When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Thanks for the input, guess mine is just acting up. Have you tried to pull out the little square thing on the bottom of the switch? It disconnects power to it and it seems that if you pull it out for 30 seconds, it can sometimes fix the issue without removing and then adding to your hub again.
I'm still torn because while I want another Echo in the master, I love the look of the Nest.
Originally Posted by CCColtsicehockey
I have only had one issue with a GE switch. A little over a month ago I had one stop communicating with my ST hub. It still shows up and is showing as always trying to turn on. I can use the switch manually on the wall but not from anything else. I can't get it to remove from ST hub either. I have not spent a tone of time on it though yet. Tried to do one exclude and also a network repiar and neither have worked so far.
I have an Ecobee3 on my first and second floor units. They work great. They are the same minus the Alexa integration which I don't really need with Google Home.
I use Smart Home Monitor with a siren hooked up. It has been pretty good but the delay is annoying because there isn't one. I was hoping I could use my wall mounted tablet as a keypad but so far, no luck. I know SmartTiles (Action Tiles now, I believe) is working on it but nothing yet. We setup a routine for Good night that turns off all lights, locks all doors, drops the AC, and sets the alarm with one button push and the alarm automatically disarms at sunrise. If we leave earlier, we just go in our phone and disarm. I could use the tablet to arm and disarm but with no pin protection or delay, anyone could do it.
We've had construction crews here so I haven't armed it much during the day but if we do, we arm after we lock via our phones. I've used the keypad mounted door lock to lock and arm and then have it disarm when you unlock via the keypad but if you open the door too quick, the alarm will go off. The other problem is setting the alarm via the keypad door lock when someone is still in the house so I set it up to only arm if there were no phones in the house but that has been spotty at best. That being said, I setup another routine to unlock the door and disarm so we will do that in the drive but I'm looking at geofencing to disarm and arm as well.
The iPhone widget is pretty handy, just swipe right from the lock screen and there your routines are. There is also another "Alarm" app that has a delay within ST but I can't remember the name. It came out before Smart Home Monitor but I haven't seen much about it lately.
Hmm...wonder if there's a way to do it with virtual switches or something like that? Is there something that allows a switch to trigger a delay and then execute an action? This one of the big, and frankly easy to solve, problems with the ST being used as an alarm system. I do want to get a cheap tablet and do the smart tiles app on there. On the lookout for a cheap fire tablet or something like that. All in due time I suppose.
So installed some more smart switches the end of last week. Installed 10 more switches in total, 6 singles, and two 2 switche three way. Besides doing bathroom or closet switches I think have finished doing the entire first floor now. Starting to work more now on creating routines and what not for things to be more automated and not just voice controlled. Three of the switches I replaced are lights on the front of my house that I would like to make come on at the same time as our low voltage landscape lighting so that will be nice to be able to tie in now.
Also not sure if anyone knows but GE is updating their switches to be Z-Wave Plus now. Lowe's now carries the new model of them and they are on sale right now. https://slickdeals.net/f/10351780-ge...e-store-pickup Makes sense why about 2 months ago they were blowing out their inventory and you could pick up switches for about $22 a piece.
Now that the lights in my garage have smart switches does anyone have a recommendation on any good motion sensors? I would really like to make them come on if the door gets opened and then it senses motion following the door being opened. It would need to be Z-Wave based as I don't have anything Zigabee.
So installed some more smart switches the end of last week. Installed 10 more switches in total, 6 singles, and two 2 switche three way. Besides doing bathroom or closet switches I think have finished doing the entire first floor now. Starting to work more now on creating routines and what not for things to be more automated and not just voice controlled. Three of the switches I replaced are lights on the front of my house that I would like to make come on at the same time as our low voltage landscape lighting so that will be nice to be able to tie in now.
Also not sure if anyone knows but GE is updating their switches to be Z-Wave Plus now. Lowe's now carries the new model of them and they are on sale right now. https://slickdeals.net/f/10351780-ge...e-store-pickup Makes sense why about 2 months ago they were blowing out their inventory and you could pick up switches for about $22 a piece.
Now that the lights in my garage have smart switches does anyone have a recommendation on any good motion sensors? I would really like to make them come on if the door gets opened and then it senses motion following the door being opened. It would need to be Z-Wave based as I don't have anything Zigabee.
How are you doing the three way switch installation? Does it just require two switches?
