USB-UIRT: Trouble Making Vera See it in 2020 (update: you can't)

Other Devices & Integrations General Device Discussions
#1

Hi all, I know there are other threads on this and I read them all beforehand but they’re all old and don’t have any conclusive information in them.

I just bought a USB-UIRT to use with my Vera Lite, but I cannot apparently do that. It may even be that they removed all IR control with UI7…can that be true?

Consulting DMESG output I can tell the Kernel is “seeing” the device, but how do you go from there to using it within vera? I was under the impression you needed to “add device” and one of the options there should be IR Control or something to that effect. However, nothing of that nature is present.

Am I missing something key here or is there a real problem making UI7 work with USB-UIRT? If that’s a hard-stop, I might have to send it back…but is there any alternatives out there? If not USB-UIRT, how can I have Vera send IR codes to AV equipmment?

thanks in advance!
AJM

#2

I can not help you with the USB-UIRT, I doubt you can use it with Vera. As an alternative I use the Logitech Harmony Hub connected to Vera via the app in the store to send IR-signals to my AV-equipment.

#3

Helllo Matoshi, was there any particular reason you say you doubt it can be used with Vera? I know there are lots of threads going all the way back to UI2 that have lots of reports of people using it without issue, but then it gets a bit murky once you get past UI5. If this is just a known thing that it cannot or will not work, then I’ll return it, but I know at least at one point, historically, it was working nicely with Vera.

#4

With UI5 nearly everything worked, then GEN5 Z-wave came along and broke what was then state of the art.
What was and what is now are two vastly different UI’s. If you read threads from the start of UI5 to this point (approx) of last year you will notice the angst of others trying to get devices working in UI7.
I’d return if if you can and wait for a something that will work with UI7.

#5

No reason, it was a guess from my side due to the same reasons @zedrally expresses.

#6

Thanks everyone…I appreciate it. I hate to say it, but Vera is just not keeping pace with the rest of the world. It was a nice $90 self-contained, handy form-factor device when I bought it, especially given the cheap price of entry into the Z-Wave controller arena, but it feels like it’s fallen sadly behind the times.

I had personally switched my home over to a linux VM running HomeSeer…I had gifted my old Vera to a friend doing a remodel of a small condo, in the hopes that it might prove useful in a smaller environment. But this sad lack of support for what has become really common features is really troubling.

At the risk of sounding like a commercial, I just noticed that HomeSeer is currently running one of their 50% off sales…I think I’ll just have to advise my friend to head in that direction. Strictly from a time versus reward perspective, Vera just isn’t getting it done anymore.

Thanks all, I appreciate the info…it’s a shame since they really seemed to have a great platform here with Vera…but this isn’t just a lack of innovation, this is a regressive step to remove support for devices that had been inherently useful.

Best to all,
AJM

#7

Correct, the built-in IR support was not continued in UI7. I use Global Cache IP2IR with UI7 - you just have to code the commands yourself. Using Global Cache’s Control Tower, they can e-mail you the commands for most equipment - then code them in Lua…