Devolo home control review part 3 – safety & safety
welcome to the third instalment of our review of the Devolo home control range. So far we have the starter pack up running with some additional motion detection and switching capabilities.
We have checked lots of aspects of the myDevolo app, adding devices, creating groups, policies and scenes. We will now look at the safety and safety applications as well as additionally software capabilities.
One of the justifications for building a smart home is safety and safety as well as comfort and energy efficiency. With the use of rules, groups and scenes it’s very easy to give the appearance that your property is occupied while you are away by turning lights and even appliances like a TV on and off, but a lot more can be achieved.
Ασφάλεια
The Devolo Smoke Detector (Art No:09504) RRP £49.99 operates as a stand alone smoke detector. When it detects smoke it emits a loud alerting tone by means of its piezo electric sounder and flashes the centre LED switch just like a regular battery powered detector. Its design indicates you have to put a battery in it before you can screw it up, we have seen headlines of a fire in a property that had a smoke alarm but no battery in it. remove it from its base for too long and the alarm will go off, just like a tamper alarm. unfortunate it doesn’t feedback the tamper status to the software.
Anyone who has read one of the previous reviews will know what’s coming – adding devices to the Devolo network takes seconds. start the add devices sequence, tell it which device you want to add, press a button and there you go.
Once connected to the Z-Wave network it’s abilities are enhanced further. It can be integrated with the rest of the network, triggering lights to come on and send notifications by means of sms or email when an alarm is triggered through the proper set of policies and notifications.
Current UK building guidelines stipulate amongst other things that, a home must have at least one smoke detector on every floor, within 7.5m of each door, permanent AC mains powered, on their own circuit connected back to the consumer unit and be interlinked so when one goes off they all go off. With these requirements in mind this detector like lots of on the market with a battery power supply will not meet building guidelines and could only be used to compliment an existing compliant smoke detector installation. It is a perfectly good smoke detector for retrofitting or for use in conjunction with an existing system.
We tried to set up a policy so that when a smoke alarm was triggered that another detector would sound in tandem but the app does not allow you to put the smoke detector in the ‘Then’ part of the policies builder. I am sure Devolo have their reasons but it would be good to activate all smoke detectors if one goes off in a similar way to hardwired and interlinked detectors work.
It would also be beneficial if the sounder of the smoke detector could be used a part of an alarm setup. set the system to an ‘away’ or ‘night’ mode and if any of the proper alarm sensors are triggered then the sounders emit a different alerting tone to the one used in the event of a smoke alarm trigger. At present you need to get an additional sounder.
After initially setting up this device and before publishing Devolo issued a recall of the smoke detector as it has shown formal deficiencies with regard to European standard EN14604. For this reason and as a precautionary measure they issued a recall. We were given an RMA number and prepaid postage. A replacement will be issued between July and August, so no exact date.
Ασφάλεια
The system has clear safety applications as it can detect motion as well as opening doors and windows. The Devolo platform does appear reliable enough as so far it does everything when we expect it would. There are some missing features when compared to an existing or standard alarm system and this can be said for the majority of Z-Wave devices. The test house has a conventional intruder alarm and we thought to compare and contrast the two.
As pointed out in an earlier review of the sensors there is no tamper detection. A sensor could be interfered with without any indication. On the test house conventional alarm removal of a sensor device or opening its case will activate an alarm.
In the event of a power cut the hub loses all functionality whereas the test house alarm has a battery backup so the property remains protected and features like the auto-dialer and smoke detection still function. This problem may be get rid of by adding a UPS to the hub and Internet routers and gateway to maintain the system and a connection to the outside world.
The test house has two external siren/strobe units that will spring into life if triggered by the alarm. At the moment there is no comparable z-wave device we known about. It may be possible to integrate these by using a z-wave based low voltage relay and an input suitablefor the external unit.
