The Wink home automation thread

[IndyColtsFan]

Are external contacts just what I'm thinking--screw lugs to add something onto it? Or...? What sorts of possibilities? Thanks, I'm a newbie

Yes, if you take the cover off of a GoControl door/window sensor, you'll see two screw terminals at one end. you can connect wires into those and make a cheap water sensor very easily. There are many other possibilities as well.

 

[CHITOWN_PJM]

The Wink announcement said late October for release for Wink 2. Its getting really close to the end of the month. Has anybody heard any new updates. Release date, new features, new product compatibly or just the usual from Wink Nothing.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

The Wink announcement said late October for release for Wink 2. Its getting really close to the end of the month. Has anybody heard any new updates. Release date, new features, new product compatibly or just the usual from Wink Nothing.

The Wink 2 is already on their site, along with manuals. Several reviews have already been released as well. For my part, I preordered from Amazon when it was announced and haven't heard anything and it even looks like Amazon isn't accepting orders right now, making me think my preorder might not be filled. The major feature, of course, is local robots and schedules.

 

[MjnMixael]

Not sure what I can and can't say at this point as they haven't exactly specified... but I will say that I really like the Hub 2. They are putting a lot of effort into it. The hub-to-hub transfer process is top notch and I'm surprised Smarthings didn't bother setting up something similar. If you haven't been following this thread the whole time, you may not know that I have a pretty large amount of devices connected to Wink.(73 according to the app) and the transfer was silky smooth.

 

[Lighty269]

Does anyone know how the Ethernet port is going to work? Will I be able to connect to my gateway and have the Wink 2 HUB setup on it's own wireless network?

 

[MjnMixael]

What? It works like an ethernet port on any device. You plug it into your network and get an internet connection. The end.

 

[Lighty269]

What? It works like an ethernet port on any device. You plug it into your network and get an internet connection. The end.

I figured as much, thanks for answering half the question. Second part which is more important, so I will rephrase. Does the Wink 2 use it's own channels if it were on 2.4 or 5 GHZ or does it have to reside on the same carriers in my home?

 

[MjnMixael]

Uh.. it works like WiFi? Your question doesn't make sense unless your asking if it can connect to mobile data.. maybe? It cannot connect to mobile networks unless Wink has yet to announce that.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I figured as much, thanks for answering half the question. Second part which is more important, so I will rephrase. Does the Wink 2 use it's own channels if it were on 2.4 or 5 GHZ or does it have to reside on the same carriers in my home?

It uses standard wi-fi channels and would use the same channel as your router because it connects to your router. MjnMixael can correct me if I am wrong, but AFAIK, the only thing you can currently do with Wink's wifi is to connect to your existing wi-fi network rather than using an Ethernet cable. Wink added the Ethernet port in an attempt to eliminate the need to use wi-fi and therefore, cut down on interference for Zigbee devices (which use a band in the 2.4 Ghz range). I don't think it is possible for it to directly connect via wifi and control wifi devices (such as Lifx bulbs), but I could be wrong.

 

[MjnMixael]

Hub 2 is officially out.. anyone picked one up yet? I just got one from the local Home Depot and did a transfer of my second Hub 1... It went perfectly. Took about 10 minutes and then all my devices were now controlled on my new Hub 2 and my Hub 1 was factory reset ready for a new owner.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I killed my preorder after all the horror stories I read in the Wink FB group. I'll probably wait a few weeks and then buy it.

 

[MjnMixael]

Surprising that people are having issues. I've now done the transfer from old to new a couple times and it was easy and seamless. Local Robots are super fast. Like instant fast.

 

[59ona64]

Does anyone have experience with Enerwave z-wave switch modules? Converts 2 regular switches to smart switches. Experience? Thoughts?
https://smile.amazon.com/Enerwave-Z...=UTF8&qid=1478542460&sr=8-1&keywords=enerwave

http://wiki.winkathome.net/Enerwave_ZWN-RSM2_Z-Wave_Smart_Dual_Relay_Switch_Module_Control_2_Loads

Thanks in advance!

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Does anyone have experience with Enerwave z-wave switch modules? Converts 2 regular switches to smart switches. Experience? Thoughts?
https://smile.amazon.com/Enerwave-Z...=UTF8&qid=1478542460&sr=8-1&keywords=enerwave

http://wiki.winkathome.net/Enerwave_ZWN-RSM2_Z-Wave_Smart_Dual_Relay_Switch_Module_Control_2_Loads

Thanks in advance!

