The Wink home automation thread

[big rob]

Honestly, I think if Wink were to fully and completely separate from Quirky (assuming they had the funding or a buyer), that would be one of the best things for them. Quirky often seems to get in the way of what Wink wants to do because Quirky keeps making Quirky versions of things that already exist.

For example... I love Tripper overall, but how is it an 'invention'? There was a lot of marketing push behind Tripper from Wink. That seems like wasted effort given how many other door/window sensors already existed. Why Tapt or Outlink? We already have countless Zigbee and Z-Wave versions of the same thing.

Take that effort, spend it on the Hub or Relay.. or the App.

well said

 

[Mike A.]

At this stage, would anyone still recommend buying GE Link Bulbs?

I need to add 4 more but if they are soon to be obsolete, I will hold off.

Any ideas if GE bulbs will work with the new Apple or Android Home Automation? I'd hate to drop $60 on bulbs this weekend and Wink to go away next week.

Thanks!

They're Zigbee-based so they should continue to work with any system that supports the Zigbee HA standard. Homekit and Thread (as well as Smart Things, Hue, and various others) will support existing Zigbee and Z-wave devices in some way. Unlikely that they'll be obsolete any time soon.

They're also about the least expensive 'smart bulbs' out there by a good amount so it's going to cost you a bunch more to go with anything else that does the same thing.

 

[Meanderthal]

How about Go Control home security, will it work with Smart Things?

It would be nice to have a cross compatibility list but as far as I can tell neither product has a very comprehensive list of it's own.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Looks like local control for lighting is in the newest Wink beta. Woot!

EDIT: NM. Wink clarified their initial, poorly-worded statement:

Hey gang, I work on the Android team at Wink. We poorly worded something in our release notes for the last beta and I just wanted to clear that up. The update to the Android app deals with situations where the bulb has gone offline, not the hub. This happens because the hub has a stronger antenna so the signal is being received by the bulb, but not getting back to the hub so we show it as offline. This adjustment will allow you to still attempt to control the bulb in this ...situation. This issue is most pronounced with Philips HUE and this update is inline with how the Philips bridge/app handle this situation.
Unfortunately, this is not related to local control, which I know we are all excited about. Local control a top priority the team is hard at work. As you know it is a serious endeavor as it changes the way communications flow throughout the system.
Sorry for the miscommunication and confusion on this one. We'll continue to improve our communications and always strive to be transparent. Please keep the feedback and input coming!

 

[CAL7]

That makes sense. I was about to post a question: How can local control be implemented in the app only - I would expect it to be a hub firmware change?

 

[Mike A.]

How about Go Control home security, will it work with Smart Things?

It would be nice to have a cross compatibility list but as far as I can tell neither product has a very comprehensive list of it's own.

They're Z-wave and nothing specific to Wink other than that they happen to be directly supported. Should be OK. GoControl = 2GIG = Linear = various Nortek brands targeted to different market segments.

I have the PIR and door/window sensors. They work fine. A little pain getting the PIR paired initially but no problems since. The delay in Wink makes the PIR kind of slow though for practical purposes. From the time that I see the light on the detector blink, usually walking slowly I can be most of the way across a room before whatever action is triggered and happens. e.g., if you want a light to come on, then you'd be walking in the dark most of the way before it does.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

That makes sense. I was about to post a question: How can local control be implemented in the app only - I would expect it to be a hub firmware change?

Right - I think they have hub firmwares well into the .9x range in beta. I think I am still on 0.86.

 

[CAL7]

Right - I think they have hub firmwares well into the .9x range in beta. I think I am still on 0.86.

Can anyone explain the (fairly recently announced open) beta program? I'm enrolled, but without some feature list and release notes, I don't know what's "beta" or if my app is truly release or beta. Plus, shouldn't a real beta program include hub updates?

Hub is .86
Android app is 3.4.0.7

 

[gafireman]

Can anyone explain the (fairly recently announced open) beta program? I'm enrolled, but without some feature list and release notes, I don't know what's "beta" or if my app is truly release or beta. Plus, shouldn't a real beta program include hub updates?

Hub is .86
Android app is 3.4.0.7

I am also in the beta program, and that forum is dead as an empty church. No change logs or nothing

 

[Mike A.]

I am also in the beta program, and that forum is dead as an empty church. No change logs or nothing

Same. Not clear what's changed, what we're supposed to be testing, or how to provide any feedback. Sent a note to the feedback@wink.com address early on asking for more details and received no reply back.

