I have a mixture of different branded bulbs, mostly hive bulbs that I have managed to connect directly to the SmartThings Hub without having to use the hive (connect) Smartapp. I just put the devices into pairing mode and because they are standard Zigbee bulbs they add with no issues. This gives me the obvious benefit of being able to run them locally rather than cloud.
I have two TP-Link bulbs, KL50 and KL130b, ad at the minute I have them connected using a cloud connection. Does anyone know if I am able to add them locally just like I have with my hive bulbs?
These two bulbs have quite a bit of automation attached to them, and I am happy to update all the automation if I can get them to run locally, however I don’t want to remove them, try add them locally, fail, then still have to update all the automation when I have to add them back the way they are already connected.
Anyone been successful in getting TP-Link bulbs to run locally?
Its worth pointing out that I have both the ST V3 and wifi hubs connected.
The short answer is no. That integration is cloud to cloud. So far there are only a few devices which can connect via the local Wi-Fi LAN, and all of those are automatically discovered by superLAN connect anyway.
I had a suspicion that the TP-Link bulbs were wifi, are you confirming that they are.
Also does the fact that I have the wifi ST hub help in any way?
I might just swap them out for bulbs that can run locally, as the automation is just so much faster when they are. I knew it would be quicker but I didn’t think ti would make that much difference. I have a 500mb/s internet connection (with 10ms latency) andI was really surprised that by swapping my hive bulbs to run locally it made such a big difference, about half a second per trip out to the cloud and back.
As always, the first rule of home automation applies: the model number matters. But the ones that I have seen our Wi-Fi. Pretty much anything which says “no hub required“ will be either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Also does the fact that I have the wifi ST hub help in any way?
No. Unlike Z wave and zigbee, Wi-Fi does not have a standard set of home automation commands. Each manufacturer makes up their own. So if there isn’t an official integration, you can’t connect it directly. See the FAQ.
I might just swap them out for bulbs that can run locally, as the automation is just so much faster when they are. I knew it would be quicker but I didn’t think ti would make that much difference. I have a 500mb/s internet connection (with 10ms latency) andI was really surprised that by swapping my hive bulbs to run locally it made such a big difference, about half a second per trip out to the cloud and back.
Yep. Turning on a light bulb is typically the use case where people are most likely to notice any cloud latency.