The motion sensors I have are zigbee so they won't work for you unless they are close-er to your ST hub.
The three way switch installs use one GE Z-Wave primary switch and then one of the GE Z-Wave Add-On Switches. You basically end up eliminating the fact the the circuit is a three way by connecting all the power source together and making one master switch. You use the traveler wire that connected the switches together for the switches to communicate with and the add-ons just tell the primary switch to turn on when they are pressed. You will need a neautral wire in all locations as well for the GE switches to work.
Yeah the two places I want to use motion sensors right now are as about as far away from my hub as they can get inside the house.
So been wanting to setup some smart control panels for the house. Not sure how much I will use them but at least for my personal tablet it will be nice to have a quick shortcut to access everything from a web browser. Also going to use my old Nexus 7 and Asus Inifinity to make two more.
Here are the layouts I have come up with so far. Next I need to figure out how I am going to power them. If I put one in the kitchen mounted under the cabinets that will be fairly easy to deal with. I would like though to either install one by my alarm panel, AC control panel, or maybe even a more central location on a wall in some sort of frame.
Pixel C
Nexus 7
Also, for anyone that wants use SmartTiles it is has been retired. It is now called ActionTiles. They are charging a one time $24 licence fee per hub unfortunately though. Still the best dashboard application I can find out there though.
Looks good and while I liked the SmartTiles better, Action is ok. I like the fact you had to pay, simply because they will feel compelled to keep it going so hopefully, it won't crash like ST did for the few months before AT. The other big plus, IMO, is that they were looking at charging a monthly fee in their development thread, which I hate.
I made a flush mount and a plexiglass frame but powering was a major issue. I was hoping to plug a usb into a box behind the wall but found it to be against code. From what I read, you can run a USB charger behind the wall because it is low voltage but where do you plug it in. I ran it out alongside the box and plugged it in the outlet below the tablet but want a cleaner solution. I thought about putting a box behind the flush mount but read that is also against code
Do you plan to have it on all the time? Fully Browser (think that's what it's called) used to wake it up when you walked up to the tablet but lately, it has been buggy, are you using it?
You say you like SmartTiles better? What has changed that makes ActionTiles only Ok? I thought they were just the same thing feature wise with a new name, updated, and a license fee now? Makes sense that if they are charging a fee it should mean continued development which is a good thing.
So far I have come up with two ideas for power but haven't researched them a ton yet. One would be a double gang box about normal outlet level down on the ground. I would use a recessed box normally used for TV installations with an outlet on an angle. Plug the usb charger brick into that and run the cable through the wall since like you said running the USB cable through the wall seems fine. Then make some kind of faceplate of the recessed box and paint it wall color. You would still see the cover plate some but wouldn't be super obvious.
Solution two is my prefered idea but it is more just a theory right now. We use power over ethernet for a lot of devices for work (phones, cameras, and access points). So running a decent amount of power over a cat5 or cat6 cable is no problem. Obviously you are running DC power over it though so someplace you will need to have a AC to DC converter/power injector to put the power over the cat 6 cable. You can then hopefully run that wherever you want. Then just need to find a cat5/6 to usb power converter somewhere. I am sure they have to exist as well. The biggest issue will be running the cable in an already finished house though.
I currently have four locations I am considering for tablet installs. The kitchen under the cabinets is one I want more than just for home control. It would be nice to have for cooking as well with recipes. Power really shouldn't be an issue for that one. The second at either my alarm keypad or ac control will be the hardest to power. I think the alarm keypad might be the easiest as it is on the garage wall. I could probably just leave a piece of exposed cat 6 out the other side of the wall and use the power over ethernet idea to get power.
The last option would be in my living room and I would put it on a wall that the other side is a closet with my alarm system board in so there is already power in the closet I could run power to. I might just make the living room tablet one that can charge wirelessly though and sit on a stand on an end table or the TV console. Whatever I choose for this install though in the living room I would like it to be easily removable to take to your seat.
I do plan to have it always on and turn the screen on when you walk by. If I can't get that to work then to me it loses a lot of its benefits and I would probably just not do an inwall mounted one at all. I don't know if you are using Android tablets or iPads. The full screen browser I am using right now is called 'Fullscreen browser'. I have not started to test having the screen turn on when walking by.
