Plug and Play vs can be made to work with custom code

[JDRoberts]

Continuing the discussion from Any Z-Wave Thermostat?:

@tgauchat

To the best of my knowledge, this can be “easily” implemented with a SmartApp (and perhaps some Virtual Devices to trigger and/or hold scene state data if necessary).

Ref: Scene Machine as a pretty good Proof of Concept.

Reference this thread that I rather dislike because too many participants dismiss “Scenes” as unnecessary in SmartThings, smh.

But you know of this thread already since you’ve participated extensively…

Are there scenes?

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So, in Summary…

Without taking this Topic on a further tangent (we can, however, start a new Topic if desired for discussion…):

1. SmartThings should not imply they are “fully” or comprehensively Z-Wave compatible, unless “partial compatibility” is de facto in the industry and marketing materials across Z-Wave products.

2. SmartThings should improve their “Works With SmartThings” web page (NB: pre-sales web page!) to clearly distinguish “full supported devices” vs. those that are partially supported, in development, in Beta, Labs, etc… I think the hover “i” indicator is insufficient, but, well, at least it’s there.

3. Given #1 (i.e., SmartThings is not and may never be a fully Z-Wave (or ZigBee?) compliant / compatible system), Customer and Developers should never expect the Z-Wave and/or ZigBee definition of “Scenes” to be implemented. This should be made clear pre-sale as well. However, many of the elements of those standard definitions of “Scenes” can be emulated without any platform architecture changes (i.e., can be implemented with only SmartApps and/or Virtual Scene Devices). It would be interesting to explore, confirm, and document the exact aspects of “Scenes” that can be implemented in ST (i.e., the minimal incremental feature request), and then compare this implementation of “Scenes” bullet-by-bullet with the Z-Wave and ZigBee standards, and any other applicable similar standards (Lutron?).

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I hope my Summary is accurate, but respectfully suggest we spin off to a New Topic for further discussion, and/or move to an existing applicable Topic.

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Spinning off…

I like what you’ve said in your summary above. But until all I have to do is hit one INSTALL button in the mobile app, i don’t count it as plug and play.

I also think the “I” on the “works with” list is insufficient because it mixes good stuff (is a repeater) with bad stuff (only some functions are supported) with beta indications (labs). these need three different icons.

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@JDRoberts

I like what you’ve said in your summary above. But until all I have to do is hit one INSTALL button in the mobile app, i don’t count it as plug and play.

I don’t understand. Don’t all the “fully supported” Devices work in this matter (i.e., using the + button (SmartSetup) + Connect New Device, … Searching... ?

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As for the “works with” page…

@JDRoberts

I also think the “I” on the “works with” list is insufficient because it mixes good stuff (is a repeater) with bad stuff (only some functions are supported) with beta indications (labs). these need three different icons.

I agree 100%. They need to break up the page into at least two; “Fully Supported” (i.e., plug & play), vs. anything else that has any non-trivial issue.

[JDRoberts]

I meant an install for the smartapps. You can pair some certified power strips, for example, but as I understand it you can’t control each plug individually without custom code. And Scene Machine still using requires the IDE, right? It didn’t show up in a search in the mobile app.

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@JDRoberts

I meant an install for the smartapps. You can pair some certified power strips, for example, but as I understand it you can’t control each plug individually without custom code.

Sorry… still confused. Do you have a specific example Device – though I may need screenshots or other references to actually get on the same page with you.

NB: I am only referring to devices that SmartThings claims are “fully supported” (i.e., no “i” indicator).

[JDRoberts]

SmartenIt ZBLC15 is zigbee, but typical for a physical device. Replaces a two plug receptacle, intended by the manufacturer to “Independently control 2 devices” On the “works with” list, but ST turns both plugs on and off together.

It’s a huge amount of work for me physically to find these examples for you, so I’m going to leave additional research to you.

[JDRoberts]

We crossposted. You added your NB while I was still composing.

As far as the items without “I” like I said this research is physically wearing for me. Hopefully someone who found it necessary to write/use a custom device type for one of the items that meet your parameters will post.

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@JDRoberts

We crossposted. You added your NB while I was still composing.

As far as the items without “I” like I said this research is physically wearing for me. Hopefully someone who found it necessary to write/use a custom device type for one of the items that meet your parameters will post.

Understood.
We can delete the two interim “disqualified” posts if you’d like, and then this one. I’ll start