Yeah that’s my situation exactly. I’d mount it by the front door because that lets you check and control everything as you come ad go. I’d probably put another on my nightstand.
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OK, I was confused by the term “Relay”… that’s just the brand name of the product, correct. You could just as easily take an old tablet and build one of your own (if I read the rest of the thread correctly) using Wink’s APIs?
We could probably bridge ST with Wink if we wanted to use their devices. The Wink API is only for cloud connected devices at this point, but maybe they will extend it.
I’ve been trying to work on a REST client/smartapp but can’t seem to even get a response from https://winkapi.quirky.com/ . However testing against their Apiary mock-up seems to return a mock token ok.
I have all the cloud quirky wink device types and service manager App submitted to ST for review. I hope to start on their hub connected devices soon.
Included in the release are the following:
Nimbus
Egg minder
Aros
Pivot Power genius
Spotter
Porkfolio
Refuel
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I have bridged my Wink to ST at a secondary controller but it’s not obvious how to align device identities. It would be very helpful if I had device identifiers (an old request). I’m still working to understand Z-Wave topology as implemented by these hubs. (Then there’s Zigbee)
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Will Wink support the zwave sensors I’ve already invested in? Do they have a reliable Presence (or can they support SmartThings Zigbee?)?
If so… As soon as you port over Smart Alarm app to Wink… I’m jumping ship. 
EDIT: Just checked their product page… looks like they are mostly promoting their own Quirky flavored gear (and some of the other big name players) (http://www.wink.com/products/#/detectors-and-sensors). Too bad… no way I’m buying all new switches and sensors.
Even the sensors and switches they support don’t always work right. I was researching switches and the leviton switches sold by Home Depot have several reviews saying works great, just not with the wink hub. Home Depot also seems to have the same idea about smart homes as vivint. Vivint believes that a smart home is simply one that you can control from your phone. You can buy all sorts of switches and bulbs at Home Depot, but few sensors so I think they must believe something similar. The main selling point of most IOT devices is "Look, you can control it from your phone!"
I like the idea of the relay, but couldn’t see my way clear of $200. It would be interesting to see if some of the more hacker type individuals in the community could jailbreak the relay and put the smartthings app on it. After all it is android isn’t it?
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Wink has much worse reviews than SmartThings. I’m sure it would be a step backwards…
Unfortunately we are in a period of limbo with no highly reliable systems, with the most hope coming from SmartThings Hub V2.0, with indefinite delivery date.
Seems that we’re still in the early adopter stage of this new industry. Yet a lot works… Just have to stay within the boundaries of what “works”?
The Action Dashboard is so streamlined and popular, it seems like the best “control panel” to SmartThings at this moment. This almost screams for a Kickstarter to build wall mount hardware for hosting it.
Unfortunately, it’s true for most smart home system on the market. While everyone claims to support Z-Wave, everyone pretty much sucks at it, including SmartThings. With ST at least you can write your own device handlers to fill the holes here and there. With Wink and others, you’re at vendor’s mercy. And since they don’t make money from your buying generic Z-Wave devices, they’re focused primarily on selling you their branded gadgets. Z-Wave for them is just a marketing gimmick.
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It would be awesome if a mount would take any old android handset that was lying around and mount it in a case. Perhaps the case could have knock-outs to support different size screens. The hardest part would be developing the power supply. I guess it would go over an existing switch and wire into the hot and neutral. The actual mount could be 3d printed, if someone has time to create a design.
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Get ActiON Dashboard, a $50 tablet, 90 degree USB adapter and some command strips and you got yourself a decent control panel. The best part is that you don’t even need a new device if you have an older tablet or phone to recycle.
Do you think there is enough interest for a Kickstarter campaign? SmartThings doesn’t seem to be interested…
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What’s the outcome of this? I just ordered ST. I want to get off wink but have some of their devices as well.
Call be crazy but this device has wifi and physical switches. It appears to be an android device. Could you not root it and install the Smartthings app? Would take a little work but I cannot imagine it being that difficult. If I owned my apartment instead of renting it, I would do this in a second. It couldn’t act as a hub but could be an android device in your wall with wifi and two physical switches.
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“rooting” depends on finding an exploit… some way to hack it. These devices have over-the-air update ability, but must require signed secure files. The boot loader may never be made accessible.
Motorola Photon was an example phone for which a full boot ROM (kernel overwrite) exploit has not been found, but root still possible. So manufacturers can lock down such hardware.
It had ADB access it sounds like, which would allow you to sideload the smartthings apk or a web browser apk without needing to root it. I’ve been tempted to pick one up and see if it has the older firmware with ADB still enabled, only concerns are if it will auto-update on me and even if I can get things sideloaded will I be able to launch the app? Very interesting product, I really like the form factor, mostly because I doubt I could mount my old Note 2 to look as nice as the relay.
Theoretically, you could use this product as the shell, use the screen, and buttons, and install a separate android device behind the shell. Tempted to find a broken one and try that myself.
The Relay, like just about everything else from Wink, turned out to be a much better idea than actual product. The Relay attaches to the mounting plate on the wall with a plastic clip-on mechanism. The clips lasted about a month of very light usage (one on/off cycle most days) before they stretched to where the Relay no longer reliably made contact. My Relay replaced physical light switches in a wall box so when the Relay lost contact, we lost the ability to turn on power to these lights. It’s now a few weeks later and the clips are so loose that the thing fell off the wall last night with no one in the room, leaving the 110v AC contacts exposed.
Even if you replace Wink’s tablet, you’ll still have a small 4.5" display in portrait mode, hanging by the flakey clips.
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I realize this is super-old, but I had a handy voltmeter. The contacts are this in order: left to right 1 2 3 4. 1 is 5v dc. 2 expects you to give it 5v from the relay to enable the top light load. 4 is the bottom light load, and 3 is a ground. Not dangerous at all.