I control most lights by voice control as we already have several Google Homes throughout the house. My hope is that I can someone make this a main control panel for more than just SmartThings and somehow link it all together. Would like to also be able to easily control, music, weather, and a calendar from it too. I know this will take me integrating several apps together or a bunch with web interfaces at least. That would be my end goal of all of this.
^ Are you running smart bulbs or switches for all those lights? I want to get some dimmers and such as well but don't want to do the smart bulb thing as that gets way more expensive than just switches.
I am running all switches. I have no smart bulbs. Smart bulbs I never really understood using except for in places where you have a lamp that is not on a switch and even then you can get a plug in module to use. Like you said they would also be more expensive too. If you use a smartbulb in places that have light switches already then someone that doesn't know you are using Smartbulbs could get your system out of wack. I want everything I do to basically operate seamlessly to a person that has no clue I have these items in my house. So I have used all switches at this point. Mostly just regular switches but I do have 5 dimmers installed too.
The only place I am thinking of now using some hue lights is LED strip lighting above and below my upper cabinets. However, I am in search of a cheaper alternative if once exists. I want warm white for sure but if I can get color changing that also does warm white that would be a bonus.
What switches and dimmers are you running? With the kitchen remodel in progress, I want to upgrade stuff to the smart switches now while things are still torn up.
If you are staying with the SmartThings hub then you can use either GE Z-Wave or Lutron Caseta switches. The GE switches are cheaper and are what I have. There are some advanced features you can get from the Caseta switches as they are constant status update switches from my understanding so you can automate some more stuff based on an action. Like if you want one switch to turn on or off based on whether you turn another one on or off the action will occur faster with them.
The GE switches though go on sale at Lowe's a good bit plus you can get $15 off $50 coupons to make them even cheaper. Doing that they end up averaging out between $25-30 a switch where the Caseta switches are $45-50 a switch all the time. The benefits they could give were not worth it to me at almost double the cost. Especially considering I have already done 21 switches.
I just thought ST was easier to setup but maybe it's because I did it so long ago and I'm
I'm using an Android and specially because I wanted to wake up the tablet when I walked by. I was using Tasker, which worked really well but someone said the Fully Browser was better so I bought it and used it but I need to switch back. Good news is that it can work, you just need to be using Android and get a few apps (plus learn Tasker a bit). That being said, are you going to want all those tablets? I've found that we rarely use ours or switches for that matter due to Alexa. I think the tablet looks cool on the wall and I like the one iPad in our kitchen for home security and recipes but Alexa is the main thing we use now.
I do use it for Amazon Prime music via a shortcut in AT that opens the app but you need to close the app and reopen AT again, unless you have Sonos. I'm using an airport to stream music to the pool because I'm too cheap to invest in Sonos. We also have a 7 day forcast and radar on the main AT screen, which is kind of helpful. I really wish I could integrate our IP cams and Ring to AT but no suck luck yet. I really wish you could password protect a tile so we could use it for Smart Home Monitor but that option doesn't exist yet. I know you said you want to integrate everything and I too had that dream but I'm debating on removing our tablet because I feel it's useless with Echo (much like it seems you are seeing with Home).
For mounting options, this looked pretty good but I wanted a flusher option:
I've heard this Wink screen now supports AT and SmartThings but PLEASE double check before buying. I believe you use a double gang box where the screen is hardwired and then you have the two switches on the right. Downside is obviously the small size but pretty clean and not real expensive.
Love the GE switches. I've tried a few brands and GE, has the best feel and reliability IMO. I have a few Zooz dimmers that I got super cheap ($15 maybe) but I need to get rid of them. The ones I bought don't support 3 way setups, they have a weird push feeling, and are bright ass white, where all other switches are white but not hospital white.
I've heard GE is updating their switches to Z Wave plus so I would expect to see them on closeout soon. Slickdeals shows that some Lowes are closing them out but I haven't seen it by me so hit up those $15 coupons that CCC mentioned.
Oh, sorry for any weird grammar, been in the hot tub drinking for a bit
Until your modems straight up dies. Then your back in the analog world and everything you have that runs on wifi is crippled. At least I was able to get a new modem today...
Forget your smart home, how do you/more importantly your kids live, without the internet. While very rare we don't have internet, assuming we have power, this is why I don't like "Virtual" switches as the only way to turn things on.
Originally Posted by Sarlacc
Having smart home items are awesome.
Until your modems straight up dies. Then your back in the analog world and everything you have that runs on wifi is crippled. At least I was able to get a new modem today...
