My Iris to Smartthings migration experience

Wiki Projects & Stories
41

Glad to hear you’re aware of the concerns and have taken steps to mitigate. The clear tape is a decent solution. If you’re planning on relying primarily on voice control, I assume you’re aware of the Internet/Cloud dependency? Just making sure… :wink:

Also, when your house has a power blip, each and every smart bulb will turn on. Assuming your solution is to use Amazon Alexa or even the SmartThings app to turn them back off (at 2am, because that’s when anything that can go wrong, will go wrong :wink: ), you’ll need to wait for your ISP connection to be restored before you can turn these back off… You may want to use a button controller that is supported by the ST hub as a Local device. This would allow you to create a Smart Lighting automation that uses the button pressed event to turn off all of these lights. This would only require the hub to be up and running throughout the power blip (i.e. make sure it is kept on a UPS.)

Using smart switches, the lights will usually restore their previous state after a power outage. Also, true local control (without having to remove your tape) is very handy for guests and even those living in the house day to day.

Hmmm… most all smart switches are actually Decora style. GE/Jasco, Zooz, Innovelli, Leviton, Lutron, etc… Toggle switches are actually harder to source, with fewer vendors supporting the “old, traditional style” of North America light switches.

I just finished a project to install Lutron Caseta Switches, Dimmers, and Fan controllers throughout my house. For the first time in 5+ years of automating my home, I finally have a solid, reliable lighting solution. I am also using Hubitat as my main home automation hub, as it supports local processing and LAN communication to the Lutron Caseta SmartBridge Pro. Lighting for basically every room is now automated based on motion sensors, contact sensors, and time based schedules.

I use Sengled Color Zigbee bulbs in Table and Floor lamps. These are controlled by a combination of Lutron Pico Remotes, motion sensors, time based schedules, and Amazon Alexa voice control. I also use these to indicate the status of any alarm conditions within the house, by turning them all on and setting a color (e.g. blue for a water leak.)

Lots of options are available…choice is a good thing. Just trying to pass on what I’ve learned over the years.

Thank you for sharing your experiences on your Iris to ST migration. It is always great to hear these stories.

42

Yeah, mitigation is done. I live in hurricane evac zone 1. I have whole house UPS and generator. While blips do happen, they are rare, and easily manageable. ISP connectivity is rock solid and I know I am ultra lucky on that as it hasn’t always been. Funny what happens when a comcast regional manager moves onto your street… :smiley:

True smart switches were discussed, and seriously considered, however at the cost of dimmable smart bulbs, bought in bulk at $6.00 each, compared to a dimmable Zwave or Zigbee switch, at on average $45.00 per unit, PLUS bulbs, and an expected life span, advertised of 10 years on the bulbs, I would be happy to get 5, it would take a LOT of bulbs going bad to justify it cost wise at this point.

There are plenty of factors that go into making choices and no small part is biting off what I can afford to chew.

Yep, I am aware of cloud dependencies. And again, not that big of a concern for me. It might prove out to be in the long term, but for now, not so much.

Even then, I do have a “smart switch” of sorts in the ceiling fans, and at that, I have to do the tape routine to keep folks from turning the fan controllers off.

It’s all calculated risk and reward. And customized to the needs and desires of my family.

Long term, I am probably going to go with switches, and in certain fixtures that will be the initial answer just due to the sheer number of bulbs. But when you consider that a 4 pack of cheap LED dimmable dumb bulbs go for $10.00 at Home Depot, and a 4 pack of these Sylvania bulbs go for $21.00 on Amazon… For double the cost of dumb bulbs, I get smart lighting. Serveral of the fixtures are simple single bulb fixtures. Probably going to go with motion sensors on some of them like the closet fixture…

So yeah, long winded but, get the feet wet with bulbs, work toward switches where appropriate…

43

Well there was a snafu with my deliveries today.

Good thing I have Ring cameras. Fedex shows that both my smart bulbs in my smart plugs were delivered today at 3:07 p.m. but there was no activity in my front yard or garage area from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. when a local Yellow Pages delivery was done.

