The Wink home automation thread

[ieee_raider]

Hey All,

Wink lurker up until this point. This tread has been helpful. I've been playing with Wink since around the holidays. I have a hub, 2 GE Quirky Bulbs, a Nest Protect and 4 Trippers.

Everything installed and paired just fine. Have had lag issues at times and I've also had to reboot the hub a few times to re-establish control of the GE bulbs. For the price point, and stage of product lifecycle, I can accept these issues while they work out the kinks.

What I can't accept, is rushing product to market with lackluster features and support. Take for instance, my Trippers. (Of which 2 of the 4 are showing low battery, but that's another issue.)

A common use case (the most common even) for the Tripper product would be to set a robot to notify someone when any of the trippers sensed an “open” event. (You know, like how any alarm system in the world works.) Not being able to group Trippers (like you can with light bulbs) prevents you from being able to do this without lots of monotonous, repetitive work. I asked support if this was possible, and their reply was "Unfortunately there is no way to group Trippers. Robots need to be made for each individual Tripper. Sorry for any inconvenience."

On top of that, I think it would be great to be able to flash a light bulb if any of the trippers detect an open event. Better yet, let me flash all of my light bulbs easily by selecting a group. No dice. Currently, I can turn a light bulb on. If I want to turn more than one on I need to add each manually, rather than selecting a group. Then, I need to create a robot for each of my 4 trippers. Insane. Just not thought through and poorly executed. Again, all software issues that could be fixed. But will they be?

I was excited for Wink - great price point, great interface, etc. But they need to pull some rabbits out of hats ASAP if they want to capture the consumer marketshare.

What's weird is they are grouped into doors and windows, but the groups don't have any function.
Also, I would love the blink option. I think that's sorely lacking.

 

[JFHughes08088]

The software is certainly in need of more work. For example, there is no way to rearrange icons in the list of lights or groups (Android) but can be rearranged in iOS. ****Edit- I can now (after software update 1/23 rearrange light icons*** Sucks for me since I use iPhone during the day but transition to Android gear after work. There is no way to connect a robot to a shortcut, only an individual light. This makes putting robots together much longer than it needs to be.

Lag is probably the biggest issue for me. I have trippers on laundry room and closet doors. Open the door, light comes on..........eventually. I don't like waiting in the dark for the light to come on so I can pick a pair of shoes! Yeah, yeah, I know. cloud communication takes time but local hosting of commands should be possible.

I saw Smartthings announced their V2 hub (release date Q2, 2015) that will include local hosting of commands. I read in this forum that trippers work on Smartthings hub. Hell, I only have GE wink lights (11) Levitron switches (2) and 4 trippers. If they all work on other hubs, I have options.

The Wink product line has so much promise that I can work around the software shortcomings for now but by Q2 if there is no lag improvement, I'll probably jump.

Anyone else share the opinion?

 

[SmartLumens]

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.

Fully agree. It's as if they "push" their immaturity as a hip "feature"

Did anyone see the Quirky CEO in this video: http://youtu.be/Y5VCyu_rBjs ?

I found him to be very cavalier and immature compared to the other panelists. In contrast, the SmartThings guy was very well-spoken and more put-together. It's like some weird analogy for their respective product lines.

 

[blampen]

The software is certainly in need of more work. For example, there is no way to rearrange icons in the list of lights or groups (Android) but can be rearranged in iOS. Sucks for me since I use iPhone during the day but transition to Android gear after work. There is no way to connect a robot to a shortcut, only an individual light. This makes putting robots together much longer than it needs to be.

Lag is probably the biggest issue for me. I have trippers on laundry room and closet doors. Open the door, light comes on..........eventually. I don't like waiting in the dark for the light to come on so I can pick a pair of shoes! Yeah, yeah, I know. cloud communication takes time but local hosting of commands should be possible.

