The Wink home automation thread

[IndyColtsFan]

Nothing Wink certified that I recall. Most people seem to use the GE switch and I've seen talk of installing things like the Aeon microswitch in the fan housing, but that would just control power and not speed.

Been noticing that my Ecolink motion sensor is having issues with Wink and slow reporting or lack of motion reset. I can't see battery status from Wink but I wonder if it is low, I bought it about 9 months ago and it is in a very high traffic area (my office). I think maybe I'll replace the battery and move it to my garage and maybe put an Aeon microswitch in the gangbox to turn on the lights when motion is detected.

Also noticed my new Iris contact sensor stopped reporting to SmartThings yesterday and I am investigating. One thing that angers me about BOTH hubs is that they don't seem to alert you to device problems. No reason that ST's app couldn't flag the device with no updates in 24 hours. Had the same issue a Tripper on Wink a few weeks ago as well.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

What Iris sensor are you using? I thought I read Iris uses a custom Zigbee protocol and does not play nice with other hubs.

There is a new line of Iris sensors in purple boxes which are completely open and work with SmartThings currently. I hope Wink adds support but I am skeptical they will. Just about any hub supporting Zigbee should work with them with proper device support. The older Iris stuff is in the clear plastic packages and will NOT work with anything except Iris.

 

[Tech_Greek]

So ALL OF MY LIGHTS in my house randomly turned on a few times last night (all GE Link Bulbs). I woke up enough to hear my SO complain about it and then I promptly did what any guy would - groaned, rolled back over and passed out.

Oh technology!

 

[RodolfoDLV]

So ALL OF MY LIGHTS in my house randomly turned on a few times last night (all GE Link Bulbs). I woke up enough to hear my SO complain about it and then I promptly did what any guy would - groaned, rolled back over and passed out.

Oh technology!

Sell those things and save the relationship with the SO.

 

[cherry911]

I have a Wink hub, 2 Cree bulbs, 2 Levition Switches and 6 GE Link bulbs. The Link bulbs have given me the most trouble by far. I got tired of them being on at random times or needing to be re-paired. A month ago I finally tried adding a 2 Link Hubs, placed closer to each area the lights serve. Since then they have operated much better. YMMV

 

[Tech_Greek]

Sell those things and save the relationship with the SO.

That would mean one of us would have to get out of bed to turn off/on the lights. Haha.

 

[jlslate]

Not sure if this helps anyone else, but here goes.
I have 8 Trippers all configured to alert me when they are tampered with, or if the battery is low. 3 of them had robots that had generic names describing their function, bot not the device. 5 had no visible robots, and when tripped by removing the cover, still notified me, and gave an option to view the robot. These robots had a name like My Robot. I called Wink to see if they could explain this anomaly, and they said it was a known issue they were working on. I got to thinking more about it, and realized that the three with visible robots were the first ones I had installed. Removing them and reinstalling them has fixed it so they still report the tampering or low battery events, but no longer show up in Robots.

 

[MjnMixael]

That would mean one of us would have to get out of bed to turn off/on the lights. Haha.

QFT... that's the real problem with early adopting home automation... addiction.

 

[easygreenus]

I have a question about doing something with the Wink Hub, but have to give some background first.

At a vacation home I have an older Ecobee Thermostat that acts as a Zigbee hub. Ecobee use to also sell SmartPlugs, which for unknown reasons they have discontinued.

One of the cool features is if the Ecobee Hub can not communicate with their server
for something like 15 minutes, it sends an off/on signal to the Smartplug that you
designate as being connected to the network gear (cable modems, wireless routers, etc), in the hope that it will fix the network problem.

My Ecobee SmartPlug has gone kuput and I'm trying to find a replacement, OR
is there a way to do this with the Wink Hub. I'm using the Wink Hub at home, I'm
willing to get one for the vacation home to handle this network reset. Its up in the
mountains and I have constant broadband issues.

Thanks,

 

[MjnMixael]

Dunno about Ecobee, but Wink shows in the app when my devices are not responding.

 

[Mike A.]

Dunno about Ecobee, but Wink shows in the app when my devices are not responding.

It shows the "x" now in the app but I don't know that you can trigger some action based on a non-responsive device in the same way that they're describing.

You could kludge it by doing some regularly nightly scheduled power-down/restart of the hub but that's not really ideal.

Long ago for a similar application I used a power switch device that connected to the phone line. You could call in and punch in a code and power something plugged into it up or down. Wasn't very expensive. Probably something similar out there now.

 

[jlslate]

I bought one of these http://m.ebay.com/itm/181276725878?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&_mwBanner=1 for about $54. I don't have a land line, but this is cellular. Got a prepaid sim from T-Mobile for $3 per month. You can toggle any of the three outlets with a call or SMS. I'll probably get a second setup for our vacation home.