It is entirely likely that either the parcels were delivered to the right street name and wrong house number for the right house number and long street name. I have opened an incident with fedex ikea and the Amazon reseller. Ikea was a Royal pain in the tail to get hold of anybody but at least they were helpful. They are reshaping my order and refunding my shipment fee.

This is not the 1st time we’ve had problems with fedex shipments but this is the 1st time I’ve had problems with multiple packages being Mis delivered

44

So here’s the full toot as it were. As mentioned above, FedEx decided to deliver my items elsewhere yesterday. Pending actual proper delivery of my items to my house, I can proceed.

I found / was pointed to some super affordable ZWave Plus dimmable switches so I have ordered 3 of these to keep the project moving…

And recall, we are waiting for delivery of my Ikea Wireless Control Outlets (smart plugs).

And 2 boxes of 4 of the Sylvania Smart + 60w equivalent dimmable smart white Zigbee bulbs.

The plan is thus…

Smart plugs:
Move Iris smart plug from Kitchen to middle bedroom / home office / studio space. Use to control desk lamp.
Put 2 of the Tradfri smart plugs in the guest room, and 2 in the master bedroom, and one in the back / kids bedroom, one for each nightstand lamp.

Smart Bulbs:
1 in the driveway fixture between the garage doors.
2 in the laundry room fixture.
1 in the front bedroom walk in closet.
2 in the main bathroom fixture.
2 in the master bathroom fixture.

Smart Switches:
Kitchen main fixture.
Living room ceiling fan lights.
Dining room lights.

For lighting / fan control this leaves the following to be done.
#1. Replace the out of balance, and unbalanceable, or just plain ugly 35 year old ceiling fans in the following spaces.
Home office / studio / middle bedroom. This fan is a weird 6 blade configuration, the blade arms are bent and unable to be found to replace. Plus with the polished brass and glass look lit looks like 1985 just threw up in there.
Master Bedroom. This fan is a 4 blade Hong Kong made thing from the 80s, again bent blade arms with no replacement. I am still tinkering, if I can get this one to balance I will keep it. It looks good and works nicely, but man it is a pain to balance.
Master bathroom. This one is a ceiling hugger, that should be a drop down style. I need a drop down style to fit a controller in.

#2. Add a light kit to the ceiling fan in the kitchen. My wife wants more light in there…

#3. All of the above mentioned ceiling fans, as well as the one in the back bedroom, will have a combination fan speed controller / light controller integrated.

#4. I am torn between replacing the existing LED BR30s over the vanities, or adding 2 more of the Zooz Zwave switches. I am leaning toward adding the switches this would control the vanity lights.

At this point I would consider all of my lighting done with the exception of mood lighting and the under cabinet kitchen lights which double as mood ligthing. (breakfast bar / dining room view considered…). Everything else is just gravy.

#5. This is where I get into fancy for fancy sake. Figure out the strips to use, and add RGBW LED smart strips to backlight for the mirrors on both vanities, and behind TV in the living room. and for under cabinet lighting in the kitchen.

From that point, the remainder of my project, and remember I am already past where I was with Iris… but the remainder of the automation / entertainment project is as follows…

