New home/build around Hubitat

interesting, thanks for the info! I'll defiantly look into this then. with the Aux switch you wouldn't be able to actually kill power to the smart one though right? (something im struggling with bad atm with my hue bulbs on non smart switches)

Can’t go wrong with Lutron if reliability is very important to you.

Correct, if you want to use Caseta devices and picos with Hubitat.

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Your best choice so far is the Lutron. They have been rock-solid for me.

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The AUX only control the smart switch for the way it is programmed.

If you are disabling the relay in the parameters and using it to control smart bulbs only, that's how the aux will work. The AUX only "tells" the smart switch that you're holding up, down, button press, whatever. The smart switch does the rest.

Hope that makes sense.

Kinda, so basically the AUX is just controlling the actual smart switch,

Where's the profit in that? :wink:

But, at least with Yale you can retrofit some of their locks for different applications just by switching the module.

https://www.yalehome.com/us/en/products/smart-technology/smart-modules

i'm missing something. So my thought process would be that I want the lock to work locally (zwave) unless i'm away from the home in which case the only way i would be able to do anything is via wifi.

Cloud control (not local) is standard with Hubitat using the mobile app/HE Dashboard.
Or personally, I use HD+ and Tailscale.

So basically what your saying is i can get the zwave version, and i wont be able to control via wifi, but it wont matter because i can control my hubitat via the could, which can control the lock via zwave?

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I use Bali Shades and they have been rock solid on HE. They go on sale at HD or Lowes all the time. Bali uses Somfy motors. I have heard good things about Hunter but I thought they were a bit expensive so i went with Bali. i have had Bali running for 7 years through Wink then through HE.

I have Blue Inovelli with an Aux. The only time there was an issue was when I lost Zigbee on HE. They still did their job (turning on lights) though just no notifications. Inovelli just released a switch that works with ceiling fans if that is a concern/interest for you.

I'll have to look into Bali, thanks!

That is correct.

Thanks for the info guys! appreciate it, have my hub being delivered today to start playing with it and learning. Any advice on door sensors, and presence sensors?

I have found that door and window sensor selection may be driven by the shape and configuration of your doors, windows, and the trim. I have a couple of doors where the old SmartThings door/window sensors fit great (and I haven't found anything else that fits). Most of my windows have a groove where screens can be installed. This leaves very little space for a sensor. The Nyce ($$) NCZ-3011 sensors are thin and tiny and they fit perfectly in the available space without blocking the groove.

Thanks i'll defiantly look into these two. I was looking a the aeotec smart things multipurpose sensor - zigbee but cant find anywhere that says it is specifically compatible. Also been looking at the ring ones as people say they are a good value and work awesome but seems to be some issue paring occasionally?

With the motion sensors I have tried, it seems like the Zigbee ones react a little bit faster than the Z-wave ones. I am using Nyce (not cheap but reliable and good on batteries), and various versions made by CentraLite, and a couple of ThirdReality I recently bought to try (I like that they use inexpensive AAA batteries). I had one of the early Aeotec multi-sensors that did (amongst other things) motion. It seemed slow at firing on motion events.

Do you know if you can turn existing Bali shades into motorized?

If I was building a brand new home, my door and window sensors would all be wired. (I would even wire the inside doors). This is so easy when the home is at the framing stage and hardwired door and window sensors are so much more reliable than anything that runs on a battery. The majority of alarm systems would have these sensors hardwired due to the need for reliability. While you are at it, I would also wire power to any window where you may want motorized shades/blinds.

In the overall scheme of things, this costs you next to nothing to run this wire when the house is in its framing stage. Even if you don't end up using all the wires, at least they are there.

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That would be awesome but we are well past that portion of the construction. We move in 2 weeks.

I agree. IMO batteries are the worst part of home automation devices.