My smart home currently consists of a Wink version 1 hub, 2 GE zigbee light bulbs, 5 GE zwave wall switches, 5 outdoor zwave outlets, 2 Aeotec smart energy switches, 1 Aeotec door sensor, 1 GE zwave ceiling fan controller, two zwave motions sensors, 1 zwave fire/carbon monoxide detector, a Honeywell thermostat, and one Schlage door lock. The reason I want to leave Wink is I want local control. I hate that it needs the internet to do anything, and I also hate the lag time while it phones home. It also has limited product support.
I have a Pi3 that I use as a retro gaming station that I plan to use to test out Home Assistant. Should I start by hacking the Wink to be a dumb hub, or should I get something like the Aeotec USB stick? I realize the stick doesn’t have Zigbee, but the majority of my network is zwave. I guess I am looking for what works best for you guys without the lag.
I’d start by simply adding the wink hub to HA (as covered here). Then you can add your choice of Z-Wave stick/board, and your choice of ZigBee stick (or a combo Z-Wave/ZigBee stick) and migrate items at the rate you chose.
You will get the API and auth code within the next few days.
I have a ton of redirect id because I didn’t set mine as static on my router (fixed but I haven’t cleaned up the extra ones.)
The call back part is important. http://192.168.1.205:8123/auth/wink/callback
I’m in the same boat. I’m migrating from my wink hub.
I already hacked my relays to display my homeassistant web page when the screen turns on. It’s nice having that display actually useful now
It doesn’t look like the Pi3 image is very big. What size microSD cards are you using for HA? I have a 64G card that I would like to keep setup for RetroPie, so I will need to purchase another microSD card. Thanks for the help.
Agreed. 32 would even let you install a gui in case you wanted to attach a pi touchscreen and mount it to your wall.
My big recommendation is to make copies of your config files Everytime you edit them. Forgetting a colon or having an incorrect syntax can be a real pain to troubleshoot (it’s good practice but sometimes it’s nice to go back a a last good save.) Backing up all your configs would take around 5 MB tops. I’ve accidently hit a character on a line I was trying to scroll past. Since that’s not the area I was working in, it took a long time to find my mistake. The error logs help allot.
It’s amazing how much better I’m able to organize everything versus what I was allowed to do with the wink app.
Heck, I’ve even incorporated sickrage to it so that the kids and look up shows. I’m debating adding emby to it - like I said, it’s so nice to be able to use my wink relay screen for more than just a time and weather screen
Thanks guys. I don’t have a wink relay, but is it something that is very useful for HA? Is it like having your phone mounted to the wall? I am up for looking into anything that will make the Pi3 even better, so any recommendations are welcomed. I have been busy with a kitchen remodel, but I am about to get HA installed later this week. I have tinkered with an arduino, so I am hoping I will learn the basics fairly quickly.
If you don’t already have the wink relay, it’s up to you.
I use mine now as an Android device with two smart switches built in. It’s pretty cool and it draws power directly from the power going to the light switches so bonus of no plugs.
The main downside for me is that it doesn’t have play store built in. I’m able to side load all the apps that I need so it’s not much of a hindrance. But any all that relies on the play store doesn’t work. For me, that is solely the ring app.
Getting an Android tablet and mounting it to the wall would also work but then you have to figure out how to power it and you lose your smart switches (which is nice compared to just using smart bulbs because smart bulbs stop working whenever someone turned off the light switch - untraining that is difficult since it’s all motor skills. Plus I have a paranoid preteen that is afraid all of this smart stuff is really just a way of spying on her - lol.). You also lose the proximity sensors that auto turn on the screen.
I like mine and they are usually in the mid 60s which is close to the cost of a tablet anyways.
Funny thing is it’s more responsive this way then it was with the original wink program. The wink app is so slow that I almost never used the screen before.