 

[Tech_Greek]

QFT... that's the real problem with early adopting home automation... addiction.

Haha, truth



and Wink shows the Cloud with an X icon if something is not responding (which is in my opinion a lot better than the ? they were using on the main icon).

 

[mfridman]

I bought one of these http://m.ebay.com/itm/181276725878?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&_mwBanner=1 for about $54. I don't have a land line, but this is cellular. Got a prepaid sim from T-Mobile for $3 per month. You can toggle any of the three outlets with a call or SMS. I'll probably get a second setup for our vacation home.

I would not trust a "white box" product ordered directly from China. I would want something that was UL certified (or the equivalent).

 

[Tech_Greek]

You could always setup a separate Wink hub and powered outlet connected via a hot spot as a fail over but could be costly.

 

[MjnMixael]

alternatively, there may be some routers that allow remote login over IP and the reboot them from there. I can do that with my Google Fiber router.. I'm sure there's some DD-WRT alternative as long as you can figure out your local IP and either have it set as static by the ISP or hope it doesn't change much.

 

[jlslate]

I thought we were solving the "I can't talk to my remote home because the Internet is down there" issue. If it is just to remotely reboot the router, I can think of many alternatives.

 

[MjnMixael]

yeah, there's not a lot out there for auto-detecting and dealing with internet connection issues. Based on my poking around Google... your best bet might be to go with some sort of Raspberri Pi to detect and control a plug via a pin-out board.. but that's getting pretty highly technical.

 

[easygreenus]

Maybe I need to clarify. I have a home up in the mountains. No cell reception. Internet not most reliable. Occasionally, I loose contact with
the internet that is fixed by rebooting both the DSL Modem and the WIFI
router.

The Ecobee hub tries to connect to the Ecobee server every 15 minutes
like a heart beat. If it fails to connect, it retries a couple of times and
eventually turns off, then on the device I specify in the setup.

That usually re-establishes my connection back to Ecobee. I'd like
something similar for Wink.

Thanks,

Mark

I have a question about doing something with the Wink Hub, but have to give some background first.

At a vacation home I have an older Ecobee Thermostat that acts as a Zigbee hub. Ecobee use to also sell SmartPlugs, which for unknown reasons they have discontinued.

One of the cool features is if the Ecobee Hub can not communicate with their server
for something like 15 minutes, it sends an off/on signal to the Smartplug that you
designate as being connected to the network gear (cable modems, wireless routers, etc), in the hope that it will fix the network problem.

My Ecobee SmartPlug has gone kuput and I'm trying to find a replacement, OR
is there a way to do this with the Wink Hub. I'm using the Wink Hub at home, I'm
willing to get one for the vacation home to handle this network reset. Its up in the
mountains and I have constant broadband issues.

Thanks,

 

[slkj]

Maybe I need to clarify. I have a home up in the mountains. No cell reception. Internet not most reliable. Occasionally, I loose contact with
the internet that is fixed by rebooting both the DSL Modem and the WIFI
router.

The Ecobee hub tries to connect to the Ecobee server every 15 minutes
like a heart beat. If it fails to connect, it retries a couple of times and
eventually turns off, then on the device I specify in the setup.

That usually re-establishes my connection back to Ecobee. I'd like
something similar for Wink.

Thanks,

Mark

These IP power switches will power cycle anything that is plugged in to them when Internet connectivity is lost:

http://3gstore.com/type/112_ip_switch.html

 

[Tech_Greek]

3.9.0.12 just released for testers. The vague what to test cracks me up every time.

 

[jlslate]

slkj - Thanks! Wish I'd seen this before getting my kludgey solution!

 

[JoeKiv]

I am planning on adding a couple of motion detectors to my system. Primarily to turn lights on/off. These two are priced about the same. The GoControl is listed in the Wink App. The Ecolink is not, but can be added under Z-wave sensor.

I am concerned about possible delay activating lights when motion is detected. Can anyone with personal experience with either of these tell me how well they work for this purpose? Also, difficulty adding them to the system and keeping them there.

 

[Tech_Greek]

I'm curious as to this as well, I would love setup some ambient lights to trigger sort of like the fancier hotels do at night when all the lights are off and you get up.

I am planning on adding a couple of motion detectors to my system. Primarily to turn lights on/off. These two are priced about the same. The GoControl is listed in the Wink App. The Ecolink is not, but can be added under Z-wave sensor.

I am concerned about possible delay activating lights when motion is detected. Can anyone with personal experience with either of these tell me how well they work for this purpose? Also, difficulty adding them to the system and keeping them there.

 

[MjnMixael]

I have several motion detectors set to turn lights on/off. For a long time the delay was 4-6 seconds.. but the last week and a half has been more like 10-15.... :/