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re: Must haves when outfitting a home with "smart" devices?

Posted on 10/19/18 at 7:44 am to
Posted by dltigers3
Collierville, TN
Member since Jun 2010
2127 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 7:44 am to
Can someone dumb down the benefits of a hub, vs just going through my Google home to control everything? I'm still fairly new to home automation but it seems I can control everything through my Google home. Is it just a matter of cutting down on wifi usage?
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39561 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 8:08 am to
Look at Cad's post on page 2.
Posted by DoubleDown
New Orleans, Louisiana
Member since Oct 2008
12865 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 8:42 am to
quote:

- no hub required; no worries your favorite hub (wink COUGH) is going to go out of business because they don't know how to market it.

I have a Nest thermostat, a bunch of Sonos speakers, Logitech hub to control TV and a ton of lights that I setup a year or so ago with Wink v1 hub.

The last couple of months my lights keep getting unpaired and even flash off an on randomly. It's driving my wife nuts so therefore it's driving me nuts.
I'm VERY tempted to start looking at the Apple HomePod and Homekit enabled stuff just to ditch wink. They're annoying me a lot the last few months!!
Posted by CAD703X
Liberty Island
Member since Jul 2008
77952 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 8:49 am to
You didn't enjoy that 12+ hour core wink API outage yesterday?














Eta I'd have more respect for wink if they had at least piped in Black eyed peas songs during the outage.
This post was edited on 10/19/18 at 8:51 am
Posted by DoubleDown
New Orleans, Louisiana
Member since Oct 2008
12865 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 9:12 am to
quote:

You didn't enjoy that 12+ hour core wink API outage yesterday?

I thought something was up. I use Wink through Alexa but it's been spotty lately. Not to mention the Alexa app is a trainwreck in my opinion.

I might just be looking for excuses to get an Apple HomePod but my wife and I already have 3 Apple TVs, iPads, iPhones, Apple Watches, etc.
The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger is:
-Nest Thermostat (google product)
-My Cree lightbulbs apparently are not HomeKit enabled.

ETA: It appears that LIFX lightbulbs might be the easiest and most compatible, correct? Looks like I just need the lightbulb and the app and then it's wifi enabled already so no need for an additional hub, correct?

May start phasing out wink and my cree lights.
This post was edited on 10/19/18 at 9:36 am
Posted by CAD703X
Liberty Island
Member since Jul 2008
77952 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 9:36 am to
quote:

-My Cree lightbulbs apparently are not HomeKit enabled.


pick up a hue hub off ebay for $20. hell i have an extra one i can work with you on.

advantages:
- controls all the wonderful hue color bulb kingdom
- controls/dims cheap $6 candelabra & A19 IKEA bulbs
- controls your Cree zigbee bulbs
- controls those shitty GE link bulbs and actually makes them usable
- rock solid hub. hue did it right.
- works with alexa

in short, a hue hub IMO is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> wink as far as having something that actually fricking works all the time.
Posted by DoubleDown
New Orleans, Louisiana
Member since Oct 2008
12865 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 9:42 am to
quote:

pick up a hue hub off ebay for $20. hell i have an extra one i can work with you on.

Does that work with homekit?
Ya know, I went and looked in my Wink app and I only have 1-2 cree lights for my front room. My kitchen has the GE lights and those are the ones always getting disconnected.

Maybe it's those damn GE lights!!
Posted by CAD703X
Liberty Island
Member since Jul 2008
77952 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 10:30 am to
quote:

Does that work with homekit?
Ya know, I went and looked in my Wink app and I only have 1-2 cree lights for my front room. My kitchen has the GE lights and those are the ones always getting disconnected.

Maybe it's those damn GE lights!!



no, its wink.

re-pair your GE lights with the hue hub and they'll never go offline again.

i slowly moved all my ge link bulbs to hue as wink lost connection with them as an experiment and now i realize it was just shitty wink being shitty all along.

added humor: all hue lights show up in the wink app and sometimes the GE bulbs paired through hue *STILL* show up as disconnected in shitty wink app...but they work when you click on them or tell alexa to turn them on/off or click on them in the hue app.

did i mention that wink is shitty yet?
This post was edited on 10/19/18 at 10:32 am
Posted by DoubleDown
New Orleans, Louisiana
Member since Oct 2008
12865 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 10:35 am to
quote:

re-pair your GE lights with the hue hub and they'll never go offline again.

