HAI PC Access

[tannebil]

I've got an HAI IIe coming next week that, at least in the beginning, I'll be using with Elve to monitor the open/close status of my doors and windows.  Do I need PC Access to do the basic setup or can I do it from the keypad?
 
I'm assuming that if I start to do more advanced control and programing with the controller, I'll want to have PC Access to do it. What does the dealer version offer over the end user version?
 
Thanks, Bill

 

[ano]

You can do everything with a keypad concerning settings, but it won't be fun.  At least get the "customer" PC Access which can do everything of the dealer PC Access except for a few dealer settings, like zone type. If you want to do those settings with the keyboard, that is more realistic, but even then the dealer PC Access is nice because it can access ALL settings.
 
One final thing PC Access can do is backup of settings and program. Also you can print everything out to see if its correct. That is REALLY hard by looking at it line-by-line on the console.
 
To see what the dealer PC Access can control, its all the settings described in the IIe Installation Guide AND Users Guide, like configuring zone types. The customer PC Access can control ONLY everything described in the IIe Users Guide.

 

[HAI_fjh]

I realize I work for HAI and this may seem self serving, but if you are a DIYer get the dealer version and save yourself a lot of headaches. The user version fine for a system that was set up by a dealer and you just want to tinker/tweak a bit, but if you are doing everything yourself...

Like ano pointed out, you have access to all the settings with the ability to backup and print your configuration.

 

[tannebil]

I ended up with the user version because the price of the dealer jumped from $140 to $246 at ASIHome (I've since found it for $186 elsewhere) where I bought my controller.  ASIHome seems to have had a shift in pricing strategy as they've gone from having some of the best prices to some of the worse. It's not just HAI either.  I just priced out some SimplyAutomated switches and they were not not competitive for those either.  I did get a great price on my LTe from them before the HAI price increase.
 
I can see the advantages of the dealer version but I figured I'd just do the setup once so it wouldn't be that big a deal.  I supposed I'd have to rebuild the configuration of my LTe from scratch if it failed but I'll do some paper documentation and take my chances.  If I had a big installation or multiple installations, I'd bite the bullet and get it.

 

[ano]

I'm all for saving money, but realize the one thing that the Dealer version can do that the User version can't is save ALL your configuration settings, like zone type, and every "setting."  What this means is if you ever need to replace a board, or reset the board, you will need to write down and then manually restore each and every setting using the console.  And resetting or replacing a board is not as infrequent as you might think. 

 

[tannebil]

If resetting or replacing is frequent enough that I need something like the dealer version, I'll be depressed.  I assumed that products that had been around as long as the Omni controllers would be extremely reliable.
 
But in any case, I've got a small installation and I'm pretty sure I could rebuild it from scratch in a day.  As a retired hobbyist with a non-mission critical installation, that's not that big a deal. 

 

[JonW]

No, you won't have to be resetting your system config, ano was just using that as an example.  I can't possibly see how you could do the automation program code for more complicated tasks via the keypad.  Also, I would have to guess that none of the "extended setup" info could be done via keypad access.

 

[tannebil]

So far, I've only had to use the keypad to do the basic configuration.  I'm using the end user version for all my programming and to create flags, messages, and extended setup (like rooms).  It would be nice to be able to do everything with the software but I'd rather put the money towards more switches.

 

[ano]

In 10 years I've had to send a board back to HAI for repair once, I upgraded the board to the new version once, the replacement board was bad, so it was replaced again, and I had to perform a total reset once to rule out other problems.