Choosing a home automation system: Sterbox vs PLC2011A0 – reviews and experiences

Polikon wrote:

Hello.
A few days ago I received the Sterbox I’d bought.
And so far I’m very dissatisfied. This is because of the timers that can be set on this device. We have eight timers, but in my case it’s more like having one timer with eight settings. Because each of the timers can only be set to switch on and off once a day. Of course, I could have checked its capabilities before buying it, but I didn’t, and now I’m left holding the baby, because it was precisely these timers I cared about most. I don’t know what the developers of this marvel were thinking to limit its functionality in this way. Because if we connect, say, a boiler to it, we can forget about other timer-controlled functions. In my opinion, every timer should have at least 4 or 5 on/off cycles.
Further shortcomings of this Sterbox.
We’re programming the control of relay k4, yet we have to use the name ww3 in the programme. Do we always have to make life difficult for ourselves? Wouldn’t it be better to label the relays as k0 to k3, so that we have k3=ww3
No option to manually set the current time. There is information stating that entering a time in the „zg8” field will automatically set the clock in the Sterbox. But there is no such „zg8” field8221; in the settings.
To test the Sterbox, I used the configuration diagram titled „Example of connecting and programming the Sterbox for
resetting a router, modem, etc. in the event of a loss of
Internet (WAN)”
I set up the Sterbox exactly as described, and what do you know, nothing happened I disconnected the telephone cable from the router, waited, and there was no reaction from the Sterbox. It was only when I disconnected the RJ45 from the Sterbox that the router restart procedure began. So the Sterbox doesn’t control Internet access, as the manufacturer claims, but only whether it has access to any network at all. In my case, the Sterbox was content with just the home network without the Internet.
Whilst testing the Sterbox, I noticed that a proper manual describing its internal functions would be useful.
For example, to reset the router in the ‘macrocell’ settings tab, we enter commands and an image appears – or, if you prefer, a diagram of the macrocell. How many and what sort of built-in diagrams are there in this Sterbox? And as if that weren’t enough, when setting up the Sterbox, there are various options to configure, including input and output points for a given gateway or macrocell – and everything would be fine, except that when testing the macrocell settings, we don’t enter anything in the output fields, so how are we supposed to know where the signals from that macrocell go?
After a few hours of playing around with this Sterbox, I could go on complaining, but it’s a waste of space.
There’s certainly plenty of potential in the Sterbox, but it lacks a proper user manual.
So if anyone’s planning to buy a Sterbox, they should think it through carefully and have a go on a virtual Sterbox to see if it’ll meet their needs.

I have two questions for the esteemed forum members.
Does anyone know of any user forums dedicated to the Sterbox?
And as I mentioned earlier, I am disappointed with the functionality of the timers in Sterbox and am looking for a timer similar to Sterbox, but one where a single timer can perform several on/off functions throughout the day. Naturally, controlled via LAN.

Dinkss wrote:

I’m also thinking about buying one and these timers have put me off.

Is it possible to set it so that one relay operates:

6:00 ON
8:00 OFF
17:00 ON
20:00 OFF
from Monday to Friday
?
One more question: is it possible to send data from connected temperature sensors, e.g. every 10 minutes, to an FTP server?

Dinkss wrote:

OK, but I’m considering the Sterbox because it would be enough for what I need and costs 600, whereas if I bought your solution I’d have to reckon with a cost of 2000 because I’d have to buy A and B

Dinkss wrote:

OK, but I’m just thinking about the Sterbox because it would be enough for what I need and costs 600, whereas if I bought your solution I’d have to reckon with a cost of 2000 because I’d have to buy A and B

Polikon wrote:

And how many of these watches does it have? Because there’s nothing about that in the description. It just says “output switching” But how many and how many times a day?

Zibiland wrote:

The relays are designated as ww0 to ww3, so k3 corresponds to ww3
As for controlling the heating, Starbox isn’t suitable. The timers got me down too and as for ZG8, first set the time in the general settings and then the real time will pop up automatically.
My router restarts without any problems

Polikon wrote:

As for the modem, my Sterbox detects it as an Internet connection. I was running some tests yesterday; on the Sterbox homepage there are icons that are downloaded from a server each time, and if there’s no internet connection, those icons don’t appear either, yet the Sterbox still doesn’t restart the modem.

neodym wrote:

Polikon wrote:

As for the modem, my Sterbox detects it as an Internet connection. I was running some tests yesterday; on the Sterbox home page there are icons that are downloaded from a server each time, and if there’s no internet connection, those icons don’t appear either, yet the Sterbox still doesn’t restart the modem.

What a joke. They’re even spying on the customer to see which IP address they’re connecting from and what device they’ve got installed. This is outrageous – the NWO. What do they care where or if I’m installing it? Maybe Google Maps will give them a link to pinpoint it on the map straight away? In two years’ time, someone will break into the house and it’ll be interesting, because the blinds opened by themselves

Zibiland wrote:

neodym wrote:

Polikon wrote:

As for the modem, my Sterbox detects the modem as the Internet. I was running tests yesterday; on the Sterbox home page there are icons that are downloaded from a server each time, and if there’s no internet connection, those icons don’t appear either, yet the Sterbox still doesn’t restart the modem.

