Newb needs help

I'm starting from zero. I've purchased some lightbulbs, getting some Inovelli Red switches, and have an unopened Hubitat lying on my kitchen table. I feel like I can take on the learning curve for this device, but have no experience with smart home automation. I'm not trying to get the air purifier started once it detects a fart, but I'd like some automation. I'm trying to find a smartlock compatible and I'm running into roadblocks in reviews. Can this community help. I want to be a part of it, but not sure if I got the chops.

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Welcome. Think you'll find that there is generally someone around with an answer, and they're always willing to assist. As for smart locks, there are a lot of opinions, but the only one I've seen pretty consistently shot down is Schlage. As a starting point most here seem to be using Zwave Plus locks. Biggest general issue noted with locks is making sure that the mesh (either ZWave or Zigbee) is solid before introducing them into the environment - hub needs to be either near the lock or have enough repeaters in place to ensure strong communication.

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What light bulbs do you have there are a lot sold as "Smart Bulbs" that are WiFi and likely won't work with Hubitat you can check List of Compatible Devices - Hubitat Documentation to see what is compatible without needing community drivers.

The Inovelli Red Series switches are great and work fine with the built in drivers but to get the most out of them you would want to download the drivers from Inovelli's web site and install them in the Drivers Code section or better yet install Hubitat Package Manager (community app) first and use that to install the Inovelli drivers and most other apps/drivers you may want eventually from the community.

For automations I'd suggest starting with the Simple Automation Rules or Motion Lighting built-in apps for automating bulbs/switches but you'll want either motion or contact sensors or both in order to do something meaningful other than turning on a bulb or bulbs or other light switches when one switch is used. You can also use your phones presence to trigger the lights turning off when you leave or on when you arrive if you install the Hubitat app on phones and enable the location information (it will use a tiny bit more battery than it would otherwise but the only presence info sent by it is if it is in or out of the zone no other location info is sent).

Later you can look at Rule Machine which is even more powerful but will take a lot longer to get comfortable with it. Also I'd turn on logging in your apps so if something doesn't work as expected you can look at past logs or live logging to find out why.

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I was once (not long ago) in the same spot you find yourself in. Don't worry, the learning curve is not that hard. I went for whole home automation which means all my switches and a fair number of outlets are smart. Also went with sensors for doors, windows, water, and smoke/co. And last but not least a smart thermostat and a smart lock. Also integrated security cameras (blue iris) into several Hubitat automations. Built this all over about 18 months. Some advise I would give:

  1. Don't become married to either zwave or zigbee, the hub handles both well and some devices are easier to find in one standard vs the other.
  2. If you want to go with whole home automation, seriously consider Lutron for lighting. I wish I had. All the switches in my house are Zwave plus by GE/Jasco. I have had no problems at all with them, they work great and have been rock solid. But they are not as elegant as Lutron and the GE/Jasco require a neutral which was significant work for a few of my switches. It would probably have only cost me an extra 25% to go the Lutron route, wish I had.
  3. I first started by changing all the switches in my house to zwave plus GE/Jasco switches. This resulted in a strong zwave mesh of about 40 devices throughout my house. I then went and bought a zwave lock. This was a mistake. A number of threads mention how zigbee is simply more stable and has less problems when it comes to locks. I changed my lock to zigbee and never looked back. I linked one of the threads on this subject below, there are many others.
  4. Now that I had a zigbee device, I found out that it is very easy and cheap to build a strong zigbee mesh with IKEA outlets (ten bucks a piece). This made several outlets smart and also allowed my to then add zigbee window sensors (really cheap) to my windows. Again don't get married to one protocol (zwave vs zigbee) the hub handles them both well and I have no problems having a strong mesh for both protocols.
  5. Ask for help in the forums, know how to post a screen shot of any automation you are having trouble creating. People will help.
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@Terk

All great advice. Locks and garage door openers are pretty tricky to get working but once you get them in they're usually very reliable. When you plug in your hub be sure to update it to the latest firmware as well as the zwave radio before you start joining devices. It will save you a lot of headaches going forward. There have been a lot of recent updates.

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Makes sense, fortunately I can have the hub relatively near the door. Is there a perimeter for a less existent mesh I should aim for? I've been running into z-wave plus locks in searching. Will continue. Thanks for the input.

That's pretty cool. I ordered a 4-pack of SYLVANIA Smart+ ZigBee bulbs for 40 bucks on Amazon to get started. Thought $10 a bulb for full color was a good deal. This helps a lot.

General rule of thumb is about every 30 feet which is why it's recommended to put the hub centrally located in your home so it doesn't have many hops to get across to the other side of the house.

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Nice to know that the support is around. Thanks for the input. Will definitely spread the zig/z-wave love around.

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the learning curve isn't bad, and the community is great. honestly, read some docs and jump right in. if you have any problems, post the problem in the forums and the community will jump in and help out

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