I’m pretty new to the home automation scene. To start with I purchased a 2018 Echo Plus. So far I’ve got a few WiFi plugs, 2 Hue bulbs, a peanut plug, and a zigbee contact sensor connected to it. It works pretty well! However there are other zigbee/zwave devices I’d like to use that I can’t. So when I saw the Smartthings v2 hub for $25 at Home Depot, I picked one up!
My question is: has anyone tried to take hue bulbs that are directly connected to the echo plus and move them to Smartthings WITHOUT the Hue hub? If I can do this, would I be able to move them back to the echo plus or would they be stuck on Smartthings?
The reason I want to use the Hue bulbs directly connected is twofold: it saves me money and the bulbs can act as a zigbee repeater. I currently have one outside my back door that will hopefully repeat to my garage. I have read that Hue bulbs do not make great repeaters however… Has anyone had them work ok? Is it worth a shot? If not, does anyone have any recommendations on other bulbs that are good zigbee repeaters? I read that Sengled bulbs don’t repeat. So, maybe Cree or Sylvania Lightify?
Long post, sorry! Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!