The Wink home automation thread

[PokerGuy]

I've read a lot of posts in this thread as I'm interested in the smart home/ home automation etc stuff, but reading this thread pretty much confirms my number one concern with this stuff. It's all very new and seems very bleeding-edge, with lots of growing pains. I don't want to spend a bunch of time fiddling / researching to get a light bulb or some other device to work with my phone. The other issue is that most of the systems (including wink) require internet connectivity and their cloud software to work. I'm not really interested in creating a dependency on outside connectivity to control devices etc.

Is there anything on the market that allows for local control without needing any internet connectivity?

 

[Exigence]

Lutron has a Caseta Wireless solution that has its own hub as well. Pretty sure that doesn't require the cloud. The devices are new, but it's basically just a lower cost version of the same technology Lutron has been using since the late 90's. If you want something that is solid, they'd be it. You are a lot more limited in what you can add though - it's just lighting and shades, with some other integration partners.

 

[Kaido]

I've read a lot of posts in this thread as I'm interested in the smart home/ home automation etc stuff, but reading this thread pretty much confirms my number one concern with this stuff. It's all very new and seems very bleeding-edge, with lots of growing pains. I don't want to spend a bunch of time fiddling / researching to get a light bulb or some other device to work with my phone. The other issue is that most of the systems (including wink) require internet connectivity and their cloud software to work. I'm not really interested in creating a dependency on outside connectivity to control devices etc.

Is there anything on the market that allows for local control without needing any internet connectivity?

If you are not interested in tinkering or wasting time, then you'll need to go with a commercial system to get that level of functionality (note that even commercial systems don't work 100% like hardwire does). Something like Control4 would probably do the job:

http://www.control4.com/

I think Vera can run offline (anyone care to comment?), but you won't get offsite functionality (control away from home) unless you setup some kind of port forwarding or whatever.

 

[Kaido]

Lutron has a Caseta Wireless solution that has its own hub as well. Pretty sure that doesn't require the cloud. The devices are new, but it's basically just a lower cost version of the same technology Lutron has been using since the late 90's. If you want something that is solid, they'd be it. You are a lot more limited in what you can add though - it's just lighting and shades, with some other integration partners.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I went with Caseta for lighting - if Wink doesn't pan out over time, I can always fall back to their lighting hub. Same for stuff like Honeywell & Chamberlain - they have their own control apps for direct control instead of going through a main consolidation hub, so you're not stuck with just one system.

 

[lsd]

If you are not interested in tinkering or wasting time, then you'll need to go with a commercial system to get that level of functionality (note that even commercial systems don't work 100% like hardwire does). Something like Control4 would probably do the job:

http://www.control4.com/

I think Vera can run offline (anyone care to comment?), but you won't get offsite functionality (control away from home) unless you setup some kind of port forwarding or whatever.

Yes the vera will run offline but can also be remote controlled with app(s) or their website.

 

[PokerGuy]

Lutron has a Caseta Wireless solution that has its own hub as well. Pretty sure that doesn't require the cloud. The devices are new, but it's basically just a lower cost version of the same technology Lutron has been using since the late 90's. If you want something that is solid, they'd be it. You are a lot more limited in what you can add though - it's just lighting and shades, with some other integration partners.

If you are not interested in tinkering or wasting time, then you'll need to go with a commercial system to get that level of functionality (note that even commercial systems don't work 100% like hardwire does). Something like Control4 would probably do the job:

http://www.control4.com/

I think Vera can run offline (anyone care to comment?), but you won't get offsite functionality (control away from home) unless you setup some kind of port forwarding or whatever.

Thanks for the info, I'm going to further look into these (and other) options. What I've seen so far strongly suggests the best option is to wait and let the market mature / shake out a little, standards get established etc before jumping in. I'm tech-savy, and I'm not afraid to figure stuff out, but the last thing I want is to invest in something only to have it be a needless frustrating time drain.

 

[mcrimm]

What I've seen so far strongly suggests the best option is to wait and let the market mature / shake out a little, standards get established etc before jumping in.

That's no fun.
Mike

 

[Kaido]

That's no fun.
Mike

Cheaper tho! :biggrin:

 

[PokerGuy]

That's no fun.
Mike

True! A few years ago I would have been perfectly fine fiddling with the stuff and experimenting with different setups etc, but these days my time is a lot more constrained so I have to pick and choose what I want to tackle.

 

[CAL7]

At this stage, you have to be in it for the fun. And, to say, 10 years from now, "Remember back when Home Depot - remember them? - tried to get in the HA market..."

 

[mcrimm]

At this stage, you have to be in it for the fun. And, to say, 10 years from now, "Remember back when Home Depot - remember them? - tried to get in the HA market..."

Funny but probably True, True, True.......I remember when I learned basic programming on a TRS-80. Remember those.
I learned most of my advanced math using a Pickett Slide Rule. Remember those.
I learned to type on a Remington Rand manual typewriter. Remember those.

The list goes on and on and on.

Mike

 

[redbaron78]

Does anyone know if the Wink Relay is wide enough to cover up a triple gang opening? I see it's designed to mount in a single or dual, but I can't tell what it'll look like over a triple. Obviously I don't want holes on either side of the thing.

 

[SchillerM]

What I've seen so far strongly suggests the best option is to wait and let the market mature / shake out a little, standards get established etc before jumping in.

