Another fustrated user joining the ST community out of necessity (UK Yale Lock Integration)

Devices & Integrations
#1

Well I just joined the whole ST thing and I feel your (other frustrated users) pain!

In a way I was completely mislead (you could say) by the manufacturer of my Keyfree Connected “Smart” Lock (Yale/AssaAbloy) who claimed that it’s compatible with leading smart home systems like ST and that:

“You choose how you want to open your door. 4-10 Digit PIN Code, Key Card, Key Tag, Remote Fob and even from your Smartphone when connected to a Smart Home System. It is also easy to add and remove users if you need to” *

… providing the appropriate Z-Wave module is fitted.

So I went ahead and bought the Yale keyfree “smart” lock, the Samsung ST hub and the necessary Z-Wave module to communicate to the hub (at almost twice the price of Yale own module I might add) and once again I have no idea why I keep on putting my trust in all these respectable companies without doing tonnes tedious research beforehand.

After trawling through various discussions on here and getting up to speed with all the “in progress” developments that only add to my fustration, I am wondering why the manufacturer was allowed to make these rather bold claims about their product working with ST (especially missleading bit about “… easy to add and remove users.”) without the Samsung team having some serious words! It’s all very mind boggling if you ask me.

Now I am stuck with these products and my best chance seems to be a community developed SmartApp which was discorraged from further development a while ago on the basis a native app was in the making which has yet to materialise … and what am I supposed to feel greatful for this? Not good enough!

Samsung, the ST team and Yale/AssaAbloy really need to pull their fingers out and sort this mess out!

[rant over]

#2

Mine is set up and working. I have the yale yrd240. Those claims by Yale are dependent on 3rd party apps. Out of the box and connected to smartthings, you can lock and unlock from your phone and get see lock conditions. There’s a developer on here that created an app and device handler that you can add to smartthings that will allow you to set up codes from the phone and give each user a code. And have it notify you who unlocked it. It fairly easy to set up. I’m very new here and I just did it yesterday. I believe there’s a pay app too that might be more in depth but I’m cheap

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#3
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#4

As a note you will be in the UK shard below. Use that link when following the install instructions.

https://graph-eu01-euwest1.api.smartthings.com/

Just to show all the options available:
There is also a new free version by ethayer in development but it is still in BETA.

Lastly @RBoy has a more fully featured smartapp and DTH available but it is not free.

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#5

That’s not my point @mmcglynn264, like I said I have trawled through this community and found the user developed SmartApps you mention, but these are not supported officially by Samsung ST and hence the Yale claims are completely misguided!

Again, I am here out of necessity and relying on our own developed SmartApps is not what I bought into!

I have tried the Lock Code Manager app by ethayer (not the Beta) and did run into operational issues and gave up after a couple of hours messing around. I realise this seems to be working just fine for many users so I will undoubtedly have another go soon or his new Beta version at some point when I find the time. BTW I couldn’t find any real user documentation for this, did you?

#6

One of the big pieces missing in the lock code manager installation instructions has to do with what shard your hub is on. Only one shard existed at the time. If you follow the install instructions, but instead use your shard below, things should work for you.

https://graph-eu01-euwest1.api.smartthings.com/

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#7

Thanks @jhamstead, I found those already and have tried Erik’s original SmartApp without a satisfactory result so far. I will have to give it another go at some point, but this is purely out of necessity. I did not envisage this situation when I commited to purchase the lock/hub/module.

Obvioiusly I am lucky there are options and that we have developers who post their work on here, especially the one(s) who don’t charge for their efforts, but for the big guns to simply leave us all to sort out our own SmartApps, well that’s just a slap in the face as far as I am concerned!

BTW what did you mean by “As a note you will be in the UK shard below.” UK shard? I slightly lost you there.

#8

Shard" in this case refers to an individual web server farm which is globally load balanced behind graph.api.smartthings.com.

For a significant time, the load balancing has been broken, and the various farms do not resolve properly. As a result, you need to go to the geographically-specific web server manually. :frowning:

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#9

Just had another look at the link you sent and it seems that’s the same one I was using.

The only bit I got confused about was that after installing the SmartApp + DeviceHandler it wasn’t showing up on the “List SmartApps” under My Locations, and after some messing around I figures out that I had to go in the My Locations first before accessing either “My Smart Apps” or “My Device Handlers” for the installation to work, but then I run into issues programming codes, so I guess I didn’t do something correct and I decided to remove all, which as it happens was also a bit of a struggle.

#10

OK @AnoProp so that’s the “eu01-euwest1” bit for the likes of me who are based in the UK and as it happens that sees to be where I’ve been handing out anyway. Thanks for clarifying this tough!

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#11

Ivan,

For all the frustration you are experiencing from the corporate types, there is one shining light… This is an open platform with some very consciencious and dedicated developers who put some very good products out there for us.

Additionally, there are some incredibly helpful and patient members of this community who are nowhere as stressed and over-loaded as the support personnel at SmartThings.

Keep plugging away and you will find the lemonade at the end of these lemons! :slight_smile:

#12

However I think we are loosing track of my point that I was completely mislead by the marketing on the Yale website which made some rather bold claims about their product working with ST. This is clearly not the case as far as supported apps are concerned!

Thank you all for pointing out things about the user developed SmatApps, which I already knew about before making my post, but I don’t think it’s good enough to rely on our own developed apps to bridge the gaps, especially if the manufacuters claim that their products works with ST.

The marketing on their website implies native support and if anything there could be some legal concerns with these claims. Any legal people out there? Would be good to get a take from your point of view.

#13

@AnaProp … ahahaha!

I kinda figured there are some really chilled dudes’n dudettes around merrily sipping away at their lemonade, and I’m greatful for this. Who knows maybe after some time on here I’ll end up joining you all ; )

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