Hey community. Just joined the club last week when the Hub came in the mail. I have dabbled in home automation for 20 years now, going way back to the X-10 days using IBM software for “Home Automation”. These days I have been running a Vera Lite but I have found the community support to be insufficient and the Open Source approach to be a turn off. So I wanted to try a different direction and Smartthings seems to work with more of the items we have accumulated over time.
Currently, I have two Ecobee thermostats with six remote sensors between them. The ecobee system is pretty self sufficient and I don’t plan to modify it with Samsung. However i may use the Home Modes to modify the Ecobee away and home settings. I may also look at using the Samsung hub to reduce the temperature settings based on humidity (It’s a south Louisiana thing).
I have a Phillips Hue bridge with 10 bulbs but I plan to grow from there. I have various Z-wave outlets and switches throughout. My initial thinking here is to use the Hue motion sensors to turn lights on a low setting - this does not require a Samsung interface. But I can then use Z-wave switches (wired in parallel) to trigger Smartthings scenes to change the lighting to bright or off. Im not sure if I can use scene controller for other light settings.
I also plan to move forward and incorporate a doorbell and garage door opener (being replaced in 2018). I’m looking at Ring and undecided on the garage door, but I want to avoid MyQ and go direct to the hub if I can.
As of now I have no interest in incorporating home AV but I do have a logitech harmony remote that may give some options - have not really looked into yet.
I also have a 110 gallon reef tank on an Apex controller and I see some opportunities to cross-link the two. For example an alarm condition on the tank can turn my room lighting red. Or when we are up late at night, I have occupancy sensors notify the apex to adjust the lighting schedule. Z-wave dry contacts would be the communication interface between the two.
I have a standalone alarm and I intend to keep it that way as I don’t want my home security to be dependent on a IOT hub. But I would be curious if there is a way to capture sensor status.
Thats it for now. Look forward to any suggestions or feedback.
Sounds like you have a lot to keep you busy. Best thing to do is peruse the forum and search the forum. You will find 99% of what you need on here.
I doubt you will get a lot of specific responses to this post it is too broad. I can say that everything you are looking to do is possible, has been done, or can be done and can be done so in various ways. That is the beauty of the ST system.
Look into the Smartthings IDE it will be your friend.
I agree with @jgravert-- there’s not really much feedback we can give you yet except to say that everything you describe is possible one way or another.
There’s a lot of information in the forum, but unfortunately the search sucks. So you might want to take a look at the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki. Aming other things, in the project reports section there’s a “get started” list with a lot of interesting topics that may help answer some of your questions. There’s also a list there for “animals” which includes aquarium projects if you’re curious about what other people have done.
As far as a garage controller that isn’t using MyQ, The linear/go control Z wave device is very popular. And officially supported.
It’s sold under multiple brand names, but it’s all the same device, just in a different box. It also includes a tilt sensor so the device can report both “opening” and “closing” as well as “open” and “closed.”
Typically lists for around $90, but you can often find it a little bit cheaper if you shop around. Right now Amazon has it at the lowest price, but sometimes it’s less expensive at Home Depot or Best Buy.
Thanks guys. I wasn’t looking for anything “exact” at the moment as I really need to get started and see what questions come up. But I do appreciate the feedback.
I picked up the Iris garage controller (Linear) and it worked great. I did have to do install it twice, but now it works.
My Kwikset door lock ported over from Vera to Samsung with no issues.
Phillips Hue and Ecobee thermostats and sensors ported as well.
I picked up a motion sensor for my foyer light and I have a GE Z-wave switch in the foyer, parallel to the Hue light. I have not figured out how to set this up to my liking yet. The Smartlight SmartApp does not support multiple functions and they override each other. So if I set the motion sensor to turn the light on at 30%, then the switch to turn it on at 100%, motion will reset it back to 30%, regardless of the switch status.
So you might want to take a look at the quick browse lists in the community – created wiki. Aming other things, in the project reports section there’s a “get started” list with a lot of interesting topics that may help answer some of your questions. There’s also a list there for “animals” which includes aquarium projects if you’re curious about what other people have done. 