I said that 7 years ago when I first started looking at HA stuff.. I am done waiting.
Wink has been good to me. Only experienced one outage while trying to use it. Local hosting would be ideal, and long term I hope it is coming. But for as cheap (free to the early adopters) as it is I am more than happy to deal with it. Light switches still work if needed..
Matt

 

[mcrimm]

Frustrating - - - I couldn't control my 2 outside lights with my iphone earlier today. Now I see - from my office - that my Wink Hub is Offline. Not much I can do from here I guess.

This notice should be on the first page of the Wink App so I know it immediately when opening the app - Not where I have to search when the darn thing won't work.

Wink Folks...........put a banner on the opening page of the app that tells me the Hub is offline.

Mike

 

[MjnMixael]

That's a good point. I'll relay that on the beta testers site.

 

[Kaido]

I said that 7 years ago when I first started looking at HA stuff.. I am done waiting.
Wink has been good to me. Only experienced one outage while trying to use it. Local hosting would be ideal, and long term I hope it is coming. But for as cheap (free to the early adopters) as it is I am more than happy to deal with it. Light switches still work if needed..
Matt

Yeah, my Hub was a dollar, so I can't complain too much :biggrin: Plus the Lutron switches work even without Internet or the Hub being online, plus I can get a Lutron hub is the Wink stuff really bugs me over time, so I'm not painted into a corner with any of it - it works perfectly fine as standalone equipment, which is nice.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Got my Wink starter kit from Home Depot today, but not sure I'll have time to mess with it too much until next week. I'm just starting with the 2 included bulbs and I'll go from there.

 

[Kaido]

Wink just added Nest support:

https://twitter.com/TheWinkApp/status/527935967210913794

 

[MjnMixael]

Yeah.. I was surprised about that. The beta testing was full of errors that didn't get resolved (at least on the beta servers). Hopefully the production servers handle the Nest integration much more gracefully because this is a big name to be adding!

 

[Narumi]

Yeah.. I was surprised about that. The beta testing was full of errors that didn't get resolved (at least on the beta servers). Hopefully the production servers handle the Nest integration much more gracefully because this is a big name to be adding!

I wish they would have added ecobee. I have one of their thermostat's and liked it better than the nest. Maybe in due time....

 

[MjnMixael]

I hadn't heard of Ecobee until now... Which is likely part of why Nest was added first. Anyone into home automation has heard of Nest. It's a big name and important brand to have alongside. Ecobee just doesn't have that weight yet. But that doesn't mean it won't get added in the future.

 

[ieee_raider]

I've been running a wink hub for a few weeks now and just wanted to throw some comments out there for people:

1. The Wink Hub is VERY sensitive to electronic noise. I have all of my networking stuff and some other devices in a cubby behind my TV. Any time I move my wink hub back there, it'll work for a while but ends up having issues with connecting to the internet. If you have issues, try moving it to a different location. I've had no issues with range once it's sitting by itself.
2. GE Link bulbs are pretty reliable, but I have had a couple of disconnects and I have to turn off the bulb and the hub. Then turn the hub on first and wait for blue light then turn on the Link bulb and all works well again.
3. Plug-in zigbee dimmers (By jasco, ge, etc.) work great but for some reason after they've been connected for a day or so, Wink will create an additional device called "Light Bulb". If I leave it, the original device continues to work fine. If I remove "Light Bulb" then the original device quits working even though it's still listed. This is very repeatable.
4. I've recently installed a Linear Dimmer switch (same as GE and Jasco) using zwave. It conencted right away and works great except the on-off status is always reported as "On". This doesn't impact robot operation, so it's more of an annoyance than anything.

 

[ieee_raider]

I hadn't heard of Ecobee until now... Which is likely part of why Nest was added first. Anyone into home automation has heard of Nest. It's a big name and important brand to have alongside. Ecobee just doesn't have that weight yet. But that doesn't mean it won't get added in the future.

Where have you been hiding? Haha
The ecobee has been around much longer than nest and is much more powerful (configurable for crazy combinations of devices).

 

[Narumi]

I hadn't heard of Ecobee until now... Which is likely part of why Nest was added first. Anyone into home automation has heard of Nest. It's a big name and important brand to have alongside. Ecobee just doesn't have that weight yet. But that doesn't mean it won't get added in the future.

Yeah, ecobee did not have the same marketing power as nest/apple did in the beginning, and then Google buying it out also raised it's light in the public space.

The ecobee is an amazing device as ieee has said. Their support is really good from the reviews I have seen and you can run just about anything on them, 1H1C, 2H2C, humidifier, heat pumps. Any config that seems to be available for the home they more than likely support it... unlike the nest.

I haven't touched the nest, but I like the UI of the ecobee. Very customizable and now with their 3rd iteration out it's even better. Probably going to get one for the parents since they don't really know how to program their current one.

 

[MjnMixael]

Sadly, it doesn't really matter where I've been hiding

Ecobee clearly doesn't have the brand name that Nest does, which is undoubtedly a big reason why Nest support came first for Wink.

To be clear, though. I'm all for Wink adding as much support as possible to their app. But it takes time. We've all seen how Wink is already a bit buggy. Wouldn't want to rush support for 'all the things'... I'd rather they take their time and start getting it iron-solid.