The Wink home automation thread

[Kaido]

What's the general consensus on the GoControl stuff? Pretty reliable? Saw this neat mailbox mod:

https://twitter.com/dhrandy/status/623626868869210112

 

[BillBones]

Yes, powered devices generally function as signal repeaters. You could try putting a powered device between the hub and door contact to see if that improves connectivity (I had to do that to reach the Trippers in my garage).

IndyColtsFan ----- excellent, thanks very much.
Still wondering if powered devices put out a stronger signal. Bill.

 

[Mike A.]

What's the general consensus on the GoControl stuff? Pretty reliable? Saw this neat mailbox mod:

https://twitter.com/dhrandy/status/623626868869210112

Haven't had any problems with mine other than activation of whatever can be slow at times. That's not on the sensor itself though and same applies to the Trippers. You can see that the sensors detect open/close immediately, but the overall system of sensor-to-hub-to-cloud-to-robot-to-hub-to-device can lag kind of badly at times. But under normal circumstances it's pretty quick. Paired easily. No technical/functional issues. Kinda chunky relative to the Trippers but they use CR123 batteries so I'd expect that they'll last forever. The PIR I'm not as impressed with. It's just OK. Not great, not terrible.

 

[Mike A.]

Still wondering if powered devices put out a stronger signal. Bill.

I think that will be true kind of by definition since battery-powered Z-wave/Zigbee devices typically don't act as repeaters.

 

[Mike A.]

BTW, since I know that there are some Lutron fans here, Amazon Warehouse has a bunch of open-box Lutron Caseta bridges currently available at $47. About half off the normal price:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00L5NUT16/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

I'm not real familiar with the Lutron stuff myself so don't know what that may buy you in terms of use/benefits.

 

[MjnMixael]

In terms of Lutron with Wink, the Lutron bridge is not required. In fact, it won't work with Wink at all. Lutron switches work directly with the Wink hub.

 

[Kaido]

Haven't had any problems with mine other than activation of whatever can be slow at times. That's not on the sensor itself though and same applies to the Trippers. You can see that the sensors detect open/close immediately, but the overall system of sensor-to-hub-to-cloud-to-robot-to-hub-to-device can lag kind of badly at times. But under normal circumstances it's pretty quick. Paired easily. No technical/functional issues. Kinda chunky relative to the Trippers but they use CR123 batteries so I'd expect that they'll last forever. The PIR I'm not as impressed with. It's just OK. Not great, not terrible.

Yeah, that's mostly what has made me hold off so far...no instant-response from local control native to the Wink, and sketchy performance with stuff like the PIR sensors. Hmm.

 

[Mike A.]

In terms of Lutron with Wink, the Lutron bridge is not required. In fact, it won't work with Wink at all. Lutron switches work directly with the Wink hub.

Right. You have the radio in the Wink hub. It would be in lieu of. I know some here have complained about ST not supporting Lutron. Don't know whether that's a better way to go vs Wink for that purpose. It does appear to work locally.

 

[Mike A.]

Yeah, that's mostly what has made me hold off so far...no instant-response from local control native to the Wink, and sketchy performance with stuff like the PIR sensors. Hmm.

Usually it's pretty good. It's not absolutely instant, but only a second or so delay most of the time. With a typical entry door sensor you don't really notice it much. By the time that you have the door open and closed, it's usually turned on whatever and alerted my phone. Where I do notice it more is where I have some installed in closets to switch on Link bulbs. The lag is more often obvious in that case since you're standing there with a dark closet waiting for the light to come on. Happens enough that I gave up on that and just went back to "dumb" motion sensors which are instant. Every now and then it can be ridiculously slow. Like 5 minutes until I get the alert. But that's fairly rare.

I wouldn't call the PIR sketchy. It works and is reliable. More that it's just kind of slow to pick up motion itself vs some others that I've used which then compounds whatever lag. That is, rather than instantly picking up motion when you enter a room and turning on a light, you'll be half-way across the room before the light comes on. It does do a good job as far as ignoring the cats and not falsing otherwise where I've had problems with others.

 

[Termie]

In terms of Lutron with Wink, the Lutron bridge is not required. In fact, it won't work with Wink at all. Lutron switches work directly with the Wink hub.

I can confirm this. I finally pulled my Lutron Bridge out of my system today, fully integrating my Lutron switches and Pico remotes with my Wink Hub.

Right. You have the radio in the Wink hub. It would be in lieu of. I know some here have complained about ST not supporting Lutron. Don't know whether that's a better way to go vs Wink for that purpose. It does appear to work locally.

