Are there any WiFi door sensors?
The issue with Wi-Fi is that you canāt usually find them for battery operated devices because Wi-Fi is a power suck compared to zwave or Zigbee
Mains powered Wifi sensorsābut many are in the $150 range
DLink and WeMo both make plug in WiFi motion sensors that have IFTTT, so you can get decent ST integration that way. And they tend to be under $40.
Monnit makes mains-powered wi-Fi contact sensors, but they can run as much as $200 each. Theyāre usually used for industrial uses. And thereās no good way to integrate them with SmartThings.
Connectsense has a line which has been popular with RV owners. They usually run on mains but can also run on batteries, although they will go through the batteries fairly quickly. Their " security sensor" is an open/close sensor. They also have a wifi motion sensor, leak sensor, light sensor dry contact device, and siren. But they run about $150 each, and like Monnit they donāt Integrate easily with smart things.
https://www.connectsense.com/wireless-sensors
(Note the ConnectSense also makes some HomeKit compatible Wi-Fi devices.)
Another option for a wifi-based outbuilding is to use a Harmony Hub and/or a Phillips hue bridge. This can be a good way to get coordination with a SmartThings hub in the main building.
So if you want a totally Wi-Fi set up for an outbuilding, and you donāt need it to integrate with SmartThings, you can have one, but itās going to be expensive if you want any sensors other than plug in motion sensors.
CHEAPER NON WIFI ALTERNATIVES WITH LONG RANGE THAT DO INTEGRATE WITH ST
1. Kumostat: good ST integration, fairly easy setup, $59 bridge + $39 sensors, amazingly long range
If youāre looking for a long-range battery operated contact sensor with pretty easy set up , Iād recommend Kumostat. These are really nicely engineered, and they have a longer range even then Wi-Fi. Thereās a good community created smartthings integration with them as well, or you can just use their IFTTT channel. You do have to buy their bridge as well, and since the sensors cost about the same as Z wave or zigbee sensors that ends up being a little more expensive. But I donāt think you can beat the range unless you go to zigbee commercial range which is a much more complex set up.
http://www.wirelesstag.net/longrange_intro.html
2. Zigbee Pro repeaters + regular ST zigbee sensors: complex technical set up, requires two pro repeaters, long range, use your regular zigbee sensors
First, zigbee as Iāve mentioned, allows for a lot more hops than Z wave, which gives you more flexibility in planning the layout. And it travels through rain better than Z wave.
In this set up, you use the same zigbee devices you would normally inside the buildings. But you use two pro repeaters with attached antennas to get the signal from one building to another.
But youāll see from that thread that the technical set up can be a major project.
So speaking just for myself, I would probably go with the Kumostat sensors first, since there is a working SmartThings integration and the set up is easier.
Iāve added a wiki article on how to automate an outbuilding. As always, free to add to it.
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Automate_an_Outbuilding
What about two separate hubs and use IFTTT and virtual switches on the main hub to control the switches on the outbuilding Hub?
Because of the SmartThings architecture, you can only connect one ST location to one IFTTT account. So any one IFTTT account can only see switches that are owned by one smartthings hub. Thereās no way to do a SmartThings to SmartThings recipe if there are two different hubs involved.
So you have to find a man in the middle who can talk to both smartthings hubs. Thatās why the outbuilding wiki article mentions using text or an email as the If to IFTTT for the second hub.
Gotcha, thanks. What about a Vera hub in outbuilding?
Depends what youāre trying to do and your exact setup.
Are you talking about setting up the vera as a secondary zwave controller to SmartThings?
That itself could be done, but it doesnāt give you any more range than any other Z wave device so it doesnāt solve the issue of an outbuilding that is too far away.
And vera doesnāt have an IFTTT channel, so it doesnāt address that issue.
If you want to run the vera as an independent network, sure, but then why not just run a second smartthings hub as an independent network?
Did you get a chance to read the wiki article on automating an outbuilding?
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Automate_an_Outbuilding
I did read your wiki. Def gave me a lot of ideas, and squashed some of my other ones, lol!
What about Wink hub in outbuilding? It has a IFTTT channel.
Then use IFTTT to control simulated switches on the main ST hub in the house, and also have those ST simulated switches control the actual switches in the outbuilding.
When you put a different hub in the outbuilding, there it is. Itās just a separate network. Could be wink, could be Vera, could be zipato, could be Homeseer, could be indigo on a PC with a USB stick-- could be a second smart things hub with its own SmartThings account and its own IFTTT account. Could be 1000 miles away from the primary building itās all the same.
The only question is is there way for that network to communicate indirectly to SmartThings?
If the outbuildingās hub can send a text or an email, you can use IFT TT as a man in the middle and connect to SmartThings that way.
Or, as you point out, if the outbuildingās hub has its own IFTTT channel, as some do, then you just use that.
