Have been using the ST hub V2 for several years now. Works great...in theory...but I frequently have devices show up as "Unavailable". Originally I thought this was due to battery, but even with fresh batteries I sometimes have problems. I have turned off the device health as suggested, but that seems to cripple some devices.
I am considering switching to HE but would like some insight into people's experience with devices staying connected.
What type of devices are they james ?
Sounds like you might have a weak Mesh.
HE won’t do anything to improve a weak Mesh BUT adding a few Repeaters certainly would.
About a dozen ST leak detectors, handful of ST motion senors, handful of ST door sensors, and about 20 GE hardwired switches and/or outlets. The hardwired devices are spread through both upstairs and downstairs, as well as front and back of the house, so I don't think my mesh is weak with all that. Curiously, sometimes the devices that become unavailable are the in-wall stuff...but at some point all device types drop.
Its very frustrating and has prevented me from expanding the system beyond the 40some devices I have.
ST is also integrated with Sonos, Alexa, and a couple smoke detectors. Also recently integrated my Spruce smart irrigation controller, but have so far found little advantage to it.
Should also add that I am very tech-savvy so I have already tried obvious things, and my Internet is full gigabit, so network latency is not an issue either.
@BearBrewery, yep, it sounds like you’ve got some repeaters in there so something else is screwing with your Mesh and causing devices to drop.
Are you able to change the channel ST is using ?
I have zero ST experience but other users on the forum have had drop off issues which seemed to be helped by changing channels.
Good luck with it.
The Smart Things battery devices are all Zigbee; are your GE hardwired devices Zigbee as well? If they are Z-Wave they won't help your Zigbee mesh.
Thank you for pointing that out. I had forgotten that. I checked and all of my hardwired devices are z-wave. I just ordered a couple Zigbee repeaters so that should help.
So now, anyone got experience with both platforms? Originally I went with SmartThings because they seemed to have the best support for all devices and, at the time, was the only real platform I could find. However, I would be willing to switch if HE is more robust. Just looking for advantage/disadvantage of each.
I think that HE is already pretty robust. But to the extend that you do real HA. Not to much human interaction I mean. Only based on sensors. But then again, I only use HE for about three weeks 
2 Big advantages that I see and experience with HE is;
The hardware is VERY reliable and there are VERY reliable Apps and Drivers for all sorts of kit.
BUT you do have to be careful with both Apps and Drivers and understand that the HUB is not some super powerful, database crunching computer and it doesn’t rely on cloud computers to supplement its performance.
Welcome aboard. 
OK...ordering a unit today. One (sorta stupid) question about placement. I have had my ST hub on top of my kitchen cabinets. However, due to heat and grease buildup, I don't want to put the HE hub there. I have a closet behind he stairs where all my comms come into the house which would be convenient (and is also in the middle of the house) but a little worried about interference from walls and all the other stuff. Other option is upstairs on top of a cabinet, but its not as central in the house and then the signal needs to get through the floor.
I have z-wave repeaters all over the house, and ordered 8 zigbee repeaters, so maybe it doesnt really matter where the hub goes?
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
Download the Hubitat app
