FORUM FUTURE - Please Vote!

[roobarb!]

Hey everyone,

Well, things are pretty quiet around here at the moment and while I have no problem hosting the AlertMe Users' Forum, I am a bit sick of dealing with phpBB. This is the only place I still have to manage a phpBB platform (more or less) and would quite like to move over to a different forum system. Discourse is the one I fancy.

But, if I'm going to bother, I'd like to know if this place is still worthwhile to anybody. So, if you wouldn't mind giving this poll a whirl, I'll see what the prevailing opinion is. If nobody responds... hehe, well, I guess that'll tell me all I need to know.

Cheers!

Andy.

[Noisyvoid]

Andy,

For - This is the only place know that covers alertme stuff.
For - there is still some info that is useful (resetting devices) - but this is only useful if/when pyalertme library is finished (see below)
Against - I think its only you and me here
Against - I believe most people have probably moved on and put the alertme stuff in a box in the loft

The guy that was putting together a close-source hub (using C) has fallen off the radar - probably came to the same issue with consistency.
My work on the PyAlertme library stopped when the hub seemed like it might be close to being shipped. I have re-looked at home_assistant lately, this is what I am likely to be running as the primary automation tool.

I still want to get the pyalertme (or something using the home_assistant pyzbee code) working with the old smartplugs, just can't spend so much time on it.

Regards,
James

[fnk001]

Noo don't shut it down! There's so much information here that would be lost forever. I personally am trying to get the sensors working with XBEE and pyalertme - it's a slow process due to lack to time but I'm hoping to get there - eventually!

[roobarb!]

Hehe, well, I'm certainly in no hurry to tinker with anything and the guys at what is now SystronicRF appear close to releasing a universal platform for this, which is very interesting. I've been terrible at looking after this forum recently though, just haven't had the time - I'm actually being spammed by my own server!

Anyway, I will sort out the access problems the SystronicRF people have been having and then take another look. I appreciate the fact that both of you who visit have voted.

[roobarb!]

Okay folks, I have made a decision. There's useful information on this forum, but to be honest, the place is becoming a target for spambots and I don't have the time to keep going through phpBB's ridiculous update procedure. I like its user interface for the forums, but there are better options out there these days.

Given the amount of real traffic coming here I've now disabled new account registrations. I'll look to either replace this forum with something new (the Discourse platform is my preferred option right now) or we could potentially join forces with Living With Iris, the US forum for those using the Iris system (built on the same AlertMe platform).

So, for now, feel free to keep using this place, but be aware that things may change! If things do change I'll try to migrate as much as I can from here.

BTW, I now have the SystronicsRF platform up and running for beta testing, using a lot of my AlertMe devices. Right now the learning curve is higher than the old AlertMe platform, but the hardest part for me was really going around the house resetting the devices into their factory default pairing mode. I believe they're still open to more people joining the beta test, so head to the site and send them an email if you're interested. You'll need:

- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Kit
- Digi XStick XU-Z11

I'm still figuring out the 'Actions' and 'Activators' terminology which is used, but it certainly works!

[roobarb!]

One potentially final post to anyone who may still pop by here!

I had a good go with SystronicsRF but things have gone very quiet recently, which is a real shame. In the meantime I discovered Hubitat and their extensive community who also have support for AlertMe devices as a side effect of supporting the US variants sold as Iris.

Over the past few weeks I've been experimenting with various devices on their platform and can report that you can indeed use a Hubitat Elevation hub to completely replace your original AlertMe one, with the added bonus of being able to add many other manufacturers devices alongside the old ones. Motion sensors, smart plugs, buttons; there's a lot that works.

I've written an "AlertMe on Hubitat" post which talks AlertMe Refugees such as ourselves through making the switch. There's also a new Hubitat C-7 hub being made available shortly which has CE approval and worldwide radio frequency support, so should be much easier to locate in the UK and EU when it starts shipping.

It's likely that I'll allow the domain for this site to expire in November, so please come and join me over on the Hubitat Community. I'll give you a hand dusting off those drawers of AlertMe devices!

[roobarb!]

Last post, folks! I'll be moving this forum into a subdomain of my tech site "BirdsLikeWires" and letting this domain back out into the wild in November. If everything goes according to plan it should continue to exist in a semi-dormant state here:

https://alertmeforum.birdslikewires.net/

All devices are still working very well on Hubitat. Using the expertise from the good people on here I was able to implement drivers for most of the AlertMe devices, so do pop over if you still own some and want to make use of them. Even after ten years, mine are working flawlessly.

Cheers, all!