I don't have experience with that model, but I do use the similar Monoprice relays on some switches in my ST environment. They work pretty well and I would expect the Enerwave ones to work well too, as Enerwave generally has a solid reputation.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Surprising that people are having issues. I've now done the transfer from old to new a couple times and it was easy and seamless. Local Robots are super fast. Like instant fast.

I think many had the pre-release firmware and it had all sorts of issues. The FB group seems to be much quieter now that some updates have rolled.

 

[pmark]

Smartthings hub is only $50 at Amazon...

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Smartthings hub is only $50 at Amazon...

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

That's a great deal and worth it IMO if you like hacking around with lots of different devices.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Smartthings hub is only $50 at Amazon...

I just bought a Google Home so I am super tempted by this.

Is it better to buy the kit though?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I just bought a Google Home so I am super tempted by this.

Is it better to buy the kit though?

The $150 kit is a pretty good deal IMO but you can still get cheaper sensors (Lowes Iris second gen). I'd get the $50 hub and just hit Lowes up for the sensors.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The $150 kit is a pretty good deal IMO but you can still get cheaper sensors (Lowes Iris second gen). I'd get the $50 hub and just hit Lowes up for the sensors.

Actually the main thing I care to control with my voice is different sets of lights in my house.

Do I buy Z Wave light switches or light bulbs to best accomplish that goal? I already bought the hub.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Actually the main thing I care to control with my voice is different sets of lights in my house.

Do I buy Z Wave light switches or light bulbs to best accomplish that goal? I already bought the hub.

I will answer your question with: It depends.

The issue with using smart bulbs is that the bulbs always need to have power supplied to them. So, for lights which are controlled by switches, those switches would need to remain in the "on" position for the smart bulbs to work correctly. People will forget and use the switches and when they power the switch off, the bulb will lose its connection to the hub.

My rule of thumb is that I generally only use smart bulbs in lamps, especially lamps which are hard to reach or inconvenient to turn on/off, or perhaps if you need RGBW bulbs somewhere. That has worked pretty well for me in the past. For lights controlled by switches, you have two alternatives:

1. Replace the switch with a zigbee or zwave switch.
2. Install a smart relay to control your existing switches.

Smart switches tend to be fairly expensive - usually in the $30-$50 range depending on features. Zooz makes some economical toggle switches which are available at The Smartest House for around $25 each. Relays, on the other hands, aren't cheap (usually $30-$40), but those are typically dual relays and can control two switches. I have a relay installed in my garage which controls both the internal and external garage lights and it works great for me. Obviously, you can also use the light switch still as well.

Smart bulbs are also much cheaper - usually a bulb like the Cree or Osram white bulbs are in the $15 range. That makes it tempting to fill your house with them, but you still have the aforementioned issue of losing power when the switches are accidentally turned of.

 

[pmark]

I will answer your question with: It depends.

The issue with using smart bulbs is that the bulbs always need to have power supplied to them. So, for lights which are controlled by switches, those switches would need to remain in the "on" position for the smart bulbs to work correctly. People will forget and use the switches and when they power the switch off, the bulb will lose its connection to the hub.

My rule of thumb is that I generally only use smart bulbs in lamps, especially lamps which are hard to reach or inconvenient to turn on/off, or perhaps if you need RGBW bulbs somewhere. That has worked pretty well for me in the past. For lights controlled by switches, you have two alternatives:

1. Replace the switch with a zigbee or zwave switch.
2. Install a smart relay to control your existing switches.

Smart switches tend to be fairly expensive - usually in the $30-$50 range depending on features. Zooz makes some economical toggle switches which are available at The Smartest House for around $25 each. Relays, on the other hands, aren't cheap (usually $30-$40), but those are typically dual relays and can control two switches. I have a relay installed in my garage which controls both the internal and external garage lights and it works great for me. Obviously, you can also use the light switch still as well.

Smart bulbs are also much cheaper - usually a bulb like the Cree or Osram white bulbs are in the $15 range. That makes it tempting to fill your house with them, but you still have the aforementioned issue of losing power when the switches are accidentally turned of.

