Hi all,
With about 30 smart devices around the house our Livebox 5 router was starting to struggle. So, I just bought an Aeotec hub.
However, I don’t seem to be able to connect any of my existing WiFi devices to it. It just does not see them and the connection process times out.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Tony
The aeotec smartthings hub is for zigbee and zwave devices.
matter devices soon.
As @awestun notes, most non-matter Wi-Fi devices do not connect to an Aeotec hub.
Instead, for some specific brand/models, you can use a cloud to cloud integration to your smartthings account. For example, this is how Meross and Ecobee devices can brought into SmartThings. These integrations are called “linked services.“
To connect these devices, check the brand list under “add a device“ in the smartthings app and choose the brand there.
Can you give us some specific examples of brand/model for the Wi-Fi devices you would like to connect?
Thanks. However, as you can see in my screenshot, the description for this product on Amazon clearly states that it supports Wi-Fi devices. I guess that must be a mistake but it led me to believe the hub would work with my existing setup.
My devices are smart sockets, bulbs, garden lights, LED strips and a thermostat. They’re from many different manufacturers.
I think my best option would he to return the hub and get one that really does support WiFi devices.
Can anybody recommend one?
Many thanks again.
Tony
in the ST app, tap on Menu… look for the Supported devices tile. click on it to discover all the devices that connect to ST. 
but that will not resolve your issue with the router.
It doesn’t actually say that. It says it supports Wi-Fi, which it does, in the sense that the hub itself can be connected to a Wi-Fi network rather than cabled to ethernet. So it “supports Wi-Fi“ in the same way that a printer might “support Wi-Fi“ you can connect it to your existing Wi-Fi network. But it is not itself a Wi-Fi router, and it sounds like that’s what you need. So, yes, it would probably make the most sense to return it.
As far as a Wi-Fi router that will work well with a bunch of Wi-Fi home automation devices, there are quite a few options. The main thing to know is that most Wi-Fi home automation devices only use the 2.4 GHz band because it has longer range and uses less power. So all the other fancy stuff about the other bands probably won’t affect your home automation devices. Those other bands are important for your streaming devices like cameras and entertainment players and gaming systems. But not most home automation.
But other than that, it’s not really any different than any other use case for home Wi-Fi, so you can just follow any of the standard guides.
You may also want to check with your Internet service provider to see if they have a limit on the number of devices you can connect at the same time. Some do, some don’t, and some do depending on the specific plan you have with them.
(We used to think that 25 or 30 Wi-Fi devices would be enough for any home, back when we were only thinking about streaming devices, printers, laptops, and tablets. But once home automation enters the picture, as you have discovered, a single home might have dozens of sensors, smart plugs, light, switches, Etc. Each one is only using a tiny bit of Wi-Fi at a time, but you have to be able to make that many connections at once. )
Fortunately, there are a lot more inexpensive Wi-Fi routers these days which can handle 50 connections or maybe even more so you should be able to find something you can use. It’s just that’s not what the Aeotec hub is for. It’s creating a network for Zigbee and zwave non-Wi-Fi devices, while itself using your existing Wi-Fi network to get to the Internet.
Thanks. I need to find a router then, which can handle maybe 50 simultaneous connections.
One silly question though. If I find such a thing, will I just be able to plug it into my existing router with an ethernet cable in order to share the fibre Internet connection or do you think it’s going to be more complicated than that?
Thanks again.
Tony
Without knowing anything about your current setup… I would suggest contacting support of either your ISP or the manufacturer of the router/wireless access point to see if they can assist diagnosing the sluggishness you are experiencing. Possible it only needs a slight configuration adjustment but there are a whole range of possibilities that could be the root cause. So start with support from your ISP or manufacturer of the router to see what help they can provide.
There are 2 ways for SmartThings to support a Wi-Fi smart device:
Cloud to Cloud integration. Setup the device on the manufacturer’s supplied cloud platform, then link that cloud platform to SmartThings. From that point forward, you can control the device through either SmartThings or the device manufacturer’s app. You don’t need a hub for this. Examples - TP-Link Kasa Switches, Google Nest Thermostats, and many others.
Local Wi-Fi integration. You’d need a hub for this. SmartThings doesn’t have many devices they control this way, but there are drivers from many folks in the community to control some of these types of devices. For example, devices flashed with Tasmota firmware. This driver supports 2000 different Tasmota-flashed devices:
It all depends on the devices you have; you’d have to provide the manufacturer and type of device to get specific advice on how to integrate each device.
In both cases, though, the Wi-Fi communications still go through your router. For local Wi-Fi integration, it’s just that the SmartThings hub will send commands to your devices, but still through your local router.
