The Wink home automation thread

[IndyColtsFan]

I always thought the Relay was ridiculously overpriced at $199. At $75 it is better, but I still think cheap tablets give you more flexibility.

 

[dennisj00]

Re: the IFTTT question above, I just added a Kwikset deadbolt and IFTTT allowed me to schedule the Lock shortcut every night at 9PM.

Currently, I'm very happy with Wink and I'll probably stay with it as long as the cloud stays up (and free or reasonable). It currently does most everything I need but I do hate the Trippers and pivot power genius were dropped in production. Maybe they'll revive.

I do like the open spec of ST. I have repeatedly suggested that Wink provide a device spec for a simple open / close / status / analog value in / out.

What current items supported by Wink are not supported in ST?

Trippers?
Pivot power Genius?
Kwikset?
Schlage?
GE Link?
Chamberlain Garage?
Lutron Lamp? MiniRemote?
and of course, the Egg Minder!

 

[Termie]

I always thought the Relay was ridiculously overpriced at $199. At $75 it is better, but I still think cheap tablets give you more flexibility.

Just bought a Relay for $99, required a software update immediately upon boot up, and it bricked the unit. I sent it back. For the two minutes I used it before it said a software update was required, its seemed OK, but the screen was washed out and response was slow.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Re: the IFTTT question above, I just added a Kwikset deadbolt and IFTTT allowed me to schedule the Lock shortcut every night at 9PM.

Currently, I'm very happy with Wink and I'll probably stay with it as long as the cloud stays up (and free or reasonable). It currently does most everything I need but I do hate the Trippers and pivot power genius were dropped in production. Maybe they'll revive.

I do like the open spec of ST. I have repeatedly suggested that Wink provide a device spec for a simple open / close / status / analog value in / out.

What current items supported by Wink are not supported in ST?

Trippers?
Pivot power Genius?
Kwikset?
Schlage?
GE Link?
Chamberlain Garage?
Lutron Lamp? MiniRemote?
and of course, the Egg Minder!

SmartThings supports just about all of that outside Lutron and I believe Egg Minder (not sure about PPG). I use Trippers with my ST and have loaded the Overflow device handler but haven't paired an Overflow yet.

On the other hand, the list of devices supported by ST but not Wink is huge.

 

[MBSMD]

To be honest, I'm starting to look at other systems.

I've been a reasonably happy Wink user for over a year now, and I've upgraded almost all important switches and lights in my house with compatible equipment - Nest thermostat and NestCams, Lutron dimmers and lamp modules, Hue bulbs and flexible strip lights, two Quikset deadbolts, two water sensors and a number of Trippers. Oh, and a MyQ garage door controller.

The Lutron dimmers and Hue works reasonably well (though Wink shortcuts are PAINFULLY slow when Hue devices are included - like 20 second delay and activation of a single bulb at a time). The Trippers and Quirky water sensors never quite worked to their promise. The Trippers trigger randomly or often not at all, or they trigger when opened but not when closed. The water sensors are extremely slow to react (or at least for Wink's servers to process the notification). The garage door and door locks, surprisingly, work without trouble.

I kept it because I wasn't sure that there was anything better. However I'm not seeing any progress with Wink except to add Uber (something that's completely unimportant to me). Yes, they added local processing of lights, but there's no new programming features like more sophisticated if/then/else options. Few new devices like temp sensors. No options for things like home/away/vacation modes, forcing me to enable & disable a bunch of different programs manually.

I'm very much considering a SmartThings hub for water sensors, temp sensors, reliable door sensors, etc. I can tie it in to my Hue lights too. And ST of course supports the Amazon Echo for voice control.

My Lutron lights and Hue lights are both supported natively by the Echo and by Apple HomeKit/Siri, giving me two simultaneous options for voice control of lights.

The door locks will work with ST and the Nest I understand has some community support for ST (though not sure it's really all that necessary - it has its own programs for when I'm home/away and supports Amazon Echo for voice control).

I would lose control of my Lutron lights insofar as programs triggering off door sensors and such with the ST since it doesn't support Lutron, though I'm ok with that as programmatic control of my Hue lights will suffice. I can always add some basic automation of the Lutron lights with HomeKit if necessary, especially if Ring's HomeKit pans out.