 

[Kaido]

I am also in the beta program, and that forum is dead as an empty church. No change logs or nothing

I'm sure everything is just on pause during the transition. Home Depot & GE definitely do not want to see this product fail, so the recent company changes might be beneficial in the long run. The only question is how they are going to be profitable offering free cloud service on practically give-away Hubs. The only real revenue source I can see is charging for partner certifications, but I'd imagine that's not really going to have enough revenue generation once Samsung releases their STv2 hub. Curious to see what happens going forward. We're so close to getting the upgrades we want (ex. local control), I'd hate to see it fail at this point!

 

[MjnMixael]

Are you guys talking about the beta program for the app? I just got emails about activity there today...

And that is a different program than Wink's field tester program. Just to be clear. The field tester program is alive and kicking.

 

[CAL7]

Are you guys talking about the beta program for the app? I just got emails about activity there today...

And that is a different program than Wink's field tester program. Just to be clear. The field tester program is alive and kicking.

Are you free to disclose the things you are seeing in the field tester program? Even if just to the level of whether you have access to pre-release hub firmware?

 

[MjnMixael]

Updates are frequent in the field tester program because we focus on testing new products and new Wink App features.

 

[wagohn]

They're Zigbee-based so they should continue to work with any system that supports the Zigbee HA standard. Homekit and Thread (as well as Smart Things, Hue, and various others) will support existing Zigbee and Z-wave devices in some way. Unlikely that they'll be obsolete any time soon.

They're also about the least expensive 'smart bulbs' out there by a good amount so it's going to cost you a bunch more to go with anything else that does the same thing.

Thanks for the info.

 

[big rob]

Are you free to disclose the things you are seeing in the field tester program? Even if just to the level of whether you have access to pre-release hub firmware?

Yes we test pre-release firmware

 

[JFHughes08088]

We are not free to disclose what we've tested before release.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Do you guys know if a new firmware will be pushed soon? I'm still on 0.86 and have been since the Winkening, but I thought newer ones were ready to be pushed some weeks ago.

 

[bigverm24]

Can anyone explain the (fairly recently announced open) beta program? I'm enrolled, but without some feature list and release notes, I don't know what's "beta" or if my app is truly release or beta. Plus, shouldn't a real beta program include hub updates?

Hub is .86
Android app is 3.4.0.7

I agree there is lack of release notes and such, you just have to pay attention to whats in the app "whats new" description for direction on what to test.

The latest beta just came out a day or two ago allowing for timers on triggers in robots..."if door has been opened for X secs/mins, do this"

 

[bigverm24]

Do you guys know if a new firmware will be pushed soon? I'm still on 0.86 and have been since the Winkening, but I thought newer ones were ready to be pushed some weeks ago.

I get the feeling they wont be rolling new firmware out as frequently as before and Local Control will hopefully be the next big update on the hub.

The last major update was for polling.

 

[Sn1PeR]

That seems like wasted effort given how many other door/window sensors already existed. Why Tapt or Outlink? We already have countless Zigbee and Z-Wave versions of the same thing.

I'd love it if my Ecolink zwave door sensors started working in Wink. They will pair, but you can't use them for anything - ie. no "sensor" shows up, even though they are listed under sensors. It's almost as if they are intentionally blocking the use of generic door sensors to push you towards Trippers.

Is anyone having Android Wear issues? My shortcuts weren't showing up so I toggled the "on android wear" switch back and forth and now they show up briefly before the app crashes. Moto 360 on 5.1.1.

 

[MjnMixael]

Wait, what? That's not supposed to happen. I have several different brands of generic z-wave door sensors working.

You may need to go into the settings for that sensor and tell it that it's either a DOOR, PATIO DOOR, WINDOW, or CABINET. In my experience, if that is not set for a sensor, then it shows the behavior you are seeing.

I just saw a couple Android Wear related bugs pop up on the beta site, hopefully they are matches to your issues and will be fixed soon.

 

[Mike A.]

Yeah, sounds like something's not right. I have a bunch of different Z-wave door/window sensors and no problems that I recall with any of them.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that the Ecolink sensors that look like this:

are the same product as the alternately labelled GoControl/2GIG/Honeywell/Ecolink/Linear sensors that look the same.

From the Ecolink web site:

"...our engineering team designed and developed of all 2GIG wireless sensors for their GoControl platform... "

They do look to have some others. Don't know about those.

 

[Sn1PeR]

So I tried exluding/including the sensor again and no dice.

This is how it shows up if I pair it as a generic z-wave sensor, or try to add it as a GoControl door sensor:


Interestingly enough it lets me go through 90% of the GoControl door sensor setup, but then does not allow for any switch type selection when I arrive at this screen:

 

[smhawkes]

I thing the Winkening 2 just started. As I was reporting my hub outage I got an email about the major api outage.