Greetings!
I have read roughly half of this entire thread (the other half was mostly out-of-date grievances). I made an account for this thread alone, and I have decided my first post would be all of my comments and questions at once.
Strap in, this is going to be a long one.
My Setup/My Experiences
I already had a
Nest thermostat and a
Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener. I got a
Wink Hub for free over Memorial Day weekend, but I never set it up; I have been keeping a very close eye on the Wink ecosystem since then, and even with all the terrible reviews, I was really rooting for them. Besides, “I’m smart, I can figure this stuff out.”
So for Black Friday, I bought two
GE Link bulbs and got a second Wink Hub for free. (I’m thinking: Christmas gift.) I set up this newer Wink Hub but it had a bad ZigBee chip, according to the tech. That was five wasted hours of ridiculousness. It was really sad to realize all the bad reviews had some merit, and that it had nothing to do with “being smart”. Anyway, they’re sending a replacement.
In the meantime I have set up the other (first) Wink Hub instead, and I got both lights paired with no problem. I placed the Wink Hub inside an upper cabinet in the kitchen where it would get no interference from routers/other radios, and it has been working well ever since. I’ve set up a Robot or two, and several schedules. I look forward to adding many, many more bulbs, switches, sensors, a
Relay or two, etc.
My Questions
If you read nothing else below, please help me get these questions answered. And I apologize if these were answered somewhere else.
- Does anyone have any idea how this will be integrated with Apple’s HomeKit? It looks like Apple is requiring their partners use Bluetooth and Wifi chips from approved suppliers, and, since those only just started shipping, I assume that the existing Wink Hub cannot be certified to work with HomeKit. It is my personal opinion that Wink would be silly not to want to play in Apple's arena, so, maybe an additional piece of hardware? An upgraded Hub at a discount for existing Wink Hub users?
- When creating a robot, one of the triggers for the GE Link bulbs is “If a robot detects light [POWERED ON]/ POWERED OFF], then [XYZ].” Okay, what does the on/off represent? The state of the bulb? A change in state from [ON] to [OFF] and vice versa? Would turning the bulb on/off at the fixture’s physical switch satisfy one of these triggers? I’ve tried this, but all it did was un-pair my damn bulb. Not willing to try it again, or even turn the bulbs off at all for that matter. Because when you re-pair, you have to re-do all your stupid robots and scheduling.
- Would staggering our automation schedules to arbitrary times improve reliability during peak hours? For example, let’s say you want to schedule your lights to come on after a long day’s work, so you choose 5pm. But everyone who wants to schedule their lights to come on after work has probably chosen 5pm as well. Maybe those of us in the know should schedule ours at 4:58 or 5:03. Thoughts?
- How do I become a beta tester? I’d rock that beta program!
My Ideas for Products/Product Improvements
I guess a better place for this would be the Quirky submissions page… but you might be able to tell me if these are good ideas, or even if they’ve already been submitted.
- Generic Radio/IR Transmitter—This product would “learn” radio transmitter codes or IR codes from existing remotes (think: Roomba remote; proprietary, non-connected ceiling fan remotes; old-timey oscillating fan remotes; universal remotes for TVs), and re-transmit the desired signal(s) upon instruction from the Wink App. There would be no reported device state, but that’s okay if it’s marketed solely as a “dumb” transmitter.
I have a remote-controlled photocell outdoor power tap that I use for my Christmas lights. It has a fancy remote with on/off/dusk to dawn/timers, etc., although I would only need to program the on and off buttons, as the Wink App would be doing all of my advanced scheduling.
Automation examples:
- If [WEATHER = RAINING]*, turn the Christmas lights off.
- If there has not been[SOUND/ACTIVITY] in the bedroom for [DURATION], and it’s after [TIME], then I’ve passed out drunk and please turn off the [STEREO/TV/ETC] in the living room.
- If I arrive home during Roomba’s scheduled [TIME RANGE], then send out the [“DOCK” REMOTE SIGNAL] so it goes back to its base.
- Wifi/Bluetooth Sensor Module for Spotter UNIQ—I think I read here that Wifi detection is being discussed internally. And it should be. I would further add to that: Bluetooth sensing as well. These would be a much more reliable means of sensing when you’ve arrived home, not to mention that geofencing is such a battery drain.
See, the door sensor thing is fine, and the PIR motion detection thing is fine. But when it comes to your Smart Home knowing that you’re arriving home, no one ever seems to address that your entry door may be used by others throughout the day—how will the door sensor know which of those is an arrival or a departure? Or that the motion sensor will sense you moving about the house, but can’t distinguish between you and your wife who just arrived home. How is the Wink App supposed to know someone has truly just arrived? Well, it could sense whether a person’s phone has just connected to your home’s Wifi network, or that a phone’s Bluetooth ID has just come in range.
Robot Trigger Examples:
- Smartphone is in range
- Smartphone is out of range
- Smartphone has just come within range
- Smartphone has just gone out of range
Automation examples:
- If [PERSON A]’s phone has just come within range after having been out of range for [DURATION], then turn on the [AC/LIGHTS/SWITCH/ETC] in Person A’s room. Regardless of [PERSON B]’s presence.