I'd love a couple of small tablets around the house as control panels, but I'm disappointed with the Wink app, especially on something like an iPad where the bigger screen could really make for a beautiful controller.

I'm running out of patience with Wink's progress. It's been at a virtual standstill for quite some time now. And what we do get is an Uber button for the Relay (really?) and control of IFTTT routines which I can do without Wink anyway.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I hear you MBSMD - I've given up on Wink too because of the tremendous lack of progress and am gradually moving everything over to ST. The lack of compatible devices pretty much killed it for me, especially when I can use the excellent Iris products with my ST hub and new things are added all the time. Outside of Lutron, I can't think of any other advantage Wink has.

The good news is that most of your devices (even Tripper and Overflow) will work with ST.

 

[MBSMD]

I hear you MBSMD - I've given up on Wink too because of the tremendous lack of progress and am gradually moving everything over to ST. The lack of compatible devices pretty much killed it for me, especially when I can use the excellent Iris products with my ST hub and new things are added all the time. Outside of Lutron, I can't think of any other advantage Wink has.

The good news is that most of your devices (even Tripper and Overflow) will work with ST.

Are the Trippers any more reliable/responsive on ST? Or is the sensor itself crappy?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Are the Trippers any more reliable/responsive on ST? Or is the sensor itself crappy?

To be honest, I've never really had issues with the Trippers on Wink or ST and think that they're easily the best product Quirky made. I have Trippers connected to Wink on my garage doors and they've worked great for nearly 18 months at this point.

With that being said, I still have 4 unopened boxes of Trippers that I'll likely sell. In the ST world, there are simply better options. The Iris open/close sensor, for example, works great AND has a temperature sensor built-in. In fact, just about all the Iris stuff includes a temp sensor. The second gen Iris sensors are simply impressive and are made by Centralite, who also makes the official SmartThings sensors. The Iris stuff, however, is significantly cheaper.

Also, Monoprice has a variety of cheap sensors that work great with ST. I use their tilt sensors on my garage doors as well (I got them cheap). Their open/close sensors are, I believe, the same as the Go Control models but Wink, in its infinite wisdom, chose to disable the external contact terminal on the Go Control versions. In the ST world, I use them as cheap water sensors and they work great.

I think many people have issues with these systems due to interference and distances between the hub and sensors. ST isn't a silver bullet, but I'd take it over a Wink any day simply because it is an open system with great community support. I think Vera Plus is another to watch as well, but it will probably be a few months before it has solid Zigbee support. Wink's excuses just don't cut it anymore and I'm amazed people still blindly support them when they are far behind their competitors at this stage.

 

[Mike A.]

Haven't had any issues with the Trippers either. They've worked well for me overall. Notifications from them and other sensors can be real slow at times but they still trigger whatever fairly quickly so I put that on Wink at a higher level.

I'd agree re the slow progress. Not much activity. Can't imagine that they're selling much of anything these days and I'd bet that their rate of people leaving for ST is fairly high. Not that it's not without its own issues but in comparison a lot more focused. I do have to give them some credit for stability lately. That's been good for a long time now even running the betas.

Kind of strange to me to be concentrating on the Relay. I'd sort of written that one off. It's been clearanced out of most retailers at this point. Guess maybe it's something that they think is unique and it's probably made by Flextronics. Must have a boat load of the things in a warehouse somewhere. ; )

 

[MBSMD]

Fortunately I don't have a big investment in Trippers (only 5 are connected), so I guess there's no severe financial hit if they don't work well once migrated over. My trouble was that they'd either send a false reading, even with a good battery, or they'd simply fail to send anything at all... until 15 minutes after the event occurred. Though hard to tell if it's the Tripper itself or the slow Wink server.

I think over the next few weeks I'll start migrating the door sensors and water sensors over to SmartThings.

Not sure what to go about the garage, though. I have a MyQ which I understand isn't supported by ST. I also have a Garagio which I kind of retired in favor of the MyQ + Wink, but is still connected. I don't think ST has direct control of that, either, but needs to go through IFTTT. Not sure IFTTT is fast enough for garage door triggered actions though. Guess it's time for a new garage door controller.

