2 QUESTIONS: ZigBee3 and/or Z-Wave & ST or HUE? Help (dec2018)

[JDRoberts]

Here are the answers about the hue bridge: (each topic title is a clickable link)

FAQ: Do I need the Hue Bridge/Hub to Use a Hue Bulb with SmartThings?

Yes. The only officially recommended way to use Hue devices with SmartThings is by using a Hue bridge. There are several reasons to use the bridge. Other Integrations There will be a number of other integrations available to you which you may want to take advantage of. Use of Hue Scenes you will be able to activate scenes created with the official Hue app, which at the present time offer many features not available in the smartthings scenes feature. Even just the ability to blink the lights. The easiest way to access scenes from the Hue app is through the following custom edge driver or IFTTT, but there are other ways as well. [ST Edge] Philips Hue LAN [BETA] (3rd Party Driver, Not ST Native) Not using the Bridge can mess up your zigbee network the most important really is …

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The Technical Reason why that Hue device is a Bridge, not a Hub

Warning: super technical network engineering explanation follows. But the short answer is just that it’s a bridge by definition. The longer answer: A bridge (or gateway) converts requests in one protocol to that of another. The hue bridge is a Wi-Fi/ZLL Bridge. The bridge does not, however, “establish” the network. That is it does not assign network IDs to other devices that join to it or control which devices join. Instead, because the hue bridge is a ZLL device, there is no establishing coordinator on its network. [IMG_4091] A ZigBee Light Link network has no ZigBee network coordinator, even a bridge device merely acts as a router {repeater} So it’s a bridge per the definition of bridge in the ZLL specification. The end devices don’t need the bridge in order…