New devices certified from Zen, GE, Jasco! July 30, 2015

Announcements Device Integrations
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Great news! Our device certification team has been working around the clock to certify new devices for you all! We are happy to announce a few of the new devices we have certified that now officially work with the SmartThings platform.

Zen Thermostat

Zen is a smart home thermostat that looks beautiful on your wall, is incredibly simple to use and allows you to control the temperature of your home from anywhere using the SmartThings mobile app. Zen fits beautifully into your home or office environment. The led screen provides clear and simple feedback, icons only display when they are required. Available in black or white, Zen blends seamlessly into your existing interior design.

GE In-Wall Smart Switch (ZigBee) 45856GE

GE ZigBee In-Wall Smart Switch: Enables remote control of hard-wired lights and ceiling fans in your home; wireless; easy installation

GE In-Wall Smart Dimmer (ZigBee) 45857GE

GE ZigBee In-Wall Smart Dimmer Switch: Enables remote control over on, off and dimming functions of hard-wired lights in your home; wireless; easy installation

GE Plug-In Smart Switch (ZigBee) 45853GE

GE ZigBee Plug-In Smart Light Switch: 120V; 15 amps; adds remote on/off to table and floor lamps; offers control of small appliances; handles up to 600W from most types of bulbs, including incandescent, xenon, CFL, LED and more

GE Plug-In Smart Dimmer (ZigBee) 45852GE

GE ZigBee Plug-In Smart Light Switch: 120V; 15 amps; adds remote on/off to table and floor lamps; handles up to 300W incandescent and 150W dimmable LED and CFL bulbs.

Note: The Jasco equivalent to these device are also compatible with SmartThings. (45857, 45856, 45853, 45852)

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kowabunga!

20 power!

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Do the ge zigbee dimmers and switches support instant update?

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They are ZigBee and shouldn’t be subject to the Lutron patent, but could be completely wrong. @tyler, or anyone else, can correct me if I am wrong.

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Holy smokes, these are twice as expensive as Z-Wave! Thanks, I’ll pass. :smile:

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When you manually toggle these devices they update in-app immediately. I can look at recording a video tomorrow.

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Oh yeah, sure that’s worth the extra $35 for these… :joy:

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Maybe not, but them being ZigBee over Z-Wave is worth that for me. My network is all ZigBee (except a MInimote) so a bunch of Z-Wave repeaters are useless to me.

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The Lutron patent applies to any RF protocol, zigbee included. Lutron sued Control4 for patent infringement on their zigbee dimmers and won. Crestron and Control4 both pay Lutron license fees for their instant status lighting.

And

http://www.cepro.com/article/lutron_crestron_settle_on_patent-infringement_claims/

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I am curious as to why you prefer zigbee over zwave. what’s your beef with zwave?

thanks,

qn

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Zigbee vs zwave is like apple vs microsoft.

Both have pros and cons, but once you invest into one, it’s hard to consider the other.

Plus zigbee is better.

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I use both. One of ST’s strengths is it gives you the option of choosing any mix you like: zwave only, zigbee only, or a mix. There’s no one answer, different people will like different setups.

Zigbee has smaller antennas, somewhat better battery life, works a bit better through rain, and a network can have thousands of devices. So if you have a big house with lots of lights, or you’re looking at battery operated sensors, zigbee is often the best fit. Also zigbee binding can be done on the fly, which has some advantages for some use cases.

Zwave can only have 232 devices per network. But–zigbee can run into local interference, particularly from boosted WiFi or cordless phones. That makes zwave a safer choice for some indoor residential applications, particularly for apartment dwellers. Also zwave chips all come from a single manufacturer, and they’ve enforced an interoperability which zigbee has not. And zwave’s secondary controller concept is absolutely brilliant for adding handheld remotes and button scene controllers, which matches a lot of residential use cases.

In general, zwave has been the simpler choice at the low end of price points, so many more manufacturers have put out DIY models. You can see this in dimmer switches, where there are a lot more choices available in Zwave.

On the other hand, at higher price points, single source installers like Control4 and Crestron have mostly used zigbee. The pro installer can address the interference issues, and they aren’t worried about pulling an incompatible device during a weekend shopping trip at Lowe’s since they supply pre-selected equipment.

Like most engineers, I see value in both protocols, but device for device, zigbee pieces are usually more appealing to me. The one exception is button controllers for scene management, where I do think zwave has an edge. But you can work around that, and many companies provide custom controllers.

So if you’re a company selling cheap devices at Home Depot for mix and match DIY networks, zwave will probably reduce your customer support costs. If you’re building a single source system with professional installation, or at a high enough price point to cover the cost of troubleshooting local interference, zigbee may have some real advantages.

If you’re a customer selecting devices for your own home network, you can choose any mix you like. :blush: (If you live in an apartment, I would probably consider zwave first, though, one reason I think it’s done so well in Europe.)

FWIW.

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No beef!

All the first party SmartThings devices are ZigBee. For consistency and the ability to use the same mesh network I’ve tried to keep my devices using the same protocol. There are also a ton of ZigBee lighting products hitting the market so it’s becoming an easier decision in my opinion.

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I have a mix of both and see a real benefit to that quite frankly. Mostly because it means I don’t have to worry about finding a specific protocol when trying to find a specific device for an application. My entire house is pretty much covered with ZigBee and ZWave at this point, so it doesn’t really matter which I use.

I’ve experienced “weirdness” which each protocol, so don’t necessarily trust one more than the other, but if gun to my head, forced to pick like products for like price, I’d probably go with ZigBee.

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We’ve added the in-wall dimmer and in-wall switch to our shop:

GE In-wall Smart Dimmer Switch (ZigBee)

GE In-wall Smart Switch (ZigBee)

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GE Link smart bulbs (also Zigbee) sell for $14.97 in Home Depot. How does it make sense that GE Zigbee in-wall dimmer cost four times as much? I bet their manufacturing cost are about the same. Sounds like a rip-off to me.

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Most dimmer wall switches, networked or not, cost several times their associated light bulbs, that’s not unusual. There are various reasons for that.

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Also, I’m pretty sure about 50% goes to Lutron because of their patent.

And a dimmer can control more than one light. So a bank of 5 lights (dumb bulbs) can be controlled by one dimmer cheaper then adding all smart bulbs.

And a dimmer has the ability to be used for custom programming, like tap and double tap / triple tap, assuming the devicetype has that support in it?

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With all due respect, you’re talking about “dumb” bulbs. Sure, a dimmer costs more to make than a dumb light bulb. Zigbee smart bulbs on the other hand, contain the same electronic components as dimmers - a Zigbee module, a PWM and a power supply. The only difference is that the dimmer has a toggle switch while the bulb has an LED.

That’s just a software function. I bet they use the same Zigbee chip. Ultimately, light bulbs and switches (either smart or not) are a commodity. Their prices should (and eventually will) gravitate to their manufacturing cost.

When the first LED lights bulbs appeared on the market they were priced 4-5 times higher than CFL (presumably because they have more “value”, i.e. consume less power and last longer). Now they’re about the same price.

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So its profit then? Oh no. They are making money when I buy them. Maybe then, they’ll make more and then get cheaper.