May have to go pick one up at BestBuy or homedepot this weekend. May pick up one of the LIFX lights too, they look intriguing.
quote:

all hue lights show up in the wink app and sometimes the GE bulbs paired through hue *STILL* show up as disconnected in shitty wink app

Interesting. Yep, that's what happens. All my GE kitchen light bulbs show up as the little "offline" cloud icon even when they're on.

I'd love to get rid of the Wink hub, I guess I'd just be replacing it with the Hue Hub though. I really wanna go "hubless" even if the hub is buried in a device.
I've seen that the new Amazon Echo Show 2 has a built in hub, just not sure what all that controls.

I think I'm searching for reasons to swap to HomeKit even though I know Siri is "dumb" compared to Google and Alexa. I really only use it to control devices though. I don't need to have conversations with devices.
Posted by CAD703X
Liberty Island
Member since Jul 2008
77952 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 10:58 am to
quote:

May have to go pick one up at BestBuy or homedepot this weekend. May pick up one of the LIFX lights too, they look intriguing.


interested in a hue gen2 hub + 3 color lights for $50?

look around at pricing this weekend and if you don't see anything reasonable ping me (cad703x@live). i'm about to sell them on craigslist or ebay but would sell the bundle to you for $50 + shipping if you're interested.


hue is really agnostic between google/amazon/apple and supports all 3 i believe. the v2 hub supports homekit.
Posted by TigerWise
Front Seat of an Uber
Member since Sep 2010
35113 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 12:27 pm to
quote:

I'm going to add a fan control soon


What are you going to use to do that ?
Posted by CarRamrod
Spurbury, VT
Member since Dec 2006
57427 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 12:43 pm to
quote:

TigerWise
random question, what does it take to be a C4 dealer? Like if i were to build my own house could just create an LLC and become a dealer without being a installation company? I hat that you dont have access to the "mainframe" of your system of C4. I actually did (when i had c4) cause i knew my dealer and he logged on on my computer.
Posted by TigerWise
Front Seat of an Uber
Member since Sep 2010
35113 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 1:45 pm to
Not sure. I know CAD wants to believe I’m a C4 dealer but I am not. I know just about everyone of them in south LA/MS but I’m not sure the criteria you need to become a dealer. IMO there are already too many of them down here plus there are plenty that aren’t dealers who are buying it sideways.
Posted by stat19
Member since Feb 2011
29350 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 2:18 pm to
1.) Internet Connection.
Posted by tilco
Spanish Fort, AL
Member since Nov 2013
13473 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 2:53 pm to
I see lots of problems with wink. Is there a reason to not use smart things?
Posted by Hopeful Doc
Member since Sep 2010
14942 posts
Posted on 10/19/18 at 3:16 pm to
quote:


What are you going to use to do that ?




My statement was a bit premature and misleading.

Just going to use on/off Caseta switch and keep the Hampton Bay remote around for when we want to change speeds.
We very rarely use the ceiling fan, on/off is good enough control of it for me.
Posted by Nguyener
Kame House
Member since Mar 2013
20603 posts
Posted on 10/20/18 at 11:57 pm to
quote:



Is there a quick comparison on Smart things VS Wink? Best applications for both?


Just wanted to ask this again
Posted by Pectus
Internet
Member since Apr 2010
67302 posts
Posted on 10/22/18 at 6:58 am to
You did good work in this thread.
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39561 posts
Posted on 10/25/18 at 10:57 am to
Got excited to install my dimmer last night. I've done some switches/outlets in the past.

Unfortunately, even though my home was built in 1998, it was a total cluster frick back there and I'll have to call an electrician
This post was edited on 10/25/18 at 10:57 am
Posted by CarRamrod
Spurbury, VT
Member since Dec 2006
57427 posts
Posted on 10/25/18 at 11:34 am to
quote:

see lots of problems with wink. Is there a reason to not use smart things?


i switched and NOPE. ST>WINK
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