No, I’m not leaving home assistant
But could I just buy and SmartThings hub instead of a zwave or zigbee stick and connect it locally with Home Assistant? Thanks in advance.
You couldn’t connect it ‘locally’ as SmartThings is a cloud based system.
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I went from SmartThings to Hubitat. Then MQTT didn’t work great with Hubitat, then ZWave2MQTT Add-On and I didn’t get along. I dusted off the SmartThings Hub when I saw it was supported. Gotta say stellar integration.
BUT, it’s not local. So you’re cloud dependent and at the mercy of their many platform outages…
Hubitat MQTT driver had a major release and it works really well, minus the Climate Thermostat integration. That doesn’t come in as a nice Climate entity yet.
The driver is an “alpha” keep in mind.
I’d much rather have local control though.
My many cents.
I have a feeling I’m going to hear that comment a few more times… until …
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Ahaha I didn’t realize it was you replying as well. It wasn’t meant as a dig at your driver.
I’m loving it!
I am content at the moment telling Hubitat what mode it should be in and adjusting the thermostat in Hubitat.
(This post has been simplified to only illustrate a better point.)
The Hubitat MQTT Driver automatically can automatically import your devices if you configure both ends properly.
@shanem. The HA SmartThings integration is a really neat implementation. The cloud adds a couple of seconds delay and of course necessitates Internet connectivity. That may, or may not be a concern for your application.
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Unfortunately it is a concern, as I have slow and in reliable 10mbps internet that stops working.
In all honesty, looking at the price of the smartthings hub, unless you already have one then I’d stick with a Z-wave and Zigbee stick.
A conbee is less than $40 or €40.
And I got a Z-wave stick ages ago for under €5 that works pefectly with Hass.io.
Everything is then completely local and not relying on the cloud. So if their servers or your own internet connection is down then at least you can still control your devices.
If you have unreliable internet, then you will likely be frustrated with SmartThings.
It will take more time to set up Home Assistant with a Z-Wave/Zigbee stick, but you’re better off in the long run going that route. Zigbee pairing is easy with Home Assistant. Z-Wave tends to be a pain no matter what hub you use (though SmartThings was relatively easy).
Good luck!
In case you’re not aware of Hubitat Elevation it’s a very similar product to SmartThings, and most drivers from ST can be used with some small modification on HE. Big difference though it’s local - no internet required. The ST integration from HA can’t however. You can link HA and HE via MQTT or by other methods if you’re a programmer.
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I’m thinking about getting a Hubitat to replace my ST hub instead of a stick. I’ve been hearing way too many issues people have with their zwave sticks and how long it takes to reboot HA due to the network having to heal or something.
I’m sick of my devices being obsolete when ST cloud goes down (far too often for me) and the delays, but the ST integration with HA was was super easy. Can that also be said for Hubitat? Is MQTT as reliable as ST integration, especially with power monitoring devices? Will HA ever support a “direct” integration with Hubitat similar to ST?
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There are two integrations from HA to HE.
One is via MQTT and that requires a broker and installation of an app on HE and creates bi-directional device discovery and control between HA and HE. So devices can be shared both ways.
The other essentially is HE to HA so your Z -Devices and others from HE become usable in HA. It is an HA app and doesn’t require an MQTT broker.
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