4 year ST Classic user moved to WIFI hub: how do I get my customizations back?

First, let me start by saying I am sorry this is long. If you look at my status, I do not post often. I do know what I am doing for the most part. I had done a lot of research and programming of my previous device.

3 weeks ago we had a severe lightening storm take my entire network down. Anything hardwired to my router was fried. I live remote and it appears that the lightening stuck or nearly struck my outdoor internet outdoor antennae. No surge protectors connected to electric outlets were tripped, of which there are 5. This was inclusive of my STs classic hub, hue bridge, Arlo hub, Security Cameras, 2 TVs, Ecobee (old thermostat was hard wired to board and connection never removed), 2 desktops, Asus dual band radio, netgear network 16 port switch and pioneer VSX-90 receiver. note, the first thing I bought was 3 cat 5 surge protectors for my network since everything was hardwired either through Cat 5 or HDMI. 1 before the provider’s POE, 1 After the POE and 1 after my network router. $120 is worth it if it protects $7000 in damage to my electronics.

This incident left my 72 z wave / zigbee devices without a home. After this 3 weeks, I almost have my home completely reconfigured and back to where I had them. (a 4 year configuration gone in a brief second.) Everything is back online but, the customization I had is completely gone. I tried copying over to new hub but it just made a mess so manually, 1 by 1, I have added the devices. I have been trying to get the API Device handlers and custom automation to load that I had before but when I go to look in the Automation section of ST (non classic) application, the additions are not showing up. I have attempted to load google helper and core but no go. I also have a skybell and I can not get it to pair. The only thing showing up is RING in add devices.
If I look for items to assist, it keeps falling back to classic and not configuration of Wifi ST Hub.
I am completely at a loss. Its bad enough to loose all this equipment but to then have this frustration just compounds the challenges. I have contacted ST help twice to get the access to my Skybell. First time they responded with a very basic add new device in the app… So I responded with a new request of all my logs, pics of what I was seeing, etc and still haven’t heard a response from early last week.
For those that question my configuration or motives, my husband has dementia. I work an hour and a half from my home. I have done everything I can to protect him. The configuration was created to alert me to ANYTHING that happens at my house. IE., before the lightening, my husband made a call to the county sheriff office and told them that there was a really bad smell in the house (there wasn’t). They showed up (without knowledge of his medical challenges). When they went to find “the smell” he bowed up on the sheriff stating they needed a warrant to search the house. The house had alerted me there was someone at the house and I saw the sheriff and husband on the front porch and the situation. I called my husband and asked to speak to the sheriff and then husband to de-escalate the situation. I state this to explain how serious of a matter this is to me, my family and the community. I really need to have some suggestions on how to get the configured Device handlers and devices back into the API. If you have ANY suggestions to bring these APIs back online to show up in the app, it would be greatly appreciated. This isn’t just a convenience, hobby or a toy to me.

You will continue to use the classic app for pretty much anything that is using custom code. The new app is not supporting those yet. You can use both apps at the same time if you have a reason to need the new one, like a Samsung television or managing the Wi-Fi features of the hub , but otherwise most people are just sticking with the old app for now.

Also, be aware that the “smart home monitor” feature in the new app is completely separate from the one in the old app. Arming one will not arm the other. They are just two different features that happen to have the same name. :scream:

1 Like

Thank you JD, I will go dig into the article you provided. I think I backed off the classic because the old app requires a “Hello Code” and with the new hub, I didn’t have a “Hello Code” I totally forgot about this. 3 weeks of configuration and you forget about certain things. Your post may be the key to what I am looking for.

2 Likes

You do have to use the new app to set up the Wi-Fi hub, but once it is set up, it’s the same account so I believe you should be able to use the old app as well just by signing in.

@Automated_House

2 Likes

Well, that is interesting. I built the old hub under a SmartThings account but when I built the new hub, I built it under the Samsung Account. The hub never showed up. I have corrected it in a few minutes. THANK YOU JD!!! This may resolve the challenges I have been facing. That arm / disarm situation is a bit disconcerting. I will have to dig into that a bit since it has triggers set up for me.

2 Likes

Sounds like JD got you moving in the right direction. We’re you able to get the new hub setup? Unfortunately you’ll have to setup everything again from scratch.

3 Likes

To be clear, both of the SHM features work, they just aren’t coordinated. So SHM automation is that you set up under the classic app will still run, they just won’t change the “SHM” status in the new app. And you won’t be able to disarm or arm the classic SHM from the new app. And vice versa. You could have SHM automations running under each app. They just aren’t integrated.

2 Likes

Well, when I logged into classic, all the devices were there and it turned on and off all devices. Google Home was lost and couldn’t control. Shrug, fix later. Went into new app, and all the devices were missing except the core hubs on the network (another fix later). Went back to old app. When I went to add skybell (one of the items I have had challenges with in the new app) it pulled all the configuration for pairing as new devices. To avoid the duplication, I put “New_” under the label to differentiate between other items and new items. When I went back to devices in classic (didn’t add skybell) it only had those items listed with “New_”. Went into the new app and everything with “New_” was there as well. It looks like it uses the “add device” as a “sync” between the two applications. Still working to see what I need to do to complete the setup. This is where I am right now. Oh, and the device handler I loaded in API is there. At least Google Home is. I will figure out why Core didn’t load in a bit. I am fairly certain that Core is my fault at this point. I had an error and went to load google home afterwards. So far, it looks like it all synced and no need to complete reconfiguration again. (72 items loaded and so far, it is working)

2 Likes

Thank you JD. I am getting there. :slight_smile: I think I have my Sunday cut out for me but this will be complete before I go back to work tomorrow. I really appreciate you for getting my thinking out of the dead end it was in. It helps to have a navigator to back track my setup and get me back on track.

2 Likes

Thank @Automated_House , @jkp , @Brad_ST , and all the other community and/or staff members who have been experimenting with both apps and reporting back to the forum threads. :sunglasses: I just remember what I read. LOL

Good luck! Let us know if you get stuck on anything and hopefully someone will be able to help.

2 Likes

Its been a while but I have it all connected and almost working smoothly again. Thank you all for the assistance. It helped me get back on the path to clearing up the issue. Oh, ST CS finally responded with this information of old app usage 3 days ago. lol At that time, I had already figured it all out with your help! Again, I truly appreciate it. Helps me work while still managing my husband’s health.

3 Likes