I’ll be migrating from a V1 hub to a V3 Hub soon. Is it true that if I add my V3 Hub to the same “Home Location” as the V1 Hub, as shown in the IDE, I will keep my apps and device handlers? I realize I’ll have to exclude and re add all of my devices but curious if the apps and handlers will stay after I delete the V1 Hub. I thought I read that somewhere.
Michael
I’d be amazed if that could work for your Z wave devices since their node ID is assigned by the hub and they will get new ones with the new hub. But I have no idea what happens with smartthings in this situation. Just if you do get some answers from people who have tried it, make sure you ask if they had Z wave devices or only zigbee and/or cloud connected.
I could see it working for cloud connected devices since the integration is at the account level, not the hub level.
Thanks JD, I realize I’ll have to add and pair the devices but I was hoping to save a step in copying and pasting all the code for my apps and Handlers. Not sure if that makes sense?
I see. If you’re just talking about your library of “publish for me” code for custom smart apps and custom DTHs, not the application of that code in the form of assignments to devices, scenes, and automations, then that might work.
Yes, your custom apps and handlers should still be there.
Great, thanks guys. That will save a little work.
You only need to backup the connection info on a given hub for any locally connected ZWave or Zigbee devices. All other info is stored in the cloud and doesn’t need to be backed up.
Unfortunately, when it comes to ST, “stored in the cloud” does not equivocate to “backed up.”
That’s because ST will randomly delete a subset of devices and any routine in which one of those devices appears (yes, the entire routine). One minute they’re there, the next they’re gone.
I just finished combing through and rebuilding my entire automation ecosystem (51 devices, 5 scenes, 12 routines, 9 WebCore pistons) for the second time. (Not counting the forced upgrade from a v1 hub.)
Samsung, I do not have time to retrace all that work every time you wet the bed. Stop deleting devices (preferably), or at least expose a backup/restore process so that your users can protect themselves from your vandalism.
I’m late to this, but wanted to add my “yep”. A couple months ago I had to replace my hub. It isn’t just the pain of repairing devices, but finding the directions for some of the devices on how to reset them was the worst. I love SmartThings, but this alone would cause me to not recommend it to anyone.
It’s November 2022. I have a V2 and V3 hub (6 hub mesh ST network), which worked OK for about 3 years. In July all 6 of my V3 hubs bricked. My >200 lights, switches, and virtual switches were evenly divided between V2 and V3 hubs. I had to factory reset all 6 V3 hubs, and reinstall everything. A week ago all Zwave devices connected to my V3 hubs failed, and couldn’t reconnect after factory resets. I was able to link them to my old V2 hub, which still works. A few minutes ago all 6 V3 hubs again went down. I was able to bring one up again, but everything set up in V3 is lost. I’ll migrate my entire ST setup to the V2 hub. However, that will take me 12-15 hours. After resisting for years, I have to move to hubitat. It is unconsciounable that Samsung / SmartThings cares so little about customers that weeks of work can’t be backed up. Seriously, what does that say about caring for the user experience?
Got suckered into an old thread somehow. Nevermind
Not to be pedantic but what is usually called the V3 or 2018 hub is not a WiFi mesh device.
I don’t know the various incarnations of WiFi mesh plus SmartThings hub that have been foisted on the world. But they always seem to lag far behind on SmartThings firmware updates.
As @HalD said, the V3 hub does not participate in Wi-Fi mesh. It has a Wi-Fi radio, but that’s only so it can connect to Wi-Fi, not so it can create a Network. model number GP-U999SJVLGDA or STH-ETH-300
smartthings made two different Wi-Fi mesh hubs.
The first generation was called Samsung Connect. It had one logo on the case. model numbers ET-WV520, ET-WV530
The second, current generation is called SmartThings Wi-Fi with Plume. It has two logos on the case. model number ET-WV525K
Yes, thank you. I have the “Smartthings with Plume” hub. Apparently there is a more recent thread, but this is the one that Google found.
