In hubitat, I don't know. Lol. Helper/teacher/guide/etc...
I am fairly new to home automation. I purchased a lot of devices compatable with the smart life app (ip devices-temp sensors, cameras, power sockets, light bulbs, ac and dc power meters, and a few zigbee devices(button pusher and push buttons).
Now I want to control them locally so they will work without internet access. After I get that working, I will see about the remote control (internet side of things)
I need a trainer I guess. I have programmed plc logic controllers (many brands). I don't expect this to be any harder. Lol. I need someone to help me walk through a couple of devices so I can get the hang of it.
Any takers? I know, I am asking a lot, but I have purchased a c7 hub now and I need to setup my devices and migrate them from the smart life app to the hubitat app.
Thanks in advance and remember, I will pass this info along to others when needed.
I will start directly with the bad news - unfortunately, you have made a wrong choice in the past purchasing these Tuya WiFi devices. They are made to be dependant from Tuya Cloud servers. There are some workarounds to control some of the Tuya WiFi devices locally (mainly the WiFi bulbs), but the process is rather complex and cumbersome.
You can start by pairing the Tuya Zigbee devices to your Hubitat hub. Almost all of these should be supported in Hubitat by either HE-built drivers or community-written and community-supported drivers.
To chime off the previous post. Hubitat does support a lot of wardware, it does not support everything. Since you are new i would recommend starting with known compatible devices.
Once you are more comfortable with hubitat, then branch out to devices that are community supported or devices that you support.
Wonderful. That is my luck lately. I got them because smart life app would work with so many devices it just made sense at the time. I didn't realize the smart life app was internet dependent.
First, thank you for getting back with me. I have a in depth question. Can you steer me into the right direction for replacements?
I have 5 temp humidity sensors
16 security cameras
3 water sensors
12 power plugs
4 multi-button switches
8 door sensors
4 vibration sensors
4 smoke/CO2 alarms
3 AC power monitors
3 do power monitors
6 wifi light bulbs
Yeah, I bought into the smart life app. It has everything but not local control. I wish I could have started with hubitat. I still have a learning curve to conquer but with a little help I believe I can design my habitat.
Oh, will the tuya zigbee hub work with the hubitat zigbee hub? Do they connect together like a repeater?
For this question, the answer is no -- zigbee hubs cannot work together as repeaters. Each would need a unique zigbee channel and then each would have their own mesh of devices.
Since zigbee is in the already-congested & busy 2.4Ghz spectrum, it's wise to not have very many zigbee meshes so that you keep it all deconflicted. Quite a few folks (incl me) have 3 active 2.4 Ghz "things" -- 2.4 wifi, Hubitat zigbee mesh, and a Hue zigbee mesh. Deconflicting 3 (and potentially up to 4) like that is do-able (see image below), but any more than that gets really dicey.
With only rare exception, all mains-powered zigbee and z-wave devices act as repeaters within their respective mesh (battery powered devices are not repeaters in either mesh).
There are a lot of community developed application and supported devices. Beware that there are web-based devices, such as the Tuya WiFi you have, that may be supported by the community yet are still internet dependent.
Here is an example from my own experience. Emporia Vue is a power monitoring device that is internet dependent. I know there is community support for this device, however the community driver is merely calling an API on Emporia's servers. I do endeavor to be completely internet independent, so I have taken matters into my own hands. I am working on a method for providing local only access. The moral of that is, if you are really committed to local only control, even if you don't find a truly local solution right now, keep checking the community. There is likely someone working on a local only solution.
This is the beauty of Hubitat. After a few years of working with Hubitat, if what you need isn't supported by anyone, you can decide to build your own. You really need to try to find existing solutions first though.
A big conceptual hurdle for some is that HPM (Hubitat Package Manager) is ONLY to get community code onto the hub.
Here's the difference...
When you create, for example, a Homekit Presence device, you begin with Add Device, pick Virtual and then pick a driver (Virtual Presence with Switch). That Driver is built in code.
BUT if you wanted to use a Community created driver, for example Virtual Presence Hybrid, you would need to get that code added to the Hub so that it appears in the dropdown list:
And HPM helps with that.. getting Community code onto the hub so it appears in the drop downs.
It has an equivalent function for Apps. Community Apps code needs to be added to the Hub first THEN you can use the Add User App button:
I'm not sure about that page in the mobile app, that is typically for quick access to control devices. Typically you add devices via the web admin interface. I'd suggest reading the getting started section for adding devices.
If you're on your mobile the documentation link will likely not display like it does in a desktop browser, but you can access it by clicking the "hamburger" icon. It is also linked on the web UI somewhere (not at my PC ATM).
Unlike SmartLife, Hubitat provides a fully-featured desktop web UI. Access your hub web UI from a desktop PC or a laptop, not from the mobile app. Personally, I do not use the mobile app for anything else, except for its presence sensor functionality.
I see now that the plus button on the Devices page does take you through the pages to allow you to add a device to the hub. Perhaps you need to be connected locally to the hub? You do not have (Local) next to the hub name in the main screen, perhaps that is the issue? Mine sat there and spun when I tried the same thing when connected via the cloud, though I had (Cloud) next to the hub name.
I second this. Unless you're doing Zwave SmartStart, I strongly recommend using the Web UI rather than the mobile app. You will still need to either be on your local network or connected to it either with VPN or RemoteAdmin (based on your screenshot it appears you may not have been connected to your local network). The web UI is also accessible from a mobile browser.
The app has gotten leaps and bounds better, but it is still somewhat limited in its usefulness. I am heavily into Zwave, and only use the app for the SmartStart functionality to add Zwave and ZwaveLR devices. I have recently reincluded it in my presence solution, as it does seem to have gotten markedly better. Even in this instance I use it as part of an aggregate presence app, and do not rely on it soley.
Well, I think you found part of the problem, maybe
If I type hubitat.local in my browser, I get nothing.
Same thing if I type hubitat.cloud, nothing
If I type the IP address I gave it 192.168.11.145 the dashboard shows up.
I have reserved that up in my router for the hub.
Next, I added a zigbee button pusher. That went ok through the web interface. Since that is technically an output device, do I need to create a virtual switch to test it?
this.... the Device Detail page is an easy way to test things like this in most cases. If you want to a little further, a Button Controller App is also relatively easy to get started with.
Can you be more specific about what you mean when you say “nothing?”
This will never work to try to access your hub.
What do you mean by dashboard? Hubitat has a feature called dashboards, and it’s not really possible to access a dashboard by entering the hub’s IP address unless it’s followed by a very long string of letters and numbers.
If all you entered was “192.168.11.145” in your browser then you probably reached the home page of the hub’s administrative UI.
By joining the hub owners group, you can post screenshots of what you’re seeing here.
Custom Apps and Drivers / Hubitat Package Manager - Hubitat
this.... the Device Detail page is an easy way to test things like this in most cases. If you want to a little further, a Button Controller App is also relatively easy to get started with.