I saw Smartthings announced their V2 hub (release date Q2, 2015) that will include local hosting of commands. I read in this forum that trippers work on Smartthings hub. Hell, I only have GE wink lights (11) Levitron switches (2) and 4 trippers. If they all work on other hubs, I have options.

The Wink product line has so much promise that I can work around the software shortcomings for now but by Q2 if there is no lag improvement, I'll probably jump.

Anyone else share the opinion?

I am in the same boat. Smartthings is looking much more polished every day. With the exception of my relay every device I have is able to be integrated into smartthings. Wink really needs to step up their game if they are going to be keeping me as a customer.

 

[lsd]

The software is certainly in need of more work. For example, there is no way to rearrange icons in the list of lights or groups (Android) but can be rearranged in iOS. Sucks for me since I use iPhone during the day but transition to Android gear after work. There is no way to connect a robot to a shortcut, only an individual light. This makes putting robots together much longer than it needs to be.

Lag is probably the biggest issue for me. I have trippers on laundry room and closet doors. Open the door, light comes on..........eventually. I don't like waiting in the dark for the light to come on so I can pick a pair of shoes! Yeah, yeah, I know. cloud communication takes time but local hosting of commands should be possible.

I saw Smartthings announced their V2 hub (release date Q2, 2015) that will include local hosting of commands. I read in this forum that trippers work on Smartthings hub. Hell, I only have GE wink lights (11) Levitron switches (2) and 4 trippers. If they all work on other hubs, I have options.

The Wink product line has so much promise that I can work around the software shortcomings for now but by Q2 if there is no lag improvement, I'll probably jump.

Anyone else share the opinion?

I went from Vera lite > Wink > smartthings and I am happy with the ST hub for now and will upgrade to the 2.0 when it comes out.
Judging on how the Vera Lite worked you may still have some delay with the lights turning on with a HA hub on your lan. Not long but could be a couple seconds. If you can, I'd recommend getting a motion activated light switch. I installed one in my pantry and it's near instant. I got it from Home depot for $20 and it's been reliable.

 

[JFHughes08088]

I thought about a motion activated switch but like the idea of including laundry room in shortcuts. Example, I have a shortcut named "Good Morning. It turns on upstairs lights I need to get ready in the AM (including laundry room, closet, Master BR, etc) plus a light at the top of the stairs. Once downstairs, I have another called General lighting, which lights the main floor of the house and turns off all upstairs lights. Then others (Watch Home Theater, Dinner, etc).

Does the Smartthings hub you use today suffer from lag when trippers tell lights to turn on?

 

[lsd]

I won't have any door sensors until next week when my monoprice Zwave sensors come in. I'll test them out then with ST.

 

[JFHughes08088]

Thanks. If anyone else is using Tripper door sensors with Smartthings hub, I would be interested to hear if you suffer similar lag?

 

[JFHughes08088]

I think it might be helpful if we were to all share how we use robots. For example, I have one that turns off all lights anytime I leave the house before 6 pm. I have another to turn on front foyer light every time I arrive home. Another to turn on the laundry room light when the laundry room door opens.

 

[blampen]

Has anyone tried and generic z wave or zigbee door sensors with wink? I have 2 trippers and am completely unimpressed with the battery life. I have had them for 2 weeks and have already had one die and the other is near dead. Not very good for an item sold as lasting 1 year on a battery. One sensor was a little far away from hub at about 50' and the other is 20'

 

[MjnMixael]

MyQ/Chamberlain support is back up.

 

[dennisj00]

Noticed I had an update waiting for the hub and started it around 2AM this morning. Hub was blue this morning but nothing worked. I rebooted and everything was fine within a few minutes.

Just noticed it was still on .47 and update notification was still there. Selected it and will see what happens.

Am I missing another trick?

 

[EdJr]

That sorta happened to me, too. I started it, and walked away with my tablet to do something else. Looked after it was back to non-blinking and the app still had the old version. (Didn't need to reboot)

I kept the Android app running while doing the update again and it worked, so you apparently can't update "un-attended."

