Welp... I'm dead in the water!

So I would have to use Alexa to control the bulbs, then?

No. You can, but that's another question entirely. Let's start at a baseline. You say you have Cree bulbs. You want to control them with Hubitat. They need to be reset (a pain to get right) and pair them with Hubitat.

CREE Connected Bulbs

Factory Reset:

  • Note, Cree's official instructions are incorrect. The correct procedure is below:
  1. Begin with the bulb turned off
  2. Turn the bulb ON for 1 second
  3. Turn the bulb OFF for 2 seconds
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the bulb momentarily dims (about 4 or 5 times)
  5. It will only dim for a second, signaling that it has been factory reset.

Also, you mentioned you used Wink before. If you happened to have a Lutron Connected Bulb Remote, that is a much simpler way to reset a Cree Zigbee smartbulb.

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Isn't this what you would need to add those?

I've got all the TP-Link stuff added thanks to Dave. Now I'm working on the smart bulbs. Once I have achieved that, I will move on the the Jasco/GE smart dimmer switches. I'll keep y'all informed of my progress. This is exactly the train wreck I hoped to avoid when dropping the wonky Wink. Hopefully, it will be the last time. As it stands, unless I absolutely have to have the HE for the GE switches, I don't see the need for it.

I must admit to being confused by your statements. No offense intended.
You must exclude Z-Wave devices from the Wink hub before they can be joined to the Hubitat Hub. After exclusion, do a factory reset on them.

If you don't have the Wink hub and you can put the Hubitat hub into exclusion mode and run the exclusion procedure on the switches. Then factory reset them. All Z-Wave devices require exclusion before they can join a new hub.

Zigbee devices do not have such a procedure, so you simply delete them from the Wink hub, reset them or put them into pairing mode (for some manufacturer's Zigbee devices, the procedure for factory reset and pairing are one in the same).

This doesn't have to be a "Train Wreck" as you wrote. Take your time and move one device at a time, of the same type (e.g. Move all the Zigbee devices, then move the Z-Wave devices). If you have many of each, give the mesh time to build. Things can take time to stabilize if you're adding a lot of devices.

Referring to this documentation on building a solid Z-Wave mesh may be helpful as well.

If you think Wink was a train wreck, I hope you don't have any of the older GE switches that don't report their status back to the hub. If so, hopefully none of your automations depend on the on/off status of the switch if you plan on manipulating it physically, or hopefully you're prepared to configure automatic polling (now built in with an easy app, but still something you'll have to set up). That plus trying to use Wi-Fi devices without official support are probably the worst experience (besides Xiaomi without knowing your ZigBee routers), so pretty much anything else should be easier. :slight_smile:

The "Discover Devices" screen is (as it more clearly states in recent firmware versions) intended for ZigBee and Z-Wave devices, most of which work quite well with Hubitat. Wi-Fi/LAN devices generally have to be set up through an app, often a custom/unofficial app as Hubitat only supports a few natively that I can think of (Hue, Sonos, Lutron, etc.).

I'm not sure why you wouldn't "have a need" for the GE switches to be put on Hubitat; they are Z-Wave, and besides Hubitat being an excellent Z-Wave controller, you'd lose the ability to use them in your automations, the reason I'd buy Hubitat in the first place. I'm not sure what your use case is, of course, so maybe you could explain why you would or wouldn't want them.

I think I confused you. I meant I NEED the switches. But, If I can handle them with Alexa or some other software, I fail to see the need for HE. As it stands right now, HE is not picking up on the switches AND, except through the TP-Link app, it appears I have no control over them except through Kasa or Alexa. Ultimately, I would like HE to handle any scheduling (devices on/off at given times). I'm sure HE is capable of it but I just haven't discovered how yet.

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, HE doesn't show up in Alexa's list of hubs. Can someone enlighten me on that?

Definitely don't be shy about searching in these forums. For the built-in apps, many of the questions have already been asked. Of course no harm asking here anyway. :slight_smile:

The short version is you install the Alexa app in HE, configure it. Then add the hubitat skill in Alexa.

What we bring to the party is automation, not control. There are lots of ways to control smart devices, and you don't need Hubitat to do that (although it will give you lots of control options).

If you want to schedule things, there are a number of built-in apps that will do that for you. These begin with Simple Lighting, and move up to Rule Machine. There is also Motion Lighting if you want motion activated lights.

What sort of schedules are you looking to setup?

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Be sure to visit the Hubitat docs pages. Many of these steps are documents and it's improving all the time.

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=Amazon_Echo_Skill

You might be confused about the abilities of Alexa and Google Assistant. These devices are voice assistants. They don't control devices directly. The exception of course is the Echo plus, but that only has a Zigbee radio for control of those devices, not Z-Wave. Additionally, you are restricted to what approved Zigbee devices it can control. Mostly it's just light bulbs.

Hubitat is the real deal. A full blown automation hub capable of controlling just about anything, and a large list of input devices such as motion detectors and button controllers. The ability of a Echo Plus is so small, that it's not even fair to the Echo to compare it to Hubitat Elevation.

Once your devices are connected through their various methods necessary to their communication type (i.e. Zigbee, Z-Wave, WiFi, etc) then Alexa, Google Home, button, motion sensors, proximity sensors, automations, contact sensors, etc. are able to control all your devices. Locally, without the need for an internet cloud connection in almost all cases (with some exceptions for devices that are cloud only).

Alexa cannot control devices without accessing the cloud and unless you have an Echo Plus with supported Zigbee devices, it can't control anything aside from a WiFi device (and that is via a cloud connection). Even directly connected Zigbee devices I believe still need a cloud connection on the Echo Plus for now.

Are you referring to your GE Z-Wave switches or TP-Link WiFi switches?

GE Z-Wave

You must exclude them from the Wink hub or they will not be discoverable from the HE hub.

And they are frustrating switches to be sure. I don't have any, but despite anyone's love for these switches, "I have a problem with my Z-Wave switch" seems to almost always be followed by the letter G and E.

The Wink hub also had a reset procedure built into the app. If you go to add a switch, it has a help button in the wizard. Just click that and choose "Reset Product". There's other ways to get to it as well, but that's the way I can access right now with my Wink no longer plugged in.

AH HAH!! I had to disable and then enable the skill. THEN, it picked up on the hub and all associated devices! I am beginning to see the light and all the potential HE holds in store.

I'm sure I'll have a ton more of dumb questions. Bear with me.

Many thanks for your help!

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Almost everyone here wants to help. Reach out when you need it. No one is 'all knowing'.

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You mentioned "...with Simple Lighting, and move up to Rule Machine...." Where do I find these?

The apps have to be installed. When you receive your Hubitat hub, there are no apps installed. You add what you want to use from the list of built-in apps.

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=Hubitat_Simple_Lighting

This will help clear some of the fog you're trying to wade through :wink:

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=Hubitat_Elevation_Documentation#Getting_Started

It's falling together... little by little. I have one LAST question (for tonight anyways :wink: ) I have the devices I added via the TP-Link app. How do incorporate them into my simple lighting schedules?

Here is where Simple Lighting starts. The first thing you do is select the lights (devices) you want to control, then it will walk you through things like how you want to control them, etc.