#1. Replace the echo dots in the master suite, and the living room with 2nd generation Echo, and Echo Sub devices.
#2. Move the 3rd gen echo dot from living room to home office / studio / middle bedroom space.
#3 Move the 2nd gen ech dot from the master suite to the back bedroom / kids bedroom.
#4. Move the 32" TV and FIreTV stick from master bedroom to front / guest bedroom.
#5. Move second FireTV stick to HDMI port on my 32" Dell Monitor. I need to figure out how to set up Bluetooth audio from the stick to the Echo Dot…
#6. Add a Fire Edition TV to the kids / back bedroom. Again most likely the 32" model.
#7. Replace our ancient 37" Sony Wega Trinitron CRT TV in the living room (bring a crane in to lift that beast out!) with a 75" P Class Quantum Vizio SmartTV with I believe they have Chromecast built in.
#8. Add the 4 tuner FireTV Recast to the living room. Put this on the Wired Ethernet network.
#9. Add the 39" Fire Edition TV to the master suite (the largest screen that will fit our armoire).
#10. I should have put this MUCH earlier, but add more smoke alarms. The house was built with 3. 1 in the dining room, 1 in the front entryway / hallway, and 1 in the bedroom hall. I want to add 1 to the master suite, 1 to the garage, 1 to the kitchen, and 1 for each bedroom.
#11. As noted before, I am moving forward with the Echo devices SOLELY on the assumption that Alexa Guard will be available, and soon to monitor for smoke, breaking glass etc… events…
#12. IF I can find something reliable that actually works, use a proper remote controllable garden hose timer / control valve so I can turn on / off my sprinklers based on weather conditions and time of day.

I will likely be adding more smart plugs, for things like the electric blanket, floor fans etc…

I know I am missing a bunch, but I am pulling a blank right now.

45

It took some doing but I now have the alarm sending calls to my phone. It’s a multi step process in actually can of a pain in the butt however here goes

Step 1 I set up ADT tools 2.
Step 2 I created a virtual switch in the IDE. I named it call me.
Step 3 I set up an IFTTT account and installed the app.
Step 4 I created and IFTTT rule that says when call me is switched on to use the phone call function to call my phone.
Step 5 I added call me as a light switch to trigger from within alarms on ADT tools 2.

So now on the alarm goes off the call me so called light switch gets turned on at triggers the function to call my phone with a simple message saying ADT security was switched on

46

Used to be true, but no longer is for Phillips hue bulbs connected to a Phillips hue bridge. :sunglasses:

Phillips now allows you to specify the power restore behavior by either the individual bulb or a room. So you could keep the lights off in the baby’s room, while turning the lights on in the hallway. It’s up to you.

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It’s a very nice feature. :sunglasses:

https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/philips-hue-bulbs-no-longer-turn-on-automatically-after-a-power-outage/

However, smart bulbs connected directly to the smartthings hub will usually demonstrate the behavior you describe, where everything comes on bright after the power is restored.

47

Very good point. :sunglasses:

The reason is simple: both rocker style switches and toggle style switches rest in the neutral position when they are smart switches. With a good design, this will be barely noticeable on a rocker, but with the toggle it’s very noticeable.

People often think the switch is broken and keep trying to move it back into the “normal” position. And if you have one smart switch in a double gang next to a dumb switch it can look very odd.

image

48

After receiving information from my insurance company, comparing costs for doing my own DIY cellular failover, and doing the whole cost, to benefit analysis I have taken the self monitoring off, including the whole IFTTT phone call thing, in favor of ADT professional monitoring. Simply put, the insurance discount itself paid for the service, and the cellular failover is simply a bonus.

I have installed succesfully the first of the Zooz switches. I still need to source up a 3 speed fan only controller. I have 5 more switches to install, but they are here…

49

You may want to ask this user for a Z-Wave Fan Controller.

50

Sadly, I only need 1…

51

I’m sure he’ll sell you one if he still has them…

52

**edit 3/27/19 - everything is sold

Well that’s that…

53

Okay so the status now of what is installed, or what is ready to install…

I’ve got the Ring cameras protecting the front and back of the house. The coverage sees into my neighbors yards, so the only way to access the house and not be on camera is to climb through, or over my neighbors houses, or tunnel under, and avoid the cameras. Super low chance of that on one side, the other side to climb the fence is to have to climb through large well established rose bushes and other prickly deterrents. Still considering Wyze cams for the blind spots though.

ALL of my access points, perimeter windows, doors, roll up doors etc… are protected, and verified that they work.

All indoor sirens work.

I have a total of 13 Sylvania A19 cool white smart bulbs through the house. Locations are below…

I have a smart switch and dumb LEDs installed for my dining room chandalier. 9 bulbs, 8.5w each. It’s a thing of beauty.

