Shout Out to Brazil!

We want to send a shout out to all of our Brazilian Customers.

Z-Wave in Brazil has skyrocketed! About ¼ of our customers get packages sent to Brazil loaded with Veralites, Vera3, Aeon Labs products, Kwikset Z-Wave Locks and more . We want to let our customers know we do our best to keep shipping and customs cost as low as possible to international customers.

You may be asking yourself does Brazil have their own Z-Wave frequency? 

The answer is yes! 

They just got approved the same Z-Wave Frequency as Australia 921.4 MHz.  Where in the United States the Z-Wave Frequency is 908.4 MHz.

The reason why many countries are turning to the United States 908.4 MHz devices is because they are plentiful. Many more manufactures are producing devices for the states than any other country. This gives expanding resources to these countries just getting started in the home automation game.

It will be some time until more devices are made with the Z-Wave 921.4 MHz. Our goal over the next year is to offer discounted shipping and eventually Free to Brazil like we do with the United States.

Exciting News from Vera

At CEDIA 2013 Smart Home SD heard some very interesting news from the Home Automation Power House Mi Casa Verde, now known as Vera Control, LTD. With a new slogan and logo to go along.

Vera Control also released some surprising new features that we are all looking forward to. So to the people that bought the Vera hoping to be future proof you made the right move. And to the people on the edge of purchasing a new Veralite or Vera3 there is no better time.


Here is was Vera Control had to say....


Mi Casa Verde Announces Branding Program and Name Change to Vera Denver, CO. September 26, 2013—Mi Casa Verde, a leader in Home Automation, has announced today during the CEDIA trade show a major rebranding program beginning with a brand name change to Vera. New retail packaging for Vera controllers, cellular USB modem support for fallback connectivity, a national central monitoring plan for dealers to offer their customers, a new management portal for dealers, and an installer online certification curriculum are part of the branding program being offered.

“We have been focused on the enthusiast segment of the market for the last several years. We are now enhancing our efforts to include a broader range of consumers who are very interested in home automation. Our company has grown significantly due to this new group of consumers who are learning about the benefits of an automated home, and looking to purchase our products,” said Lew Brown, president of Vera.

 “Our international business has grown dramatically, and the Mi Casa Verde name has been a challenge in some of our markets. Vera is a name that customers have been using with our controllers, so it seemed very natural as we consumerize our products to update the brand name.”

 Brown continued, “We are introducing a number of new programs aimed at making our products easier for consumers to use. For example, we are introducing our 7th generation user interface, which has been completely redone and is significantly easier and more intuitive to interact with. This new UI will make the set-up experience even easier for our consumers.”

In five years, Vera has experienced a doubling of sales growth annually. Its products are now sold direct-to-consumers in more than 68 countries. The company has been recognized for a number of attributes including: ease-of- installation and expansion; state-of-the-art technology; cost-to-value/energy savings; accessibility from anywhere on smart phones, tablets, and PC’s. The product line is available in over 800 dealers and installers globally.

Zwave Dimmer Switch and LED light bulbs

Hey Guys, long time no post. I have been trying to establish myself the best I can online. A lot of people don't realize how competitive online retail really is but I am grateful for all of my customers. You keep me going researching different products for home automation. Well in this post I want to clarify the LED and Zwave dimmer switch common problem. 
Across the board all Zwave dimmers have issues with LED light bulbs. On/off switches no problem but dimmers another story. 

The reason: LED light bulbs use far less power then the normal incandescent light bulb. All Zwave dimmer switches have a minimum load requirement. Most of them are right around 40 watts. This is not always posted and sometimes leads to trial and error efforts of end user. The other reason is that some LED bulbs are just not made to work well with dimmers. Because the large demand for LEDs everyone is manufacturing them (and all differently). Pretty much any LED that you pick up from your big box store will work with zwave dimmer switches, you just have to be over 40 watts. My goal is to find a high quality LED bulb that will work for under 7$ a piece (I'm still searching....). 



Example 1: My kitchen I have two 9.5 watt LED light bulbs and Five 55 watt halogen lights bulbs on one circuit connected to a Intermatic CA600 Zwave Dimmer Switch. It works great no problems. But as soon as you take out all of the halogens and turn the switch off the LED flickers and stays on at a very low setting. This is because the two 9.5 watt bulbs do not add up to the 40 watt minimum load.  

Example 2: In my living room I have 4 LED 12.5 watt LED can lights on one circuit. Connected to a GE 45612 Dimmer switch. Work perfectly until I take out one bulb. Then I get the flicks. 

Dimmer Recommended Switches

 GE 45612 

If money is no option Vizia RF VRM10-1LZ 

Dimmer Non Recommended Switches

I'm really not putting Evolve down but at the price point of $49.99 and you know they are made by JASCO the same company that makes the GE 45612 ($42) you realize that you are paying 5$-8$ more just for the Evolve name brand. They are the same exact switches. 

