Introduce Yourself!

Thank you for directing me to your post. I am finding it to be a great help in the couple of minutes I looked at it. Just the idea of shaking the device while on the tile screen for labels is wonderful. It is disappointing that it is not easier to find these things out. Maybe again, I am missing something…

Is there anyway to get your intro post stickied for a newb like me trying to drink from fire hose?

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@kaminskico. I am also a newbie drinking from the fire hose with a “learn from mistakes” attitude. It would be good to have a Newbie section somewhere so we can read up and learn from those more experienced ones!

Each section’s faq is a great place to start!

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Also : This is one of my all time favorite links :

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Hello, Tim here.

Interested in adding support for GE Link bulbs to my ST hub and controlling them with MiniMote button.

Hey, Tim, just wanted to make sure that you’ve gotten the specific information to do this. If not, take a look at the following overview, and if that still doesn’t help, visit the New Apps topic listed at the very end of the following post, and someone will help you there.

The one cautionary note to keep in mind is that you can assign individual devices or Hello Home Actions to a minimote button, but not Shortcut Groups. So it all depends on exactly what you want to do when.

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Hello my name is Bill. I am new to home automation but, have been doing automation at work for 13 years or so. I guess I wasn’t getting enough of it at work. So, I decided to start doing it at home as well. I bought an iris and am in the middle of boxing it back up to return and ordering the smartthings product. Based on what I have read it seems this product will be more to my liking.

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Hello, I just joined this community, I was about to buy a hub and some sensors to improve security of my new home but then read about the V2 hub so I will be waiting for it in order to buy it.
Meanwhile I will install some standalone motion activated sirens.
Glad to be part of this community.

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Hello, my name is Evan and I’m just getting started with this home automation thing. I currently have a D-Link Dcs933L camera, a Chamberlain garage door opener with MyQ, a thermostat for an American Standard HVAC system with a built-in Nexia bridge and a ZWave on-off sw for my outside lights. As you can see, my devices are all over the map brand-wise and it has become difficult to find a system that will integrate them all. Wink looks like it might be the closest for what I need because it will integrate Chameelain and Zwave. Then, I came across SmartThings and it looks as thought it may be possible to integrate all but the thermostat (I know that this will have to stay with Nexia because of it’s firmware). However, I want something simple, but smartthings it seems, has to have custom code developed here in the community added to get integrations withe my D-Link and MyQ devices. This makes me a bit apprehensive esp since, despite what’s been said on these forums, those integrations will not happen on the v2 hub due to business hurdles as stated by smartthings themselves (I inquired separately). So, my question is, how easy is it to add code developed here in the coomunity to the hub?

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I can code, but I don’t want to. (I’m quadriparetic.) Even cut and paste is tough. So I prefer built in solutions whenever possible.

That said, using custom code in SmartThings is easy. Various community members will write code for themselves and then offer to share it. If you see something you can use, you copy and paste it under your own account on the developer website, hit a button to publish it to yourself, and it shows up ready to use under “My SmartApps” in the official mobile app.

The problem is because these custom Smartapps aren’t officially supported by ST, at any time ST might make a backend change that breaks the custom code. So what works on Monday doesn’t always work on Tuesday. It usually all gets straightened out again eventually, but it can be frustrating.

The community is great, many talented and generous developers, but I personally have a bias towards the built in functionality because of the unpredictability.

But different people have different levels of tolerance for this kind of issue. :blush:

You’ll find the most popular community created code in the following section of the forum:

http://community.smartthings.com/c/smartapps/created-smart-apps
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Hello all,

I have been involved in IoT for a while, both hobby and professionally. However now mostly hobby. I have made a number of Arduino solutions for my home, looking to integrate into SmartThings and use off the shelf solutions.

I must say the navigating both the iOS app and the community has been more difficult that I imagined. I was looking a Casa Verde and SmartThings. Decided to go all in with SmartThings.

Cheers!

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Welcome aboard! Glad you are coming to SmartThings!

Hello everyone, I thought i would make my first post an introduction. I look forward to frequenting this site looking for answers to questions and possibly being able to lend a hand if i can. I started my journey into home automation with Philips Hue and since then i have been going hard core…well as much as i can on a limited budget. lol. I was looking for something to bring all the stuff i have together and decided on ST. I am having my fair share of issues but I like to try to figure stuff out and learn.

Anyways, I wish everyone the best, and Happy Automating to us all

Have a great weekend!!

Inocent3

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hello ST folks; newbie here. can’t wait to start tinkering.
community created smartapps
I saw the link above and decided that is a great place to start. thanks in advance for the welcome.

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Hello ST Community,
I’m new to home automation and we’re in the process of a remodel, so I’m trying to learn quickly. I’m planning on waiting for the hub v2 but am doing things now to prepare. So far, I’ve been putting in smart switches and a couple of outlets. Everything else is going to wait until we are living in the hosue and have a hub :smile:
Looking forward to chatting with ya’ll!
KJD

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Hi everyone! I recently bought a house and am very excited to set up my SmartThings v2 hub! I love technology and messing around with “gadgets”. I’m new to home automation. I learned about SmartThings when I was looking into DIY home automation/security systems. Although I’ve had my v2 hub for about 2 weeks now, I’m FINALLY getting internet installed at my house today, so I can’t wait to get home today to set everything up!

I’m going to start out with a few switches and then hopefully expand to more sensors are such. .

I’m definitely looking forward to learning from and chatting with everyone here!

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Hi everyone,

I’m just getting started. Yesterday I hooked up my Hub v2, GE dimmer switch, and a GE switch to start controlling some lights. I’m getting a Nest thermostat for Christmas that I’m thankful for the community to incorporate into the ST system.

I can certainly see that this is going to become an expensive hobby for me. My wife is scared. :grinning:

I’ve spent hours reading the community boards this past week waiting for my items to be delivered. I’m hoping that all of the research will help me avoid some of headaches that you all have learned from.

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Hi Everyone!

I’m Kore Breach (aka “Bob”). I just started into my long-desired home automation project with the purchase of a SmartThings v2 hub, two GE lightbulbs, and an Amazon Echo. This “proof of concept” tiny setup has worked out really well. My wife is even using the Echo to turn on and off the two bulbs. I call that a success.

I wanted to know if there is a good guide for SmartThings for us newbies that someone could link to. I don’t have a problem gathering information from hundreds of forum posts and searching the internet, but I would love to have some sort of document that would jump-start my knowledge of some things. Kind of like a “SmartThings 101 Handbook”.

(edit) Hey… I think I just found that handbook… the “Things that are Smart Wiki

I plan to add a lot more to my smart-home as time (and finances) allow, but I’ve already discovered:

-The SmartTiles dashboard (got that working)
-How to access the IDE (and sort of know what that is)
-The Rule Machine “Smart App” (got that installed)

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This might also be of interest (this is a clickable link)

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Hi all,

Already posted on another thread, but still a newbie. UK based, work in IT and have experience of various programming languages so looking to get involved.

Got the starter kit, got a couple of Wemo LED bulbs working with it (don’t like the colour temperature, so might investigate alternatives - running out of ports on my router though, so probably not Philips Hue). Also reading up on thermostat options.

It’s a shame there doesn’t seem to be a simple REST api to talk to the local hub and control devices that way though - I have a home server used for various other things, and would like to schedule tasks from that.

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