I felt it was time to post about my experience to maybe assist others. I've seen the multiple reports of issues, and so far have been pretty lucky. I have no complaints from my switch and couldn't be happier with Hubitat.
I started with SmartThings around May 2017. After having been on SmartThings for a year I had decided that the cloud requirement wasn't for me. I then bought the Hubitat hub around June of 2018.
I can't say everything was smoothing sailing from the start. The Linear Garage door openers were problematic until I had installed the Iris 3320-Ls, I originally had all 4 paired as both Zwave and Zigbee. After I added the Kwikset 910's I kept having issues with them dropping off the network and not responding. I found a couple of forum postings stating there was a firmware problem on some of the 3320-L's, and after looking, found I only had 1 on the newer firmware. I proceeded to exclude the 3 on the bad firmware. Since that time I've not had any Zwave issues
For the zigbee side, I bought the first Xbee in hopes of extending the range of the Iris presence sensor. At the same time I was having issues with some of the other zigbee devices not responding. The first time I mapped the the zigbee network I was amazed at what the mapping showed. In my case, I had devices routing through the Cree's that I hadn't expected. That's when i started slowly replacing the Crees with the Sengleds. I added the 2nd Xbee when I tried to get a contact sensor working in a building that was 150 feet or more from the house. Adding this 2nd Xbee is what got me to finish replacing the Crees. I found that the Xbee I had placed in the building was routing through a Cree instead of the 1st Xbee. The Cree was on the opposite side of the house. The 3rd Xbee was bought just to use for mapping so that I didn't have to remove either of the 2 from their locations.
For all your Xbee information see the post Everything Xbee
As it stands I've been close to a year without having any major issues. The only time the hub gets rebooted is when I perform the platform updates,
Below are the current details of my setup.
Devices:
C-4 Hub.
8x Iris 3320-L
1 GE zwave smart dimmer 12724
2x Leviton ZWave Plus Switches, DZ15S
11x Visonic MCT-340 E contact sensors.
3x Iris Motion Detector 3326-L
Bosch Motion Detector
4x Iris 3210-L
2x Iris Moisture Detector 3315-L
First Alert Fire/CO detector
3x Google/Nest Home mini
2x Kwikset 910 Zwave locks.
2x GE Zwave Plus Outets
Iris 4 button key fob 3450-L2
3x Xbee, 1 used for mapping and not left online
2x Iris/Linear Garage Door Opener GX00Z-1
GE Outdoor Smart Switch Zwave
2x Hampton Bay Fan controller
8x Sengled Element Classic
2x Blink cameras
Lutron Caesta Pro Bridge
1x Pico
Custom:
bptworld's "Device Watchdog"
srwhite's "Iris SmartPlug Z-Wave Repeater" driver
Current Automations:
Closet Lights -- All my closets had pull string lights which I had a bad habit of leaving on. I used contact sensors on the doors, so that when a door is opened the light turns on, when door is closed the light turns off.
Garage Lights -- Used the motion sensors to automate the lights.
Good Night routine -- Activated from RM rule that watches power output to rise above 10W. Locks the doors, arms HSM, Turns off all lights
Good Morning routine -- Activated from RM rule that watches for power out to drop below 10W. Unlocks the doors, disarms HSM.
Iris KeyFob Presence -- On arrival, disarms HSM and unlock the doors. On departure, Lock doors and turn off all lights. I fully understand this isn't best practice nor recommended.
Blink -- Arm and disarm based on HSM status using IFTTT
Future plans:
I have one more fan controller to install, I hope to add more motion sensors through the house for more automation. I'd still like to add a thermostat for the baseboard heaters, but after adding a wood stove last fall, its not really needed now. I also want to do something different camera wise, just not sure which route I'm going to go yet. 10 more Iris 3326-L motion sensors have been bought, need to plan out the installs.
I'll update this post with details as I add more to my system.
It looks like you took some time to get to know your system and get it done. Nice job. I look forward to seeing your future automations and the creativity you put into them. Keep it up!
@silasdevries I keep the first post in the Xbee thread up to date all you need is the 9 steps listed.
Other great info and knowledge is throughout the thread though.
I had done the Xbee config prior to the lastest template by @NoWon. following his original directions in the posting, I was able to set the Xbee up in a few minutes. I did have to let the mapping run for an hour or 2 the first time to get all the zigbee devices. That first mapping showed that most of my zigbee devices were preferring the Cree bulbs for routing instead of the Iris Smart outlets. It then took me several months to replace the Cree's. I think it was amazon's prime day last year where I bought enough Sengleds to replace the Cree's.
To add, make use of this community. There is a wealth of knowledge and eagerness to help, that in at least my opinion, you won't find else where. I may not be as active on the forums as others, but have found the wealth of knowledge in this community invaluable as I've configured my system.
im just starting so thanks for the kind words! and this is a great first impression. if this is always how it is i look forward to lots of future in depth convos! because boy do i have lots to learn and lots of questions to ask
ok and how do you find out which zigbee mesh's play nice and which do not? for instance if sylvania zigbee downlights and eti zigbee downlights play nice?
Mainly from Hubitat's and SmartThing's communities. There are numerous posts about issues with bulb routing in both communities. The Crees was well documented by @april.brandt here Dealing with Zigbee Issues - Gotta love those Crees. I had seen other posts of issues after a given number of bulbs were added. I think I was at 7 before i started replacing them.
The best advice I could give is to consider fully what you want and the end state. In my case I'm the only one I have to worry about annoying. If something doesn't work there is no one else that is going to complain.
For the 910's I'd say was due to repeaters on the network. One is within a foot of one of the Leviton switches. The other is close to the Iris smart plug that is configured for the Z-wave repeater. However, I'll caveat, that I currently have no way to know the paths on the Z-wave side. I did have to bring both close to the Hubitat Hub during in initial pairing.
I'll add that after I removed any of the Iris smart plugs that didn't show the below for the Zwave side, that i've not had any issues since I removed more them.
Yes, I was having issues with the locks not responding and/or dropping while the Iris plugs zwave side were paired. After I removed all be the one with the newest firmware I've not had any further issues with the locks. I just wished I'd jumped on the Iris hub to update the firmware on the others prior to the shutdown.
Figured it was time for an update. The original post has also been updated.
Finally figured out a way to automate my Good Morning and Good Night routines. Found this post Zigbee power usage reporting. It talked about using the power reporting to monitor a CPAP machine. Which in turn got me thinking about my machine.
So here are the details of what I've configured.
3210-L -- Configured to watch for 10 watt changes.
BedTime -- Virtual Switch
Good Night Routine
Trigger: "Power is > 10 Actions: IF (Mode is Day) then Mode: Night and On: BedTime
Mode changing to Night triggers another RM Rule that Locks the doors and Arms the Blink Cameras. It also also triggers a simple automation rule to make sure all lights are turned off.
BedTime is configured to turn off 15 minutes later.
Good Morning Routine
Trigger: Power < 15 Actions: If (Mode is Night AND BedTime is off) then Mode: Day
Mode changing to Day triggers another RM Rule that unlocks the doors and disarms the blink cameras.
The BedTime virtual switch was added because power usage when the CPAP machine was first turned on seemed to fluctuate enough that it was triggering the Good Morning rule. After it was on for a few minutes the fluctuations stabilized.
I've also have added a Lutron Caesta Pro Bridge to the mix. Bought the kit that included a Pico and a dimmer, but have only been playing with the Pico so far. Still trying to decide where to install the dimmer.
