Non-cloud locally managed ANYTHING!?!

Hello -

Been a ST user for many years have tons of devices.

My question is, I am sick of third party device cloud associations which are not necessary. My Aoetec ST v3 hub controls the (4) frequencies and protocols I give a care about, WiFi, Zigbee, Zwave and Matter.

Everytime I buy a new damn device on any of those protocols the third party forces me to signup with their cloud and ST logs into and maintains that third party cloud relationship. Fine for v2 hubs that didn’t have WiFi. Now that I have ST v3 I want as few brands as possible. I realize part of the beauty of v3 is to pair with many things that’s super cool but when it’s not absolutely necessary, when adding a single device to my smart home, I’d rather not spend 30 minutes logging into somebody else’s website, registering the product on their website, tying in their cloud credentials to SmartThings cloud credentials. I’d rather everything be controlled locally by smart things. does anybody know of any freaking brand of any freaking device that will do this?

The other massive consideration is relationships between smart things and these third-party guys come and go, and I don’t want to be in that situation where somebody’s cloud disappears and now I can’t turn off my microwave lol.

Question is what device manufacturer allows me to not have to register a device with some other cloud source and allows me to put the device in a pairing mode and smart things takes over from there. Does anybody know of any device that does this?

Second question, do all WiFi devices REQUIRE third party cloud manage handshaking in order for ST to be able to control? If that’s the case WiFi for this is useless. Too many points of failure.

And for anyone who’s gonna chew me out for writing all this and it’s somewhere else and I’m in the wrong place hey I’m sorry I’ve been looking for this answer for three weeks and cannot find anyone talking about this.

Thank you!
Chris Gage

There’s the before matter answer to this question and the after matter answer to this question. So the answer you’ll get today, April 2023, is going to be very different than the answer You might get even six months from now.

BEFORE MATTER

For right now, there are a few Wi-Fi options which can be used with the smartthings cloud and not the manufacturers’ cloud, but they might require “flashing“ the device to change its firmware, and it’s kind of complicated. And it’s still not completely local.

And there are some devices which you can communicate with locally using a custom edge driver, but they probably still have to be set up and registered with their own cloud to begin with.

So I don’t know if any of that is really what you’re looking for. :thinking:

AFTER MATTER

This is exactly one of the issues that matter is supposed to solve for the industry. Eventually, but not today, you will be able to buy a thread or Wi-Fi device which is matter compatible and set it up using just the smartthings app and it will run locally and it will continue to operate, even if that device manufacturer goes out of business. Only we’re not there yet. Only a few matter devices have been released, and so far mostly thread, which you didn’t mention.

So if you can wait six months, I think you will have a lot of choices in this category. We just aren’t there yet.

Here’s the link to the forum thread where we are discussing all things matter:

Matter - smart home connectivity standard (formerly Project CHIP)

Also, the hub-connected devices using Z wave and Zigbee should never require the manufacturer’s cloud unless you are connecting them to their own hub, and then using an account to account integration.

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There’s no difference between V2 and V3 hubs in that regard. V2 hubs communicated with Wi-Fi devices as well. You just plug it into your router and uses that to communicate to Wi-Fi devices exactly the same way a V3 hub would. The only advantage to the V3 hub in relation to Wi-Fi is that it can be placed anywhere within Wi-Fi signal rather than needing to be close to your router. In a lot of ways the V2 is still the superior device, in terms of technical specs.

Ive primarily purchased ZWave & Zigbee devices because they don’t require cloud connections. What devices are you using and we could point you in a better direction?

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Thank you! I’m using a bunch of brands, Sengled, Kasa, TP-Link, Samsung, GoSund,
TreatLife, Govee, Meross, there are more I can’t remember at present.

All of the 40 iot devices I have all, of course, Zigbee, Zwave or WiFi and all required third party device cloud registration with their specific smartphone app.

Thank you gentlemen very much for the expert help!

Before or after matter, v2 or v3, any Zigbee or zwave device connected to your SmartThings/Aeotec hub will not require a manufacturer’s cloud. Indeed, most don’t even have a manufacturer’s cloud unless they are connected to a different hub. So I’m confused about this part of your question. :thinking:

All the brands you listed are WiFi brands except maybe Sengled which offers some Zigbee models and some WiFi models.

What country are you in? The device selection does vary.

In North America, none of the following popular brands should require a manufacturer’s cloud as long as you are not using another hub as well. In alphabetical order:

2Gig/GoControl/Linear/Nortek (zwave)
Aqara (Zigbee)
Cree (Zigbee)
Dome (zwave)
Ecolink (zwave)
Fibaro (zwave)
GE/Honeywell/Jasco (zwave)
Homeseer(zwave)
Inovelli (zwave or Zigbee)
Leviton (zwave or Zigbee. WiFi models do require the manufacturer’s cloud)
Osram/Sylvania (Zigbee)
Qubino (zwave)
SmartThings(Zigbee)
Zooz (zwave)

There are others as well, that’s just to give some examples. Some individual models of those may require custom code, but none should require a manufacturer’s cloud or app. If you find searching at Amazon too confusing, try checking a specialist retailer like

www.thesmartesthouse.com or
www.zwaveproducts.com

If you are in a different region, the list will be different but there should still be a lot of Zigbee or zwave devices.

www.vesternet.co.uk is a good specialty retailer for the UK/EU , and let’s you browse by protocol.

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That is profound! I went to look at each device I have at both locations and it is exactly as you said.

Every device for which I had/have to register with vendor cloud are my WiFi devices. I really thought I had Zigbee/Zwave in the mix of annoying vendor cloud devices as i have a lot of Singled WiFi and Zigbee devices, also as you said.

I’m embarrassed now as I’ve been researching trying to find 1-3 brands I can continue on with that have the most products with zero vendor cloud blah blah. I am excited about Matter and glad that will open up WiFi devices for a potentially a one time say hi to mother ship but then will ride in ST for local execution irrespective of future communication to HQ.

I really appreciate all the responses. I have learned so much and am grateful for all of the expert responses.

Thank you!
Chris Gage

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Thank you again for your very helpful responses!

Could you offer any suggestions for LED bulbs? I’m searching for color bulbs that are equivalent to 90 watts and would appreciate knowing which brands and protocols you prefer. Ideally, I would like to steer clear of WiFi, unless there’s a brand that enables local SmartThings execution and control after registering and connecting to SmartThings.

I could go all Sengled but they’re pricey.

Thank you, Chris

If you can wait a few months Matter should offer quite a few more candidate LED bulbs that run locally with SmartThings with no custom code required. :thinking:

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Hello -

I received notification Amazon delivered these first Matter bulbs to my house. I look forward to reporting back on installation and use upon returning home.

Linkind Smart Light Bulbs, Matter LED Color Changing Light Bulbs, A19 E26 RGB Smart Light Bulbs, Music Sync, 60W Equivalent, 2.4Ghz W… https://a.co/d/6N6bmpc

Thanks
Chris

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