Hello all,
I am new to the HC2 scene only have installed one a week ago.
To date I have always used Samsung smartthings hub to do automation for all my clients. However on this occasion the house we have just rewired is particularly large and the ST hub has struggled with the number of devices in it. Range wasn't the issue as all devices within a metre of the hub, it was the volume of communication going on it caused it to continuously lag.
The property lighting is controlled mainly by fibaro modules, though there are around 20 aeon labs dimmer modules and 15 Philips hue bulbs being used. We use the Philips hue because of the ability to give mood lighting effects in concentrated areas.
All the lights are controlled (well meant to be) by aeotec quad light switches. These look good and work well with ST, and to the best part work okish in HC2. Few more options with them in ST like button colour control. Only problem was ST couldn't handle anymore than 10 switches without becoming really unresponsive. The lag time would be up to a minute for a light to come on after the switch was pressed on.
Hence the decision to try out HC2.
Now the HC2 is far more responsive and the modules all work well, and the switches work well with the modules.
The major problem I have encountered is the integration of Philips hue. After 20 attempts I finally got the hue plugin to work, not the most straight forward process. ST is a click on app and one click on hub and its there with all the bulbs. Now that I have the bulbs installed on the HC2 they can be nicely controlled on the app or interface which is ok. The problem I have now encountered is that there doesn't appear to be anyway of controlling the bulbs from the switches, or from in scenes. e.g. a scene of - at dust turn on.... or 1 press of a button reverse state the bulb.
Now this has become very frustrating as I expected fibaro to be way ahead of ST, (especially with price difference) but it appears to be the other way around. Fibaro seem to have the upper hand with performance and speed. But with control smartthings seems to be way head.
The only way around this that I can see at the moment, is to have the smarthings setup as a secondary hub and use that on the buttons I want to control Philips hue bulbs. Not an ideal situation as I am sure you can imagine.
So my question to the community is... am I missing something really straight forward, or is it really as I see it, and i'm stuck using 2 hubs??????
Verdict so far is
Fibaro faster, more reliable, better looking app. Not installer friendly for setup and maintenance, for users and access.
smarthings way more control, and easier to setup control, but struggles with large volumes of modules / switches. More versatile for installer situations.
With ST I can have all the hubs I have installed listed in an app and then simply click on the one I want to review in seconds.. Fibaro seems to not have this option with the ID sign in setup.