I have the Hampton Bay ceiling fan controller in the front / guest bedroom, with dumb 8.5w LED bulbs. Smart bulb in the guest bedroom closet, 2nd generation Echo Dot, and FIreTV stick and an older 32" flat screen on a swivel wall mount in this room. 2 Ikea smart plugs in this room, 1 for each nightstand lamp. Of course dumb LED bulbs in the nightstand lamps.
Front porch has 2 smart bulbs.

Home office / middle bedroom dumb lighting, for now, 2 Ikea smart plugs to control a desk lamp, and fan. Iris 2nd generation contact sensor logging access to this room. FireTV stick on the HDMI port on my Dell 32" monitor. Bluetooth audio.
ADT SmartThings Motion Sensor to control lights, and monitor for motion during armed away mode since this is a “blind side” of the house.

Hopefully kids bedroom / back bedroom. Dumb lighting for now, 2 Ikea smart plugs to control bedside lamp and table top lamp.
Bedroom hallway. 1 smart LED bulb.

Main Hallway. 2 smart LED bulbs for main fixture. Pending replacement with Zooz Zen27 and 2 8.5w dumb LED bulbs. Need the dumb bulbs and a standard Decora switch for the 3 way configuration.
Dual power, dual sensor Kidde smoke alarm.

Main Bathroom.
Vanity.
Pending install Zooz Zen27 and 2 8w dumb BR30 LED bulbs. Pending install, need the dumb bulbs and a standard Decora switch for the 3 way configuration.
Commode / shower.
2 Smart LED bulbs for main / non fan fixture.
1 dumb LED bulb for fan fixture.

Kitchen,
Iris 3rd generation smart plug that controls a lamp in the bay window / breakfast nook.
Zooz Zen22 Zwave smart switch for main kitchen light. Pending install, I would like to convert from flourescent to ballast bypass LEDs.

Laundry Room.
2 smart LED bulbs, Iris 2nd generation motion detector with SmartApp SmartLights rule to turn the light on / off so we don’t have to futz with it with arms full of laundry.

Living room. Zooz Zen22 Zwave switch for ceiling fan lights. 4 dumb 8.5w LED bulbs.
2 Ikea smart plugs for floor lamps.
3rd generation Echo Dot.

Dining room. Zooz Zen22 Zwave switch for chandalier. 9 dumb 8.5w LED bulbs.

Master bedroom.
2 Ikea smart plugs. One per bedside lamp.
4 smart LED bulbs. These will be retired when the ceiling fan controller is installed, and replaced with dumb LED bulbs.
Fire Edition TV.
Echo dot 2nd generation

Master vanity / dressing room.
4 smart LED bulbs. These will be retired when the ceiling fan controller is installed, and replaced with dumb LED bulbs.
2 dumb LED BR30 bulbs over vanity itself. Need to / pending add smart switch. Probably Zooz…

Master bath.
Currently 1, will be 2 smart bulbs. Pending replacement / upgrade of ceiling fixture to 2 bulb fixture.
ADT SmartThings Motion Sensor to control lights, and monitor for motion during armed away mode since this is a “blind side” of the house.

Garage / Workshop.
ADT SmartThings door and window detectors configured as tilt sensors.
Iris 2nd generation contact sensor logging access through the door into the house…

I have a good ways to go, but right now I have more material than I know what to do with.

I am VERY much liking the smart switches, and am giving serious thought into watching sales, and adding more smart switches and retiring smart bulbs as I go along. More money, but I like the idea of being able to still control easily from the wall without killing the ability to use the smart features.

Because I left them with an honest review on Amazon, Ring has reached out to me and I have a call scheduled with Ring customer support to discuss my issues with their lackluster quality control and accessing the features of the Ring devices on SmartThings. I doubt anything is going to get done but it might be nice to at least know I’ve been heard. My ideal would be to actually walk away with some reassurance that Ring and SmartThings will commit to getting the FULL function of the ring cameras as advertised in the smartthings app. Works with SmartThings must mean something. Ring is allowing ST to advertise their product as compatible, they hold some responsibility for making sure this works…

54

So, I now have a quandry. We have a wet stormy forecast for the weekend, and I do NOT like working on anything electrical when it’s wet out because, well my breaker box is outside…

BUT, weather permitting I have the following tasks to do.