Keep in mind that Lutron's product is a switch, not a bulb, so local control is a little less critical as you have the switch right on the wall. That's the ultimate local control. That being said control through Wink is nearly instantaneous, so even if it's not actual local control is more than good enough. At this point I see no reason to purchase a Lutron Bridge. It's a vestige of an earlier era in home automation when every brand had its own hub.

 

[Kaido]

I can confirm this. I finally pulled my Lutron Bridge out of my system today, fully integrating my Lutron switches and Pico remotes with my Wink Hub.

Did your Lutron Bridge integrate with the Wink Hub at all?

 

[Termie]

Did your Lutron Bridge integrate with the Wink Hub at all?

No, the Bridge has no interaction with the Wink Hub. Wink replaces it, and is able to communicate directly with the switches and remotes.

 

[mpoole32]

Yeah, that's mostly what has made me hold off so far...no instant-response from local control native to the Wink, and sketchy performance with stuff like the PIR sensors. Hmm.

http://blog.wink.com/wink-blog/2016...ailable-for-wink-compatible-lighting-products

 

[kirnmalidus]

BTW, since I know that there are some Lutron fans here, Amazon Warehouse has a bunch of open-box Lutron Caseta bridges currently available at $47. About half off the normal price:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00L5NUT16/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

I'm not real familiar with the Lutron stuff myself so don't know what that may buy you in terms of use/benefits.

I'd be hesitant to buy the L-BDG-WH model – Lutron's site lists the model as L-BDG2-WH, so the L-BDG-WH is probably an older model and likely doesn't support HomeKit.

I know people reading this thread are probably more concerned with Wink than HomeKit, but since the Lutron devices connect directly to Wink hubs the main value of a Lutron hub would be in a HomeKit setup (which I am running quite nicely in parallel with a Wink setup, pretty much everything I have is compatible with both).

 

[MjnMixael]

http://blog.wink.com/wink-blog/2016/1/20/introducing-winks-first-compatible-water-sensor

These things are way more reliable than the Overflow from Quirky.

 

[Kaido]

http://blog.wink.com/wink-blog/2016...ailable-for-wink-compatible-lighting-products

Sorry, was referring to instant-response via local control from door & window sensors.

 

[MjnMixael]

Robots still run in the cloud.

 

[Kaido]

No, the Bridge has no interaction with the Wink Hub. Wink replaces it, and is able to communicate directly with the switches and remotes.

Ah, bummer. My Casetas & Picos are tied into my Wink directly right now, but it'd be nice to have the redundancy & faster response of the Lutron Hub as a middleman.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

http://blog.wink.com/wink-blog/2016/1/20/introducing-winks-first-compatible-water-sensor

These things are way more reliable than the Overflow from Quirky.

They're also significantly more expensive. There is an Aeon water sensor that works with Wink which is around $30 IIRC.

This is one of the problems with HA right now - high sensor prices. That's why the Lowes stuff is nice - relatively inexpensive and nice capabilities. Of course, we'll likely never see them on Wink.

 

[MjnMixael]

From what I understand, Lowes works on a slightly altered set of zigbee standards so they aren't even compatible with other hubs. But that's just heresay. I could be wrong about that. But if so, that's a very lame business decision.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

From what I understand, Lowes works on a slightly altered set of zigbee standards so they aren't even compatible with other hubs. But that's just heresay. I could be wrong about that. But if so, that's a very lame business decision.

That was true of the first gen Iris stuff, but not the second gen - I am using a ton of their stuff with SmartThings (motion sensors, multi sensors, open/close sensors, and even keypads). To Lowes' credit, they did give all first generation owners a free second generation hub. Their stuff is reasonably priced and every component has a temp sensor.

 

[MjnMixael]

Did you try them with Wink? If they don't work, I wonder if it's because Wink is dragging their feet getting multi-type sensors integrated... (Spotter doesn't count, it's not a great product anyway.)

 

[kirnmalidus]

From what I understand, Lowes works on a slightly altered set of zigbee standards so they aren't even compatible with other hubs. But that's just heresay. I could be wrong about that. But if so, that's a very lame business decision.

Lowe's Iris platform uses Z-Wave, I can't find the site right now but a while back I stumbled across a provider of OEM Z-Wave hardware that listed Lowe's as one of their customers.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Lowe's Iris platform uses Z-Wave, I can't find the site right now but a while back I stumbled across a provider of OEM Z-Wave hardware that listed Lowe's as one of their customers.

No, the new Iris stuff is Zigbee 1.2.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Did you try them with Wink? If they don't work, I wonder if it's because Wink is dragging their feet getting multi-type sensors integrated... (Spotter doesn't count, it's not a great product anyway.)

The Iris open/close sensors won't pair with Wink. I have not tried the motion detector or the keypad.