Same issues as always: how much is the lag, how much work is it to maintain two sets of rules, and do you work do you want to put in to be able to track the status of devices on the other hub?
Once youāve decided to just put a second hub in the outbuilding, to be honest, it might as will just be SmartThings. If you want to track status of the other hubās devices itās very easy to create shadow trackers with virtual devices on both sides. ( something thatās very hard to do with most other hubs.) Youāll be familiar with the devices and the logic. And while you canāt run both from the same smart app, you can manually cut and paste a smart app from one to the other if you want.
So certainly you could use Wink, but Iām not sure what advantages you get unless you think itās going to be more reliable or happens to bring a protocol, like Lutron, which SmartThings doesnāt have, and that you specifically want for the outbuilding.
I would totally put in a second ST hub in there but was told that you can only have one ST hub per IFTTT account.
Correct. Thatās why I said [quote=āJDRoberts, post:49, topic:18557ā]
could be a second smart things hub with its own SmartThings account and its own IFTTT accountā¦
[/quote]
Two hubs. Two SmartThings accounts. Two IFTTT accounts. No problem.
Hub A has its own SmartThings account and its own IFTTT account. Same for Hub B.
You canāt directly connect them through IFTTT, but you can have one send a text message or an email to the otherās IFTTT account and it will work.
Essentially what I would like to do is install a door sensor, 2 multi sensors (motion, light, temp, humidity), smoke sensor, several light switches, and a fan switch in my garage.
I would want to be able to control the light switches from inside the house with scene controllers or mini remotes and via the ST SmartApp, etc. I assume I can do this using simulated switches in ST, one for each real switch in the garage using IFTTT. Turning a switch on in the garage would trigger an IFTTT recipe to turn on the simulated switch on the ST hub in the house. ST could then turn off the simulated switches and then use IFTTT to actually turn off the real switches in the garage.
The door/motion/smoke sensors would be a little more difficult, but I think I could also use simulated switches in ST in order for ST to trigger some SHM type stuff. Again a custom Smart App that could take the value of a simulated switch to control the values of a simulated door/motion/smoke/CO/flood sensor value would be awesome!
Donāt think I can do temp/humidity/light sensor info into ST, but I actually donāt really care about that. The Wink hub would use that to control the fan by itself.
I donāt really understand what you are asking for here. I suspect you mean a custom device type handler, not a smart app?
If so, it already exists. Mike Maxwell has a universal virtual device type handler which allows any one device to report as a different kind of device. So you could take your virtual switch and have it report as a motion sensor or an open/close door sensor.
Iām not sure about the specialty sensors like a flood Sensor and a smoke sensor. Youād have to check with Mike about that.
Pretty sure thatās exactly what I was looking for, thanks! Will take a look and play with it tonight.
Thanks man!
Thanks @JDRoberts, thatās pretty much what I was looking for, and a lot simpler than I thought. Hopefully he can add smoke/CO and flood sensor capabilities to it.
If so Iām pretty sure I can make this work with a Wink hub in the garage (assuming Wink can send IFTTT updates on open/close, smoke, and motion).
Older thread, but has anybody come out with a hardwired zwave extender that anyone knows about or is this whole thread as good as it gets? Iām building a finished shed on my property that is out of range of my home hub, but Iām going to want to automate elements of the shed. Iām pretty comfortable with the idea of a second hub, but it would be simpler to extend via a hardwired device as I have conduit run to the shed to bring the network and power out there.
The Z wave alliance has been emphasizing the fact that there is an available zwave over IP protocol, but I donāt know of any manufacturer thatās actually implemented it yet. Other than that, nothing new in this regard.
There is a how to article in the community ā created wiki on automating an outbuilding that you might find of interest. It covers the current practical options:
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Automate_an_Outbuilding
Many thanks.
Iām hoping for the same thing, I donāt get it why manufacturers think tat everything will be within line of sight or 50 feet. I live in a 1920 house and the walls donāt let anything pass through, heck in a 2000 square feet house i need 3 routers just to get a WiFi in every room and sometime that still weak. But yet I have wired Ethernet in every location
I was not able to get this to work. I have one account, two locations. Each location has a V2 hub. One location is the house, the other an outbuilding. I have ethernet (fiber) between the locations.
(Zigbee/Zwave repeaters are not an option. Distance is too far.)
I created a virtual switch in the Outbuilding location. I added an automation to control a physical switch in the Outbuilding. Works.
I then tried to edit the device to change the location to the House location.
I can only change the hub for the virtual switch to House Hub. There is no way to edit the location of the virtual device, only the hub.
After changing the virtual switch to House hub, I still cannot see the virtual switch in the House location.
The virtual switch is still only visible in the Outbuilding location.
I used to have two V1 hubs in one location, but ST removed that capability.