Link to Hub

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Linking two Hubitat Elevation Hubs

When two Hubitat Elevation hubs run on the same local network, it is possible to view and control devices on one of the hubs (called the Remote hub) from the other hub (called the Master hub). The built-in app called Hub Link is installed on the Master hub. Hub Link is the same app used to link a SmartThings hub to Hubitat Elevation. The ip address of the Remote hub must be entered into the setup page for Hub Link. To link two hubs together, Hub Link should be installed first on the Master hub. It is possible to have more than one Remote hub linked to Hub Link, along with a SmartThings hub -- all at the same time. The ip address for each Remote hub (or ST hub) should be entered into Hub Link, separated by commas.

On the Remote hub, install and setup the built-in app, Link to Hub. This app is similar to the Send Hub Events SmartApp used to link a SmartThings hub to Hubitat Elevation (see this post). In Link to Hub, you must enter the ip address of the Master Hub (which must be on the same LAN and subnetwork). You may also select devices on the Remote hub that you want to appear on the Master hub. Each selected device will have a counterpart virtual device of the same name created on the Master hub. For sensors, any sensor event that occurs on the Remote hub will also occur on the Master hub. For actuators -- specifically, switches, dimmers, bulbs, locks and button devices -- any commands given to the real device on the Remote hub will also be given to the virtual device on the Master hub -- and vice versa. Any command given to the virtual device on the Master hub will also be given to the real device on the Remote hub.

By using this setup described above, for all practical purposes the devices selected in Link to Hub on the Remote hub are available on the Master hub. This means those devices can be used in automations on the Master hub, just as if those were real devices connected to the Master Hub. This also means that a Dashboard set up on the Master hub may contain devices from the Remote hub, that can be monitored and controlled from the Dashboard.

About Virtual Device Management

When you hit Done in Link to Hub, after selecting devices, corresponding virtual devices are created on the Master hub, each with the same name as the real device on the Remote hub. If you deselect a device previously selected in Link to Hub, the corresponding virtual device is not removed from the Master hub. You will have to remove it manually. However, if you remove Hub Link on the Master hub, all of the virtual devices it has created will be removed.

When you hit Done in Link to Hub, after selecting actuator devices, special virtual devices are created on that Remote hub. These virtual devices have 'ugly' names starting with the letter 'v', and should just be ignored. These are used for the two-way communication coming back from Hub Link when the virtual actuator devices on the Master hub are used to control the real devices on the Remote hub. If you deselect an actuator device previously selected in Link to Hub, the corresponding special virtual device on that Remote hub is removed. If Link to Hub itself is removed, all such special virtual devices are removed at the same time.

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Hi. This is an interesting concept. What would be a use case for this?

Thanks.

Todd

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Large premise with a need for two separate z-wave networks, is one example.

Some users were clamoring for such a capability. Perhaps they will chime in with their use cases.

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Allows you to exceed the number of devices limit that a single hub imposes, in addition to distribution over a large area without having to rely solely on the mesh to repeat the signal in a large residential install.

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What limit? We don't impose a limit. A well formed mesh is only limited by the overall Z-Wave limit of 232. But we're happy to sell you a second hub!! :sunglasses:

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Having a large amount of Xiaomi devices so it won't get the wrong repeaters when doing a Zigbee heal.

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The Zigbee radio has an limited number of devices that can be paired does it not?

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Direct pair to the hub is only limited to 23 or 32 Zigbee isn't it?

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32 paired directly to the hub (I beleive we updated to that value some time ago), each repeater will typically handle 7, and these don't count against the hub limit.

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My use case for this feature will be to allow my development Hubitat hub to have access to my production Hubitat hub’s device’s. This will allow me to set up better testing scenarios without disturbing the production hub and upsetting the family.

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I’ve got a long house with multiple interior brick walls that do an excellent job of blocking wireless signals. I’ve got Ethernet run across the house however. This lets me set up two zones and control it all from one place.

Also, as I’ve been having trouble with my Schlage locks seemingly slowing down the responsiveness of my lights, I currently have all my locks on the slave hub, and only lights on it are on timers and are not motion controlled.

That’s the plan anyway. Still a lot of things to move around.

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So far this is working pretty well for me. One feature request though - I’d like to have the hubs sync their location mode.

It is working well to have my slave hub run things like motion apps, but then I still want my master hub to determine mode based on presence, time, etc. This allows me to split things up, but still have routines that control everything in the house.

So far, this seems to effectively take some of the load off my main hub and everything seems to be much snappier and more consistent.

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Why is it not possible to set mode on both hubs the same way? If you use Mode Manager you could set it up identically on the two hubs. I'd really like to understand why you think this is necessary to be done through Hub Link / Link to Hub.

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Bruce,

Is it possible to install the Life360 app on two HE hubs, using the same Life360 account? I hadn’t considered trying that until now, based on your suggestion above.

I just want to make sure that having the Life360 app on two hubs at once won’t cause any conflicts.

Thanks,

Dan

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I have no idea. But why not just send presence events from the remote hub to the master hub? Put Life360 on the remote.

I should add: This is truly beta, but I believe that you can put Hub Link on both hubs, and Link to Hub on both hubs, and choose which devices send to which hub. So if you had Life360 on your production hub, but want the events on your test hub, you could do that. Just be sure to avoid circularity -- you could in theory create an infinite loop of events between two hubs.

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Two installs of life360 on the same account won't work as life360 limits one webhook per account (as near as I can tell), so its a last writer wins, last writer being the last instance to do a refresh.

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I have some fairly complex rules that I've setup in webcore to manage the mode - the complexity mostly revolves around when people are sleeping. I then have my lighting rules determined by the mode.

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Makes sense! Thanks.

Thanks for the info. Glad I didn’t try it without asking first.

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OK, thanks for explaining. As you may be aware, Send Events SmartApp, the ST version of Link to Hub, does send mode to Hub Link. So the code to do this is all there. I was waiting for feedback like this to turn it on. I will put modes in the next release of Link to Hub. So the remote will be able to send the mode to the master. See my comment above about installing Hub Link / Link to Hub on both hubs, as it isn't clear which of the two hubs might be the mode sender. Suffice it to say, that Link to Hub is the one that sends modes, and Hub Link sets mode based on those "events".

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awesome! thanks