Does anyone know if the smarthings hub or Android app shows if a GE link / Cree connected bulb does not have power?
My Wink hub used to show four states but not anymore. Hoping smart things can fill that gap.
Usage case is if someone turns off the light switch I would like to be able to see that in the app. This tells me which switches I need to check before leaving home or going to bed.
Unless something has changed for the better in Hub V2 or the platform, the answer is no.
āStaleā devices of any sort (even normally line powered ones, let alone battery powered), simply donāt report anything to the Hub and the Hub doesnāt demand a response.
Some ZigBee and Z-Wave devices are inherently active and thus a SmartApp could be written that looks for non-stale events in the deviceās Event log, and that would help highlight those having a problem (off network, power or battery dead).
I hope this is something SmartThings can address in firmware ā i.e., I hope somewhere in the ZigBee protocol used by the bulbs, there is some way the Hub could periodically ādemandā a passive response (i.e., Are you on or off?, and use the lack of response to trigger a problem event).
Thatās a good point, I didnāt realise that, it DID used to say when it couldnāt āseeā a bulb but it hasnāt done that for a long timeā¦
@tgauchat - Thanks for the detailed response. It makes a bit more sense now on why it has been an elusive feature. I may need to reinvest in switches and dimmable LED bulbs.
@Benji - Wink support told me last month that this feature was removed when they updated icons in their app. They said they would forward the feature request to their developers. Hoping it may happen sometime.
All things considered I think I will proceed with giving the new Smart Things hub a try. If it gives me faster, more reliable bulb commands it will be worth it. If there is a way to turn lights on\off via NFC tags it will be even better for me.
Iāll believe that when I see it, Wink always says āThatās a great suggestion! Weāll forward it to our developers!ā on their Twitter account and the guy who runs it even admitted it was a BS response.
As for ST, I havenāt had a chance yet to set up my V2 hub which I got on Monday and migrate from my Wink hub but from what I can understand from the forums, the kind of ādelayā this lot are talking about when switching on a light for example, is something we in the Wink world could only dream aboutā¦