Wiser

Hey


Ive had a bit of feedback from an installer(friend of a friend) that said the wiser is not very good. To quote

"Bloody Wiser - I'm not a fan (I'm not the only one). If your friend does go ahead with one, don't run logic or scenes out of it and keep the schedules to only the ones he would need to edit often. Oh, and don't expect a connection every time. Sounds a bit harsh, doesn't it. "

Seems like he is not a big advocate for the wiser . What are other peoples view on this system? What alternatives are there?


Cheers

 

I can understand his frustrations, as I was similar when it was first released, however since then I feel I have got the wiser install and setup down to a fine art..

Connections reliability wise i have found the user interface almost infallable.. I have one setup in workshop for the past 2+ years and log in almost everyday (could not funcion without it these days) and have only ever not been able to connect maybe a handful of times, and most of them were either a power out or ISP down, which is hardly the wisers fault.. However i have found the remote programming side of things very slow, and seeing as you cant program all devices from it (ie matrix switch, bw touchscreen) quite often a site visit has been required..

His comments regarding logic and scenes probably come from his experience with connectivity issues with the wiser, thus resulting in things not working when they should.. I do tend to agree, and in most installs have setup logic schedules and scenes in a touchscreen however i have also had a few jobs where the wiser was to be the 'brain' and no touchscreen in the job and in those jobs once setup i have not had any headaches, but admittedly there wasnt much in them..

As for alternatives it really depends on what features you are after an alternative on, if it is the user interface from remote/mobile devices there is a couple, Translink and there was another, touchsoft maybe?.. Personally i have no experience with them as after a few teething issues I have had no need to look elsewhere for an alternative.. If its an alternative to remote accessing a site for programming and maintenance, about the only alternative i am aware of is a pc setup on site..

Cheers.

 

Wiser is an expensive toy more than anything

would I be without it? no

would I like to see a drastic improvement in what it does for the cost? yes

In many respects the ctouch touchscreens kick its butt, especially with modern tablets being so capable, if the interface for wiser was nicer I would have dumped my touch screens and installed ipad mini's.

My ctouch has a nice map of the house to tap to navigate what you want to control, having something similar on the wiser would kick ass, but you just can't

 

In my experiences it takes way too little logic to break the thing, requiring the customer to power cycle the unit too often.

 

Hey Trucker,

Being one often called upon by others to get them out of poo with a gone wrong Wiser install, to be quite frank I have found that a lack of the required moderately advanced knowledge of IP networking and the 'networking component/concepts' is almost always the culprit.

'Default gateway, what's that.???..Subnet Mask? Dynamic DNS? I just used the default.' and other clues come aplenty. Often the Wiser is default username and password and sometimes the CNI and Wiser are even on different subnets to the inside network linking to the outside broadband feed router with people relying on just the Wiser's WIFI receiver to cover a large home.

I also often find WIFI setup within the problem home has several issues such as multiple non-contiguous (different SSID) networks or worse, all repeaters/access points set on the same WIFI channel or a neighbour's networks on the same channel. This also gives the Wiser GUI link from a phone on WIFI a hard time as it swaps around the access points. Use InSSIDer software to see what else is around on the WIFI channels and choose a less congested channel. I don't use the Wiser onboard WIFI unless I'm forced to as it is normally better to have the often far newer tech (eg. multi-band) main router do it. If you do that too, turn off the Wiser's inbuilt WIFI radio to stop it interfering.

Once all that is done well, the Wiser usually works first time every time. I demonstrate my home's Wiser remotely to a client at their home at least once or twice a week and haven't been let down yet by it and it always impresses. I have multi-room audio, cameras, power monitoring, blinds, temp monitors, my 'Marquee' logic and some other systemIO 'display' logic (maybe about 8 modules) and other things running on it. All good and robust. Only gets rebooted when I upgrade the project/add new widgets from time to time. Have near 2 years of power data!! I do agree with Robbo though, try not to pack it with too many schedules or intense or extensive logic as it can slow down slightly its response to GUI commands, if you need that, put it in a CTC or PAC instead.

In mine, the logic implemented is not extensive as I have CTC and Homegate on a bigger screen for my primary scenes, logic engine and schedules.

I can't wait for the awesome new Wiser 2 to come out. To those who have seen the interface at Integrate2013 or got a lucky 'preview' in the unplanned 'beta release' of the upcoming GUI around Christmas time, they and I will be lined up Apple style to buy one as soon as it's released.

Nothing is better than controlling your C-Bus network with the phone in your pocket and only Wiser does that really well local AND REMOTELY IMHO. It was 3 years ahead of its time but takes some knowledge to get the most out of it. I just bought a $100 Android tablet just to see how it went and Android App GUI works 100%. Great work dev guys!!!

Just my thoughts,

Brad
Devoted daily Wiser user (and my family)

 

Thanks Brad.

I had wondered if a bunch of the problems were user/designer error. I know my way around network infrastructure so that won't present a problem.

A couple of people have recommended the hamfield product as an alternatively and it seems somewhat limited in comparison to the wiser implementation (granted half the price of wiser) but I was keen on integrating my existing ip cameras to have a centralized solution. I already have a pac but was going to sell it when i got the wiser. I could just leave it installed instead and use it as the brains of the outfit.