Does a smart relay control power going to the switches? Won't that led to the same issue with a smart bub in that they need to be in sync in order to turn on?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Does a smart relay control power going to the switches? Won't that led to the same issue with a smart bub in that they need to be in sync in order to turn on?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

A smart relay is really just a switch and no, it doesn't control power going to the actual light switch - they're connected more or less in parallel so that either the relay OR the switch can control power to the socket. You shouldn't use a smart bulb in conjunction with a smart switch or relay - that doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless the switch is something like a Lutron Connected Remote, which doesn't actually wire into the wires in the wall but is paired to the smart bulb and directly controls it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

All excellent points I didn't think of and probably wouldn't have. Thank you. I will gravitate towards switches then, maybes a few will go on sale for Black Friday.

I know your setup is different from what I am doing, but you seem very very knowledgeable about home automation so do you mind if I ask a few more things?

First of all: does it matter if I get zigbee or zwave? Mix and match?

Secondly: Are there brands to avoid? Or device categories that just don't work?

Finally: Do you use voice commands for a thermostat or a Harmony setup? Thermostat is where I wanted to go next. That is one thing that makes me sad about Google Home, means I pretty much have to go Nest instead of the apparently superior Ecobee or I have to deal with IFTTT which from my research basically translates to "unreliable hacks." Would love your opinion.



Overall the Google Home is amazing. I don't have the Smartthings hub yet, but I do have an army of Google Chromecasts in my house and the ability to control them via voice was worth the money alone. It works perfectly with Spotify. Also the Google Home is overall smarter than any voice assistant I have used- it is much more forgiving with phrasing and inflection than even Google Now is.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

All excellent points I didn't think of and probably wouldn't have. Thank you. I will gravitate towards switches then, maybes a few will go on sale for Black Friday.

I know your setup is different from what I am doing, but you seem very very knowledgeable about home automation so do you mind if I ask a few more things?

First of all: does it matter if I get zigbee or zwave? Mix and match?

I mix and match. I try to find the best product for the job, regardless of Z-wave or Zigbee. I have more Zigbee devices right now, mainly because I've bought a ton of the excellent Lowes Iris (second gen - first gen won't work) stuff. Monoprice has some Zwave stuff that works well too, but their selection seems to be decreasing (for example, they don't carry z-wave relays any more and all 3 of mine were purchased from Monoprice).

Secondly: Are there brands to avoid? Or device categories that just don't work?

Your best bet is to use the SmartThings Community (http://community.smartthings.com) as a reference for whenever you find a device you might be interested in. I tend to buy HA products whenever they go on sale and I'll always double check in the community to ensure they work.

Most people say to avoid the GE Link bulbs. I personally haven't had issues with them but many have, so I'd go with Cree or Osram.

Finally: Do you use voice commands for a thermostat or a Harmony setup? Thermostat is where I wanted to go next. That is one thing that makes me sad about Google Home, means I pretty much have to go Nest instead of the apparently superior Ecobee or I have to deal with IFTTT which from my research basically translates to "unreliable hacks." Would love your opinion.

I ordered an Ecobee yesterday (Amazon had it for $199 plus my utility gives a $100 rebate), so I can't comment on that yet. Echo directly integrates with Ecobee and there is a paid third-party app for SmartThings which is supposed to be excellent. I'm not quite sure if I am going to integrate it with ST or not at this stage, but I'm open to it. I previously used IFTTT for controlling my Harmony stuff and it could be very unreliable - sometimes response was nearly instantaneous, other times you would wait minutes, and still other times, nothing would ever happen.

I have 3 Harmony hubs and they're tied into SmartThings and therefore, Echo. It is nice because if I issue a voice command (for example, "Alexa, turn Plex on"), Harmony turns everything on that I need and also the remote application on my phone or tablet automatically flips to that activity so it is ready to go. Echo does tie directly into Harmony as well but it has some pretty severe limitations - the chief being that it can only see one hub at a time.

While Harmony integration with ST is cool, there are some limitations. For example, everything is activity driven - so if you want to say "Alexa, turn the channel to channel 4" or something like that, you have to have a specific activity for turning to channel 4. Ditto for volume controls (admittedly, not as bad as the channel scenario I mentioned), etc. I am hoping Logitech does some redesign work on their software so that maybe you'll be able to at least directly turn to favorites ("Alexa, tell Harmony to turn to CNN" or something) rather than having to make activities for each channel. I wouldn't think it would be terribly hard to do and I'm surprised they haven't done it yet.