New to SmartThings. Existing INSTEON, ISY, NEST, SONOS, ... user

Devices & Integrations
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Hi there!

Thought I introduce myself and explain some of my existing systems and why I am trying out the SmartThings Hub.

Have a large HA installation mainly based on INSTEON and an ISY994. Decent experience, like the fact that most scenes work even if internet and ISY are down or not available.
Like the ability to create lots of scenes as drag and drop in the ISY that get written into the individual switches. Have tried solutions like Indigo as well but the lack of decent scene management was a showstopper.

Have integrated Pentair Pool through an Autelis controller with the ISY994.
Have written HTTP/REST integrations with various technologies and apps of the iPhone.

Cameras via SecuritySpy on a dedicated Mac Mini Home server. VPN setup for iOS devices to securely communicate with the house.

Sonos, NEST (multi zone), Logitech Harmony, Netatmo and the NOAA weather integration of the ISY itself.

Various lighting and automation scenes controlled by dusk/dawn & time. Many scene buttons (a feature I really like about INSTEON) all through the house. Controlling water circulation pumps, electronic devices all through states of the house (primarily Home vs Away).

Like much what I am seeing with SmartThings as a platform and the ability to utilize Groovy which I have used before.

Clearly I need to bridge the ST Hub with the ISY994 for the setup to make any sense, but given all is REST, that should be easy - already found some code sniplets around here.

My first question is about Mobile App polling and updates:

While I got the NESTs working very quickly, even though they support polling they never seem to update the temp unless I manually go into each of them. Same with the state of who is home. The app tells me all have left the house (correct), but when I look at the list of users, it tells me my wife is still here. Go back out and it says all are gone. No way to refresh that incorrect label/state.

I have also made some additions and changes to the NEST device type and have saved and published them but can’t get the mobile app to reflect any of the changes.

Seems like updates of any sort are not a strong feature of the platform. Maybe I am missing something here.

Any suggestions would be super welcome!

Enjoy your weekend!

2

FYI - First ‘solution’ to my (and every bodies) polling problems seems to be Pollster. Very much appreciated. Works for me out of the box:

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When you make changes to device type, it’s essential to log out of your account on the phone and kill the app. Then start it and log back in. Your device should update after this.

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Not really. Polling goes awol all the time, and for my thermostats, Pollster is a requirement as well. And I see the GUI go without updates as well; usually swiping to the event history and back restores it for me (or an app relaunch).

You’re gonna see occasional problems with the head end as well (schedules firing late or not at all, severe latency, and sometimes nothing working). The consensus is they’re working on it and that things have gotten better (and will continue to), but I have only been here a few months and have seen half a dozen or more issues.

While I am reasonably happy with SmartThings, it has not yet gained my trust for any mission critical duties.

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Will start doing the logout and restart of the iOS app. Much appreciated!

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I hear you. Gonna use Pollster for now and see how this develops. Cloudscale realtime event processing is a must have if you offer a cloud driven service. Especially if you already sit on a bunch of unreliable protocols in the house to begin with.

Thank you for your reply!

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How did you link your Zigbee devices to the ISY hub? It’s asking for a PAN ID which I cannot locate.