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We've found what the issue is here as it’s to do with the command class on the valve reporting a different setpoint to the one that the hub expect, and this is down to the threading, causing the hub to get confused between different devices waking up and it processing messages for one device when really it should be another device. The problem for us is that the devices do not report that they have changed their value, they only report the value they currently have. This means that it’s difficult to know when they’ve been changed, but we think that the improvements we have made in this project and also the Data Broker will help stop this being an issue.
Licensing for support
We never plan to take away any features that customer’s have on their hubs when they purchased their system, but currently email and phone support is not sustainable as it is. We don’t think that we should expect a customer who purchased a hub many years ago and has never contacted us, or a customer who has purchased a hub recently, to be subsidising a customer who purchased the system 7 years ago who phones us and asks for help with low water pressure in their boiler, or an explanation of how to change the batteries in a valve for example. So moving forward in 2020 we will be charging a small licence fee for email and phone support, should you want it after the 3 months free period post installation expires. We will also be rolling this out to new features that are currently in Beta test at the moment, but this will be optional to all customers and it will be kept separate to the support licence. So, if you want the new features that have been developed after your system was purchased but not the support you only need to pay for the new features. Any critical updates for security and bug fixes will be included for free and will not be part of the licence.
Upcoming projects:
Customisable Deadband
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Making it easier to set heating periods that span the 00:00 from the end of one day to the start of the next. It may be small thing but we have been asked about it.
Amazon Alexa
With voice assistants being the way forward for home IOT as we see it, we are currently developing direct Alexa integration rather than using IFTTT. One of our customers is currently having a go at this as well as us doing it ourselves, and it’s been great to include your feedback into this so far.
Z-Wave transmit overflow
When a hub cannot see any devices because it is in a poor location such as inside a server cabinet, or something changes such as a new internet router is placed very close or on top of a hub the hub cannot communicate effectively to the devices in the property. We are implementing a change so it will fail more gracefully when it cannot communicate to the majority of the listening devices and it will alert the user to this fact.
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The wireless signal strength could be optimised in a property if users could see which devices are able to see each other and also what the strength is between the individual devices. With the latest advancements in the Z-wave chip we can now integrate this into the app and for users with the HUB-C and later you will be able to see which devices are on the edge of the radio range. Currently a device on the edge of the radio signal will intermittently drop in communication and will get through batteries quickly (less than 1 year). This project will help when setting up a system as well as help customers maintain their systems as things change in the house.
Completed Projects:
Licensing for support
We never plan to take away any features that customer’s have on their hubs when they purchased their system, but currently email and phone support is not sustainable as it is. We don’t think that we should expect a customer who purchased a hub many years ago and has never contacted us, or a customer who has purchased a hub recently, to be subsidising a customer who purchased the system 7 years ago who phones us and asks for help with low water pressure in their boiler, or an explanation of how to change the batteries in a valve for example. So moving forward in 2020 we will be charging a small licence fee for email and phone support, should you want it after the 3 months free period post installation expires. We will also be rolling this out to new features that are currently in Beta test at the moment, but this will be optional to all customers and it will be kept separate to the support licence. So, if you want the new features that have been developed after your system was purchased but not the support you only need to pay for the new features. Any critical updates for security and bug fixes will be included for free and will not be part of the licence.
Amazon Alexa
With voice assistants being the way forward for home IOT as we see it, we are currently developing direct Alexa integration rather than using IFTTT. One of our customers is currently having a go at this as well as us doing it ourselves, and it’s been great to include your feedback into this so far.