 

[ieee_raider]

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/16/cree-affordable-smart-bulb/
Cree's affordable smart bulb works with Zigbee and Wink home hubs

$15 a pop... features the new 4-flow design that looks like a traditional light bulb.
Now that's slick.

 

[BillinGlendale]

Anyone interested in a web page to control Wink devices(light bulbs, locks, and thermostat)?

Here's my first attempt: https://www.dropbox.com/s/grxxr9cv3e5m662/WinkPost.zip?dl=0

Modify the fillBody function in wink.js to enter your ID/Password.

 

[MjnMixael]

wow! nice work. it's pretty simple, but the fact that you probably reverse engineered the whole thing is pretty cool.

 

[RossMAN]

Anyone interested in a web page to control Wink devices(light bulbs, locks, and thermostat)?

Here's my first attempt: https://www.dropbox.com/s/grxxr9cv3e5m662/WinkPost.zip?dl=0

Modify the fillBody function in wink.js to enter your ID/Password.

Would I be able to host this remotely and access it from work (behind a strict corporate firewall)?

I'd love to be able to visit mydomain.com/lights enter in username/password and be able to access my Wink stuff.

 

[MjnMixael]

I would pay to have that 'api' converted to a tasked plugin...

 

[BillinGlendale]

I would pay to have that 'api' converted to a tasked plugin...

If you're using android and tasker, you can voice control your wink devices:
https://plus.google.com/+CraigTrunzo/posts/QiFFiN819Pn

The api access code in these tasks were really helpful in producing my web page.

 

[dennisj00]

That sorta happened to me, too. I started it, and walked away with my tablet to do something else. Looked after it was back to non-blinking and the app still had the old version. (Didn't need to reboot)

I kept the Android app running while doing the update again and it worked, so you apparently can't update "un-attended."

It now says .56 but flashing amber and offline. Have refreshed wifi but can't get it to go Online.

Edit: 5 minutes later it's Online!! Several reboots during the day didn't do it.

 

[BillinGlendale]

I just updated mine a few hours ago(I was thinking of trying to get root during the update, but decided against it). It's on .56 and went pretty quickly, about 5 minutes.

 

[ieee_raider]

Anyone interested in a web page to control Wink devices(light bulbs, locks, and thermostat)?

Here's my first attempt: https://www.dropbox.com/s/grxxr9cv3e5m662/WinkPost.zip?dl=0

Modify the fillBody function in wink.js to enter your ID/Password.

Nice!
I'd rewrite table into a grid, and there is no "case" in wink.js for receptacles so you get no associated graphic and you can't control them.
But that's great work; good job!

 

[Kaido]

Anyone interested in a web page to control Wink devices(light bulbs, locks, and thermostat)?

Here's my first attempt: https://www.dropbox.com/s/grxxr9cv3e5m662/WinkPost.zip?dl=0

Modify the fillBody function in wink.js to enter your ID/Password.

Awesome, nice job! :thumbsup:

 

[MjnMixael]

If you're using android and tasker, you can voice control your wink devices:
https://plus.google.com/+CraigTrunzo/posts/QiFFiN819Pn

The api access code in these tasks were really helpful in producing my web page.

EDIT.. ah it's a project to be imported into Tasker. Not something I've done yet, but I'll check it out.

 

[electronich]

Stumbled onto this thread while looking for other Wink hub info. If you're interested in local control (meaning disconnecting your hub from the Wink server), but still be able to control it remotely via smart phone's 4G connection, you can use an open source program called OpenHAB.

https://electronichamsters.wordpres...k-hub-to-work-with-openhab-for-local-control/

Basically, you run OpenHAB on a computer or a Raspberry Pi if you're comfortable with Linux, and it sends commands to your rooted wink hub directly via the curl commands. OpenHAB itself is a very mature home automation program. It can do a ton of impressive stuff. It comes with voice control, but also you can integrate different sensors to it. Or use IR remote to control lights.