Forget your smart home, how do you/more importantly your kids live, without the internet. While very rare we don't have internet, assuming we have power, this is why I don't like "Virtual" switches as the only way to turn things on.
Well, my wife and I still have LTE on our phones. But we had to wait a little over a day as I was working and unable to swap out the modem. Kids survived just fine. Still had cable so they could watch some cartoons.
It's something I always questioned. If you end up depending so much on wireless networks...what happens when you suddenly have nothing. This would be much more of an issue in a true built from the ground up smart home. Which is starting to happen.
Dual WAN routers are pretty inexpensive. I've had one for years and it works great. Basically have 2 ISP's with 2 modems that connect to the dual wan router, if one ISP or modem goes out, the other kicks in... Sure it sucks to pay for another ISP every month that you never use, but you'll pretty much always have internet service. Some can even use LTE as your backup connection.
Finally got around to two projects I have had on my list for a while. A while back I had automated my gas fireplace with a MimoLite box. It worked good but you couldn't have a manual switch to use if the power went out without taking the thing apart and manually connecting the wires. The switch I wanted was out of stock Remotec Zwave Dry Contact Fixture Module.
A couple months ago I found it was availabe again and got one. Finally got it installed this past weekend which allowed me to repurpose my MimoLite as a garage door controller. It is a good device for this since it has a input for an additional sensor.
I used the same type of sensor I have just with my outdoor gate sensor.
I wired it up just offcenter of the garage door and ran the wire along the ceiling back to the garage door opener.
Left connection is power, middle is the door sensor, and far right is output for garage door. You just plug the connection in along with the wires for your normal wired door control. Because of the remote sensor you get update regardless which way the door is controlled.
All buttoned up
Added a power split to the outlet the door was plugged into to add the power for the Zwave controller
Here is a picture of the custom device type a user on the SmartThings forum wrote for this. The one in SmartThings already for it does not report the status of the sensor.
Yeah, tons. The biggest being that GH interfaces with almost every aspect of your life if you use Google products (ie Android phone, gmail, google calendar, maps, etc) while Echo is there to make it easier to buy stuff.
GH also has multiple accounts via voice recognition and uses Google search to get you answers. It now does reminders (and quite well) and calendar and phone calls and home control and everything else too. It caught up to Echo a while ago and now has pulled far ahead.
ST update fixed a lot of my issues but still a bit buggy. I did read they are moving more devices locally, something that would be beneficial for when the internet goes down.
Debating on buying a GH, Echo was great for the free prime music but lately, I've noticed songs are slowly moving to the pay service and I really wish Echo could look things up i.e. Google things; is there a way to do this?
I tried to remove and add it back to the hub. I tried to reset with the power. It works after I do anything, but if you check it again a couple hours later the status is unavailable.
they didn't turn off on their own this morning, so I hit them manually when I walked out the door. I'm at work playing with the app and decided to try to turn them on since it's been a few hours. I try to toggle them and it stays on "turning on," for a few minutes, so I toggle it back and forth a couple tops and viola, it comes on. Strange.
Well depends. If you had it installed while it was SmartTiles you can still use it for free but there is no support for it. It is now Action Tiles and you have to pay for it. If I ever get around to getting a tablet setup and wall mounted next to my alarm panel and then another with wireless charging to use as a roaming controller then I might pay for it. Until then for the little I check in with it I will use my free SmartTiles I still have installed.
Well depends. If you had it installed while it was SmartTiles you can still use it for free but there is no support for it. It is now Action Tiles and you have to pay for it. If I ever get around to getting a tablet setup and wall mounted next to my alarm panel and then another with wireless charging to use as a roaming controller then I might pay for it. Until then for the little I check in with it I will use my free SmartTiles I still have installed.
I'm planning to use it as an interface for my alarm system as in I plan on using the ST system as an alarm. I bought a couple Fire tablets for $25 over black friday and they'll do well for a control interface.
Looks like I'm dropping the $30 on action tiles...at least it's a "per hub" cost and not a "per tablet" cost.
I did the front door lock yesterday with Kwikset. I didn't realize that I could have gotten it from Baldwin to match the rest of the door hardware, but regardless, they want like 2-3x the money for the Baldwin and the match is pretty good from Kwikset. I was apprehensive about how it would work, but it is pretty slick. My only concern is battery life. Time will tell.
06-06-2017, 06:01 PM
