I have been using smartthings for a few years and am ready to give hubitat a try for various reasons. Was hoping I could get some advice on how to replace some functionality while I wait for the hub to arrive.
Can I add smartthings as a secondary controller to hubitat for zwave devices? The thought here is to still be able to use the smartthings UI until I can build out dashboards etc.
What are you guys using for push notifications? Ideally I want to setup rules so that my wife and I can get some common and some different notifications. For example I want one when contact sensors open, but she wants them only for some devices and depending on the time of day.
What are you guys using for replacement presence sensors? I would like to keep using our mobile phones (pixel 2) but am open to other devices if needed.
A way to do TTS over Google home / Chromecast devices. Ideally as a broadcast command so that media is not permanently interrupted.
Tplink wifi plugs appear to require node js, does anyone know of alternatives?
Other gaps I need to try to figure out are:
-lifx bulbs
-honeywell wifi thermostat
-first alert zwave smoke/co
-bloomsky
-a way to see if lutron pico remotes can control zwave devices
-zwave water sensors
-zwave alarms (go control)
-zwave glass break sensors
One of the most helpful tools during my migration was the "Other Hub" community app. This app allows you to add your devices to Hubitat, then replicates a matching virtual device back to ST. These two devices are kept in sync, so you can control them via Hubitat or ST.
Once you have this set up, I'd recommend the following steps:
Reset the device, either using Hubitat or something like a Minimote or Z-Stick. This leaves the device listed in ST, but allows it to be joined to Hubitat.
Join the device to Hubitat
Add the device to the Other Hub app
After the virtual device is created on ST, go back into ST and replace the old physical device with the new virtual device in your automations.
Doing it this way, you can move a few devices at a time, and just focus on device moves and not have to worry about doing automations at the same time. You can come back later and start transferring your automations as you start getting the hang of Rule Machine or some of the other built in apps.
Pushover. There's a one-time purchase of like $5 or $6 or something, but it integrates natively with Hubitat. Some people don't like the 3rd party app, but I personally love Pushover. I can set up different notification groups and priorities to direct certain notifications to certain people, and either silent, normal, or "alarm" priority.
I use Life360 for my wife and I. Again, another 3rd party app, but it has worked really well on my Pixel as well as her Motorola phone. Much better than the built in ST geofencing ever was.
Hubitat has native support for Chromecast/Google Home devices. It's technically still in Beta release status, but it works well for simple TTS. I can't speak to media interrupts, I use GH for TTS and Chromecast for media so they don't ever collide.
Other devices I know something about:
-honeywell wifi thermostat - no native support. I used Hubitat -> IFTTT -> Honeywell. Eventually gave up and replaced with a zigbee thermostat so it would stay local. Honeywell's cloud sucks.
-a way to see if lutron pico remotes can control zwave devices - If you have the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro, there's native support for this. Pico will show up as a button controller in Hubitat and you can use it for anything.
This helps a ton thank you so much for the tips. My only regret so far is not paying a couple extra bucks and buying on amazon where I would have had the device in hand faster.
I had a non-pro lutron bridge working just fine with ST. But I replaced it with the pro bridge when I moved over to Hubitat and it was totally worth it. If you order the pro bridge at energyavenue.com they seem to have a better price than any other site.
No, that won't matter as much. But you might want to consider replacing the regular Z-wave with Z-wave plus at some point. Z-wave devices don't report back to the hub with local events. So, there is a built in app called Z-wave poller. Basically, it polls your regular z-wave devices to see if they have changed or not. Don't know how the hub would respond to having to do that with 30 switches though.
I'm slowly replacing them as I find deals and can justify the expense. I outfitted the entire house 3-4 years ago with GE zwave on/off and dimmers that I picked up on eBay for $15 a pop. Can't find that kind of deal on the plus ones. Justification so far on them is new wiring and double tap.
You'll need a custom driver to get the double-tap to work in HE. There's a couple of them out there and I can't seem to remember which one I am using but it definitely supports the double tap.
I keep seeing references to Z-Wave poller that make it sound like my z-Wave devices should be poll-able. But when I install that app, only one of my Z-Wave or zwave plus devices are in the drop down list. All I can poll is a single GE paddle switch. Am I hallucinating, or is this app just for light switches?
The issue of devices not display their state properly only affect non Z-Wave Plus devices. It is intended for dimmers and switches where you would be physically manipulating the state of the devices.
If I'm controlling the device from Hubitat, it will always display the correct state. The exception would be some non Z-Wave Plus locks, but most do work correctly. You wouldn't want to use Z-Wave Poller with a battery device, as it will quickly drain the batteries.
That's really too bad. After 5 weeks of trying to get RM to run my CT 101 thermostat (and failing) I am pretty sure that polling it would help. The only time any of the temp change commands are executed is the command that happens at 6pm... coincidentally the same time the thermo seems to run it's own poll. (I tried "refresh" before temp change and that did not help. Refresh does not seem as robust as poll.) So, all commands from RM to my thermo are ignored except 6pm.
And my rules look identical to those successfully used by other people!
The reason I was using RM instead of Thermo Scheduler is because I have two HVAC systems that need to do totally different things at different times. 5 weeks ago, I couldn't see how Thermo scheduler would work since there is only one schedule in it.
Last night I had an a-ha moment. I asked myself, "what is the least intuitive answer to this problem? I wonder if you can install Thermostat Scheduler multiple times?" Answer: looks like "yes". So, maybe my problem is solved, but I think if polling could be done I wouldn't have had to waste 5 weeks of my time on this.
