Can Hell be Worse than Dealing with 'Smart' Things?

General Discussion
6

:thinking: One would think so :grin:

Let’s see if we can make SmartThings a “somewhat” better experience for you than hell :hugs:

For what/it’s/worth… I’d have to say my experience over the past 5 years across 5 Locations has been pretty good. Even before the Edge Drivers. Although the Edge Drivers have made many things easier and feels like a big improvement. Each location has dozens of devices, including Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi Devices.

Certainly less than an ideal situation :face_with_head_bandage:

Changing the Wi-Fi Network is a pain in SmartThings (see steps here): I WISH SmartThings would add the functionality to press a Button on the Hub Device Card to access/change the Wi-Fi Network !!!

Some things that come to mind:

  1. Can you move your v3 Hub out of the attic into a more convenient/accessible area? At least that way, you can access it IF you need to change the SSID. We’re using three v2 Hubs and two v3 Hubs (at five separate locations/addresses). I have found that they don’t need to be up high to broadcast signals effectively. In the three “3-story” settings, we’ve placed them on the 2nd Floor and it effectively reaches the 1st and 3rd Floors.
  2. If you CAN… move it out of the attic, connect it to a LAN connection somewhere and bypass the Wi-Fi Connection altogether! (I’ve found that the LAN connection takes precedence over an existing Wi-Fi Connection).
  3. If for some reason you do require it to be in the Attic, any chance you can run a Cat6 Wire to it (elegantly; not dangling in the middle of your room LOL) ?
  4. If in the end you can connect via LAN, you’ll avoid the entire aggravation of Changing the Wi-Fi Network and you may find it to be more reliable overall.
  5. Which brings up another point… How strong is your Wi-Fi Signal in the attic ? Is the Hub getting a good Wi-Fi Signal ? If it is weak, that could present some of the issues you’re experiencing.
  1. What does your Z-Wave Network look like overall? i.e. How many Z-Wave “wired” Constant-Power Devices do you have. Any dedicated Z-Wave Repeaters? Are they within relative proximity to each other and able to form their Mesh Network?
  2. Are your Z-Wave Devices set to Automatically Update Firmware? Hub Device Card > 3-Dots > Device Firmware Updates (Auto or Manual) ?
  3. Have you tried a Z-Wave Repair from within the Hub Device Card > 3-Dots > Z-Wave Utilities > Repair Z-Wave Network ?
  4. When’s the last time ALL of the Z-Wave Devices were Power-Cycled? (i.e. perhaps when the power to the house went off at the street, etc.). I have had several instances, just like any type of Network or Electronic Device, where a Power-Cycle of ALL Z-Wave Devices fixed what a Soft-Reboot would not.
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