CT30 and Vera and Possible Zwave Issues



I will be posting a video soon of setting up ct30 with the Vera but in the mean time this information needs to be sent out. The ct30 connect with power or C wire is known for flooding the Vera's Zwave network (also some other zwave controllers) causing Zwave network to break down. Especially if you have a larger network. 3-5 nodes (Zwave Devices) and you really shouldn't see any problem. Also if you are using the CT30 only with battery power and no C wire you shouldn't see any issues. Radio Thermostats have a work around:

Issue Description:
There is a known issue with v7.4 of RTCOA Z-Wave firmware that will cause thermostats to constantly
transmit on the Z-Wave network. This constant transmit condition will cause communication failures
not only with the thermostat itself, but other Z-Wave nodes in proximity to the thermostat. This issue
has been known to occur only on thermostats joined as always listening devices (c-wire) with moderate
to large z-wave networks. This rare condition is only present in v7.4 and has been eliminated in all
subsequent firmware versions.
If the user suspects that the thermostat is in this state because of network communication failures, reset
the thermostat and check the Z-Wave network again. If Z-Wave network communication is restored,
then issue is the likely cause of the communication failures.
This issue only happens on thermostats powered via the c-wire with a Z-Wave USNAP module v7.4.
Work Around: Instructions to join thermostat as a battery powered device
1. Exclude the thermostat from the Z-Wave network.
2. Turn off HVAC power.
3. Disconnect the C-Wire.
4. Reset the thermostat and wait 10 seconds.
a. The reset button is located underneath the top wire cover.
5. Include the thermostat to the Z-Wave network.
6. Verify that the thermostat has successfully joined as a battery-powered device.
a. The radio version should say ‘7.40’.
7. Reconnect the C-Wire.
8. Restore HVAC power.
How to determine Radio Version and C-Wire/Battery Status
1. Put thermostat in OFF mode
2. Press and hold lower right corner of LCD for 5 seconds
3. Text will appear in the upper left corner of the LCD. This text area displays the thermostat
firmware version and the firmware version of the USNAP radio modules. Press the up or down
buttons on the LCD to cycle between the versions.
a. Fx.yz : Thermostat firmware version (e.g. F1.92 is thermostat firmware version 1.92)
b. L z.yz : Firmware version of left USNAP radio module (if present).
c. R z.yz : Firmware version of right USNAP radio module (if present)
4. The last digit of the radio version represents the c-wire/battery status. If the digit is ‘1’, the
thermostat is mated with c-wire. If the digit is ‘0’, the thermostat is mated with battery.
a. ‘7.41’ : USNAP v7.4, mated with C-Wire
b. ‘7.40’ : USNAP v7.4, mated with battery

Vera Lite.... Future of Home Automation?

At the forefront of home automation (HA) is the very effective Vera Lite (VL) manufactured by Mi Casa Verde. This note worthy piece of gear at its irregular price point and endless possibilities makes it the home automation controller of choice.   There are many home automation controllers out there (2gig, rti, Iris) but they are all dead end devices at higher price points. The Vera Lite is one of the few devices that doesn't require a monthly subscription. Look at the iPhone success; not only is the device very capable but the iTunes app store allowed a way for people around the world contribute to how the iPhone works. The Vera Lite is very similar in the fact that is does have an app store with people adding new apps every day.  One example of this benefit is an app that controls your sprinkler system. With the Vera and the Z-Wave sprinkler system this app pulls information from Google to see if it’s raining or not. Then it will determine weather to water your lawn or not. Pretty Cool… right?

Historically HA systems required a trained installer who would be your only point of contact and the only person to buy from because the manufacture and dealer making this monopoly. So upgrades and support would have to go through the custom installer. Well not anymore with the VL. The system is one of the easiest to install with only 2 wires and some software downloading any DIYer (do it yourselfer) can do.   The VL integrates with all Z-Wave devices so you don’t really have to worry about which ones will work like most HA systems. Some of the big boys on the block include

• Intermatic receptacles and dimmers
• GE receptacles, simple dimmers, three-way dimmers, simple switch, three-way switch, and outdoor switch
• GE scene controllers
• Kwikset door locks
• Aeon Labs open/close sensor
• Everspring open/close sensor
• Mi Casa Verde Cameras

Not only does it work great with zwave devices but it works really well with some alarm panels. 

• DSC (Power Series)
• ELK (M1 Series)
• GE (NetworX)
• Honeywell (Vista)
• Visonic (PowerMax)

Take a look at my Youtube video for a more in depth review and proper basic setup of the Vera Lite by Mi Casa Verde and stay tuned for more tutorials for the system.

For great deals visit www.smarthomesd.com or email info@smarthomesd.com

Hello World

Hey everyone this is my first blog post so Welcome! I always wanted a blog where I could share knowledge and projects and finally have time for one. I started this San Diego based website/ home business from a hobby and an inspirational movie "1999 Disney Movie Original Smart House". 

Haha "Inspirational" maybe I picked the wrong word. But it really made me think. How far away was it until we saw something like it? Well its been about 14 years and the time has come for the average home owner to incorporate "Smart" into their house. 

What does "Smart" mean? Well it is a very broad answer.  A smart home would be a domain where home technology and occupants lived together in harmony (user friendly, efficient, cost effective).

What can you expect from this blog/ smarthomesd.com? Well to start I will be posting up to date info on how to increase the intelligence of your home. Home networking, home automation, home theater, cable cutting is just a few. I will also be explaining what works and doesn't with tutorials and YouTube videos.  

A few high lights in the near future include: Controlling your home from abroad, Storing your movie collection in a "Netflix" type of interface and being able to watch them from anywhere, Watching  commercial free tv, how to cut your cable bill and still enjoy all the tv and movies you can handle, and so much more. 

I hope you will enjoy whats coming in the near future. I am in the building block stages, so website and blog are pretty bland;  if you have any recommendations or questions please shoot them over to info@smarthomesd.com