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Re: Smartthings?



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Hi Paul,

I have SmartThings Hub and a couple of Hue bulbs with the HomeKit
compatible hub.

Quick answer to your subject title ... No .  SmartThings (v2) is a
really screwed up offering currently. SmartThings and Samsung should be
ashamed of this product technically, their premature UK launch and their
subsequent support.

Worldwide it has loads of problems and their original goal with the V2
hub of offering local processing just hasn't proved deliverable  It does
almost everything via the cloud and so is Internet dependent and has
corresponding latency issues. This just doesn't make sense when direct
local IP , ZigBee or Z-Wave control is available.   Even when local
processing is improved the code still has to be delivered currently
within a firmware update from ST ! The scheduling works for a day and
then frequently fails. Erratic behaviour, lots of bugs.  Over time I'm
confident they will fix things but things move slowly in ST/Samsung land
at the moment. Have a look over the community forum posts.

In the UK things are much much worse :-(  Samsung created a European
server that requires different authorisation for adding applications and
devices. This meant that all such additions that use authorisation
didn't work in the UK.  I feel sure they knew this at launch in Sept but
just ignored it to meet a trade show / Xmas marketing deadline. Their
subsequent support handling of this issue was truly awful with UK
support clearly left in the dark about progress.   They blatantly
advertised device compatibility and continued to do,  which just isn't
available. Over two months (!)  later they released a partial fix but
this still requires all plugin authors to change their code - so still
there's only a handful of plugins available in the UK.    Samsung also
have a 'UK supported' device approach which means that several devices
available in the US are not easily installable on UK product , nor ever
will be.

They have a long way to go yet to even get the UK product on a par with
the US (actually they never will) - and in the meantime they still have
to make the US product stable.  Even then a cloud only product is not
something I would want for my home control. There's talk they might even
need a new hardware hub to actually deliver on their goal for local
processing.  Whether enforcing the cloud architecture is actually
desirable for their business model remains a concern to users.  The one
thing ST has going for it  is that potentially it's a huge volume
product and will achieve widespread device compatibility and that could
bring HA to the mass market.

Having said that Hue works well on ST . However, and I need to double
check,  I don't think Hue is controlled locally by SmartThings - it's a
cloud link.  Using your HC2 you could just include a Z-Wave plug/relay
in a scene for the Christmas tree lights, you could do the same on ST or
even use a ZigBee plug. The ST peripherals are all ZigBee based (and
seem to have high failure rates).  You wouldn't have HomeKit control of
the Christmas tree lights though. You could I suppose kludge a Hue strip
controller into operating a relay, or  much easier using HC2 setup a
state change event from a spare Hue lamp  to kick off a scene to control
the  Z-Wave plug.

K



On 07/12/2015 10:37, Paul Gale groups2@xxxxxxx [ukha_d] wrote:
>
>
> Many people here using SmartThings? How about with Philips Hue?
>
> Now I don?t currently have a proper HA infrastructure (after moving I
> don?t now have Cbus, Comfort, homevision etc), I?m experimenting with
> wireless and newer more mainstream devices. I do have a Fibaro HC2 and
> an increasing number of Philips Hue lamps. They?re good but struggling
> to get anywhere near the configurability, feedback and control of my
> old system with Cbus. I know they?re very different beasts of course.
>
> Just wondering if SmartThings is a good system to link some of this
> together?
>
> For example, I have a Hue scene in the living room that turns on a
> couple of table lamps and Iris colour lamps. I thought it would be
> good to integrate the Christmas tree lights into a new scene but Hue
> doesn?t offer a plug relay/dimmer. I?m tending to control this all
> through Apple Homekit and Siri ? which is quite good actually. But not
> sure if both Smartthings and Hue work well together? Thoughts?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul.
>
>
>
>


