New Ezlo Platform FAQ

Company Talks Official Announcements
#1

How do the features of the Ezlo platform compare to the Vera platform?

The new Ezlo platform is designed to do everything the Vera platform can do, but we’ve taken it further with a significant upgrade to create a state-of-the-art cloud platform, significantly faster hardware, a new navigation in our app, and an altogether better user experience.

Of course, there are several added features as well. The new Ezlo platform offers the following:

  • Local control directly from mobile apps
  • Native features formerly available via plugins, such as using House Modes as an action in scenes, and advanced scene creation options
  • Ezlo VOI (Voice Orchestrated Infrastructure) enables control of, or scene creation for, any device connected to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant
  • Coming soon, we’ll have a service that allows you to add any Wi-Fi device connected to Alexa or Google to your app and control it as you would any other device

Note that the Geofencing feature will be available in late Q1.

Can I use an Ezlo hub as the master with my Vera hub so I can keep my existing setup? Or can I transition my setup to Ezlo hub?

The new Ezlo platform uses the latest software and cloud tools to give you the best user experience. Because the two platform structures are entirely different, there is no seamless way to transition your existing setup from a Vera controller to an Ezlo one. However, the new Ezlo hubs feature Z-Wave Smart Start, which will make the re-pairing of certain devices much easier than it has been previously.

Will the Vera controllers be discontinued?

The Vera controllers are older products and many of the components aren’t as widely available as they used to be. As a result, we currently have no plans to manufacture more of them, but as noted, our new controllers will have all the same capabilities, along with faster processors, new features, and a state-of-the-art platform. We will, however, continue to support the Vera platform as we have done over the last ten years.

How long will the Vera platform continue to receive support? Will you continue to release firmware upgrades?

The next firmware upgrade (7.32) is already planned, and we will be maintaining support for the platform. After 7.32 we’ll be making maintenance upgrades on an as-needed basis to ensure full functionality.

Will all devices that worked with Vera also work with Ezlo?

All certified Z-Wave and Zigbee devices that are still being manufactured should work with our platform. Devices that have been discontinued by the manufacturer and may be compatible with older Vera controllers will no longer be supported.

At launch, every device that works with the Ezlo Atom and Ezlo PlugHub will work with the Ezlo Plus and the Ezlo Secure. Additional may be missing from the library but will be added in the coming weeks.

What application will the Ezlo controllers use?

The Ezlo controllers will run on the current Vera app.

Will the Ezlo platform support the VistaCam cameras?

The VistaCam 702 will be supported at launch. Shortly thereafter, the VistaCam 1200 and the VistaCam 1102 (coming soon) will be supported. In the future, new VistaCam models will be supported as well.

Will VeraProtect, your monitored security service, be available on the new platform?

Yes. While we will begin calling it Ezlo Protect instead, we view it as essential to continue giving our customers the opportunity for greater peace of mind with our Ezlo central monitoring service…

What about Plugins?

On the new platform, there are several native features that previously required plugins on the Vera platform. These include the ability to create complex scenes with AND/OR/NOT operators, use house modes as actions in a scene, add lua scripts or http commands as actions in a scene, and leverage the VOI platform for enhanced voice control of over 27,000 Wi-Fi devices associated with Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant.

We plan to develop plugins for the Ecobee and Honeywell thermostats, as well as Philips Hue lights.

We don’t have plans to develop many more, but do want to create a marketplace within the community to take advantage of the creativity and expertise of our users.

Will there be an API?

Yes. An API has been created and documentation will soon be made available on the Ezlo website.

Will you be offering customers an upgrade should they choose to stop using their Vera controllers?

Yes. Please contact our Customer Care team for details.

What if I want Z-Wave only and don’t need Zigbee? What are my options?

Our Ezlo Atom and Ezlo PlugHub controllers are both Z-Wave only. At this time the Ezlo Plus will serve as a replacement for both the Vera Plus and Vera Edge. It combines the multi-radio capabilities of the former with the affordability of the latter, with much faster processing power as well as Z-Wave 700-series and Zigbee 3.0 technology.

A lot of smart home companies are moving to a subscription model. Is this in your plans for the new platform?

We want to account for all users, and not everyone is interested in paying a monthly subscription fee for home automation. As such, we plan to offer our app free to anyone with an Ezlo or Vera controller just as we have done for years. In the future, however, we will provide a number of different ways to take advantage of the range of features that will become available through our platform.

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Delivery of EZLO plus
Delivery of EZLO plus
#2

Does this mean that Ezlo hubs (and even Vera hubs running the coming Ezlo firmware) cannot function without an internet connection?

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#3

No.
They can function locally.
Also the Mobile Apps can function locally as well without internet connection.

Whatever can be done local, we try to do it local. No need for a “Cloud trip” to turn a “light on”!

but no reason why we shouldn’t offer you a superior Cloud platform for when you want to do things remotely or use other cloud service :wink:

#4

Is there an easy upgrade path from a Vera hub to an Ezlo hub? Or do you have to basically rebuild everything and start from scratch? I know there are some technical challenges with devices because of pairing issues but what about scenes, plugins and custom lua code?

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#5

good afternoon. I have two questions:

do the z-wave 500 devices have a greater range with this gateway?

Vera Secure came out relatively recently with a price much higher than ezlo secure. even those who want to make the switch will be at a great loss for keeping their vera secure stopped. Does ezlo think about doing some kind of recovery for this gateway?

#6

Today you have to build everything.
Soon- you can have both Old Vera hub and New Ezlo hub operating under one account
Under investigation- backing up zwave on old vera hub and pushing it to new ezlo hub.

