that custom code can be freely contributed for drivers and apps I have to ask a couple of somewhat contradictory questions.
Will all your Oh-La Labs drivers/apps be OpenSource ? I don’t mean the core code implementation.
I have previously written drivers for Schneider / Clipsal C-Bus. a lighting system and I released free code (obfuscated) but I couldn’t ever release on some platforms because I am under NDA not to disclose or allow reverse engineering the underlying protocols.
Will developers be able to contribute drivers in such a way that a ‘protected’ driver could be made available? Or even a hub licensed version?
Please understand this is not my desire to publish in a closed source way, nor am I looking for $$ income, it is simply the NDA restriction. My contributions are typically OpenSource and free (unless problems arise)
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…
- Hub PoE enabled
- stackable LCD screen for simple GUI
- stackable mini UPS
…
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I have similar questions in this regard as well. There’s the NDA issue with some drivers on platforms that are source distributed and there’s also the fact that Simplex Technology is a integration business so…well we like to make money to ya know stay in business
I will respond to this later this evening in detail. I have a few errands to run and there is a bit of a story there that needs to be told properly.
For now though you recognize my picture from my time on the HE forums…
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I could get on board with that. I have only briefly looked at it, but from what I see/have read, it looks like it could do what I am doing in WC, as well as add some functionality that I don’t. It is just another thing I have to try to learn. Again, not a programmer.
I’ll be making my post about who I am to the founders section soon as promised earlier…
In the meantime as far as using NR etc goes for controlling your automations… regardless of what may or may not part of the system, well this…
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This I love. And for as much as I like NR I don’t wish to see that interface cross over to this product. It just feels misplaced. That’s my $0.02
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These are some parts that we can answer now, other things get to wait with responses
An MQTT server exists as part of the platform and you can also run MQTT clients if that is needed (like for some TV sets).
When possible and when it makes sense, yes. There’s a fundamental difference on how certain things are implemented inside the platform vs how they run when they are Community contributed. The license to be used might vary, however. There’s some important differences in how drivers work which make some of this a much less important issue. Rest assured there will be enough shared, at the very least, to give a very solid understanding and easy starting points for building for our platform.
There is also the fact we use TS, there is a build tool which can generate the structure of your package as well as the basics needed for the type of package being built, such as a Zigbee driver.
No NDA restrictions on how you can release your code, we are strong believers in Open Source.
We have thought about the integrators and their needs, it’s part of our platform design.
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OK, a reeeeeal stretch here, but what the hell… coming from 30yrs in automation it can’t hurt to ask, right? Possible support for IEC 61131-3 Logic formats? This is used extensively for industrial automation platforms (PLCs, HMIs, etc) and alot of the features would fit in nicely with home automation/GUIs.
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I’m really looking forward to see what this platform will be!
I would love the ability to export all events - easily… so I can import them in excel to have a history of my electricity usage from devices that support it.
Would be great if it was easy to upgrade your platform so I can transition to the latest hardware version without having to re-do or adjust all my rules… (back-up, restore, done)
Assuming hardware is part of it, make it easy to buy in multiple countries from a local distributor (ex.: Amazon, Aartech, etc.)
For ZWave, add the ability to setup the hub as a secondary master, if that can be made to work well… I did this before with my alarm system and it mostly worked well, but there were issues at time…
I would really like a solution that is easy to use but has all the tools required to advanced users… and always responds quickly.
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Easy community app and driver installer and updater.
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Automated backup to network share.
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Be good to have an App or Driver certification scheme to qualify Users Apps and Drivers as “well behaved” etc.
- PoE powered hub
- Dual LAN ports on hub. (Or more)
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