Noob to HE

Hello every one,
Im very new to Hubitat (Only just placed my order for me hub)

I have been reading through a lot of threads regarding integration and automation.
Being less than 12 month into the smart home band waggon, I still have a lot to learn.
I have been setting up some very basic automations with the limited devises I have already, but looking into the future I thought i could make a start with building a more substantial system.

At the moment, I am using my Alexa 4th Gen as my main hub to control everything right now, but have had issues with internet connection dropping out and losing all automation.
This is what lead me to looking into HE to run my systems locally and not have to really on cloud servers.
My main reason to look into the HE was not only for automation, but the ability to setup a customisable dash on an old Ipad Air I have in my kitchen.
The idea of this is to allow me to manually control SOSOFF controls I have for DIY security locks on my shed along with security devices without having to yell and Alexa to activate the security fog for her only to turn my coffee maker on.
Also, the boss (Wife) likes to use buttons rather than using her voice.

The HE automation abilities along with the dash looked like the ideal choice wo go down, but after placing my order, I have been doing more reading and gone through all my current devices to find out they are all WiFi based switches and bulbs :confounded: and HE wouldn't see them directly.

I have seen a thread regarding setting up virtual switches to trigger an alexa routine that could trigger the Wifi devices through alexa (Lights, switches, Hoover, coffee maker and so on, but this would still mean a reliance upon a cloud based connection.

apart from replacing all my devices with Zigbee (for the ones that could be replaced) is there any other route I could look down or could I access these devices via Lan?

Thanks for the time
Mark

1st off, welcome to the Hubitat community!

Don't forget z-wave. You say you have some DIY locks, do these have a local API? If so you could write a local integration in groovy. HE does directly support a few wifi products but they are all local control. (Such as Lifx, and Sonoff). Other wifi integrations tend to be community built and the majority are wifi. As you say, that is not ideal. Most prefer to keep everything local. That mostly means z-wave and zigbee and wifi that uses a local api.

You can create virtual switches in hubitat that alexa can monitor then trip what ever routine has set up, but as you said, cloud based. I would start considering what you need. I don't know what SOSOFF controls are... (Do you mean sonoff?) and start getting what you need in zigbee or z-wave. For me, I use lutron switches for all lighting except the occasional table lamp which uses Lifx bulbs (though every lamp has a Lutron pico on a pedestal for manual control) and a mixture of z-wave and zigbee for everything else. I do have an echo dot to spin up a routine based on a HE virtual switch to turn on my stove hood, but that is actually not even needed since an integration was made. We have google speakers mainly for music. So take a breath, ask questions, and we'll all help and make recommendations. As outlined, my first recommendation to go local is to start buying product that will replace wifi bits you have. Start with the Hubitat Compatibility list... @ https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=List_of_Compatible_Devices. Lots of things not on that list work fine. Just ask for reviews on whatever you're looking at. One of us or a lot of us have it already. It will help you make smart buying decisions. (You were already smart in purchasing a Hubitat Elevation).

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Hi dude,
Thanks for the reply, and yes I did mean SONOFF :rofl:
The shed locks are run by a 4chpror3, 2 fail secure magneto bolts and an rf key entry.
Thats the main think I would need to access via a dash to power up the unit to allow an unlock.
1 ch is the rf and locks
2 ch is security fog
3ch is alarm
4ch is m/t

The other inline light relay switches are also sonoff the light switchs and plugs are tcp smart

Setting up very basic routines via alexa I've found easy, so thought this would be a nice challange without going down the deep hole of ho e assistant.

Note to self, don't type late at night or I'll look like a right boob for titling this thread as Nood instead of NOOB.. .

oops :rofl:

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It really depends on the device. There are a significant number of WiFi devices that are supported either directly or via cloud integrations (or both).
What devices do you have?

Depends on how adventurous you are since you’re still new to home automation, but there’s a great way to get many LAN devices not currently a supported by Hubitat, but that are supported by Home Assistant back into Hubitat where automations are so much easier to work with.

Home Assistant Device Bridge

If this had existed when I started, it would have saved me a lot of pain and money spent in more expensive devices in lieu of Aqara and Miji devices that work great off HA and are wonderful to have available to Hubitat Rule Machine and other apps.

Trigger Alexa Routines from Hubitat

I'll have a good old play whe my unit arrives.
But the main devices I'm running at the moment are Lepro lampux gu10 bulbs,
Ultenic hoover
Smarter coffee maker
And a hise of TCP plugs, switches and inline relays.
If the items or apps are non copiable with HE, would a virtual switch linked to an action through Alexa do as a work around?
If so, would HE also be able to read the state of that device through the Echo?

You could do a virtual switch on HE to have alexa run a routine for them. That said, I would start replacing everything you have with z-wave, zigbee, Lutron (Lutron switches are the best). For bulbs, Lifx....

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