Used z-wave HC2 for years, now beginning switch to SmartThings for WiFi / Zigbee support (for broader range and cheaper devices).
For test got 2 Ucomen plugs with WiFi - and after many trials found the way to get them into SmartThings is via the Smart Life app.
This works! BUT - it has always been focus that home automation should work also when internet is not available, and the inner workings of Smart Life integration is not well described…
Does SmartThings learn commends, and the communicates with wifi devices directly - or does all SmartThings command go through Smart Life internet??
Seems WiFi land is more of a jungle than ZigBee / Z-Wave - where all devices can be found and managed by the hub (all using same commands).On WiFi everybody can setup IP’s and so on, but seems there are lots of apps / platforms using different procedures / command sets. I find a few WiFi partners listed on SmartThings - which I expect would then be operated directly - but also find their devices to be expensive.
Any suggestions on best way to proceed would be greatly appreciated!!
SmartThings itself is still largely a cloudbased system. For example, the SmartThings app ALWAYS requires an Internet connection to the SmartThings cloud, even if both your phone and your hub are on the same LAN connection. They didn’t have to design it that way, but they did. Here’s the official architecture schema:
As far as integration between SmartThings and Smart Life, that is at the account to account level, and again always requires the Internet. (That would be one of the “services“ in the lower right corner of the schema diagram. Note that it has to connect to the cloud.)
SmartThings also expects its hubs to check in with the SmartThings cloud at least once a day or things can start to get wonky.
So when you are using the SmartThings platform, you do need an active Internet connection most of the time.
If you don’t need the app for a specific function, like you have a routine triggered by pressing a button, there are some things that can run locally, but at the time of this posting, it is only devices connected directly to the hub via Zwave, Zigbee, or matter, Plus a very small number of LAN connections which have custom integrations developed by SmartThings itself, such as the Phillips Hue bridge.
Almost all Wi-Fi partners listed on the SmartThings website or in the SmartThings app are cloud to cloud integrations. Not local. Again, you can see this in the schema diagram.