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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi Paul,<br>
<br>
I have SmartThings Hub and a couple of Hue bulbs with the HomeKit
compatible hub. <br>
<br>
Quick answer to your subject title ... No .  SmartThings (v2) is a
really screwed up offering currently. SmartThings and Samsung
should be ashamed of this product technically, their premature UK
launch and their subsequent support.<br>
<br>
Worldwide it has loads of problems and their original goal with
the V2 hub of offering local processing just hasn't proved
deliverable  It does almost everything via the cloud and so is
Internet dependent and has corresponding latency issues. This just
doesn't make sense when direct local IP , ZigBee or Z-Wave control
is available.   Even when local processing is improved the code
still has to be delivered currently within a firmware update from
ST ! The scheduling works for a day and then frequently fails. 
Erratic behaviour, lots of bugs.  Over time I'm confident they
will fix things but things move slowly in ST/Samsung land at the
moment. Have a look over the community forum posts.<br>
<br>
In the UK things are much much worse :-(  Samsung created a
European server that requires different authorisation for adding
applications and devices. This meant that all such additions that
use authorisation didn't work in the UK.  I feel sure they knew
this at launch in Sept but just ignored it to meet a trade show /
Xmas marketing deadline. Their subsequent support handling of this
issue was truly awful with UK support clearly left in the dark
about progress.   They blatantly advertised device compatibility
and continued to do,  which just isn't available. Over two months
(!)  later they released a partial fix but this still requires all
plugin authors to change their code - so still there's only a
handful of plugins available in the UK.    Samsung also have
a 'UK
supported' device approach which means that several devices
available in the US are not easily installable on UK product , nor
ever will be.<br>
<br>
They have a long way to go yet to even get the UK product on a par
with the US (actually they never will) - and in the meantime they
still have to make the US product stable.  Even then a cloud only
product is not something I would want for my home control.  
There's talk they might even need a new hardware hub to actually
deliver on their goal for local processing.  Whether enforcing the
cloud architecture is actually desirable for their business model
remains a concern to users.  The one thing ST has going for it 
is
that potentially it's a huge volume product and will achieve
widespread device compatibility and that could bring HA to the
mass market.<br>
<br>
Having said that Hue works well on ST . However, and I need to
double check,  I don't think Hue is controlled locally by
SmartThings - it's a cloud link.  Using your HC2 you could just
include a Z-Wave plug/relay in a scene for the Christmas tree
lights, you could do the same on ST or even use a ZigBee plug. The
ST peripherals are all ZigBee based (and seem to have high failure
rates).  You wouldn't have HomeKit control of the Christmas tree
lights though. You could I suppose kludge a Hue strip controller
into operating a relay, or  much easier using HC2 setup a state
change event from a spare Hue lamp  to kick off a scene to control
the  Z-Wave plug.  <br>
<br>
K<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 07/12/2015 10:37, Paul Gale <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:groups2@xxxxxxx";>groups2@xxxxxxx</a>
[ukha_d]
wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">Many
people
here using SmartThings? How about with Philips
Hue?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">Now I
don?t
currently have a proper HA infrastructure (after moving I
don?t now have Cbus, Comfort, homevision etc), I?m
experimenting with wireless and newer more mainstream
devices. I do have a Fibaro HC2 and an increasing number of
Philips Hue lamps. They?re good but struggling to get
anywhere near the configurability, feedback and control of
my old system with Cbus. I know they?re very different
beasts of course.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">Just
wondering if SmartThings is a good system to link some of
this together?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">For
example, I have a Hue scene in the living room that turns on
a couple of table lamps and Iris colour lamps. I thought it
would be good to integrate the Christmas tree lights into a
new scene but Hue doesn?t offer a plug relay/dimmer. I?m
tending to control this all through Apple Homekit and Siri ?
which is quite good actually. But not sure if both
Smartthings and Hue work well together?
Thoughts?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p
class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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  • References:
    • Smartthings?
      • From: Paul Gale groups2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [ukha_d]
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