Hi there.
I’m looking for some help on choosing some devices. I’ve read through some reviews, but all seem to be mixed…
Any recommendations for the following? Any particular reason as to why?
Thanks for your help!
Different things work for different people, so it will help if we know a little bit more about the use cases you are trying to solve. And what country you are in. And what kind of budget you are considering. And your tolerance for devices that may take a lot of work to get set up properly.
For example, just with Multi sensors the price will range anywhere from $10 to $90, but the very cheap ones may require a lot more maintenance overtime. And the very expensive ones may have features that you don’t need.
The device class features FAQ might be of interest (the topic title is a clickable link)
As far as battery operated light strips, there aren’t many, But there are a couple of choices. It all depends on what you want to use them for.
See the following thread:
I see!
Country: USA
Budget: I’d guess under $100 per item, except for the door lock. Up to $300 on the lock.
Use cases:
Bathroom:
Turn on a light automatically (very quickly) without someone having to press the on button (Caseta switches).
Turn on a fan if the humidity is too high.
Turn the light off after x minutes of inactivity.
Door Lock:
Lock/Unlock remotely.
Automatically unlock when the mode changes to ‘home’.
Automatically lock when the mode changes to ‘away’ or ‘night’.
Different codes for different people.
Power strips:
Turn individual port on/off.
LED strips:
I want to install the strips into a closet, then turn them on when the door is opened.
Leak sensor:
Just notify me when
I’m all for doing some work to get them working, but I have no experience creating DTH or anything like that. I am not a programmer =)
Unfortunately, smartthings has made the decision that in the new app there will be no way to automatically unlock a lock except by time of day. Or of course open the app and tapping the lock icon.
This is a huge change from the classic app where you could set the lock to unlock for any event that smartthings could recognize, including geopresence or mode. 
( I myself am quadriparetic, so a hands-free lock was the very first home automation project I was looking for. )
We’ve been told the classic app will be removed eventually, but no timeline has been given.
We’ve also been told that the lock decision is intentional for “security” reasons and they want people to use the new “access key” fob instead. But that doesn’t solve my own issues.
So the question is whether you want a multi platform lock so that you will be able to continue to do an automated unlock even once smartthings has dropped the feature.
For the battery operated closet light, see the thread I already linked to above.
Hi JD,
Thanks for all the info.
I’m using webCoRE. I currently have my presence sensor (mobile phone). I was hoping to use this that when I’ve arrived home, the door would unlock.
As for the LED, I could realistically (and probably somewhat easily) run 12/2 into my closet. It’s right next to a ceiling light, so maybe any LED strip might be fine.
The first thing to get set up is my door contact sensors. I have 4, and will try to get them installed and automated this week/end.
Once that is done, it’s on to the bathroom… so that is the next one I’ll be tackling.
Any thoughts on sensors?
You can do that with the classic app. But once we are all forced to the new app, you will no longer be able to do that. So since locks are expensive, that’s why I mentioned you might want to choose a multi platform lock so you could continue to do that in the future even if smartthings removes that feature. As they currently plan to do.