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Ideas about how to Migrate Vera FW to Ezlo FW
#7

Nice I wasn’t expecting this.

Thought it would be scenes only using VOI.

This is a broad sweeping statement.

Many of us have older Z-Wave devices that are no longer manufactured. Let’s hope those devices work anyway.

No mention of a future proper native logic engine like Reactor.

No port of the current Logitech Harmony plugin?

Least your doing Philips Hue, half my lights are Hue, all my ceiling lights are Z-Wave.

So what were the top most used 3rd party plugins, that you were monitoring for their current usage stats, that you decided not to port over to the Ezlo platform yourselves?

Rather it didn’t to be honest. Personally I can’t use the Vera mobile app, it just too slow and buggy.

Has the new Nativescript dashboard app development been abandoned now?

Any news on UI8 Web GUI?

Thanks.

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#8

The lack of security system plugin (Dsc ) is a step back for me. Your plugin list is really short. I do not think you realize how important these plugins are for most of us. They were Vera’s strong point and without them, Ezlo is just another controller.

Hope you will reconsider.

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#9

Our developers are now developing a plugin framework and plugin store for the new Ezlo Hubs. Plugins are not just important, they are VITAL to the success of our ecosystem!

Last two years, we built 4 different Controllers based on 2 different Operating Systems (RTOS - Real Time Operating System and Linux)

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We made it so that it can be operated locally. It has APIs.
Now we move onto next set of tasks like making sure our Plugin firmware capability is finalized (which is what we just started working on). All these hubs have their own Zwave Stack (we don’t use the one that comes from Silabs, we wrote our own to make it more efficient and responsive.). All our hardware is Purpose Designed for Home Automation (not like other companies who take a general purpose Rasberry pi hardware or an off the shelf android pcb and add a zwave chip). All of our controllers are hardware that is designed in house by our own engineers.
Now we are focusing on Plugin framework, backup, grouping of hubs (so that they will work as one in one account) and so on.

Here is a draft comparison matrix of all these hubs

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#10

The Vera app continues to have problems when changing the wifi to 4g. The app stops working. This problem is very bad. whenever I walk out of the house and want to use the app, I always have to open and close the app. sometimes I no longer know if the devices are open / closed, on / off, because the app freezes and what is appearing does not correspond to reality. For months I have a user for technical assistance to solve the problem and everything remains the same. This problem happens to many users. I don’t know if it’s only in Europe on IOS. I want to get rid of this problem. Will I exchange for an ezlo and will the same thing happen?

#11

Thank you for the FAQ, I’m invested in Ezlo Plus to connect my shades and smart lock to my Control4 system.
Would the new ezlo plus devices work with the Control4 driver for Vera?

#12

No, this is the only reason why i’m sticking with vera for the moment.

#13

No.

The Control4 “Driver” would have to be rewritten / developed again to support the new Ezlo hubs.

#14

Thank you for the response.
Would it get developed at some point? Is there any plans for it?
This would the deciding factor for me to go with Vera (Ezlo) or a less attractive hub.
Also would it be Control4 that has to do it or Ezlo?

#15

The Company that developed the driver for Control4 was purchased by Control4 couple of years ago, so the development of the driver stopped there. Control4 for sure will not develop a driver for ezlo controller and i”m pretty sure that a 3rd party developer that is doing control4 drivers will not develop a driver for ezlo. Maybe @melih can give you an info if ezlo has any interest in developing driver for control4. Because Vera is eol and my only door to control4 for my lightning is vera i have couple of veras as a backup in just because of this reason. I have tried a http driver in control4 to control ezlo via http api it works oneway because at the moment ezlo cant send variables in http command so you can’t send information back if the device was turned on or off manually. Also my ezlo plus stops responding after a couple of hours and i need to do hard reboot to get it working again so i didn’t do any long term testing.

#16

Hi @eonnet,
We can send broadcasts about changing states of devices for both - websockets and http including reports about changing of temperature, humidity, etc.
For http you can find it here: HTTP-Server - Ezlo API Documentation
Add please more details about your case where you need to send variables in http command.

#17

When a dim level change i want to send the dim level value to a http link via scene.

Example http://ip_adress/xyz{dim_level}

The link is not working its for internal use only.

Best regards

#18

Format of the HTTP request which can be sent from the scene described here.
https://log.ezlo.com/new/hub/scenes_manager/#sendhttprequest
We are planning to implement access to values of items as a part of HTTP requests from the scenes
but now you can subscribe to broadcasts with values of device items.

#19

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation.
I still have to get a hub to connect my somfy (bali blinds) shades and danalock smart lock to control4, and me best option was vera. It’s out of stock in Canada and the reseller said it’s going to be replaced.
I was happy when the new ezlo came out, but now I’m worried that I won’t get what I need from it.
I either have to live with the two systems separated or go with something like smart things.
You mentioned the http driver worked with Ezlo, does that mean I might have a chance if I forget about status of the device)?

#20

Yes you need to purchase Chowmain Software this driver and you will need to add virtual devices on your control4 system and program each event on the devices. Here CW's IDIOT GUIDE - To Ezlo platform HTTP API commands aka Luup Requests - #6 by cw-kid - General Discussions - Ezlo Community you can see how you can send http commands. Depending on how many devices you have it can be a lot of work… also if you exclude and include some device you will need to program new events because the id of the device will change and the url will change so its not an ideal solution considering that you can’t do the programing by yourself and you need to hire a company to do all the programming. Considering all of this maybe it will be easier to purchase some other controller in the future that can be integrated to control4.

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