Hello ST Community- We have 2 cabins about 450 feet away from each other. We are putting in a single network (via Spectrum) with multiple wired access points across that will broadcast the same SSID for both cabins (one interior AP in each cabin and a single outdoor AP for outdoor access that covers space between the two cabins).
Each cabin will have their own Zwave & ST compatible devices (YRD216 lock, Ecobee thermostat, Sonos, Arlo camera, Blink Camera, etc). These devices will be dedicated to ONE DISCREET cabin only.
My plan was to use TWO ST V3 Hubs hardwired in each cabin, setup as a separate “location” as they would be if they were 100 miles away. One would be directly connected to the SINGLE router in Cabin 1 and the other would be connected to an unmanaged switch connected via ethernet in Cabin 2.
QUESTIONS:
Will it matter to SmartThings that they’re BOTH on the same “network”?
Is there a better solution to allow for TWO ST hubs that are on the same effective network, but discreet in the devices we wish to control?
It should work fine as far as the Z wave and zigbee devices.
Just be aware that having multiple locations on the same SmartThings account (whether they are on the same network or not) doesn’t always work well with third-party integrations like Alexa or Google Assistant or IFTTT.
Since blink is normally integrated through IFTTT, that could be an issue.
And I don’t know what’s going to happen with Arlo and ecobee, those are also cloud cloud integrations.
The problem is that for quite a few of these cloud cloud integrations, the smartthings account will only expose one of your locations, and you don’t always get to pick which one. This has been a common issue with echos and with IFTTT, but comes up with other devices as well. At other times, it has exposed all of the devices from all locations, also a problem with the voice assistants in particular. But might also be a privacy issue in your case with the cameras.
So in this case I think we come back to the first rule of home automation: “the model number matters.“
For the cloud to cloud integration you may just have to go through one at a time and check with people in the forum to see what happens when you have multiple locations with that model device on the same smartthings account.
This is a good heads up. I haven’t been using IFTTT after their annoying “pro” move and had more fun with Stringify (before they went away), but do realize if I am deploying Blink in this system and wished for it to be fully capable in ST, I’d have to configure that somehow. The reason for 2 systems is merely redundancy should one cloud system be down or fail. There won’t be complex automation/scenes associated with all of the devices. Mission critical control via ST in order: Locks YRD216 with Rental Lock Automator (Rboys App)–>Arlo–>Ecobee–>Blink–>Zwave switches–>Sonos
I’ve thought myself crazy with some legacy IOT setups across Alexa/Echo and IFTTT. We have (with these 2) a total of 6 vacation homes that we make available for short-term rentals. I’ve put multiple devices/systems in homes and do run into some bizarre issues that your heads up makes me understand what might be the root cause.
Based on your advice, I’ll start a separate device specific thread (including model #), under the header of 2+ locations on a single ST account and see where it leads me.
You may be able to have both locations on your account, and then create additional accounts to use with third party services that are only invited to one location each.
However I think there is a lot to be said for having one burner account owning each location and inviting yourself to each so your personal account can always be extricated. One of those twenty-twenty hindsight things that I wish I’d done.