The intruder alarm industry standards are set in papers PD6662 and EN50131. These govern the technical requirements for the design, installation and operation of alarm systems and their components. We have not come across any Z-Wave components that meet these standards.
The cost of Z-Wave devices compared to standard wired or even wireless components is higher. For comparison a quick search will turn up a Yale diy wireless alarm with a telecommunication feature, bell box, dummy bell box, two PIR, two door contacts for £195 and adding a crucial fob, PIR or another door/window switch will cost £20 not they normal Z-Wave £50 device. Of course this is a stand alone system and you would be unable to leverage any type of home automation with it. A similar wired system from a trusted maker costs even less. The test house has PIRs in every room and multiple door and window sensors. Some convergence in these technologies and standards will happen shortly, one imminent example is the Texecom connect system which will allow a conventional safety system to work with Z-Wave based components. We will have to wait to see what this indicates for the home automation market.
Any Z-Wave safety application must be described as a comfort rather than a replacement for a standard system especially where mandated by insurance companies or where you would want to take a discount on your home insurance policy as a result of having a system installed and maintained.
Notifications
You have a choice of notification methods, SMS, email or push and you can set up one or multiple methods. You can use the Devolo SMS gateway but you will be limited to the number of SMS you can send and a journal of messages sent can be accessed through your profile settings. It’s not evident how to get a larger SMS entitlement so we used the online question tool but no different to previous occasions ‘No experts were on line’. We submitted a question and you need to add some a lot more to a cart. It’s not evident where this cart is but back on the myDevolo there is a link to ‘devolo shop’ but it is in German. You can also configure your own SMS gateway if you need to send a lot more messages or have an existing account elsewhere.
It is tough to see where to add additional email addresses for notifying other people as all the notifications are tailored to the registered user of the system. again we submitted a question and you need to add a ‘Sharer’ in the my setting page. You enter an email address and an invite is sent to the new user. The new user needs to enter their name and date of birth and agree to the normal terms and conditions. until the user registers they will show as pending on under the list of sharers. There is no evident way to add additional mobile phone numbers or register additional devices.
Once a notification is setup you next go to policies and setup a policy to activate a notification, for example email the property owner when the front door is opened.
Further experience of the app
One aspect to note is what appears to be the lengthy process to get to the information you need in the app. To illustrate, initial starting the app you are met with a Devolo splash screen, followed by a myDevolo screen where you select HomeControl, then on the next screen you select your HomeControl Hub and then you see your devices. Our experience is this can take between 20-30 seconds. some of this will be due to device and Internet latency but we believe Devolo could remove a couple of the steps described above.
The app appears to be a shell for a web page specifically created for the small screen as the same pages can be checked out in a desktop browser. When moving from one screen to another you frequently see a ‘Loading’ spinner and when going into a device an initial message flashes up ‘No widgets available! Please add widgets to the dashboard.’ Whilst disconcerting it swiftly disappears once a spinner has rotated.
On the app it is not possible to access the history graphs, a feature we think is missing. It’s probably best to describe the app as a basic customer of the system as you have limited setup or editing functionality, for example you can on turn on/off an existing notification, you cannot set up a new one, you need to revert back to your desktop browser.
Λανθάνουσα κατάσταση συσκευών
Having used the some of the devices for some time one inescapable aspect is the latency. This is obvious at night when the motion sensor is triggered to when the light comes on. It may only be a fractions of a second but it seems like much longer as you wait for the light to come on in a dark hallway again there may be aspects outside the systems control such as local network and Internet traffic.
Μπρελόκ
The second piece of hardware we will look at in this instalment is the remote crucial fob (Art No: 9506 RRP £35). It’s a 4 button device no bigger than your normal garage door remote. Each of the 4 buttons can be programmed independentLY και έχετε πολλές επιλογές ελέγχου, άμεσο έλεγχο συσκευών ή ενεργοποιήστε σκηνές.
