The Wink home automation thread

[PittAuto]

I think only the touchpad models are Wink Certified, not the pushbutton models, but I don't know every model they make or what the master list of Schlage support is. I have the Camelot I think, works pretty well.

Although it IS annoying when the Hub doesn't work. I just got home with a ton of groceries, it's 15F out, snowing, and I waited & waited & waited in the car for the Schlage to unlock & finally said screw it & went in because the app just sat there & spun at "unlocking". So it's kind of frustrating spending $200 on a fancy door lock & then not having it do the simple job of unlocking. And to be fair, the Schlage has worked 100% so far for keypad & key entry, it's the Wink Hub that's the problem. I do not like having it all in Wink's unreliable cloud service. It's easy to get mad at it when it doesn't work the one time you really want it to work. Not a good feeling when you've spend good money on the equipment and it lets you down :thumbsdown:

I just got the FE599 myself a week ago. My hub is upstairs but recognizes the FE599. However, when I try to unlock using the app, the same thing happens to me (spinning wheel then timeout). I even tried buying a smart things hub, and then same thing happened with that system. I read somewhere that if you put a Schlange light dimmer control near the FE599, it will act as a repeater and you get a stronger signal from the hub, allowing a better and more stable connection. I'm going to try that, but if anyone has any better ideas, I'd love to hear them.

 

[PittAuto]

I had the FE599 and touch screen dead bolt with the wink. I have since removed the wink but the FE599 was working. Try unpairing and pair and try again.

I tried that with mine for 5 or 6 times without success.

 

[PittAuto]

You're looking at it



Officially no. Unofficially, there is some webpage-based stuff floating around, check out this thread a few pages back.



A lot of us are waiting for the SmartThings v2 Hub, coming out later this year. Samsung has committed to being extremely open with cross-product support, which is really good news, as well as having local control, a battery backup, cellular option, and so on. Nothing else is really that great at the moment. Vera is still junk, SmartThings v1 is more for tinkerers, and most of the rest are computer-based. For now, I'm sticking with my Wink Hub, and primarily buying things that have their own control system (ex. my Schlage lock has a standalone keypad, my upcoming Honeywell thermostat has it's own web-based control system, etc.).

I had the Smartthings v1 but returned it to Amazon. It is more programmable and customizable, but the user interface leaves a lot to be desired right now and support is virtually non-existent for newbies to get up to speed.

 

[lsd]

I just got the FE599 myself a week ago. My hub is upstairs but recognizes the FE599. However, when I try to unlock using the app, the same thing happens to me (spinning wheel then timeout). I even tried buying a smart things hub, and then same thing happened with that system. I read somewhere that if you put a Schlange light dimmer control near the FE599, it will act as a repeater and you get a stronger signal from the hub, allowing a better and more stable connection. I'm going to try that, but if anyone has any better ideas, I'd love to hear them.

I have the smart things hub now and do not have any problems with either schlage lock. Maybe a bad lock? :hmm:

I did have problems with the wink and the fe599 with the early firmware. Have you updated the wink firmware?

 

[RossMAN]

I have found this thread to be incredibly valuable in helping evaluate which products to buy and how to shoot the inevitable issues.
My current setup:
wink hub
2 trippers(front door and garage door)
Honeywell wifi thermostat
Kwikset lock
2 link lightbulbs

I had one question for the group which I think has been answered earlier, but I am not familiar enough to be sure:
Is there something I can do to use a super cheap android tablet as a "command center" for wink? Are there any requirements for the tablet itself beyond running android?

Thanks

$50 android tablet after rebate, hurry because this will expire very soon.

Ugh can't post link from my cell go to www.slickdeals.net

 

[dgruhin]

Hey guys and gals!

I have been a wink user for about 3 weeks now. I have automated everything I could in my new house.

Lutron Caseta switches everywhere, GE Link bulbs, A Wink Relay, and more to come.

I have read every single post in this epically awesome thread and the only thing I wish it had was better organization and a way to search. Combing through all of the knowledge here has been daunting to say the least and I know many other people must feel the same way. Anandtech is awesome but in my opinion, this thread has gotten a bit out of control.