#1. Replace the kitchen main light switch with one of the Zen22s. AFTER verifying compatibility with a regular flourescent fixture. 2 T8 4ft bulbs. Probably 64 watts total. And I believe the fixture has a dimmable ballast… Long term is to go with a dimmable T8 LED conversion, I’m just not there yet… This switch may wait…
#2. Replace the master bathroom vanity light switch the the last of the Zen22s.
#3. Replace the Decora dumb lighted 3 way switches in the main hallway, and main bathroom vanity with the Zen27s paired with standard dumb decora 3 way switches.
#4. Replace the Living Room Ceiling Fan light circuit Decora lighted switch with a Zen27.

I have 2 more of the Hampton Bay Ceiling Fan and light ZigBee controllers coming in, one goes to the Studio / Office and the other goes tot he master bedroom fan. I need to finish getting these fans balanced. One of them wobbles a little, the other shakes like Elvis on stage…

For what it’s worth, I am WAY beyond what Iris would have supported hardware wise. Simply put, the Iris product just didn’t support this much hardware, and certainly had no ceiling fan speed / light combination controllers at all supported, whether officially or not.

After these are done, I have a ceiling fan light kit to obtain and install for the kitchen, of course do the T8 Dimmable LED conversion, and 2 more of the ceiling fan controls to install. At that point, I will have every bit of lighting visible from outside the house, automated and able to come on with an alarm event…

55

Is there a way to reset all Iris devices to factory settings after the Iris system was shutdown?
And more specifically the alarm panel and window sensors>
Thanks in advance

56

Yes, one by one, but you need to find the manual online for directions, or post your device models and I am sure other Iris refugees can tell you how to do it.

57

Determine your devices and Google how to factory reset whatever your device name is so for example how to factory reset and Irish 2nd generation contact sensor. Once you do that you should follow the link to the YouTube videos showing you how to do it. I’m not sure what you mean by alarm panel in relation to Iris you must be talking about the keypad.

58

Update on the kitchen fixture. It’s a quad T8 fluorescent fixture that I was waiting for the tubes to die on before I updated to LED. Are used FEIT electronic’s direct replacement LED tubes which were a direct swap in that I got from Costco. I then swapped in the zoo’s Zen 27 smart switch. I know I probably should have used a regular switch instead of a dimmer but it’s what I had. At some point I will probably go back and buy a Zen26 I think it is, But for now this works fine.

I am waiting to hear back from support to see how I have to move ahead on wiring those 3 ways switches.

So, at this point, I have fully automated lighting control of all lights visible from outside the house with the exception of the living room celing fan light, which will be controlled with a Zooz Zen22, and the back bedroom celing fan which will be controlled with the Hampton Bay ZigBee ceiling fan controller. Both installs will likely be this week or upcoming weekend…

The Ceiling fan in the master bedroom still has a bit of a vibration to it, so I am concentrating on balancing it out, and then will install the Hampton Bay I have for that one, removing the Sylvania Smart+ bulbs…

That will leave the vanities and middle bedroom lights the only ones not managed by ST.

Once I get the wiring diagrams right for the 3 ways, one of which is the main vanity, I am going to wire them with the Zen27s, and the master vanity gets the remaining Zen22…

It should be noted, that once I am done with my switches / ceiling fan controllers, I most likely will be retaining only about 3 of the Sylvania Smart+ bulbs. And it is possible if the finances work out, I will be retiring all of them. So it is possible a bunch of smart bulbs may come up for sale cheap here in the future…

59

So update again. I was given graciously by my BIL, 2 NuTone Zwave 15 amp switch only switches. A friend of his had done a smart home project with ST a few years ago and had these as extra, he simply bought too many. This solves my workshop switch issue, and gives me a non dimmable switch for the kitchen main fixture with the non dimmable LED tubes. So a couple of problems solved…

The system is growing in scope, and usefulness. And I am getting to the point where most likely I will be retiring smart bulbs sooner rather than later. I am working with / keeping up with Arcus development as well, and I am figuring if I can get the old Iris stuff going again, I will donate my smart bulbs, and Iris gear to my BIL (different one) for his smart home project.