So probably looking at $300-$450 ($99 for the ST, $99 for a new garage door controller, $30 each for water sensor, and potentially 5 new door/window sensors if the Trippers aren't doing the job). That amount will get me off Wink completely and on to ST.

Too bad I can't control my Lutron stuff through ST -- even if it's just cloud-to-cloud communication -- but perhaps IFTTT will suffice in a pinch.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Fortunately I don't have a big investment in Trippers (only 5 are connected), so I guess there's no severe financial hit if they don't work well once migrated over. My trouble was that they'd either send a false reading, even with a good battery, or they'd simply fail to send anything at all... until 15 minutes after the event occurred. Though hard to tell if it's the Tripper itself or the slow Wink server.

I think over the next few weeks I'll start migrating the door sensors and water sensors over to SmartThings.

Not sure what to go about the garage, though. I have a MyQ which I understand isn't supported by ST. I also have a Garagio which I kind of retired in favor of the MyQ + Wink, but is still connected. I don't think ST has direct control of that, either, but needs to go through IFTTT. Not sure IFTTT is fast enough for garage door triggered actions though. Guess it's time for a new garage door controller.

So probably looking at $300-$450 ($99 for the ST, $99 for a new garage door controller, $30 each for water sensor, and potentially 5 new door/window sensors if the Trippers aren't doing the job). That amount will get me off Wink completely and on to ST.

Too bad I can't control my Lutron stuff through ST -- even if it's just cloud-to-cloud communication -- but perhaps IFTTT will suffice in a pinch.

There was a community device for MyQ but I believe it was shut down by Chamberlain. Anyway, for garage door, you can find the Iris garage door controller on eBay for under $50 and some were lucky enough to get them for $20 on clearance. It is the same as the Linear model and works well.

I think I sold you two Overflows awhile back so those should work too.

Check Slickdeals - there is a sale going on for the ST hub and a few sensors for $174 IIRC. Can't remember where the sale is though.

 

[MBSMD]

There was a community device for MyQ but I believe it was shut down by Chamberlain. Anyway, for garage door, you can find the Iris garage door controller on eBay for under $50 and some were lucky enough to get them for $20 on clearance. It is the same as the Linear model and works well.

I think I sold you two Overflows awhile back so those should work too.

Check Slickdeals - there is a sale going on for the ST hub and a few sensors for $174 IIRC. Can't remember where the sale is though.

Good to know about the Iris garage door controller.

You did sell me the Overflows. Thanks again. I'm glad they'll work on ST, though one was slow to trigger when I had an actual leak. Go figure.

So maybe it won't be so pricey after all.

 

[GSter]

Can anyone tell me about the SmartThings compatibility of the following Items?

GoControl Motion, Door/Window Sensors
GE Link Bulbs
Chamberlain MyQ
Ring Doorbell
Nest Thermostat and CO/Smoke detector

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Can anyone tell me about the SmartThings compatibility of the following Items?

GoControl Motion, Door/Window Sensors

Both work and the community has device handlers for them. I have 3 GoControl packs in my closet just waiting to be added.

GE Link Bulbs

Works fine.

Chamberlain MyQ

DID work, but I believe that SmartThings disabled the community driver/app at the request of Chamberlain since Chamberlain considered it "unauthorized access."

Ring Doorbell

Not sure about this one.

Nest Thermostat and CO/Smoke detector

The Thermostat works and I believe (but don't remember 100% for sure) that the detector does too. I have one Nest Protect (on Wink currently) but do need to move it over to ST myself.

Go to http://community.smartthings.com to search for various devices. Just about all the Quirky stuff works (minus the electric imp devices) and someone even has the ST app running on a Relay.

 

[GSter]

Thanks for the feedback

 

[CHITOWN_PJM]

First post to the forum, but been reading posts for awhile. Get this email from Wink on this great new feature, I go to my phone to see what it is about. low and behold they want to charge you $4.99 / month. Really you want to charge me to do something I am already doing.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

First post to the forum, but been reading posts for awhile. Get this email from Wink on this great new feature, I go to my phone to see what it is about. low and behold they want to charge you $4.99 / month. Really you want to charge me to do something I am already doing.

