Newbie with a New House - Any Help Appreciated

I purchased a Wink hub, and then after reviewing this forum, decided that this was a better route
for me. One thing I liked about the Wink is that it seemed to be easier for a non-code person to set up “scenes” and other actions, but I do think I am savvy enough to at least copy and paste what is being provided in here. Plus after seeing a few “Rule engines”, I feel much more comfortable.

Is there anything I can get started with now while waiting for my hub in the mail! Can I access anything online yet or do I need to wait for the unit? I can’t wait!

I have purchased my first home and there are some changes (small remodels) I am doing to the house. I am wondering if anyone has any general comments on things I should consider while making changes as they
relate to a smart home. Furthermore, I have some generic questions below regarding the items I will be looking to
control the following and have some basic questions about some of them:

  • Fireplace - I simply want this to turn on/off when the temperature gets too cold upstairs. I plan to determine this with a temp sensor and using mode (home/away/sleep, etc.) to determine on/off. If I have a switch to turn it on/off, which I will, is it as simple as having a z-wave switch in it’s place? All fireplace topics here seemed they were more advanced, but that could be my lack of knowledge leading to me oversimplifying it.

  • Outdoor Heaters - I plan to get mounted electric heaters outside (Infratech). Potentially driving this off a scene that combines a mode (outdoor entertainment) that combines temp and maybe motion with a switch off after “x” minutes without motion. Is this also as simple as replacing the light switches with Z-Wave switches that turn them on/off?

  • Motorized Blinds - The original draw to Wink and one of the more important items in my house (changing blinds in a high visibility area of my home). I am still a little unsure on how to accomplish this with what I have seen but I will continue to look, so I will ask the simple question, is there a works with Smart Things blinds company?

  • Thermostat - One thing I have learned on this site is an acronym, WAF. :slight_smile: And this is very important. Frankly, the Honeywell Wink WF thermostat is the look my wife wants, the Z-Wave thermostats aren’t as attractive. Can I also connect the honeywell WF thermostat to Smart Things? I assume some how I can but will it have all the same functionality as the honeywell app.

  • Camera - Is there fully integrated camera solution where I can watch live? Or do I need to use a different app. I have seen on the “Dashboard” type threads that people appear to have live feeds but don’t really understand what cameras I can/should buy to accomplish this. The Arlo cameras are appealing to me, but not sure if I can do anything with them.

  • Voice - Most of the focus on these threads appear to be voice command. My biggest concern (WAF driven) is the opposite. Her sister has ADT pulse and the unit “announces” what door/window opened anytime those sensors are triggered. How do I accomplish this? I see there may be a Sonos solution, but wonder if there is a cheaper solution (too many other things to spend money on :slight_smile: and I’m not fully sold on Sonos ex/ smart home).

  • I need to look more into Sensors/Lights/Switches/Outlets/Smoke/co2 for anything complicated but I think I get all the basics on these. I will eventually move to locks and need to do some research there.

While I’m mainly excited about my new house, Smart Things is making me even more excited!

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forums!!! I always enjoy seeing new faces!!

  1. Fireplace can be difficult. Can you provide some details in the fireplace? Voltages and such? Is it a wall switch that turns it on and off??

  2. Heaters - same as above

  3. There isn’t a great solution for this yet. But there are tons of great ideas hitting then market in this arena. Coming soon I think.

  4. The Honeywell WF therm. Can be integrated.
    Honeywell Smart Wi-Fi Thermostat Compatibility

  5. Camera - dropcam integration is the “official” one. Dlink and netgear coming. Live video is coming with hub v2.

Hope this helps!!!

Again super awesome to meet you!!!

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Lots of info in this thread:

  1. Fireplace - http://napoleonfireplaces.com/products/ascent-42-b42/ It’s a gas fireplace. Page 40 of the specs have a wiring diagram…which unfortunately is a foreign language :frowning: . It isn’t installed yet, will arrive in about 10 days and it is about to be framed, but it is going to have a wall switch that turns it on and off.

  2. Heaters - I’m going with Infratech, which after a little more research on their site, yielded this http://infratech-usa.com/installation/smart-home-integration/ . Mentions Lutron, Crestron, and Control4 which I’m not familiar with.

  3. I see the Somfy/Bali “solution” on this site, Hunter Douglas has the Top Down Bottom Up motorized solution which according to a sales rep I spoke to has some new “smart home” functionality coming in July. I will respond in the blinds thread to see what is possible.