60

Okay, I know, this is going slowly, I am being VERY careful with my electrical work as I don’t want a house fire… So here is where we stand.

  1. Security envelope is complete. Camera coverage of all routes that don’t require tunnelling or hopping my neighbors fence in a very limited area to access, motion sensors covering those areas, ADT open / close sensors on all doors and windows. and 2 additional sirens.

  2. Sylvania smart bulbs integrated throughout the house excluding flourescent fixtures, and most ceiling fans. 2 ceiling fans have the bulbs… They will be getting pulled out.

  3. Zooz Zen22 installed in dining room with EcoSmart dimmable cool white bulbs. Zooz Zen27 in kitchen, fixture fitted with Feit direct T8 / T12 LED conversion tubes. This was a mistake and MUST be changed out. I have the NuTone on / off switch only to control this. The Zen27 will be getting moved elsewhere.

  4. Hampton Bay Universal Wink Enabled White Ceiling Fan Premier Remote Control installed in the guest bedroom.

  5. Honeywell Smart WiFi Thermostat.

  6. 10 Ikea Tradfri and 1 Iris 3rd generation smart plugs integrated running lamps and desk fans etc…

  7. I have voice control / integration with 2 2nd generation Echo Dots, and 1 3rd generation. Also voice integration via the Amazon Alexa app on our phones…

  8. I have ADT monitoring, and ADT Tools 2 and several smart lighting rules including one that turns on the bathroom light with motion, and shuts it off after 5 minutes of no motion. The problem is it turns the light off when my short wife is taking a shower and the motion sensor can’t, well… sense her…

I have the following waiting for install.
2 @ Zooz Zen 22 dimmers.
2 @ Zooz Zen 27 dimmers. Technically 3 since 1 needs to get pulled out and moved.
2 @ NuTone 15 amp Zwave on / off switches.

So where are they going?

1 Zen 27 is going to my front hallway 3 way configuration paired with a Leviton standard 3 way switch.
1 Zen 27 likewise is going into the main bathroom vanity.
1 NuTone is going in the kitchen light circuit freeing up the last Zen 27.
1 Zen 27, the last one is going to the Master Bathroom / shower.
1 Zen 22 is going to the master vanity.
1 Zen 22 is going to the living room ceiling fan light circuit. I still need a fan controller for that fan…
1 fan controller is going to the middle bedroom / bedroom #3. I need to balance this fan, BADLY, and find / replace the burnt out bulbs for a fresh set of filament look LED candelabra base LEDs, yeah this is an odd fan…
1 fan controller is going to the master bedroom. I need to fine tune the balance on this fan before I do the automation on it. The blade arms were pretty far out of whack, and it’s a no name, non standard old Taiwan import fan from the early / mid 90s. I have to tweak the blade arms manually to get them back into position, VERY carefully… And I am close, just a mild vibration at the highest setting.
The remaining NuTone is going to be added to the garage workshop circuit. There are currently 7 2 tube 48" T12 fixtures. The T12s are 32w each for a total of 448w, and a Grizzly G0572 ambient air filter which uses 3A on high speed for a total of max 748w, which exceeds the switch. I am swapping the bulbs as I can afford them to the Feit 48" direct replacement tubes, which use 14w each, which means total load on the circuit would be 496w, which is well within the specs, thus this conversion will have to wait for the LED conversion, OR, move the ambient air filter to a different circuit.

I am stepping very carefully through the wiring as what is in my house doesn’t match what Zooz shows in their documentation.