The Wink home automation thread

[IndyColtsFan]

That is great news! Have you tried out Amazon Echo? That is a game changer. Controlling products with your voice is way more fun and natural than I thought it would be.

Yes, the Echo integration rocks! Any idea when we'll be able to dim GE Link bulbs via Echo?

Also, to your earlier question - Aeon Labs has some multisensors which don't fully work with Wink and it would be great if they were supported.

 

[MjnMixael]

Oh yes, I'm very interested in the Aeon stuff.

 

[Mlonczkowski]

I have 2 Wink hubs in different homes. One has updated to firmware 1.1. The other is At 0.89.0 and it says it needs to be updated. I have tried dozens of times to update. It appears to be updating, with flashing lights etc, but it never actually takes the update. This one was purchased directly from Wink after the authentication snafu. I have reset hub and deleted and reinstalled. Anybody have a solution?

 

[colinnwn]

I have 2 Wink hubs in different homes. One has updated to firmware 1.1. The other is At 0.89.0 and it says it needs to be updated. I have tried dozens of times to update. It appears to be updating, with flashing lights etc, but it never actually takes the update. This one was purchased directly from Wink after the authentication snafu. I have reset hub and deleted and reinstalled. Anybody have a solution?

I used to regularly have this problem. I would wait a week after a new firmware release and do the update after 10pm central when the load had died down, and it would work after a try or two. It seems Wink haven't done a good job managing AWS's known flakiness.

 

[jlslate]

I just contact Wink and they push out the update.

 

[NewTron]

One of the products I keep hoping gets supported is the GE GeoSpring hot water heater. I bought the module for it as it says on the box that it is compatible with Wink. Alas, that is not yet true. Adjusting your water heater seems more useful than anything you might do with your fridge. And that has been supported for a long time.

Also, having a global command like Away and Home so you can turn on and off Robots. It is a pain now to turn on a bunch of robots when on vacation.

I too have a GE GeoSpring hot water heater (saves me mucho $$$) and would like to see the Wink app provide direct support.

Although the GeoSpring app isn't bad, support by Wink would be nice. Especially since the ACM is branded as Wink compatible.

 

[Winkuser]

First post...

I'm sure this isn't a new concern, but I thought I'd bring it up.

Shouldn't they be an ability to turn something on like a light and then turn it off after a set number of minutes?

1) motion sensor detects something in the yard. Why leave the lights on all night.

2) door sensor shows somebody entered the garage. I don't want to leave the lights on forever.

Am I missing something on these?

 

[MBSMD]

You can add a Robot that says "...if no motion after X minutes, turn off light."

 

[MjnMixael]

You can even do something like this.

1) Door Sensor Opened -> Turn on Light X

2) Light X has been on for ## minutes -> Turn off Light X

 

[Winkuser]

You can even do something like this.

1) Door Sensor Opened -> Turn on Light X

2) Light X has been on for ## minutes -> Turn off Light X

That's a good idea. I'll have to test that for reliability. The only problem is that if it isn't tied to the turn on event it'll turn the light out on me when I've forced it on. Hmm...

 

[Winkuser]

Also, what have you done with multi-pole switches? I put the smart light bulbs in but using the switches disables the automation due to the power cut. I thought of direct wiring them and removing the switches completely but I suspect that'll increase electricity usage and it seems questionable if the system is offline.

 

[MBSMD]

Also, what have you done with multi-pole switches? I put the smart light bulbs in but using the switches disables the automation due to the power cut. I thought of direct wiring them and removing the switches completely but I suspect that'll increase electricity usage and it seems questionable if the system is offline.

I've replaced some of my three-ways with a Lutron dimmer on one and a Pico remote at the location of what would be the other switch.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Also, what have you done with multi-pole switches? I put the smart light bulbs in but using the switches disables the automation due to the power cut. I thought of direct wiring them and removing the switches completely but I suspect that'll increase electricity usage and it seems questionable if the system is offline.

Yeah, as MBSMD mentioned, the way most people are doing them is to buy a Lutron Caseta in-wall dimmer (comes with a Pico) and then the Pico faceplate kit. You replace one of the switches with the Lutron and then link the Pico to the Lutron and replace he second switch with the Pico + faceplate. You won't need smart bulbs in those lights, as the switches are what you would link to Wink and they always have power regardless if the switch is physically "on" or "off."

 

[MjnMixael]

That's a good idea. I'll have to test that for reliability. The only problem is that if it isn't tied to the turn on event it'll turn the light out on me when I've forced it on. Hmm...

That doesn't make any sense. The timer for how long a light as been on starts when the light turns on. So even, in the example given, if you don't open the door, but turn the light on manually... the light will still get a timer started. There's really no way around that other than using motion detectors.

