But if you had a bundle for a few hundred bucks that had some outlets, some switches, some Trippers, the Hub, some Link lights...suddenly it feels like the product has value, and you can open people's minds to what's available. I think a boxed starter kit would be a great idea, with a giant picture of an iPhone on it - control your house with this kit, it's the future! Then you'd get hooked & buy the rest of the gear for your home.
Bad News: The new battery I put into my dead Tripper is now showing low. I installed it 1 week ago IIRC. I'm just going to let it die and not replace it at this time. It looks like I am still in the return window so I may go ahead and ship them back, though since they work with SmartThings, maybe I should just hold on.
I'm still waiting for the battery on my garage door to die. It's the farthest thing in my house from the hub. There's a GE Link PAR38 bulb a few feet closer, but it's got power all the time. Wasn't someone saying that the Link bulbs should act as a repeater? Are the trippers zwave or zigbee?
If it lost and restored powered briefly that could cause it to turn back on, but I would imagine you would see the boot up splash page as well if this happened.I have a wink relay that is wired into a single light box. I use the top button to control the "load light" as if it were just a standard switch. Well the damn thing randomly turns on. It is not part of any schedule or robot nor does the on command show up in the activity log, but it comes on a couple times a day by itself. When I turn it off, it shows up in the activity log. Any ideas?
I tend to believe it is more the distance between the Tripper and hub than the temperature. I think I'll move the hub to the edge of the garage later today and see if that helps.
From what I learned the Wink servers were for research and development along with remote commands, they wanted to see how people were using the system and keep track of issues that came up. Now that they have that info they are moving toward local commands (hence the Relay bypassing servers) and will enable it by firmware not a new 2.0 hub.
Bottom line, the system is still buggy, they are having delays in getting new products out, and still have a long way to go... But they are improving, slowly, but there is definitely effort being put forth to get things right. Thanks to their tech guy's call tonight I will be holding on to $900 worth of Wink product (that is with a %50 BF discount) and seeing where things go.
From what I learned the Wink servers were for research and development along with remote commands, they wanted to see how people were using the system and keep track of issues that came up. Now that they have that info they are moving toward local commands (hence the Relay bypassing servers) and will enable it by firmware not a new 2.0 hub.
I think if they keep that momentum up, eventually they will have a really good product: log everything, review what's broken, and fix it.
The bottom line, like you said, is that as the system stands today, it is buggy. I think we all knew that going in as early adopters - this is a first-generation product that hasn't even been out a year yet. What remains to be seen is (1) if they do fix the problems over time, and (2) if a competitor beats them to the stability goal (like SmartThings).
I have no qualms switching to another system if it's going to be more reliable, but I've learned my lesson about buying things that are only tied into one particular system (Wink), and I am planning on only buying standalone hardware in the future. AFAIK, only my GE Link bulb is specifically tied into Wink (at least, for the moment - but iirc they are ZigBee & will most likely have more integration down the road). That's a shame about Philip's Hue bulbs, and total garbage if you ask me - don't limit the usage of an expensive bulb just because it's in a different system.
2) Is it better to control a switch with 3 bulbs or have 3 link bulbs controlled as a group.
Does anyone know if a root exploit has been found for updated hubs?
And see, that's the flip side of the coin with Wink - I totally understand Wink's situation:
2. X10 & INSTEON were the only major game in town for the OOTB DIY'er, and they were problem-ridden. Or you could turn it into your hobby by going hardcore with custom programming, relays, etc.
From what I learned the Wink servers were for research and development along with remote commands, they wanted to see how people were using the system and keep track of issues that came up. Now that they have that info they are moving toward local commands (hence the Relay bypassing servers) and will enable it by firmware not a new 2.0 hub.
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I would say "it depends" - do you see a need/reason for controlling each light independently? If the lights are currently controlled by a single switch, then for the "independent light" scenario you'd have to remove (or otherwise safely disable) the switch to ensure the bulbs retain power 100% of the time in order to be controlled.
I know it's a bummer to have orders for their new products delayed... but I think it really is for the best. We all know Wink came to market too early. Hopefully with this extra time for these other products, they can get them done right. Don't want another issue like the Tripper batteries...
I'd much rather have orders delayed and get something that works better than to get something now and have it need replacement.
Ok need some help with the Relay install.