Another Wink Migrator

🎬 Get Started Migrating to Hubitat
1

Hi - looking through some of the users, I see a number of former Stringify members. I need some input on the Hubitat hub. I see the writing on the wall for Wink 2 and tried other hubs just to be disappointed.

  1. Does Hubitat give what Wink calls robots and shortcuts that capitalize on the robots?
  2. How well does Hubitat work with the Dome HA products?
  3. Does Hubitat work with Honeywell/Resideo thermostats?
  4. Is it worth the migration headache?
    Thanks & :v:t3:
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I have begun the process of migrating away from Wink. For me, Wink worked well and was fairly reliable (except for the recent outages). I have quite a few devices (Lutron, ZigBee and Z-Wave) from multiple brands and so far the transition is going quite well. Hubitat doesn't support Lutron natively, so you'll have to purchase the Lutron Pro Hub 2. The non-Pro hub doesn't support Telnet, so you can link it to Hubitat. The process was very easy. Plus with Pico Remotes, you can now do what you want with any button push. I have a Dome water shut off valve, and Hubitat does have a native driver for it. I haven't transitioned that yet, don't expect issues. Hubitat does have scenes, groups (similar to shortcuts) and Routines (similar to Robots) which are all way more powerful (and slightly complicated) to set up, but not impossible. I have a Honeywell TotalConnect thermostat and it doesn't integrate with Hubitat … I'll have to rely on IFTTT/Amazon Alexa to integrate.

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Hi, welcome to the forum.
I converted from wink about 2 months ago and couldn't be happier. Hubitat can be almost as simple as Wink if you check the compatibility list and stick with built in drivers and apps. If you are like me however once you see the flexibility and power you will wander into the user drivers and the frustration/elation/power begins. This forum however has never failed to answer any of my questions.

  1. Yes, rule manager, robots on steroids, hgh and a couple red bulls. Very powerful and by association can be frustrating. (but there are built in apps that can accomplish almost everything a robot could do that are very easy to use, simple lighting, motion control)
  2. I have a Dome water shut-off that works great
  3. I have a Honeywell total connect and works fine using a user contributed TCC driver
  4. 110% Migration for me was painless.
    If you read through the forum you will see that setting up your meshes correctly is way more important with Hubitat than it was with wink.
    You will read many "it worked fine with wink" type posts and most are related to the mesh network. Wink had stronger radios. Again this can be solved by using compatible devices and building out your mesh correctly.
    Hubitat is improving weekly and the developers are great as well as the community.
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@LGNEO

Welcome - I hope you decide to migrate to Hubitat. I moved here from Wink in March of this year, and the migration was worth it for me. I'm not going to claim it was painless, but it certainly wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. On to pro side, my automated home performs at an entirely different level now - I have automations that I could have never accomplished with Wink. Or even Stringify (I was fairly active on that community as well; same user name).

To answer your questions:

Yes. Robots are executed using Hubitat's rule machine automation engine (and/or other custom apps that are built-in or written by the community).

No issue at all.

If this is a z-wave thermostat, it is supported natively by HE. There are community integrations for Honeywell WiFi thermostats.

Honestly, it wasn't much of a headache for me. I would recommend creating a database of your devices to ensure that they are either natively supported or that there's a community driver available. Do not hesitate to seek help from the community - with rare exception, this is an extraordinarily helpful group of individuals.

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5

I'd agree with @cfunk30 !! Migration is pretty simple, but the key is getting ZigBee and Zwave meshes built out … check out the following two links:

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=How_to_Build_a_Solid_Zigbee_Mesh

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=How_to_Build_a_Solid_Z-Wave_Mesh

Regarding Honeywell, @cfunk30, what driver are you using to control these? I only found one that uses IFTTT. Thanks!!

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Would you happen to have a link to the TCC thermostat driver. I have a redlink Honeywell thermostat that uses a redlink gateway to the TCC cloud.

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It is this one:

It does state that "Honeywell doesn't support this method, it may not work forever. Also, set poll times to be 30 min or greater."

has worked for me. Granted all i really do with it is set it based on home/away/night.

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Thanks … I'll check it out. Was considering using the IFTTT method to automate nighttime / away automations

9

Another quick question, is the Hubitat hub strictly Ethernet (Wired) to the router or does it also support Wi-Fi (wireless) connection to the router?

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Hi - remember you well from Stringify. You helped on more than one occasion. Thx for your input.

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Strictly wired. IMO, this is a good idea - it reduces WiFi/Zigbee interference.

12

Wink Hub 1 was awful in this regard. It could not co exist in the same room with my router and had to put it in another room. Wink Hub 2 added ethernet and worked well placed within 12" of my Orbi. For Hubitat, I have it about 10 feet away from the router in a location were I am setting up / testing, Ideally I'd like to place it in my rack / closet with all of my other devices. However, the documentation states to keep it away from wi-fi routers. I'll have to test this once I remove the Wink hubs and my migration has completed. At least the Hubitat is VERY small (about 3" square by 1" high!)