The hub actually uses wireless (android phone) to obtain the information from your phone and then stores the config onto the hub itself. Also make sure the signal is 2.4Ghz and not 5Ghz. I have two SSID's one for 2.4 and another for 5 just to make things simpler for me.
On the iPhone, it copied the SSID from the phone, but asked me to punch in the password - I don't think iOS is as forthcoming with data-sharing as Android is So I just got home & it still wasn't working, so I busted out my travel router, connected my iPhone, and all of a sudden the Wink Hub showed up in the app - I didn't even go into "Add Wink Hub". I don't know if it was timing or interference or what, but it works now. I let it run for 15 minutes doing Hub updates & I'm testing it out now.
I picked up a GE Link Light on the way home, along with a Kidde smoke & fire alarm - I needed a bulb & a fire alarm anyway, so that worked out nicely. The GE bulb works via the switch on the reading light, as well as through Wink. It failed pairing the first time - it blinked 3 times, then the Hub spazzed out, lost connect, and started blinking like mad. After a few minutes it said "Uh oh" and asked me if I wanted to try again - blinked 3 times & paired right away after that, then let me name the light.
There is an approximately 2-second lag from sending a command signal from the phone to the bulb receiving it. It was annoying at first, but I'm used to it now. The slider is a bit more annoying since it doesn't dim in realtime, it dims after a delay, so you don't know exactly how bright or dim it will be. The bulb itself is definitely more of a bedside reading lamp - nothing near the output of my 75-watt or 100-watt LED bulbs, but nice for a small lamp that doesn't need to fill a room.
It does have misfires if you go too quick...on, off, on, off, and it will start to ignore commands. I think the 2-second delay applies to a short wait to receive commands again too, although it can be up to 3 seconds before it will receive another command. A bit annoying after playing with the Pico remote, which has an instantaneous response time when directly paired to a Lutron switch.
Overall though, it's really cool - it was $15 or $20 for the bulb & has a built-in ZigBee chip to talk to the Hub, nothing else needed - neat! What made it even more fun was walking into Home Depot, finding it, buying it through self-checkout, and leaving the store without talking to a soul haha. Super easy purchase of a DIY home automation system - I love it!
The Kidde smoke alarm was really easy. It has 8 DIP switches in a preset configuration (up/down/etc.). Basically add it via the app, set the DIP switches on your phone to match the alarm, put the 3 batteries in (include), do a test, and it pairs up right away. It shows green checkmarks for Smoke, Carbon Monoxide, and Battery Level, which is pretty cool - similar to the Nest alarm, but for half the price ($50 for the Kidde). Physically, it has a nice modern-ish design - looks a lot nicer than the round ones, at least!
The Kidde does both smoke & carbon monoxide. It has an alarm plus a voice for instructions. Their mesh network can support up to 12 alarms It has a 10-year operational warranty (don't know how long the batteries last...there is an LED that blinks on it every once in awhile). Installation is super easy - it has a round plastic mount with a screw & drywall adapter, that's it - single mount point. You can mount it on a wall (like the Nest smoke alarm), although it says it's better on a ceiling. It does have a Hush mode, like if you're cooking something smokey.
Next up I paired the Lutron Pico remote control. It did the same thing - spazzed out & went to "Uh oh" mode after a minute or two. The Hub blinks a lot. I wonder if it downloads the latest driver or something for the hardware, then makes you pair again once it's all set - same thing happened with the GE Link bulb (but not with the Kidde alarm).
After that, I paired up my Lutron Caseta plug-in dimmer. That one worked instantly, like the Kidde did. I think tied the Pico remote to the plug-in dimmer via the Hub app. However, it's having some issues. I had to kill the app & relaunch to get it to respond to software control. Then the Pico remote commands would be reflected in the app, but wouldn't actually do anything to the lights, so the relay system wasn't working. I untied the Pico remote to the Lutron plug-in dimmer & then tied it again and now it works.
Response time on the Pico remote is actually better than the app - the Pico remote is nearly instant through the Wink Hub relay, whereas the app takes an extra second. Both are faster than the GE Bulb - ClearConnect definitely is the speed king compared to ZigBee at the present time. I'll see if I can add more than one dimmer to the remote tomorrow when I install the Caseta wallswitch.