If Motion Detected -> Turn Light On
If No Motion Detected for 1 hour -> Turn Light Off

 

[Davidms]

That doesn't make any sense. The timer for how long a light as been on starts when the light turns on. So even, in the example given, if you don't open the door, but turn the light on manually... the light will still get a timer started. There's really no way around that other than using motion detectors.

If Motion Detected -> Turn Light On
If No Motion Detected for 1 hour -> Turn Light Off

I suppose that's assuming he has motion sensors in place. I'm new to wink (but not automation) and I have several lights, locks, a relay and a couple of power bars, but no motion sensors. Seems the only sensors that (sort of) worked was spotter, no longer avail. So turning a light off based on factors other than motion (or lack thereof) doesn't really work well.

 

[wagohn]

Just picked up the Pivot Power from Walmart and other than the incredibly bad experience at Walmart (isn't it always?), I'm impressed with it. Wish I had ordered 2. It's back to $30 which is still a good deal considering the cost of other powered outlets (2).

Scanning the bar-code said it wasn't supported, but it was in the list and synched on the second try. Almost everything I've had other than GE bulbs have taken 2 or more tries.

Took delivery yesterday. I ordered 2 at $20 and boy was the box HEAVY for 2 power strips. Likewise, took 2 tries to sync but I am now using the strip to power an outside security light (sunset/sunrise). I'm happy because I did have 2 GE Link bulbs in the security light and so using the strip frees up those 2 bulbs to be used elsewhere. I'm now using regular, cheap, LEDs in the security light all powered by the strip.

Its also nice to have a second available Wink outlet in the garage (the strip has 2 controllable outlets). I setup last night and everything worked great at sunset/sunrise.

Thanks OP - great $20 deal.

 

[Davidms]

Now they need to run the relay at $99 again

 

[MjnMixael]

I suppose that's assuming he has motion sensors in place. I'm new to wink (but not automation) and I have several lights, locks, a relay and a couple of power bars, but no motion sensors. Seems the only sensors that (sort of) worked was spotter, no longer avail. So turning a light off based on factors other than motion (or lack thereof) doesn't really work well.

Generic z-wave motion sensors work with Wink. I have 3.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Generic z-wave motion sensors work with Wink. I have 3.

Yeah, I use the Ecolink model. Never had an issue with it.

 

[Davidms]

Yeah, I use the Ecolink model. Never had an issue with it.

Thx guys. Lol right in the description on Amazon it says NOT compatible with Home Depot wink.

I'll give them a try.

David

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Thx guys. Lol right in the description on Amazon it says NOT compatible with Home Depot wink.

I'll give them a try.

David

This is the one I use:

http://www.amazon.com/Ecolink-Z-Wav...e=UTF8&qid=1438816991&sr=8-1&keywords=ecolink

It does say not compatible with Wink, but it is -- lots of people use it. I think they just need to update the description; it wasn't compatible until a firmware update for Wink was released earlier this year.

 

[Sid33]

Hey guys,

I'm have a little problem with my wink/philips bridge/echo setup. So today, I installed a Sensi thermostat and linked the sensi to wink. After I did this the wink app prompted me to link my philips bridge to my wink hub. So I did.
I wanted to see if I could control the temp through echo since echo was linked to my wink hub. I rediscovered devices in my echo app and that's when things went down hill. My echo sees all my philips hue bulbs since my echo is linked to my philips bridge. Echo also sees all my philips hue lights linked to my wink hub as well. Each bulb name is listed twice. When I tell echo to turn on a light, she tells me there are multiple devices with the same name.
I went into my wink app and changed the name of the bulbs so they wouldn't share the same name between the wink and philips hubs. Well, since the wink is linked to the philips bridge, the names updated on the philips bridge as well. Still duplicate names.

Does anyone know how to unlink the philips bridge from the wink hub? I would like to be able to control my lights again.

And no luck on controlling Sensi via wink hub with echo.

 

[Sid33]

Ok, I got it figured out. To un-link wink from philips bridge, I had to sign in to my meet hue account online go into the app settings and delete the wink app. Then I was able to rename all the lights in wink so they are different when echo sees them.

 

[TexasWinkUser]

Ok, this has probably been asked here before, but is there something available that will just give me a CHIRP if the door opens? I do get the notifications on my phone, but I'd love to have a device in the house that would chirp based on trigger (door opens, motion sensor, etc). I do not want a full-on siren, just a chirp. Bonus points for being able to set 1 chirp for tripper, 2 for motion, etc...

 

[MjnMixael]

Ok, this has probably been asked here before, but is there something available that will just give me a CHIRP if the door opens? I do get the notifications on my phone, but I'd love to have a device in the house that would chirp based on trigger (door opens, motion sensor, etc). I do not want a full-on siren, just a chirp. Bonus points for being able to set 1 chirp for tripper, 2 for motion, etc...

http://insynctive.pella.com/smart-home-technology/home-automation-hub

That website doesn't say it, but the bridge can be set to chirp when doors open. They don't have motion sensors, though.