- If [NO SMARTPHONES] currently within range when [GARAGE DOOR OPENS], then the Wink Hub knows you’re the first one home, so [TURN ON ALL THE THINGS].
- If [ANY SMARTPHONE] is still within range after last check**, set [THERMOSTAT] to [HOME].***
* assumes future integration with outdoor sensors like Netatmo, or location-based weather alerts
**assumes robots repeatable by hour (see Wink App Enhancements below)
***assumes Nest Home/Away can be set via Robots (see Integration Enhancements below)
Wink App Enhancements
I have gathered that the Wink App has come a long way, and I am happy that it is where it is now, but there is further yet to go. I have a few suggestions for (what I assume are) easily-implemented Wink App interface and functionality improvements.
Robots/Scheduling
- How about a “Blink [X] Times/Blink for [N] seconds” lighting action for robots? Example: if the back door is left open for [DURATION], then blink the living room lights twice.
- More than one scheduled time per day. You can choose between arbitrary times or set intervals. For example, one schedule item causes the same action to happen at 6 AM, 12 PM and 2 PM, without creating three separate schedule items. Or, say, every four hours.
- Can you seriously not automate lighting groups? For shame. Fix that.
- How about a [RUN THIS SHORTCUT] action for robots?
- Add [AND] and [OR] statements to triggers. This alone could cover a lot of ground in having your Smart Home do things based on very specific conditions. For example: If there is movement in this room OR this room OR this room OR this room, then by god, someone is home, please do not let the Nest go into Auto Away mode. Another example: If I’ve opened the lid of my piano, then maybe I’m just opening it for visual affect. But if I’ve opened the lid of my piano AND sound is heard, then I’m playing, so please turn off the ceiling fan because the piano tuner told me the oscillations affect the sound.
Lighting/Lights List
- I think the lighting icons are huge and ugly. Maybe let the user choose an icon they feel is appropriate for each light (maybe provide a few).
- When the screen fills up with bulbs, maybe all of the icons can dynamically resize to fit three per row. This way, only those with more than, say 18 lights would have to do any scrolling in the lighting list.
- Hidden lights with a Show/Hide Hidden Lights button.
- Collapsible lighting groups on the main lighting list as opposed to groups having their own separate screen.
General
- Remember linked accounts’ usernames and, optionally, passwords. During the most recent Nest integration hiccup, I had to enter my Nest username and password into the Wink App six times. SIX TIMES. Simple stuff, man. The more I think about it the more immature this app really becomes.
- If you remove a device from the Wink App, and immediately re-add the device, giving it the same name it had before, please, please, please don’t make us go and also re-add it to all of our robots and custom schedules. With all of the connectivity problems Wink has, I foresee a lot of un-pairing and re-pairing, and I do not look forward to repairing all existing automation.
- As stated somewhere else in the thread, yes, PLEASE release a build of the Wink Server software so that those of us who want to run our own home automation server, can. Wink Hub would then connect to the server on our network, rather than the Wink Server wherever it is (Delaware?). It could still, of course, connect to the real Wink Server as a failsafe, and for updates.
Integration Partner Enhancements
Now for a teardown of the poor integration between other non-lighting products I actually have connected to my Wink App. I’m sure there would be more if I owned, say, a lock, a Spotter, an Iro, etc., as there is probably lots to say about those as well. Here we go.
Nest Thermostat:
- While the Wink App can be used to set the Nest’s Home/Away modes, robots do not offer this as an action. Ridiculous oversight. Come on.
- The Nest’s Home/Away/Auto Away modes should be able to be used as triggers. Not sure if Nest pushes this kind of thing out to its API or if it would have to be polled…. but how great would it be if, by setting your thermostat to Away mode, your lights all turned off too? Eh? *elbow nudge* sounds good, eh? Or, if you haven’t walked near the thermostat in a while, but your Wink Spotters detects that you’re home, the Wink App can override the thermostat’s Auto Away mode.
- While we’re at it, why can’t the current temperature setting be a trigger, too? I don’t know what I’d use that for, but I’m sick of everything being limited! Someone will think of something! Just give it to us.
- Also, make the Thermostat icon look like the Nest, and maybe show the actual temperature and cool/heat setting.
Chamberlain MyQ Garage Door Opener:
- [OPEN DURATION] and [CLOSED DURATION] should be able to be used as triggers. The API clearly sends this information to the Wink App. Let us use it.
- Same thing as above, with the robots. The Wink App allows you to open and close the garage door, BUT robots cannot be used to do same. Why not? The MyQ app lacked any automation outside of alerts, so I had high hopes for the Wink App: if the garage door has been open for [OPEN DURATION] during these [TIMES], please shut it. Seriously… overlooking super easy stuff here. For anyone who is concerned about safety, the Chamberlain beeps and blinks for a while before it closes from a remote command. Also, the door will refuse to close from a remote command if the safety sensors aren’t in place or are malfunctioning.
Quirky Refuel:
Allow robots to use the Refuel as a trigger. If the propane tank is [FULL/HALF/EMPTY] then [DO THIS]. Don’t ask questions. Just do it. No reason not to give options surrounding the full capability of your (read: our) products and devices.