Choosing the best VERA Controller

We often get asked which version of the VERA controller is better. This is slightly difficult to answer as the two versions, VERA Lite and VERA3, are aimed at different customers.

Firstly, what are the differences between the two? The main difference is that VERA 3 has an integrated Wi-Fi Router and has twice as much memory (128MB) as the VERA Lite (64MB), it also has two USB slots.

So what do these different features mean for their capabilities?

Integrated Router

This is a fairly obvious one. VERA3 includes a Wi-Fi router which includes four Ethernet ports and an ADSL/Broadband port. This means that VERA3 can be used as the main Wi-Fi router if you don't already have one installed or as a secondary router if you wish to extend your home's Wi-Fi coverage. If you don't need any of these then VERA Lite may be the better solution for you.

More Memory - Faster

One of the benefits of VERA3's extra memory is that it will generally operate faster than VERA Lite. This is especially true the more devices you have on your network and if you are running plugins. The extra memory gives more 'head-room' to the system, enabling tasks to run faster.

More Memory - More Devices

Each device you add to the system needs its own memory, so the more devices you have, the more memory used. Typically each Z-Wave device uses around 0.5MB of memory, this means the VERA Lite can run up to 75 devices, whereas the VERA3 can support up to 200 devices. VERA3's extra memory also means you can run more plugins.

Extra USB Slots

The VERA3 has two USB slots, which means you could have a USB stick collecting log data as well as another device such as the RFXtrx433 transceiver. This isn't essential, but does give you more options.

Feature	VERA Lite	VERA3
General
Max. Number of Devices	75	200
Plug and Play Internet Connection
Integrated Wi-Fi Router	-
Specifications
GUI / User Interface	MIOS UI5	MIOS UI5
CPU	500MHz MIPS	500MHz MIPS
Memory (RAM)	64MB	128MB
Memory (RAM)	32MB	32MB
USB Slots	1	2
Ethernet Socket	1	4-port hub
Wi-Fi	-	802.11n
Z-Wave	With Integrated Antenna	With Integrated Antenna
Dimensions (HxWxD)	116 x 95 x 44mm	177 x 130 x 34mm
External Power Supply	12V DC (European Plug)	12V DC (European Plug)
Batteries	4x AA batteries (included)	External recharegable battery pack

Conclusion

As you can see, the choice of the 'best' controller depends on your system and how you think it will grow over time.

If you have a Wi-Fi router (most people do) and don't expect to have more than 80 devices on the network, the VERA Lite is the ideal choice.

If you expect your system to grow beyond 75 devices, or you're already running VERA Lite and finding it a bit slow on your system, the VERA3 would be the best version for you.

Mark