What a joke. They’re even spying on the customer to see which IP address they’re connecting from and what device they’ve got installed. This is outrageous – the NWO. What do they care where or if I’m installing it? Maybe Google Maps will give them a link to pinpoint it on the map straight away? In two years’ time, someone will break into the house and it’ll be interesting, because the blinds opened by themselves

Strange, it doesn’t download anything from the site for me, unless you’re using mobile apps to control Starbox, in which case it downloads graphics from the server. I created my own control app and built exactly what I wanted. It’s all based on HTML files.

neodym wrote:

Polikon wrote:

-----------------
Strange, it doesn’t download anything from the site for me, unless you’re using mobile apps to control Starbox, in which case it downloads graphics from the server. I created my own control app and got exactly what I wanted. It’s all based on HTML files.

Go to the Sterbox website where the buttons are, of course after disconnecting it from the internet, and see if you have icons showing the relay status; there are also no settings or help icons, and the fields are empty. I don’t think it’s about spying, just about memory space on the Sterbox.

As for the Sterbox not reacting to the lack of an internet connection, I’ve just received a reply explaining what might be the cause. Well, when my modem isn’t logged in with the internet provider, it sends me a page with the modem settings, and the Sterbox probably recognises this as a connection.

unction example_ajax_request() {
$('stb').html('<img src="images/wykonuje.jpg" width="239" height="84" />');
setTimeout('example_ajax_request_go()', 2500);
}
function example_ajax_request_go() {
$('stb').html('<a href="http://192.168.0.177/00?x008=kl8" target="STB1"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 239px; height: 84px;" alt="" src="images/17-v1.jpg" onclick="example_ajax_request()"></a>');
}
  </scrip

Polikon wrote:

But I don’t think you’ve read what I wrote. I’m not talking about the buttons. Because the buttons work even without an internet connection.
I wrote, “icons showing the status of the relays, there’s no settings or help icon either, the fields are empty”,
So those lights at the bottom left of the screen, and at the very bottom left you have an icon with a link to help, and on the right a link to settings. And those icons aren’t there if you don’t have an internet connection.

And from the codes you provided, it appears that the JPEGs are retrieved from the Sterbox’s memory and are available even without an internet connection.

Z instrukcji PLC2011 wrote:

We can safely expose the device’s IP address
and port to the public internet address pool or set up port forwarding on the router without fear of the device being hacked.

Z instrukcji PLC2011 wrote:

It is impossible to hack the device itself because it does not have an operating system
capable of executing externally supplied code. This type of problem does not exist at all due to the device’s design.

Polikon wrote:

That is why I believe that such systems should not be connected to the internet. Only if the device needs to send a message should it connect, send the message and then disconnect from the internet. But if someone wants to be able to use such a system from outside the home, they should be aware of the risk of the system being hacked. It goes without saying that most people who install such gadgets at home are wealthy.

Zibiland wrote:

To hack into such a device, you usually have to go via a router first.

Z instrukcji PLC2011 wrote:

We can safely expose the device’s IP address
and its port to the public internet address pool or forward the port on the router without fear of the device being hacked.

Zibiland wrote:

a lack of knowledge about basic network security is a cause for concern and can have disastrous consequences.

Polikon wrote:

Yes, yes. But not everyone wants to learn about internet security. And I don’t think there’s any security measure that can’t be bypassed, and there’s little difference between a computer used on a daily basis and leaving your home wide open to intrusion. There is one sure-fire security measure: plug it out of the socket and that’s the end of the problem

jestam wrote:

Zibiland wrote:

To hack into such a device, you usually have to go through the router first.

Actually, no!
......................................................

Zibiland wrote:

someone has only their router switched on without port forwarding

PLC2011 wrote:

handle the alarm on its own whilst being away from it.

Zibiland wrote:

and remote access via http

Zibiland wrote:

If ports are forwarded on the router, things are simpler, but there is always a DMZ that separates the device from the network.

Polikon wrote:

I have another question.
Does anyone know of a forum where people discuss only the Sterbox?
Because I’m going mad trying to set it up.
I’ve tried two of the setup examples from the manufacturer’s website. So, resetting the router doesn’t work. Connecting the clocks via the virtual wire doesn’t work either.

Polikon wrote:

Zibiland
I checked the code to see what was being downloaded from the internet and it turned out that the GIFs showing the output status are downloaded from http://www.zetkom.com.pl/temp/bu.gif and http://www.zetkom.com.pl/temp/zof.gif
http://www.zetkom.com.pl/temp/st.gif
And now, if you don’t have an internet connection, you have no control over the status of individual outputs.
I’m referring to the page downloaded from a Sterbox connected to a PC