You mean the vacation light "premium" feature? Yeah, what a joke, but that's Wink for you.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Information (which has since been pulled) leaked on Amazon and Home Depot that a new version of the Wink hub is under development. Wink quickly had them pull the pages and asked the Wink FB group owner to kill any posts discussing it. Apparently it will have an ethernet port, a faster CPU, more RAM, and they claim migration from an original hub to the new hub will take under a minute. I'm hoping the increased CPU and RAM means that they're going to implement a lot more local processing. I'm cautiously optimistic but until they get more device support, it is probably a no-go for me.

 

[Kaido]

Information (which has since been pulled) leaked on Amazon and Home Depot that a new version of the Wink hub is under development. Wink quickly had them pull the pages and asked the Wink FB group owner to kill any posts discussing it. Apparently it will have an ethernet port, a faster CPU, more RAM, and they claim migration from an original hub to the new hub will take under a minute. I'm hoping the increased CPU and RAM means that they're going to implement a lot more local processing. I'm cautiously optimistic but until they get more device support, it is probably a no-go for me.

Yeah I saw that & was wondering what the deal was. Ethernet would be nice! I'm hoping they've gone through a complete retooling & have a lot of great stuff coming out, but I'm going to go ahead & wait for it to hit the market & mature before buying anything else. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now:

• 100% LED bulbs
• 100% Lutron Caseta switches
• Schlage smartlock
• Honeywell thermostat

Only thing I'd really like is motorized blinds, but not in my current place...too expensive!

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Yeah I saw that & was wondering what the deal was. Ethernet would be nice! I'm hoping they've gone through a complete retooling & have a lot of great stuff coming out, but I'm going to go ahead & wait for it to hit the market & mature before buying anything else. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now:

• 100% LED bulbs
• 100% Lutron Caseta switches
• Schlage smartlock
• Honeywell thermostat

Only thing I'd really like is motorized blinds, but not in my current place...too expensive!

I was planning on buying Vera Plus (or more specifically, asking the wife to buy it for me for Christmas), but I may hold out a little longer and see what they might have. I was also planning on migrating all my remaining stuff (except Lutron) over to my SmartThings hub, but I may wait a little longer on that as well.

Unfortunately, Reddit and other users searched the FCC for new filings and haven't found any new filings they can link to this hub, meaning it may still be several months off. It would be really nice if they could push it out as a kit in time for Christmas.

My current plan is to implement an Ecobee thermostat at some point and to continue my build-out of my SmartThings environment. Once the new CoRE rules engine is done, I have a ton of work to do.

Anyone check out the new Automatic Pro? I bought a new car last weekend and am considering it.

 

[Kneedragger]

I was planning on buying Vera Plus (or more specifically, asking the wife to buy it for me for Christmas), but I may hold out a little longer and see what they might have. I was also planning on migrating all my remaining stuff (except Lutron) over to my SmartThings hub, but I may wait a little longer on that as well.

Unfortunately, Reddit and other users searched the FCC for new filings and haven't found any new filings they can link to this hub, meaning it may still be several months off. It would be really nice if they could push it out as a kit in time for Christmas.

My current plan is to implement an Ecobee thermostat at some point and to continue my build-out of my SmartThings environment. Once the new CoRE rules engine is done, I have a ton of work to do.

Anyone check out the new Automatic Pro? I bought a new car last weekend and am considering it.

Wow very cool idea.

 

[Aikouka]

I ended up switching from Wink to SmartThings as I was just never a fan of Wink's WiFi only approach. Another reason why is that I installed the GE 40A Outdoor Switch (for my pool's pump), and SmartThings supports power monitoring where Wink does not. Overall, it works fairly well. I have it setup with a Schlage Connect on my front door as well. The only issue that I have is that it isn't 100% reliable in turning off my outdoor switch. I usually just wait for it to refresh after hitting the button, or I'll go into the device and back out to see if it took. It usually does about 80% of the time.

Also, have any of you messed with things like OpenHAB and/or Homebridge? The latter seems like the most interesting thing to me since I have an iPhone, and it essentially acts as a HomeKit bridge for all non-HomeKit devices. You may say, "Well, why not get the Schlage Sense instead?" Honestly, there are far too many complaints about remote unlocking just not working regardless of the AppleTV model. (Having to buy an AppleTV is another thing.) The only negative about Homebridge is that while OpenHAB has an Unraid Docker, Homebridge has one that someone threw together, but it hasn't been updated in months. I'd prefer to put something like that on my server.