  4. Thanks, I will look into this. I’m not quite certain what these smart thermostats are capable of. I looked at some threads in here about the topic and the ecobee ability to check humidity is nice. I was originally planning, and still might, use a netatmo (IFTTT to a smart outlet) or a humidity sensor to a smart outlet to turn on a dehumidifier in a particular room (I assume will work if it simply has an on/off mechanical).

  5. Well, hopefully a battery camera, easier for me, will offer live with hub v2.

What about voice? Is there a voice response to a sensor other than Sonos? I want to build up a lot of WAF upfront with this one so I can spend it on some other items. :slight_smile:

Great! I will check it out.

  1. As long as your fireplace is literally an on/off wall switch, you’ll have no trouble integrating. Just ask your electrician to run a neutral wire into the junction box where the switch will be installed.

  2. It looks like those heaters take a 0-10VDC signal. You could probably hack together a dimable power supply (for LED tape or something) and a regular household dimmer. Or, you could use an Arduino setup to do the same thing, if you want to dive into the code.

  3. Each smart thermostat offers a different set of stand-alone features. When integrated to ST, they all let you set home/away mode and change thermostat set points from ST. You can also read humidity levels from Ecobee and Nest (and others, I’m sure).

There is a solution to get Ubi integrated. If you are a Mac household, there is a solution for an Airplay-based system. Both of those will be cheaper than Sonos.

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Anything that has a standard wall switch should be able to be replaced with a zwave/zigbee wall switch.


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With the fireplace, it’s possible that the wiring will be 24v so it can be integrated with a thermostat. My fireplace has a normal on/off switch that also runs through a thermostat(see photo). If such is the case for you, either a zwave thermostat or a mimo lite should do it.

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Thanks!

I thought (hoped) that this would mostly be a “switch is a switch” type situation (from what I have read in many of these, a lack of a neutral wire can be an issue in certain cases, but that’s it?).

I’m not much of a Mac person, or household. In my new house, I will be looking to go to a new “sound system”, haven’t looked into much, Sonos or otherwise. I’m really looking for an “always on” solution and maybe Sonos is right. I will check out this thread and dive further. Thanks again!

Almost all smart switches need a neutral. The wiring is different because a smart switch is really still on even when it looks like it’s off, or it won’t recognize the next command to turn “on” again.

See the following FAQ on wiring:

As far as a voice announcer, Sonos is a really nice, really expensive system, but there are many less expensive alternatives as long as they use the DNLA protocol. See:

And the software to make it work:

So you’ll have a lot of choices for that, especially if you just want voice announcer quality rather than high end music quality.

I just got my hub!
I just got my internet hooked up as well.
I’m currently not staying at the house as there is still some remodeling occurring. I have two questions regarding getting started…

  1. Is it okay if I start setting up sensors and the hub even if I am going to need to put away all of it for a week or two period in the coming days? I would like to start but just not sure if I have to relink everything when I pack up the modem/router and hub while the remodel is finishing.

  2. I thought I saw somewhere about a preference for security that ensures the best connection to Smart Things Hub? Is that true or not true? (WPA v WPA2, etc.)

Thanks!

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Congrats! :blush:You can set it up now just to play with it if you like. Anything you pair to the hub will still be paired when you move, although you’ll need to tell the hub its new geolocation. And repair the mesh once everything’s in place so everything knows its actual neighbors in the new house.

http://blog.smartthings.com/how-to/how-to-change-your-hubs-location/

If you’re going to do direct associations, you may need to individually redo those if the devices aren’t in the same rooms after the move.

And a note about a network repair:

Sooooo, I am finally in my house and setting up my products with the hub and my first attempt is already not working…

I am trying to add an OSRAM lightify bulb and when I try to find it, it doesn’t ever “find it”. However, when I cancel it will show that is has connected to a “Thing” but won’t give me anything to do after that. What am I missing, this seems so straight forward in the app but nothing seems to work.

How frustrating! Since this is a brand new installation, probably the best thing is to contact support@smartthings.com . They can do some remote diagnostics if needed and make sure it’s not an issue with the account or the hub itself.

you can go to the smartthings developer site and change the device type of the “thing” to a specific device. If one exists for that lightbulb this will make it work. It’s how i had to get my ge tapt switch to work.

i recently replaced that exact thermostat in my house with a centralite unit i got on ebay. Paid $30, it runs off batteries, and it’s zigbee. no common wire required.

If you want more of a reliable platform for audio go with Sonos.I have the MediaRender and it is not very responsive and unreliable. I have iOS. Some people say it could be that it is an iOS issue. Just my experience.

-Brandon