New User with v2, lots of Q's

Adding to @JDRoberts post… Curious! Any v2 owners tried using their GE links trigerred via ST motions/multi’s via Smart lighting and checked if they work locally? And I mean GE links connected directly to ST and no via Hue hub. Would love to know this.

I would just amend this by saying “all of the devicse used in a single instance” must be on the approved list. I have plenty of devices that are “not approved” and/or custom device types on my system.

My instances of the Smart Lighting app that use just z-wave switches (sunset/sunrise and Big Switch configurations) run locally. My instances that include Hue bulbs don’t. So if you have a “mission critical” function you need to run locally ensure that the devices for that application are on the approved list.

That being said my observed difference in timing of local applications versus not has been a fraction of a second for local and around 1 second for not local. This is better than the 1-3 seconds I had with the V1 hub.

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Thanks for clarifying that, I thought I had misunderstood earlier. So, as in a single instance you mean, approved lights, approved for sensor, and approved code? Or is just hardware that had to be approved?

My reliability factor is that I wasn’t the foyer lights on before I Ann done opening my front door and on the stairs, I wasn’t the lights on before I make it to the first step.

Yes, all three have to work locally. I just tested out a two different configuration to achieve what you listed and they both run locally:

Z-wave switch with standard device type, z-wave motion detector with standard device type, and Smart Lights (only smart app that currently runs locally)

Z-wave switch with standard device type, z-wave door/window sensor with standard device type, and Smart Lights (only smart app that currently runs locally)

Lots of different use the standard z-wave device types, so it shouldn’t matter which brand you use.

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Ok, maybe I’m just having an off day… But please clarify… The hardware you used, which configuration and components are on the approved list running local with smart lights app?

Pretty sure it works by looking at the device type being used (that’s a little piece of software) rather then the actual physical device being used.

As zigbee and z wave are designed, it’s intended that physical devices from many different manufactures could all use the same device type. That’s called “inter-operability.” It means a contact sensor is treated as a contact sensor whether it’s made by fibaro or econolink or linear or DragonTech or whoever.

Sometimes a manufacturer offers additional custom features which require a custom device type to utilize.

But I believe the “local processing or not” decision in SmartThings is based on the device type for each device in that instance being approved for local use and the smartapp in that instance being approved for local use.

So it’s not that a particular sensor model is approved for local use in all cases. Rather, each time smartthings is going to run a little program, that is an instance of a smart app, It’s going to look at the exact device types being accessed by that little program for that particular instance.

This is why you could have one instance which used a standard Z wave light switch using a standard switch device type triggered by a motion sensor using a standard sensor device type and it would be approved to run locally.

But a different instance of the exact same smart app might use the same motion sensor with the same standard sensor type to trigger a Phillips hue bulb, and that would not be approved to run locally because of the inclusion of the hue bulb.

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So I tried:

A GE/Jasco z-wave light switch to be turn on by a EcoLink z-wave motion detector using the Smart Lights app (i.e. you walk by the motion detector, the light turns on) This set-up runs locally on the V2 hub.

I also tried a GE/Switch z-wave light switch to be turned on by a Schlage z-wave door/window sensor using the Smart Lights app (i.e. you open the door, the light turns on). This set-up runs locally on the V2 hub.

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The additional factor is going to be the exact device type used by each of the devices.

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Alright! Both of those replies are great and I thank you for clarifying that for me.

I can’t wait to get my hub so I can jump into this.

I’m New to HA but not to the electronics and languages.

First alert has a inexpensive connected CO/smoke alarm. I think that’s the only officially supported one but it’s excellent.

Anyone have any luck with an Ecolink Door Sensor or Aeon Siren running local only?

Gee , sounds like somebody had a Wink with it’s 30-45 second response. Open the front door and you are already in the kitchen at the back of the house before the front hall light comes on. I can say that exact scenario is what almost turned me off of home automation. had me giving serious consideration to cancelling my V2 order when I found out it was still mostly cloud based control. I did not want to give up the local control of my A+, I was spoiled by the 0.2 second response to commands.

That said, V2 should do exactly what you want. With Schlage Camelot lock as trigger and GE bulb in the fixture. The light is on before I can get my hand off of the lock when unlocked manually from the inside. On before my hand reaches the door knob when unlocked from the keypad outside. I’m using an unofficial community written driver for the locks.

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That is exactly what I’m looking for… That and a good autocorrect when I’m on my phone!

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@RLDreams, Which app are using for triggering light on unlock? The smartlighting app I was looking at has options only for contact sensors but not for lock activity… Thanks

Just the regular ST smart lighting app. Set the lock as trigger

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huh not sure how I missed the lock/unlock trigger! Complete oversight, thanks for pointing…

As it has been said several times, setup is not always all that intuitive .
I wound up with 2 rules Turn on hall lights when lock unlocks, and turn off hall lights when lock is locked. So far they are working fine.

I see people mention “virtual switch” all over the community. Can someone explain what that is and how you set it up and what is it usually used for? Thanks in advance!

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The IDE (integrated development environment) is a tool provided for people who want to write their own little programs for smart things, but it also gives you access as a regular customer to information about the devices that are connected to your smartthings network.

One of the things you can do in the IDE is to create a “virtual device.” This is a device that doesn’t exist in the real world, but that the network will treat as though it is real. Which means you can turn it on or off from other control mechanisms, like a program, or an outside service like IFTTT, or the Amazon echo.

There are many third-party devices which have limited integration with smart things. Most commonly, they are allowed to turn switches on and off. However, for security reasons, they may not be allowed to lock or unlock locks. And they usually don’t have access to smartthings control mechanisms like modes and routines.

By using a virtual switch you have the option of providing something that looks like a switch to one of these outside services, but telling smart things to use the action of that “switch” to trigger events within SmartThings.

They can also be useful for people writing programs for SmartThings. For example, some people use them to extend control over motion sensors, so that you can “turn off” a motion sensor with a manual command in the app, something you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do.

I know that’s a long explanation, but I hope it helps explain what virtual switches are.

As far as how you set them up, see the F a Q:

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This is exactly the type of post that NEEDS to be stickied at the top of the forum under getting started with your ST. @Ben needs to put @JDRoberts on the payroll in support@smartthings.com.

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