It's just about finding the right tools for the job. Motion lighting for example is better and easier to set up than a RM for lights with motion detection. It's a perfect app for simple and really complicated set-ups where as RM would be really complicated to even get anywhere near it.
Generally start with the built in apps then if you find it's not possible, your probably doing something odd. I'm which case ask (just incase your just looking at it wrong) and then do it in RM.
RM is a last resort
Exactly, only if you can't do it elsewhere.
In terms of apps used to build automations, I think of them in this order. All of the ones below are Hubitat built-in apps, except Event Engine, whic is a community built app that has a lot of powerful features in an easy to use interface to build automations that Simple Automations rule can't do, and that don't need the additional complexity and learning cuve that Rule Machine requires. Definitely install and take a look at Event Engine. You can find it in Hubitat Package Manager.
This is a super helpful ordered list -- thanks! So far everything I have sits in either Simple Automation Rules or Rule Machine. My favourite is Rule Machine because it can do anything without the need for workarounds. But I should indeed have a think about migrating what is possible to some of these lighter apps...
When were you using it? I havenāt tried it out yet, but my understanding is that v3 was optimized quite a bit so as not to overload the hub and keep things running much more smoothly.
While not "apps" I also recommend:
Node-RED Server + HE Nodes - Visual style controller can be used to integrate a wide range of systems and potentially act as master rules engine (which can reduce overhead on HE hubs).
Homebridge Server + Homebridge App - Apple Homekit connectivity works great.
NOTE: These are not for everyone and require some initial setup so ymmv!!!
i think i used v2 a while ago, i haven't used v3 as i found TTS shortly after installing v2 and quickly went on a search to find an alternative that wouldn't lag my hub
Thanks for sharing your experience with an older version of ES.
Look out @TUllman! @erktrek will lead you down the winding paths of Node-Red and Homebridge, and your family may never see you again!!
Ha! As if they want to spend time with me anyway!!!
Yeah, this is already starting to look like Chinese to me and I suspect spending my time to learn actual Chinese would be more useful! I think I will first make sure I can get the 'standard' Hubitat running smoothly and then gradually keep upgrading / improving if I need to.
A rational approach that will of course make no sense to anyone else here.
I've tried to play around with this, but I have to say I am a little bit confused about how I can actually make it useful for me. Could someone please give me an example of a few use cases?
I started to look into it -- set up monitoring of devices' inactivity (the default option), but don't find the reports very helpful. As far as I understand inactivity doesn't equal no-presence, correct? So for instance I can have inactivity of 10h on a button, but all it means is that button wasn't pressed in the last 10h, not that it's not ready to be pressed, correct?
Am I right in thinking that monitoring the 'presence' attribute is more useful?
I've managed to find 'Geofency Presence' by Brian Wilson. Is that it or did you mean another app?
Yes you can use that app.
Itās also possible to integrate directly with Geofency by using the built-in Maker API app.
My Echo Speaks went from like 40-50% hub memory use to like 15% use after the latest V4 beta. You might want to try it again and see if is is better for you now.
ooo, very interesting. i'll definitely have to check it out. i don't mind the TTS i'm using since it's all local, so i'll see if anything changed with ES
I use the app to monitor the current health and response of my Zigbee and Z-wave mesh networks. In the garage I have two plug-in switches that are just used for repeaters. But since they are switches I have Hub Watchdog toggle the switches on/off every 3 hours and report the response time. Let's me see if things are actually normal or something is wrong and the response shoots through the roof.
Here is the Hub Watchdog Z-wave report for example.
Download the Hubitat app
