Hi all,
Please see below image. What I want to happen is that the bathroom extractor fan turns on when the main bathroom light is switched on - this works fine (albeit brutally delayed by hue bridge polling), but when I switch off the light, the fan switches off imediately too and ignores the delay command set in the rule - am I missing something here? For info both elements are zigbee relays integrated into the Hue Bridge.
Many thanks for your help.
...also, I'm slightly gutted about the Hubitat/Hue integration - why isn't it instantly updated like Smartthings? With the above automation (set to the recommended 1min polling cycle), the fan turning on is delayed until Hubitat polls the hue devices - which can be up to 1min.
My entire house is controlled by multiple hue hubs and I planned on using Aeotec motion sensors in all rooms (rescesses etc have been installed), but now I'm worried about the potential for delays because hue updates are so delayed - the exact opposite of what I wanted Hubitat for - namely fast local reactions.
Yes, I can reduce the polling level, but it is seemingly not recommended and can cause hub issues - is this correct?
The polling interval is only material if the status of a hue device changes outside of HE's view, like if you use the Hue app to turn on or off a Hue device. It will not affect the time it takes a motion sensor rule on HE to turn on or off a light. ZWave will, though, and you may notice a slight but perceptible delay (though minor IMO) with the Aeotecs. Are your switches Hue switches paired to your Hue hub?
Oh wait... if I read your post correctly the switches are actually relays paired with your hue hub? That will cause delays, yes. But if you pair them directly with HE the delay will go away.
Hi brad, yes. Essentially my (Smotech) zigbee relay switches are all pired to the hue hub. I just figured that would be simpler to do it. Problem is Alexa is used often to control everthing via the direct hue integration, so this could introduce sync issues with Hubitat when it comes to polling. Whereas with Smartthings an Alexa hue change was reflected almost instantly in the ST app. Can't understand why it's so different with Hubitat...
Any thoughts on why my automation doesn't work btw?
Many thanks again for your help.
Bingo. I don't know why the ST integration with Hue was different. I ran HE for a while but ditched it before I started adding Hue devices.
Here's my strategy... I have a Philips Hue hub, a Lutron Pro hub, a Bond hub, and three HEs, plus Alexa integration. One HE provides all the integration, and the various hubs and services are integrated only with that primary HE. If I want Alexa to turn on and off a Hue light or a Lutron switch or a fan, the command goes from Alexa to HE, which then sends it to the appropriate secondary hub. All of my sensors are paired with that primary HE and the HE runs all rules. The one exception is a couple of simple Alexa routines more to provide work-arounds for Alexa limitations, but they all end up triggering actions based on HE rules. Gets rid of the whole sync issue and the delay issues too.
Not sure about your simple rule... honestly I don't ever use it. But it certainly looks fine.
Thanks for the tip - the issue that I have with this particular automation is that the all the zigbee relay devices are integrated into the hue hub and synced with Hubitat - so everything starts with hue. I.e. when someone presses the switch, that updates the Hue hub, then Hubitat has to wait until it polls to get its state - and my tests have been showing that this could be 5mins later even if polling is set to 1min or 30seconds - absolutely no idea why.
So outside of unpairing everything with the hue hub and putting it all directly into Hubitat (which would be a nightmare as the implants are above lights, behind walls etc.) I'm not sure what other options I have. Maybe I'll move it all into an Alexa routine as the hue/alexa updates are almost instant, but this then means a lot of messing around with a ton of virtual switches to add humidity level conditions etc. Ugh.. silly me for thinking this would be easy - open to any other ideas!
EDIT a re-boot has sorted the delayed polling, but it is still too long at 1min or 30secs and I don't want to reduce it following reports of problems
I would seek the advice of others, but...
In the mean time are your relays these guys? They're on the HE compatibility list but I'd be concerned if they are something else that is NOT... or at least do a lot of testing before you start opening up walls.
Yes, looks as though that is the generic on/off (SM308) switch (albeit for an earlier model), there would need to be a dimming handler as well for the SM309 too, which I'd guess there would be...
I have some spares I could also test with first - just wish there was a simpler solution. Just realised I can't go the Alexa routine way either, because it would make no difference as the particular hue hub that has these switches is integrated via Hubitat into Alexa - not directly with Alexa/hue as you can only do that with one Hub (my other one) at this point in time. Nightmare...
There is a community-supported app called HubConnect which allows you to integrate ST and HE. I know there have been some changes on the ST side with support for some of the IDE going away, not sure if it will be a viable solution. But it might buy you some time.
One other thought, do you use Webcore? Does the 'refresh state' action work? I heard that it didn't, but I could be wrong - if it does, I could just add a 'refresh' command into the piston that could work...
I used webcore when I was on ST and for a couple months on HE but I weaned myself from it and finally broke down and tackled RM.
FYI - I found the automation problem - 'main bathroom' is actual a group that includes the automation trigger - bathrooom fan, which obviously messes everything up. I should have included 'main bathroom lights' instead. My bad.
However, the polling problem seems unresolvable given how I have things setup. Even if I reduce the hue hub polling to its lowest level, that's still a potential 10 second wait for a reaction. It would be great if Hubitat could explore further to find a resolution akin to what Smartthings has, where a change in the hue app or via Alexa is reflected almost imediately in ST.
I think I have a solution for you that may work. There's a community-supported Hue integration called CoCoHue written by @bertabcd1234. It allows you to set a polling interval as short as 10 seconds, and you could modify the code to go even shorter, though I bet that would lead to other consequences. I tagged Robert to ask and also to see if maybe he has other suggestions for you.
BTW he reports in another link the poll vs push is a limitation of Hue. ST also polls - just much more aggressively.
You could try the following community Hue integration by @armand , which I believe has been updated recently to use Hue's new local API which supports instant status updates.
Wow even better. I didn't know about that one.
@mabstrategy - You might also want to check out CoCoHue by @bertabcd1234. It may also have support for the new Hue local instant status update API.
If I end up needing an app that is overly aggressive at polling or excessively chatty I will offload it to a secondary hub to free up my primary hub. If you find one of these new Hue integrations bogs down the hub that may be a good option for you.
This looks great - I'm currently using CoCo, so haven't witnesssed the local API implemented yet - perhaps it is in BETA?
I will however, try the Advanced Integration as it does sound like exactly what I need. Many thanks!
Yup! But available via github.
Download the Hubitat app
