Vera is completely local. There are some internet based features you can use if you want (like accessing your Vera while away from home) but you don’t have to. Home Assistant connects to it locally by IP and it’s still worked for me to control my devices when my internet has been down.
I don’t use any features of the Vera other than pairing my devices to it (I don’t assign groups or rooms in Vera, don’t use the Vera app, etc). It’s strictly a bridge to Home Assistant for my Zwave devices.
Another advantage for you will be that the range on the Vera will probably allow you to exclude and include your devices from where they are installed without needing to bring the Vera around with you. I suggest using the web app rather than the phone app, I think the web app lets you exclude devices directly rather than trying to include first before switching to exclude like the phone app does.
First no disrespect to the developer and the contributors of that project. They’ve done an amazing job of pulling that rabbit out of hat with Samsung cuffing both of their hands behind their back.
Multiple reasons why I ditched mine, when the internet is down it doesn’t work. It’s another piece of a puzzle to break and maintain. Change or remove any devices and you have to update the bridge then upgrade HA. Hoping you don’t cause the container to crash and have to remove the state json in the container then resync up the states. Then you have the whole issue with MQTT message deduping they had to do to prevent the infinite loops of messages. The list goes on and on, my family had a huge celebration ceremony for the reboxing of the SmartThings hub.
It doesn’t work without internet?! Even simple local stuff like turning a switch on?
still waiting for delivery…
+1 For Vera as @marthocoo has said it really does just work. He is right about range when migrating i was able to add all my devices from where they were located including outdoor devices.
I was at the end of my tether with my Z-Wave integration using the Aeotec Z stick iv not looked back.
Yep, I tested it, pulled the coax on the cable modem and it wouldn’t work anymore. There’s not a lot of local stuff you can do on the ST, about the only thing local really is some lighting automations will run locally but it’s few and far between. Plus you are limited on your ideas of automation.
Thats a bummer. I always though the the MQTT thing would work on your LAN even without internet… Time to look for a replacement I guess.
Can I ask…Why use HA if you already have a controller and UI in the Vera??
I think thats your problem right there, you did not update all the entities properly so they may just have the incorrect entity ID and thats why nothing seems to work. Check entity_registry.yaml and update the entities there.
https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/configuration/entity-registry/
I think you are right @dshokouhi
I too have a LOT of Z-wave devices, but I have never renamed them (and I am still on 59.2). Everything works fine. I am still using the old_entity ids as well. When I DO upgrade I will take a dd image of my HA SD card onto my PC and if stuff goes crazy, I’ll just burn it back and return to the working version until I can sort out any issues I have.
Z-wave has changed a lot over versions of HA, but I would definitely not say Z-wave or HA’s support of Z-wave is garbage. I think its very robust.
I use a Aeotec Z-Stick (Gen 4)
The biggest issue some users have is that they simply don’t keep up with blog posts and all of the changes in home assistant, you can clearly see this based off the bugs after a release. They just don’t pay attention and then get upset because they didn’t pay attention. If you spent an hour every 2 weeks you would be on top of these things but most just don’t do it. Even for you stuck on 59.2 you have 8 releases worth of breaking changes, it becomes very hard to manage when you push it off for so long.
Because IMO the user interface of the Vera isn’t very good. And the device support is much deeper in Home Assistant over Vera, so if all of my devices are in HA I can have them automate together.
You are definitely not wrong. I do try and read the breaking changes. In fact, I will have several issues to face. My Python version is deprecated, pretty sure the virtenv is no longer supported, and the Z-wave stuff we talked about. I try and stay a few versions behind on purpose, but yeah i need to upgrade soon as well.
Hmm I hadn’t heard anything about virtenv not being supported soon. Where did you hear this? Did a few searches but nothing turned up. I hope it’s not killed, I use it and like it. Tried hassio and felt limited.
python 3.4.x is no longer supported you need to be on python 3.5.3 or higher
check the blog for this stuff 
I could be wrong on the virtenv. (Looking at blogs now), but Python 3.4.x is definitively gone
It was the all in one that is deprecated
I’ve ran Home Assistant for a while and with different controllers (usb stick) and the best for Home Assistant has been using a Vera Plus as the z-wave and zigbee controller and using the Vera component to integrate the devices. Leave the Z-wave and Zigbee hardware level interactions to the systems that know it best.
Vera is a great z-wave/zigbee controller. But you will kill vera very very fast by adding plugins and trying to really do much with it. Leave it be to do the hardware and use Home Assistant to do the automations and media interactions etc etc.
Today I’m using a combination of 3 systems (1 because I’m cheap) and 2 because the vera zigbee ZHA support is better than Home Assistant.
That is all good. Different strokes, right? Not sure how Vera Plus helps you with being “cheap” since it costs 2-2.5 times a Z-Wave USB controller though (Like the Aeotec Z-Stick)