My current plan is to implement an Ecobee thermostat at some point and to continue my build-out of my SmartThings environment. Once the new CoRE rules engine is done, I have a ton of work to do.

I've owned an Ecobee3 for a year now, and I recommend against it. The device has some serious accuracy issues that my "cheap" LaCrosse thermometer/hygrometer doesn't suffer from. The thermostat is usually 1-3 degrees off and the hygrometer is as large as 10 percent off. What makes this worse is that the offset function doesn't work. The thing is... there are also other functions that don't work. The humidity overdrive feature doesn't work. (It allows you to set a delta for how low it will take your temperature below the current setting to reduce humidity. This is in lieu of an actual dehumidifier.)

My unit also majorly malfunctioned on me the other day. I walked in to find it feeling a bit warmer than usual, but my the Ecobee3 said it was only 72. (The unit was set to 71.) I checked the thermostat in my living room, which is right beside the foyer where the thermostat is, and it said it was 76. The Ecobee was still responsive to commands, but it simply never did anything nor did it report any correct values. The website stated that my hardware was running (in stage 2), but nothing was operating. I fixed it by performing a hard reset via flipping the breaker. (Albeit, that technically doesn't prove that it was the Ecobee as that would also reset my AC unit.)

Also, most Ecobee functionality just isn't worth it. The sensors? I hope you enjoy having the Ecobee constantly complain about them disconnecting, and having the service spam your inbox with connect/disconnect notices. The follow me feature causes it to average all occupied rooms together, but that doesn't help when all vents remain open.

Anyone check out the new Automatic Pro? I bought a new car last weekend and am considering it.

I own the original Automatic, and I guess it's fine? Well, when it works. I kept getting a lot of "this device is not supported" errors on my phone, and it only recently started working again after failing for about a month and a half. Even with that, it still fails to register some of my trips. Right now, it states that my car is at the restaurant where I ate lunch.

 

[CAL7]

I've migrated everything but my Caseta switches to SmartThings; end even those I control with ST via IFTTT. The IFTTT "bridge" has been surprisingly reliable and quick enough. No matter how great the new Wink Hub is, I don't see it doing anything to open the architecture to community-developed device interfaces. That being the case, it's way too hard to get everything I want in the Wink ecosphere.

 

[Aikouka]

Hm, as much as I was happy with SmartThings yesterday, I'm in a bit of a tizzy today. I walked out into the backyard before going to work, and I noticed that my pool pump was still on. That baffled me as I recalled checking my phone the night before to see that the SmartThings app reported that it was turned off. I pulled out my phone, and it still said it was turned off. I was messing with the off/on button, and I got it to turn off and turn back on. The app reported that the pump was on for a few seconds before switching back to off while the pump was actually on.

Has anyone run into things like this before? I did notice that the device had become a bit more finicky after I turned off the breaker going to the pump after the switch was already paired. I don't know if I should pair it again or something like that? I'd really like this thing to be a bit more reliable given it's quite pricey for what amounts to a switch. I mean... if you think a $60 Lutron Casetta switch is bad, this thing costs $170.

 

[cowboy6730]

Hm, as much as I was happy with SmartThings yesterday, I'm in a bit of a tizzy today. I walked out into the backyard before going to work, and I noticed that my pool pump was still on. That baffled me as I recalled checking my phone the night before to see that the SmartThings app reported that it was turned off. I pulled out my phone, and it still said it was turned off. I was messing with the off/on button, and I got it to turn off and turn back on. The app reported that the pump was on for a few seconds before switching back to off while the pump was actually on.

Has anyone run into things like this before? I did notice that the device had become a bit more finicky after I turned off the breaker going to the pump after the switch was already paired. I don't know if I should pair it again or something like that? I'd really like this thing to be a bit more reliable given it's quite pricey for what amounts to a switch. I mean... if you think a $60 Lutron Casetta switch is bad, this thing costs $170.

Ive had wink and smart things. I think you will discover as I did that smart things has its own share of problems. It is open to the community but that is a double edge sword. I kinda of use a hybrid system now