To spare others the misery, my SmartThings phone app stated that my hub was “offline.” It stated this for about 3 months. I had two separate hubs with the same WiFi name. After moving the “offline hub” from room to room, and changing the name, I decided that it really was offline. I couldn’t seem to fix it, so I deleted it.
Not only was it not offline, it was the hub that had all of my devices (about 100). It also seemed to be the controlling hub for the rest of the network. Removing this “offline hub” removed all of my devices, and also completely brought down my Plume wifi network.
This seems to be an “own goal”, as I removed the hub yesterday. However, I did so because I received notifications from the app for at least 2 months that this hub was offline.
I had wondered how Samsung managed to have multiple mesh hubs function as a SmartThings hub. I also wondered several months ago how I lost everything overnight, including my WiFi. I think I now understand. My belief is that when you buy the SmartThings WiFi, only 1 of the pucks functions as the Hub. It has the V3 capabilities, but it’s a slightly different unit. The other units are slaves, not peers. They do not function as SmartThings hubs. They are only WiFi / mesh routers that happen to have ZigBee and Z-Wave antennae. I had thought that the SmartThings functionality lived within all 6 of my pucks. However, I think it only lives within the first puck that you set up. This master puck controls the other pucks, both for SmartThings and for WiFi. If it goes down, you lose everything.
My SmartThings WiFi is back up now, which took some doing. I am not reinstalling any devices on SmartThings. I’ve moved about 100 devices to Hubitat. Next week I’ll migrate the rest of my devices from the V2 Hub to Hubitat. Having used WebCore for about 5 years (thank you, Adrian!) I’m finding the Hubitat Rule Engine to be fairly intuitive. The only problem so far is finding the correct name for my more ancient SmartThings devices. When I’m done I’ll return with the Hubitat name for everything on my network.
Lastly, it seems that I’m making this transition in the nick of time. Today I found the “WebCore is going away forever” message after logging into WebCore. Wow. Evidently it exists, or is being resurrected, in Hubitat. So perhaps there is a sliver lining here.
That’s essentially correct with one difference.
The subhubs (that’s the Samsung name for everything other than the primary) do use the Z wave and Zigbee radios, but only to function as repeaters on the networks established by the primary hub. They don’t have other secondary functions, and they don’t serve as a back up for the primary for any administrative functions. So in terms of your network, it’s just another repeater. If the primary hub dies, as you discovered, then your network is gone as well because it’s the only one with the Device tables.
You can start over with one of the subhubs now being used as the primary, but you have to start everything from scratch and you have to identify the primary at the time that you create the network for the first time.
I’m glad you found something that is working for you. There has indeed been a version of Webcore that worked with Hubitat and for more than a year, it’s an option that some people choose specifically for that reason.
I will also say as a former network engineer that personally, I never liked the way Samsung supported Wi-Fi mesh with their smartthings mesh system because it required an active Internet connection even for the Wi-Fi to work between devices within the home. That’s quite unusual, and to my mind an inferior design.
Eero worked that way when it was first introduced, but they got a lot of pushback and eventually they did change over to what most other mesh routers do. The Internet is required to get you to the Internet, but it’s not required for one Wi-Fi device in your house to talk to another one. But smartthings has continue to use an architecture where when the Internet is out you also lose local Wi-Fi. 
My Smartthings my home backup isn’t available anymore. Can you help me?
NOT having a BACKUP / RESTORE process is absolutely mind boggling.
I have 60 devices and 50 routines. I have twice now been treated with the unpleasant issue of “device has been removed” in my routines. They are all MEROSS devices. YET NONE OF THEM HAVE BEEN REMOVED. They are all still there.
My larger routines have 30 devices in them with 25 of them “device has been removed”. I have to now spend hours recreating all of my routines from scratch…
Customer service says "you dont know which devices are in your routines? "
Uhh… yea… correct, I dont have 51 routines memorized with 20-30 devices, all at different customs settings, memorized… really?
Will be switching to a Universal Devices EISY system which is so much more powerful and has backups / restores as a BASIC feature.
GOODBYE DUMBTHINGS…
