I'm completely new to the whole world of home automation, I didn't even know there was such a thing until two weeks ago. So I've been on catchup reading a lot over the past couple of weeks, was very confused for at least the first week until it started to make sense. Read a bit more and then decided to buy into Hubitat and have been researching and starting to buy a few things to connect to.
I've made a few mistakes already however, which has triggered me to write this.
I bought a couple of outlets which I thought were smart, but they weren't as smart as I had hoped. I was expecting something which I now know to be called zigbee or z-wave, but instead they are just wifi based outlets. They are 'Smart Life' products. I've been able to get them connected to our wifi and can toggle a lamp on and off with my phone which was a first for me. It says it works with IFTTT and Alexa etc (of which I have none), but here is where I get stuck.
Can I not get Hubitat to control it through the dashboard? I've signed up for IFTTT, found my hub, found the Smart Life products, but not sure where to go from here. There are all these Applet things - Hubitat applets and Smart Life applets - which ones do I need? I turned on a Smart Life applet to turn my lamp off at 10pm but that didn't work.
Also when I add IFTTT to Hubitat dashboard, there is nothing there. Reading through the documentation but not made any progress so far. Clearly I'm not understanding yet but I was expecting to see my 'Lamp' which is working through our wifi.
Essentially what I want to do is simply be able to control our lamp when I am not at home- a rather modest entry effort into home automation I had imagined..
Is this possible? Do I need to buy an Alexa or Google Home to be the go-between? If there are any clues as to the missing link they would be appreciated
Personally, I would return the WiFi outlets and buy some inexpensive Securifi Peanut or Ikea Tradfri Zigbee outlets instead.
The main advantage of Hubitat versus other solutions is the fact that everything runs locally on the hub. Using IFTTT or any other cloud service means your home automation now depends on the your internet connection and the cloud servers from multiple providers.
Hi Ogiewon, thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned I am in Australia, and have looked all over the Ikea website and they don’t seem to sell the outlet here unfortunately. Unless they have it instore only so I will go to check this weekend. There is only one zigbee outlet on amazon aus and it’s pretty expensive at $45 AUD / $30USD- Nue something. I’m not sure I want to end up with travel adapters for everything so that might be my only choice. Thanks again!
The trafidi range in Australia is new, in the last 2 months. Consensus is that the power outlets/sockets will be added soon'ish - at least that's what occured o/s.
What you are missing is you need to create a virtual device in Hubitat that you will use for that switch. When you trigger this switch in Hubitat it will run you IFTTT applet to turn on the wifi switch.....of course you will need to configure the applet in IFTTT accordingly. "IF Hubitat virtual switch is on THEN turn Smart Life Outlet On" Same thing for off......there will be delays though since IFTTT is cloud ran.
There is no need to add IFTTT to the Dashboard, only devices/virtual devices
Thanks for the additional replies, I'll read through the Australia thread again and base myself there. Appreciate the heads-up on Nue and I'll keep my fingers crossed for the Tradfri outlet.
Ah yes regarding the virtual switch that sounds good. I'll have a go at this at the next opportunity, thank you : )
@steziefk I guess by now you figured out how to switch the lamp on/off with IFTTT & Hubitat using the Create in IFTTT, and a virtual device as a switch in Hubitat?
Hi Brynjoynes and welcome!
Thank you for your message and enquiry, my apologies for not replying to this sooner. Yes, I managed to get it working through IFTTT (eventually), though in the end I don't use it nearly as much as I expected. In fact the whole smart home thing hasn't been working as well as I imagined but that might be as I haven't put that much effort into it yet. I have a load motion sensors and some door sensors but half the time they don't work. It might be they are too far from my hub though and I don't have anything to repeat the signal with. I will get back onto the case in the coming months but right now we have a lot of other things to get sorted, like painting and gardening
Cheers.