To that end I have built a forum, which I know a few others have tried before with virtually no success. It is currently empty, with only a basic Category framework and I am the only currently registered user.

I am hoping that a slightly more streamlined look and feel combined with an easy to remember domain will help site adoption.

I am really looking for a few people to be moderators and to assist in getting the ball rolling.

The discussion will take place at WinkWorkshop.com

Hopefully having Wink Workshop, a place to bounce ideas off each other and get help, will be of great assistance to others once it gets going.

If you are interested in helping you can reach me by email at thewinkworkshop @ gmail.com

Thank you,
David

 

[bigverm24]

Want to switch my switches to wireless....should I go lutron caseta or GE ZWave?

 

[lsd]

Want to switch my switches to wireless....should I go lutron caseta or GE ZWave?

With the Lutron you are married to the wink or lutron hub, get a zwave switch and you can move it to just about any modern home automation system.

 

[fletchb]

Want to switch my switches to wireless....should I go lutron caseta or GE ZWave?

Maybe I just 2 bad ones , but I found lutron to be of low quality. They both burned up.

I went with Leviton Z waves and so far happy with them because:

1) The have all worked the very first time and did not burn up like the lutrons.

2) They are built like a normal mechanical switch with terminals and slots. The lutrons had just wires hanging out of them. Insteon does the same thing and while it works, is kinda cheap.

3) Like several others, I am giving Wink time to fix the problems they have. I hope they succeed as I have talked with many nice techs so far. If they follow through, great..if not all my stuff will convert over to smart things as Z wave is not (as) proprietary like Lutron.

So far I am using 2 of them with 3 remotes, probably add at least one more of them.

 

[bigverm24]

Maybe I just 2 bad ones , but I found lutron to be of low quality. They both burned up.

I went with Leviton Z waves and so far happy with them because:

1) The have all worked the very first time and did not burn up like the lutrons.

2) They are built like a normal mechanical switch with terminals and slots. The lutrons had just wires hanging out of them. Insteon does the same thing and while it works, is kinda cheap.

3) Like several others, I am giving Wink time to fix the problems they have. I hope they succeed as I have talked with many nice techs so far. If they follow through, great..if not all my stuff will convert over to smart things as Z wave is not (as) proprietary like Lutron.

So far I am using 2 of them with 3 remotes, probably add at least one more of them.

So assuming I go with the Z-wave switches, which seems to be the logical direction....this will allow total control of lights as far as the switch will be able to poll the status of the light if controlled manually by the switch...is that correct?

Currently I only have GE link bulbs so the status is not reported correctly if the wife hits the switch manually...

 

[fletchb]

So assuming I go with the Z-wave switches, which seems to be the logical direction....this will allow total control of lights as far as the switch will be able to poll the status of the light if controlled manually by the switch...is that correct?

Currently I only have GE link bulbs so the status is not reported correctly if the wife hits the switch manually...

With Wink no, with smart things yes or so I am told.

Wink told me about 2 weeks that polling had been added to the latest firmware for the HUB, but they were still working out bugs on the cloud side.

In the past I read that GE's are supposed to poll, but like you I found that they don't . But sometime I think the issue is latency - not sure if it's the cloud or the app itself, or both. There is a LOT of work still to be done .

 

[seahome]

With the Lutron you are married to the wink or lutron hub, get a zwave switch and you can move it to just about any modern home automation system.

I have Lutron and they work brilliantly. I have mine outside in an outdoor shed and indoors. Their range is higher than the GE Links. Also, you can use both the dimmers and switches even though on the wink site they show just the dimmers. For the outdoor application I find them especially convenient because the pico wireless switch can also control them from inside the house like a regular switch as well as the wink app.

 

[blampen]

Just ran across this over on reddit. A developer has wrote an app for the pebble smart watch that can control wink. It currently only has a android version but says iOS is coming soon.

http://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/comments/2vnnyd/control_wink_devices_in_your_house_from_your/

 

[bigverm24]

I have Lutron and they work brilliantly. I have mine outside in an outdoor shed and indoors. Their range is higher than the GE Links. Also, you can use both the dimmers and switches even though on the wink site they show just the dimmers. For the outdoor application I find them especially convenient because the pico wireless switch can also control them from inside the house like a regular switch as well as the wink app.

