So the money we spend on the hub and each device purchased from them is for what, the privilege of having them? I mean, I don’t know about you, but I but I bought st open close sensors and motion sensors and switches they recommended so that I can have functional automation. I get that fanboys will want to defend something they believe in, but cmon. This stuff isn’t cheap, and I wouldn’t have bought it if I thought it would be a full time job having to program, and re-program on a daily, wait, hourly basis to get the most basic of automation - all because they have to keep changing stuff the back end to make things work with Samsung and keep them happy. Yep I went there. Everything worked pretty good before they sold.
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So far so good here. I just looked at logs for 15 minutes
No errors , no timeouts. I have 149 devices between the 2 locations. Many of them my custom device types. I rebuilt routines a day or two ago and they r working, but I have triple redundancy in my good and night and good morn routines. I had one device fail this week and stopped reporting.this caused some errors and it was strange I had to do a general exclusion to remove it. The device specific one didn’t work. Almost as if it removed itself or changed ids in fact I could not remove/exclude it at all till I pulled it out of the box and cut power to it to reset it. The switch part worked fine, but it appeared as if the zwave module was frozen… It was a zw15m metering switch in the basement. It had been working for two months or so. I re-added it and it is working again.
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Mine is still rock solid.
You’re lucky. Things have really gone south for me the past several weeks. Routines aren’t firing. I just changed the status of SHM to “unarmed” to go sneak Christmas presents in the house from the car. I waited a couple mins after switching SHM but both mine and my wife’s cell phones went off with “intruder alert” warnings (luckily I don’t have an alarm). (Maybe there’s a logical explanation for this?). And lots of other random things not working as expected.
It is also disappointing as I’ve been purchasing devices throughout the past several months to give to my parents for Christmas along with a ST hub, but at this point I’ve decided against it - I’m already their tech support, and I can only imagine the calls I would get daily for random issues…
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You have the ST v2 special edition! 
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Enjoying SmartThings here too. Working like a charm. No delays no hiccups. #feelinglucky
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I just disconnected my SCH yesterday.
So far my only real complaint with ST is the delay. Staples was pretty much instantaneous on turning my lights on and notifying me.
SmartThings has anywhere between 3 and 8 seconds delay (using Rule Engine, Smart Lighting failed to function at all for me) to turn my lights on and has significantly less reliability/accuracy (60% of the time, only 2 of the 3 hue lights in my bathroom fixture come on when my door contact sensor is open vs. 100% with Staples).
2 out of 3 lights is still plenty bright enough so it’s not enough of a concern, but that delay means I have to wait around the doorway for a few seconds just to make sure the lights will come on (I still have my Hue Tap in the hallway for turning lights off).
If I start seeing issues with other lights (generally the others are just Echo-controlled, but I have a contact sensor on the front door as well) it will certainly become a bigger issue.
Everything is working fine here as well. 300 plus lights in one shot! I mean on my Christmas tree!
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I’m actually setting my Staples Connect hub up now. The family cannot take the lights going off anymore. They may also throw my sirens away while I’m at work one day. Any advice for someone starting to use Staples Connext?
It’s a much more basic user interface, but it works flawlessly.
If you are wanting to have multiple modes, it’s going to take some work to change them unless you feel like logging into the app or the webpage to switch it over.
If you’re going with simple rules (motion sensor or door contact turning on lights and outlets) then you’ll have no issues. Complexity is SmartThings’ forte, but also one of its biggest problems at the moment.
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Thanks! I plan on changing modes with a pico remote clipped to the visor of the car. As far as automations, I just want to be notified if doors open and I’m not home, lights to come on with motion and off after motion stops, and all lights off when night mode is activated. Maybe a porch light to come on at a certain time and go off at a certain time.
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That’s all easily done there. Just keep in mind the system is practically dead and has 0 support (there will almost certainly be no more official integration or device additions).
If that was all I wanted for my setup, I’d have stayed with SCH, but SmartThings offer a lot more opportunity for integration with other systems I have (Sonos, Logitech Harmony, Echo, IFTTT) so it’s worth suffering through some of the minor inconveniences to achieve the overall higher level of capability and compatibility.
I see. So AV integration is zero? I have Sonos and harmony as well. I may need to think about that more. I am just looking for a reliable solution to security and automation. My fiancé has even offered to let me have control4 come in and install but I can’t let go of that kind of money when I know the technology is so close to being plug and play for everyone.
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[quote=“drake0508, post:299, topic:27910, full:true”]
I see. So AV integration is zero? I have Sonos and harmony as well. [/quote]
I have Samsung wifi speakers, using the sonos apps, and harmony, both integrations are working.
Who said AV integration was ZERO?
Sorry Mike. I meant for Staples Connect.
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Staples connect works well with a very limited set of officially supported devices. (There are a couple of Bose speakers, no sonos, no harmony) no way to add additional devices. No custom programming. No IFTTT. No geopresence.
If you just want to put lights, window coverings, a doorlock, a thermostat, a few specific sensors, some security cameras, and the Bose system on a schedule, it should work reliably and well. (Think a small law firm or an accountant’s office.)
But that’s pretty much it.
https://staplesconnect.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200222489-What-devices-do-you-support-
It’s a completely different kind of approach than smartThings.
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I think that’s where I’m at. It’s cool having all of the flexibility that ST offers but in our situation, reliability is priority. I use home automation for convenience and energy conservation. While I do have sonos and harmony, it’s not my goal to have AV integration, especially over reliability. ST is a great product and it worked well for a long time. I’m sure it will get better.
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I’m not trying to be a smart ass, but ADT is really reliable and they have pretty good reviews.
At this time, I wouldn’t trust ST for security of anything.
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Same here. Use ADT. I think they can hook into the Nest world and has some sort of integration which requires the Nest thermostat which I don’t have so never gave it a thought.
So sorry for missing the beginning of this conversation but I actually tried out the ADT approach and thought it was outrageously horrible but that was over a year or I think 2 years ago so chances are by now they have improved.
It was extremely specific in terms of devices and options that you essentially had to follow the “their way or the highway” approach and that threw me off big time!
Again, I’m sure they changed that by now but yea!