Στο δοκιμαστικό μας σπίτι χρησιμοποιήσαμε για να ενεργοποιήσουμε τα φώτα ως ευπρόσδεκτο σπίτι και να απενεργοποιήσουμε τα φώτα στη διέξοδο ή να πάμε για ύπνο.
Είναι δυνατόν να δούμε πώς αυτό θα μπορούσε να βρει επιπλέον χρησιμοποιεί με κάποιο επιπλέον υλικό, όπως ένα ρελέ χαμηλής τάσης, θα μπορούσε να ανοίξει ηλεκτρικές πύλες και πόρτες γκαράζ. Δυστυχώς, ο Devolo δεν έχει προσθέσει αυτή τη δυνατότητα στο χαρτοφυλάκιο υλικού τους, αλλά είναι διαθέσιμο από άλλους κατασκευαστές.
Διάρκεια ζωής μπαταρίας
Έχουν περάσει 7 εβδομάδες, δεδομένου ότι εγκαταστήσαμε τον αισθητήρα πόρτας και τον αισθητήρα κίνησης, είμαστε στην ευχάριστη θέση να πούμε ότι η διάρκεια ζωής της μπαταρίας αναφέρεται ως 100%. Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη αυτά είναι στο πιο πολυσύχναστο μέρος του δοκιμαστικού σπιτιού αυτό είναι ένα πολλά υποσχόμενο ξεκίνημα. Θα παρακολουθήσουμε αυτό στις μελλοντικές δόσεις μας.
Συνοψίζοντας
Ο ανιχνευτής καπνού έχει κάποια τεχνικά ζητήματα συμμόρφωσης για να επιλύσει ποια Devolo έχει στο χέρι. Δυστυχώς δεν αποτελεί αντικατάσταση του ανιχνευτή καπνού σκληρού ενσύρματος. Η αδυναμία να το χρησιμοποιήσετε ως ανεξάρτητο ηχητικό ή να χρησιμοποιήσετε πολιτικές για την ενεργοποίηση άλλων ανιχνευτών περιορίζει την ευελιξία του.
Είναι μια παρόμοια ιστορία με την ασφάλεια, ένα σύστημα DeVolo δεν θα αντικαταστήσει το υπάρχον σύστημα συναγερμού και πιστεύουμε ότι αυτό ισχύει για την τεράστια πλειοψηφία των συσκευών Z-Wave και όχι μόνο του Devolo. Το σύστημα μπορεί να σας δώσει κάποια πρόσθετη απομακρυσμένη ορατότητα ή διαβεβαίωση και έλεγχο του φωτισμού όταν μακριά από το σπίτι, αλλά πρέπει να προγραμματίσετε αυτό. Μια μεγάλη προσθήκη θα ήταν η «λειτουργία διακοπών» όπου το σύστημα θα ενεργοποιούσε τυχαία διαφορετικά φώτα για να δώσει την αντίληψη ότι κάποιος είναι στο σπίτι.
Το κρίσιμο FOB έχει πολλές δυνατότητες όταν συνδυάζεται με σκηνές ή άλλα κομμάτια υλικού. Έχει μια μεγάλη γκάμα, πολύ καλύτερα από την απομακρυσμένη πόρτα του γκαράζ ή την πύλη του δοκιμαστικού σπιτιού, οπότε αξίζει να εξερευνήσετε τις διεπαφές του πραγματικού κόσμου, όπως το μιμόλιτο της διεπαφής/γέφυρας του z-wave fortrezz.
Υπάρχουν περιοχές του λογισμικού που απλά δεν είναι αρκετά διαισθητικές και χωρίς ζωντανή συνομιλία και έλλειψη μαθημάτων/οδηγιών μπορεί να κάνει την εμπειρία του χρήστη να αποθαρρύνει κατά περιόδους. Είναι καλό να βλέπεις ότι οι συχνές ερωτήσεις είναι τώρα διαθέσιμες στα αγγλικά, ενώ ήταν στα γερμανικά στην πρώτη μας κριτική.
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