The app has a lag quirk - like if you dim a light, it doesn't react for a second, then jumps back the original location, then jumps back to the location you wanted while the command executes. Kind of weird - I want it to stay where I put it & then let the command catch up. I think I'd also like some kind of indicator that the command was received - like if the icon turned red when you dragged it, then turned green when it received confirmation that the command was executed successfully, rather than bouncing around all weird.
The app is interesting. It's a couple layers to get into - you have to unlock your phone, find the app, then tap on what you want to do, and wait a second or two for the command to take effect. Fortunately I have fingerprint login on my 5S, so that's quick, and I placed the Wink app on my homescreen, so I can hop into it quickly. I like using the Pico remote for lights because it's faster, but it's so small that you have to hunt around for it...I'll have to invest in one of those tabletop pedestals, haha.
I don't really understand the purpose of the shortcut system since it's not easy to get to - the home page of the app is a list of all of your devices. I can tap on "Lights", then "..." in the upper right corner, then it has a list of Shortcuts, then I can execute that shortcut...that's not a shortcut, I have to click on a million things to get to it! lol. They need to introduce a right & left-side swipe method for quick access to the schedule, shortcuts, etc. Or even better, make the homescreen actions like Shortcuts & actionable devices like lights - I don't need to see my Wink Hub or Pico remote on the homescreen, because those aren't controllable things - those should be buried in a programming page, linked from the main screen. So there's some improved layout design work that could be done to the app.
Down the road, I plan on adding more switches as budget allows, as well as a Honeywell thermostat, Chamberlain garage door adapter, Schlage lock, and more smoke alarms - I want to keep everything within the Wink ecosystem of certified products to make sure that everything's kosher hardware-wise. Oh, and the Kidde website had this note:
This smoke alarm uses ionization sensing technology. Ionization sensing alarms may detect invisible fire particles (associated with flaming fires) sooner than photoelectric alarms. Photoelectric sensing alarms may detect visible particles (associated with smoldering fires) sooner than ionization alarms. Kidde strongly recommends that both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms be installed to help insure maximum detection of the various types of fire that can occur within the home.
I don't know if Kidde is planning on releasing a photoelectric model or not. The Nest Protect competitor is a photoelectric model:
https://community.nest.com/thread/2794
The fact is that the Nest Protect uses a set of sensors to accomplish the same thing. We have the photoelectric sensor which is good for smokey fires, we have a heat sensor which detects the hot flaming ones, we have a CO detector which aids in fire detection of both kinds, and we have a humidity sensor that we use to rule out false alarms from the pot of boiling water in your kitchen.
The problem with ionic sensors is they tend to sound false alarms, especially with humidity. They are actually banned in code from being within a certain distance of bathrooms for that reason in many places.
So it might be good to have a combination of both units, based on that information. Plus the Nest relays out to a separate app via Wifi, which is kind of a nice feature to have so that if the Wink Hub fails (say their servers are offline), you can still get a notification through via Google (assuming your house hasn't burned to the ground by then!).
Anyway, pretty cool, everything works! I knew that there would probably be some initial headaches with the Wink Hub, so that wasn't a surprise, but it sure was annoying! Especially for something with literally no printed instructions in the box & no Ethernet port to hook it up quickly. I have no idea why it suddenly paired up with my main wifi; possibly their servers were bogged down & it took awhile for the device to register with their online database, I dunno.
If you plan on investing heavily into this ($500 worth of Kidde alarms, $600 worth of switches, $3000 worth of motorized drapes, etc.) I would probably invest in a second Wink Hub for $50 or so just to have one on-hand in case the main one craps out. I am anxious for some additional sensors to come out, like leak detectors, motion sensors, and door/window sensors, plus it'd be cool if there were electricity monitors, wifi-controlled surge protectors, water usage meters, integration with the Logitech Harmony line of A/V remotes, etc. I'm sure we'll get all of that stuff down the road!
Anyway, long post, seems to be working well tonight. I'll fire up the wallswitch tomorrow & see about additional ties with the Pico remote & whatnot. I do wish the GE bulb could be linked directly to the Pico - I'm not sure if there's some sort of direct pairing going on or what (since the response time on the Lutron is fast), but when I was poking around I did see that you could make a robot to turn the GE bulb on if the Lutron-connected bulbs were turned on, so it looks like you could do it via a workaround. System feels about 90% of the way there now...needs some polish, but I think it's pretty awesome so far! Best dollar I ever spent