Multiple Hubs on one location using Alexa and Webcore

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I’ve been a ST user for quiet a few years now and my house is slowly becoming more of a Smart House that works together with my family (and being less of an annoyance), rather than being a sandbox for yours truly to experiment and try out new things. (It still is though, but don’t tell!)

I thought it was about time to contribute to the community as I have found many a solution to my problems surfing these forums.

I run a rather standard setup with a v2 hub, Webcore, ActionTiles and about 50 z-wave devices ranging from door and window sensors to plugs, temperature sensors and now a garage door controller. It’s been a journey but I have found it an enjoyable one.

About a month back I wanted to add a garage door to my Smart Home - both because of the convenience but also for the technical challenge, and yesterday the whole setup was completed. The main goal of this post is to clarify connectivity when it comes to adding a second hub and getting it all to communicate as I was misled to believe that this could not be done.

As stated I have one v2 hub, with one location and I use the classic application. My goal was to extend my network to a disconnected garage, add a second v2 hub that would have an Aeotec garage door controller associated with it and then having Alexa and Webcore (both associated with the original hub) handling notification and custom operations without altering the solution. Pretty simple idea, right? But based on information I found it should not be possible to have one Alexa/Webcore integration in a multi-hub scenario. This is actually possible - as I have just done this, and with so little effort I question if I actually found the correct information when starting.

Here’s what I wanted to happen - and also what is the final result:

  • Remote control capability of the garage door with the classic app, without changing the existing setup
  • Webcore and ActionTiles capability for the garage door
  • Alexa feedback when the garage door changed state using the existing integration on the original hub

What I did to achieve my goals:

  • Installed the new Smartthings app and connected it to my existing hub (first time using it actually)
  • Assigned all the devices to a room (you are kinda forced to do this, but it had no consequences - so far)
  • From the new app I added a second hub and assigned it to the same location

Before moving on I made sure it all showed up nicely in the both the classic and new ST app.

  • From the new app I added the Aeotec garage door controller on the new, second hub
  • I was going to use a custom handler for this device so I used the web interface to change that, and then the original app to confirm it working.

This custom code does not work in the new app, and since it was not a goal to make it all work in the new app I am continuing to use the classic

  • I then added the Aeotec controller to the existing Webcore app and created a new piston for garage door activities
  • Within this piston I instructed my Alexa Echo to announce when the garage door opens and closes
  • I closed off by adding the controller to Actiontiles

Voila! It all works. And it was also a very simple setup.

Hopefully this helps someone else out there integrating an additional hub and having it play along nicely with all their other devices.

Good luck.

Regards,

Ulf Thomas

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Yup - This is something that the internal data structures of the SmartThings Cloud always supported, and some folks even managed to accomplish using early versions of Classic App.

Now it can be done without special procedures in the New App - But SmartThings officially does not recommend more than 1 Hub in a Location (ummm… It’s published in some knowledge base / support article somewhere, but ?).

I can think of various complications that could arise; but at the moment, I think the benefits outweigh the risks.

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I do agree to that. I needed the second hub because the garage is disconnected from the main house and hence unreachable by the original hub.

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Originally they said you could have more than one hub per location with the new V3 app, but after a few months various technical problems started showing up, and they now tell you not to. :disappointed_relieved:

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002084806

Note: It is not recommended to add a SmartThings Hub to a Location with an existing Hub.

There have already been a few forum reports of problems that showed up when there were two hubs on one location. :disappointed_relieved:

If it’s working for you, great, but it probably won’t work for everyone and subtle problems may show up later.

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Thanks for responding. I will report if anythings starts failing.

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