Integrating HAI with RTI

[uscpsycho]

Can HAI OPII be integrated with an RTI controller? And if so, is that supported by HAI and/or RTI? Or is it dependent on third party plug-ins?
 
ELK supports integration with RTI (link) but I can't find anything indicating HAI can be integrated with RTI. Can it be done?
 
What about HAI integration with Homeseer? Elk can do it.
 
Seems like there are a lot more integration options with Elk.
 

 

[scantrel]

Yes, you can have HAI integrated into RTI. That's the setup that I have here. The only downside in hindsight is that you have to get specific dealer certification to be able to do any customization in the RTI Panel app, so unless you can go to their training and get their certification, you're dependent on a dealer for any integration and custom interface programming.
 
That said, it's very pretty and slick (when it works) - it's just a pain when something doesn't work any longer and you have to pay $$$ for a service call from the dealer, not to mention the end user cannot do self-maintained firmware upgrades to the RTI processor. 

 

[uscpsycho]

Yes, you can have HAI integrated into RTI. That's the setup that I have here. The only downside in hindsight is that you have to get specific dealer certification to be able to do any customization in the RTI Panel app, so unless you can go to their training and get their certification, you're dependent on a dealer for any integration and custom interface programming.
 
That said, it's very pretty and slick (when it works) - it's just a pain when something doesn't work any longer and you have to pay $$$ for a service call from the dealer, not to mention the end user cannot do self-maintained firmware upgrades to the RTI processor. 

 
How often do you find yourself making service calls. If you haven't made any changes and something stops working, isn't that something the installer should fix for free because it's a problem in their design?
 
You make it sound like you have a lot of problems with it. If you had the chance to do it over again would you use RTI or would you go with something else? I'm facing that same decision now and leaning towards Homeseer.

 

[ano]

I used to use Homeseer with an HAI/Leviton Omni Pro II, and at one time it made sense, but in my new home I really couldn't find anything that HomeSeer added to the equation. In the last few years Leviton/HAI has added features and add-ons eliminating the need for Homeseer. For example their email/text board can send email and text with the panel itself. For iPhone/iPad control HAIKu works great, or Snaplink for Android, but HAIKu is better. The only thing Homeseer can do better is full text to speech, where the Omni uses a limited word set, but it still was good enough for what I needed. At least for me, running the PC 24/7 along with software updates to Homeseer and Windows was a pain.  What do you expect Homeseer to do for you that HAI can't already?  And HAI is certainly DIY even if you have to have an installer initially set it up for you.
 
I have 60+ UPB and Zigbee light switches, remote door locks, access control, automated shades, controlled thermostats, I'm even adding an LED sign, and i found a company that makes a board convert standard ASCII from the OMNI and convert it into the language an ALPHA board needed.  And without a PC and the updates and virus risks, my system has had 100% up time, not true when a PC was running things.

 

[uscpsycho]

What do you expect Homeseer to do for you that HAI can't already?  

 
 
Believe it or not, the main driver for me to include Homeseer is Android. Based on the reviews it sounds like SnapLink is absolute shit. The latest version released by Leviton a couple weeks ago has four reviews on Google and three of them give it one star. Previous versions haven't fared much better. Paying a little more to get really robust Android control through Homeseer is worth it to me. As for PC uptime, I was considering getting Homeseer's hardware controller to maximize uptime and reliability.
 
On the flip side, Elk has a solid Android app but I'd rather have HAI over Elk so Homeseer was the equalizer.
 
If something like Haiku existed for Android that combination would be a slam dunk for me.
 
I also thought that Homeseer had a lot more plug ins available. I want to be able to control blinds/shades, pool, irrigation, door locks, etc. and their respective websites make it seem like there are a lot more options for Homeseer. Or at least Homeseer makes it a lot easier to find them. 
 
And I've heard people say it is best to keep alarm and automation separate. So I thought letting HAI take care of the alarm while Homeseer did most of the heavy lifting for everything else would be a good thing.

 

[ano]

I haven't heard great things about Snaplink for Android. I got my iPhone just to run HAIKu. You can control to control blinds/shades, pool, irrigation, door locks with just an Omni Pro II but the programming is a bit more limited than Homeseer, but you can do alot.
 
I think I'm the one who said to separate security and automation, but that is more about NOT putting security on a PC than not putting automation on the Omni.
 
What I might suggest is get the Omni, learn about it and try out the programming. Then if you still want more, you'll know a bit better what you are looking for. I've used both Homeseer and CQC and they both have pros and cons. A bit overkill for just Android access, but I can certainly understand that you want that.  I've told Dean for years that people want smartphone access to CQC, but it remains very limited.  He is working on HTML5, which is great, but even just HTML4 would be fantastic. Hell I'll take HTML1.

 

[scantrel]

How often do you find yourself making service calls. If you haven't made any changes and something stops working, isn't that something the installer should fix for free because it's a problem in their design?
 
You make it sound like you have a lot of problems with it. If you had the chance to do it over again would you use RTI or would you go with something else? I'm facing that same decision now and leaning towards Homeseer.

 
Overall, the system has performed pretty well. There was an initial issue that took a long time to get sorted out (fortunately while the system was under full warranty) with a driver between the HAI OPII and the RTI XP6 Processor. This manifested itself where the RTI Panel app would no longer control the UPB light switches, or you would operate a switch manually and the status would not update in the RTI Panel app. We went back and forth a few times, and eventually that issue mainly went away, I just have to cycle power on occasion on the RTI processor if something gets out of whack. So I don't have to make service calls routinely anymore.
 
I guess my biggest regret about RTI, so to speak, is the fact that as my situation has changed (getting married, changing some of my routines, etc) now I have no means to do any updates or re-customization to the RTI custom interface that I cooked up during the initial install and programming. 
 
Don't get me wrong, the RTI product is very nice, it looks fantastic, has a lot of power and since we are an iDevice family, it means my wife and I can make the best of the main program between the two of us over all our devices with the same pretty interface.
 
But now that I'm a bit wiser in my home automation experience, I would not invest again in a technology where I have no means to program/tinker with the interface to where I can re-customize or re-work the look and feel, or set up my own macros or scenes exactly how I want, etc.
 
Between the excellent Haiku product and having HaikuHelper running on a Mac Mini, I can work around lots of the customization issues through scripting, and of course, with the dealer version of PC Access, I've got even more power to make adjustments from the OPII automation. So basically, the RTI panel app has become the app we use if we're controlling things while walking past the wall-mounted iPad, or to drive Sonos or the Home Theatre system while sitting on the couch. The rub is that was an expensive setup to somewhat obsolete itself and be replaced by other tools that are much easier to work with.
 
Also, moving forward, there will always be newer technologies such as the Amazon Echo that RTI doesn't support and even if they did eventually develop a driver for it, I have no capability to integrate that driver into my system myself. With a little scripting and some website help, I got the Echo working through HaikuHelper in a day. 
 
TL;DR: If you want a pretty interface that won't need to change, RTI is pretty awesome. If you want to have full control and lower cost go with another option.