I am new smart home user and want to know what more devices I can buy and scenes and automations i can create. Can anyone guide me how I can make use of this community for the same, thanks
sidjohn1
(sidjohn1)
August 8, 2019, 11:26am
2
There is a search button just above the title of your post… start there and here.
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jkp
August 8, 2019, 12:04pm
3
Welcome! Also check out @jdroberts beginner’s guide. There is a link to the wiki pages that might offer a lot of insight.
The SmartThings platform is currently in transition to a new hub (V3), new app (“SmartThings (Samsung connect)“) new Alexa skill, and a new cloud platform ( The old one used the groovy programming language, the new one doesn’t).
This means that a lot of the information you will find in both this forum and the official knowledge base may be a little confusing.
The Mobile Apps ( yes, there are two right now)
FAQ: how to tell which version of the SmartThings mobile app that you have
The classic app has now officially been discontinued, but some members continue to use an old version of it and you will see references to both in the forum.
Official SmartThings Tutorials for New Customers
If you just want to learn more about using smartthings, there’s a decent get started section in the o…
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Welcome!
First things first: this community is specifically for users of the Samsung SmartThings ™ Home Automation platform. So all of the questions and answers are in that context.
It is a very busy forum, so it often comes up near the top of General Home Automation searches on google, but it is not a general forum. So if you aren’t planning to use the Samsung SmartThings platform, you will probably be better off on a more general site.
Reddit has some good subforums on home Automation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/homeautomation/
And if you like top level discussions before you get into the the technical details, the Ambient has some very good articles:
There are a number of other good sites as well depending on your particular interests.
I also wrote a long post here about questions to ask yourself before starting a Home Automation project that might be of interest:
I first wrote this as a response in another thread, but I thought it might be better as a standalone.
Before you start selecting devices, it can be helpful to take a few minutes and think about what your own top level priorities are and how your own household will interact with the smart home system every day. This can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Just as an example, here are my own top level smart home project specifications.
Where do you live? I live in Northern California. Temperate weather most of the year.
Anything unusual in the architecture of the home that might affect radio signals? it’s a typical glass and wood single-family home. Not much brick, no adobe, no plaster walls with chicken wire lathing, no fancy leaded …
If you are planning to use the Samsung platform, we’ll need to know what model SmartThings ™ Hub you are using.
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