SmartThings Transition

Starting to get fed up with Samsung and looking to make the swap from SmartThings to Hubitat. I've done a bunch of forum reading, and pretty sure I have all the answers to these questions, however, some of the resources I was reading were older posts, and thought maybe some things may have changed with time.

  1. Multiple Hubs: I live on a large property and have to have a hub in my detached garage and one in my house simply due to range. (Garage DOES have internet via a cat-6 run from the house) Does Hubitat allow me to have more than one hub and have the 2 hubs talk to each other over the home network or greater cloud internet? I.e. a smart switch in the house (on Hub A) that can open the garage door or turn on outside lights (on Hub B)?

  2. Moving Devices from ST to Hubitat: Is there an easy way to move all 86 of my z-wave devices over to hubitat via an automated process or do I have to do this with brute force, one by one move the device.

  3. Same question as #2 but with my ST rules and automations.

From my research on older posts, I'm pretty sure the answers are Yes, Brute Force, Brute Force. Hoping things have changed, but ultimately not a game changer if not.

Yes. There's a built-in method (hub mesh) that works if both hubs are on the same LAN subnet. If they are not on the same subnet, there's a community developed method, called HubConnect, that can be used. HubConnect also to connect hubs over the internet.

This. You have to exclude each device, preferably factory reset it, and then pair it to Hubitat.

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Welcome to Hubitat. I moved from ST in 2020 and never looked back. The tools in the HE hub are extremely powerful and in the last 4 years, I have only had the hub "hang" twice. It's always on and always works.

As for making the move over. I set aside a couple days and just made the move. It isn't as bad as it sounds.

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What are you using for your rules/automations?
If it's webCoRE, backup your pistons and then reimport them to HE.

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Welcome aboard!

I made the jump over from ST several years ago, and no regrets.

The transition is all manual, and I won't lie -- it'll be a bit of a slog... I suggest documenting your current ST setup with screenshots, notes, etc (in whatever detail is most helpful), so that you have some reference points as you're recreating things in Hubitat.

One nice thing about Hubitat is the (optional) reasonably-priced Hubitat Protect subscription -- it enables extended hub warranty and full backup restore if something goes sideways down the road.

This thread will hopefully be helpful with the move too:

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Just an FYI - When SmartThings shut down their legacy Groovy IDE, webCoRE went with it. The only webCoRE users these days are Hubitat users! :wink:

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Thanks everyone!!! Super helpful replies across the board!!!!

Is there a way to do a local backup via usb or any other way to do a backup without needing to pay for a cloud service?

A local backup can be done anytime for free, but it does not include radio data. The Protect service enables the ability to do cloud backups do include all radio data. So if a hub dies or experiences some kind of hardware malfunction, the Protect service enable you to just load that cloud backup onto a new hub and you're back in action.

Your next question is likely going to be "Why not just make the local backup include radio data too?"... I'm not staff, so cannot answer, but my suspicion is that the subscription is just a way to ensure a bit more of a consistent revenue stream to help keep the lights on in general.

IMHO, the Protect subscription is reasonably priced, and I'm happy to pay for the peace-of-mind it provides. But it's certainly not a must-have for day-to-day operations.

A local backup is all that's needed for most routine troubleshooting anyway (database corruption issues, going back to a previous setup version, etc).

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Is this true for both z-wave and zigbee?

Local backups do not contain radio data.

As always, the documentation has useful details:

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Yes. Local backups only does the database, not the radios. Cloud backups include radios. Local backup concerning zigbee however has a bright spot. You just have to re pair to the hub and it will slot back into it's existing spot.

@sabre170 Look at this link. It has some good info to prevent some gotchas on transitioning from ST (and other systems)

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In plain English, you get a free replacement hub if you run into hardware problems where it needs to be replaced!

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Additionally, this would likely help in planning what to move and in what order. Keeping similar notes on your Hubitat setup as you go may also be useful.

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hmmmm....how would this help with determining the order to transition? I was assuming it would be best to transition the devices in order from distance nearest to furthest....this way it would more naturally recreate an efficient z-wave mesh. Curious if you have a different thought on transition order.

Also.....knowing that my current smart home network is almost entirely z-wave, is there any reason I should avoid the c-8 pro?

You're right, the main driver of the transition order will / should be the makeup of the mesh. If you are planning to do the move in a day or two as well, as others have talked about having done, then that would also lend itself to moving everything based on building out the mesh. My main thought was that if you were going to do things more gradually and have your ST and HE hubs both in operation for even a short period, then the automations that the devices were involved in could inform what devices to move together so that automations could be re-implemented on HE with all the required devices paired to HE.

Like most things, I'm probably over-thinking it... :slight_smile: Maybe it is best just to get a clear picture of your ST setup and assess what you want to do from there.

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This makes complete sense. Lets make the assumption that I aim to make the transition quicker.....over a handful of days. So I'm not as concerned with maintaining my ST rules for those few days.

Having said that, is there a good rule of thumb for order of device transition?

Best to install al LR devices before standard Z-wave Plus devices, and then my non plus devices last?

Better to do a distance from hub order of transition? Closest to hub first and then work my way outward?

I realize I can probably do just about any order and would be find...however since I'll be transitioning a LOT of devices (most are Z plus....a few LR, and only a couple oldschool non-plus) I might as well take the time and set myself up for as much success as possible.

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That sounds good. I'll leave others to comment on the Z-Wave stuff.... All Zigbee here in the Z-type device sphere.

Z-Wave has been perfect on my C8-Pro...if you build your mesh properly (add repeating/mains powered devices working out from center/hub, and then add battery devices after) you should be fine. Check the compatible devices list and search the forum for more info if needed, to ensure your devices are supported.

I bit the bullet and when I did the change-over I moved all my devices from SmartThings to HE in one day (really just part of a day) and it worked really well. At the end of the day I had a new/strong mesh on HE and everything "just worked" (controlled from device pages). Then re-did automations from most important to wife/family to most important to me. :slight_smile:

I really think that's the best way to go, so you don't have partial meshes on two hubs for multiple days. Re-building your automations with a fully working mesh should be a cleaner/simpler process. Just warn the family it may be messy/unautomated for a day or two. :slight_smile: Basically, lower their expectations, and then exceed them. :wink:

I'd do all the Z-Wave/Z-Wave plus stuff first, and then add the LR. There have been sone issues reported adding LR devices to the hub, so I'd leave them for the end. In the past when I've been adding a lot of devices at one time I would also reboot the hub every six or so devices to clear the radio "just in case." By reboot I mean: Shut down (wait for red LED). Pull power for 30s. Plug in and let it boot up and continue. (The Z-Wave and Zigbee radios do not fully clear/restart unless you pull power.)

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