How to Migrate from a a SmartThings V2 or V3 Hub to an Aeotec V3 Hub

Devices & Integrations
1

Clearly, my capabilities are not as high as some of the people here. I was able to add a fair amount of switches with the SmartThings V2 (about 40 Aeotec DSC24-ZWUS) and do some simple routines. But I get a sense of dread at the thought of having to redo all this work.

Most of my devices are Z-Wave, (a few are Z-Wave Plus) with just a couple of Zigbee devices. Everything is working quite reliably. Most of my devices are on/off switches with a few water flood sensors, and one Z-Wave water valve shut-off.

My motivation for switching to a new Aeotec Hub the fact that my SmartThings V2 Hub is about 8 years old, and I’m afraid of a failure, in which case I would lose ALL of my programming.

I looked up the procedure for doing this and something happened that made me nervous.

  1. Tap on the icon for your current SmartThings hub.

  2. Select the More Options menu (three dots in the top-right corner).

  3. Tap the “Replace Hub” option.

The “the “Replace Hub” option” does not exist on my iPhone. Perhaps it’s not there because I have not yet purchased the Aeotec Hub ?

Any advice or suggestions is appreciated.

2

that is correct. You need to have the new hub connected to the same Location before the Hub Replace option appears.

3

actually you wouldn’t. If a hub should die, you can purchase a new hub, add it to your account and have the option to restore the last backup of the dead hub. As long as you do not delete the dead hub.

4

Hello jkp,

I have never done a back up. Is the back up somehow done on the SmartThings mothership ?

Most of my switches are Z-Wave, not Z-Wave Plus. Any problems with those working with Aeotec 3 Hub ?

Are people having generally good success with this migration ? (SmartThings V2 to Aeotec V3.)

5

It is performed in the background between the hub and ST cloud. Don’t know the specifics on how often a backup is performed.

Should be no problem.

A few have reported performing the migration with no issues. Here is the thread —> https://community.smartthings.com/t/new-hub-replace-feature-for-smartthings-hubs/271726

6

I must say I’m absolutely floored by Aeotec dropping Z-Wave support with their version 4 hub. I did a lot of testing, and I found that Z-Wave has on average about twice the range of Zigbee. Amazon currently sells 513 Z-Wave devices. I think it’s crazy for Aeotec to abandoned Z-Wave.

7

Follow this thread —> https://community.smartthings.com/t/new-smartthings-v4-hub-released-do-you-already-know-about-it/303946/

People are wondering about the usb port.

8

I bought my (first) V2 hub 4 years ago. Condition ‘as is’ on eBay with 4 badly leaking alkaline batteries that did not impact the circuit board and were easy to clean out. I have since bought two more, without welcome codes, as spares (SmartThings staff, on this forum, promptly supplied welcome codes).
While the majority of my devices are Zigbee, I have about 10 Z-Wave devices (mostly heating and how water) for which I have written custom Edge drivers. If the new ‘V4’ hub offers a Z-Wave dongle option, I will buy it to become current, otherwise not.