Decided on SmartThings...help with devices!

[JDRoberts]

@merkaba

Hey JD,

I have another random question. After reading through some of the homeseer switch threads it seems like there are certain devices that support local communication and certain devices that do not based on the device handler? Is the “works with smartthings” page the official list of devices that are support + will run local? Is there a officially supported device handler page? When purchasing product I’d prefer if there is as little ‘lag’ as possible…so I would like to try to purchase devices that will run locally if at all possible.

Not even all the devices on the official “works with SmartThings” list are eligible to run locally.

What matters is the device type handler being used. Many devices can use more than one device type handler so if running local matters to you, you have to make sure that:

A) The device can use one of the device type handlers which can run locally

FAQ: CONFIRMED: Local Processing - Working Device Handlers

Here is a list of the Device Handlers that are confirmed working with local processing (I personally tested that these show up in the “LocalDevice List”) as of Dec 8, 2017: Device Type Run Locally Execute Commands Locally Minimum HubCore Version Aeon Home Energy Meter TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Illuminator Module TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Key Fob TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Minimote TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Multisensor TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Multisensor Gen5 TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Outlet TRUE FALSE n/a Aeon Siren TRUE FALSE n/a Arrival Sensor TRUE FALSE n/a CentraLite Thermostat TRUE FALSE n/a Dimmer Switch TRUE FALSE n/a Fortrezz Water Valve TRUE FALSE n/a GE Link Bulb …

B) you have assigned that specific device type handler to that device

C) The action that you want the device to perform can be done solely with the official smartlighting feature (currently no other code is eligible to run locally, whether it is available from the marketplace section of the mobile app or not. Routines do not run locally, core does not run locally, “notify me when” does not run locally–only smartlighting is eligible to run locally and a few bits from smart home monitor.)

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/205380404-Smart-Lights

D) The smart home lighting automation that you want to have run locally includes only device type handlers from A) above. As soon as you add even one device which is not eligible to buy locally, the entire automation is disqualified.

So the homeseer switches will not be able to run locally. They use central scene commands, and there are no device type handlers for central scene commands which are eligible to run locally at this time .

You can find out more about local processing in the following thread:

Local Processing in Hub V2

Continuing the discussion from What's the deal with Nest?: Correct. I was answering this question below in the global sense. i.e., There will always be the possibility of various benefits available to Official Device Handlers and SmartApps that are not available to un-certified Community Developed ones. At the moment, the local processing benefit is inapplicable to Nest in either case. I’m not sure ST has guaranteed that community developed SmartApps/Device Types will be included in local processing right after certification. Yes, it may be included down the road, and this is not yet clear on how or what the process is to enable community developed stuffs to run locally.

And having said all of that… From time to time, some community members have reported that locally operating functions have run more slowly than the exact same function running in the cloud.

There can be two reasons for this. One is a bug in the local software ( this happened to me once). The other is that the hub just doesn’t have much processing power. If it gets busy, it can actually take longer to process an automation then the cloud server would.

I believe @SBDOBRESCU knows more about this.