Presence can be challenging.
Presence, regardless of the device you use, is one of those features that works great for some people, not at all for other people, and is randomly flaky for still others.
It’s very much affected by local conditions. So some people will find that phone presence works much better than the SmartThings-branded presence sensor. Other people will find the reverse. Still other people, myself included, find that they have to use a combination of two devices in order to get reliable presence indication.
So if this feature tends to work differently for different people, where do you start?
1. Using a Smart Phone as a Presence Indicator
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Well, since most people who have SmartThings have a smart phone, it’s worth starting there.
This method has changed significantly in the change fro…
As far as the hub not finding the presence sensor, that’s a zigbee device, so you may need a zigbee device which is capable of repeating. (The Wemo switches use a different protocol and can’t help with this.)
See post 11 in the following FAQ, then go back up to the top of the thread and read the whole thing.
One more thought. While I understand the marketing reasons for the decision, the fact that SmartThings gives customers zero guidance on how to set up a network backbone does lead to a lot of frustration that shouldn’t have to exist. if people knew that
.1) The hub should be located centrally in the home, both vertically and horizontally. Don’t put it in a garage or basement as those have concrete and pipes and metal objects which will reduce signal. If your Internet router is off in some inaccessible corner, you can use a Wi-Fi access point that has a ethernet port on the side and plug into that. Also, the hub should not be put in a cabinet. You just want to make it as easy as possible for signal to spread around your house.
.2) you need one device that can repeat about every 40 feet…
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See the FAQ (this is a clickable link)