Do you happen to have any robots set up that you are willing to share a picture of? Specifically interested in the current capabilities of the switch and light with the wink app.

 

[FreddieT]

Has anybody tried to connect, or had success getting an Everspring HSP-02 PIR to work with the Wink Hub?

 

[TexasWinkUser]

Why is my smart home so F-ing dumb (over at Gizmodo) ??

 

[DnyLhy]

Tried to do this with a Toshiba tablet. Moved all of my Wink shortcuts to the desktops but they work for awhile then revert to "loading".
Any ideas?

 

[DnyLhy]

Tried to do this with a Toshiba tablet. Moved all of my Wink shortcuts to the desktops but they work for awhile then revert to "loading".
Any ideas?

(Putting shortcuts on an Android Tablet)

 

[dgruhin]

I decided to take some old iPhones and turn them in to Psuedo relays.

You can read and see more at WinkWorkshop.com

 

[dgruhin]

Why is my smart home so F-ing dumb (over at Gizmodo) ??

That review really bothered me for some reason.

My review of the review can be read here:

http://winkworkshop.com/thread/why-...t-home-so-fucking-dumb-is-really-not-helpful/

 

[TexasWinkUser]

That review really bothered me for some reason.

My review of the review can be read here:

http://winkworkshop.com/thread/why-...t-home-so-fucking-dumb-is-really-not-helpful/

Honestly Dave:
The Gizmodo review was pretty much spot on with my experience. I'm willing to say that here, and not linking to my own blog to generate traffic.

 

[bigverm24]

Honestly Dave:
The Gizmodo review was pretty much spot on with my experience. I'm willing to say that here, and not linking to my own blog to generate traffic.

Seems to me, there is an even mix of people that have had great experiences and poor experiences....very similar to what I have read about the Smartthings hub. First of all, with a new technology like this, cant say I support going out and spending 3k worth of products for something that is virtually brand new like this guy did. Paid programming perhaps?

Personally, I haven't lost connectivity once (that I've noticed) and my schedules, minimal robot automation, and app control have gone off without a hitch. Honestly I just keep trolling the forums hoping to find more positive reviews while I wait for my set up to crash and burn and piss me off. I also have my entire home hardwired with Cat6, with multiple WiFi APs to ensure I get consistent Wifi speed and coverage throughout....the claim is that wifi speeds do not matter but I'm sure spotty coverage greatly affects things.

Even the geofencing robot i have set up for the front set of lights works every single time when I arrive from and leave for work every day. Now I have no switches and/or outlets configured yet, but the little I do have seems to work 99% of the time.

Even Apple still rolls out iOS software updates that brick phones all the time....so why is 100% functionality and perfect features expected from a product that just became available 8 months ago? Food for thought.

 

[bigverm24]

Maybe I just 2 bad ones , but I found lutron to be of low quality. They both burned up.

I went with Leviton Z waves and so far happy with them because:

1) The have all worked the very first time and did not burn up like the lutrons.

2) They are built like a normal mechanical switch with terminals and slots. The lutrons had just wires hanging out of them. Insteon does the same thing and while it works, is kinda cheap.

3) Like several others, I am giving Wink time to fix the problems they have. I hope they succeed as I have talked with many nice techs so far. If they follow through, great..if not all my stuff will convert over to smart things as Z wave is not (as) proprietary like Lutron.

So far I am using 2 of them with 3 remotes, probably add at least one more of them.

Man the Leviton are surely the most expensive of them all (sounds like for good reason?). So can you comment on the functionality of controlling the switches/dimmers and lights directly from the app? Does status poll correctly, even in the event of manual switching?

 

[blampen]

Man the Leviton are surely the most expensive of them all (sounds like for good reason?). So can you comment on the functionality of controlling the switches/dimmers and lights directly from the app? Does status poll correctly, even in the event of manual switching?

The leviton switches are great quality. They are the only ones that I will put in my house right now. The status polling does not currently work with wink but they say that it is in the firmware but they are just working out some bugs cloud side.

 

[Tech_Greek]

In the past I read that GE's are supposed to poll, but like you I found that they don't .

I don't ever depend on the status of the lights, they are never right. I do think as well that it's related to latency.