Vera Security Units - a revelation (to me).

[Brian Williams]

Recap: I have 5 Z-Wave motion detectors. All continue to work and report to XT via the same Vera. With the XT update, 4 of those 5 got the new companion unit (Same address & name plus (armed). One unit did not get a companion (armed) unit.

I have now manually created it in the pattern of the other companion units. 

According to the documentation, these companion units are used to arm/disarm the sensors.

My assumption had been that the impact of Arm/Disarm would be to block or unblock the execution of relevant XT scripts, but after much trial/error, temporary scripts edits, etc, I discovered that this is to Arm/Disarm the sensor within Vera, and thus affect only those actions prescribed within Vera, not those crafted in XTension.  Since I put all the HA intelligence in XT, I hadn’t thought of controlling activities in Vera. All my motion sensors affect flags that serve various purposes, often dependent on other events, but with this new feature, I might find some use in getting Vera into direct action rather than having XT tell it what to do. Time will tell.

OK. I’m going back to review the business of Simple vs Simulated with my Vera-controlled dimmers (wired and plug-in).

So much change. So much fun!

Regards, Brian