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The Wink home automation thread

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WINKY-DINK said:
Just sent this email to WINK - is anyone else experiencing this ?? Seems to have just started to be a BIG issue with me over the three days:

Dear Wink:

I have version .56 firmware on the Wink Hub and IPhone 5 App version 2.7.0.2

I have installed 5 Lutron Caseta Switches with Pico Remotes. I know those switches are certified to communicate with the Hub. I have 15 more switches w/Picos ready to be installed. I have 5 GE Link Bulbs in addition to the Lutron Caseta Switches that control other lights/rooms.

When I open the phone APP, on many occasions, the APP does not correctly report the status of the lights. I have to close the APP and then remove it from memory on the phone. Usually, it then reconnects with the Hub (I see a spinning ‘wheel’ which tells its polling the Hub) and I see the correct light status. However, sometimes it does not report the correct status even when removed from memory and re-opened.

Bottom line, you need to have the APP poll the Hub each time you access the APP no matter what. It’s more than annoying to have inaccurate information appearing on the APP. We need a reliable APP and Hub integration.

Thanks for your time. Hope you send this to your software engineers.
Click to expand...
You will probably get a response something like "We are working to implement that very soon" because that is their standard response but soon could be next year or never to Wink.
 
starting to notice more and more products coming unavailable on the Wink site:

Leviton DZC switch
Leviton DZC dimmer
MyQ garage sensor
Kwikset 910
Spotter

Is this a sign of things that are not working to expectations? or are they just legitimately selling out?

I recognized they can be purchased elsewhere, Amazon, Home Depot, etc...but wondering if they are coming off the site for a reason.
 
So I finally got to setting up my wife’s phone. I installed the Wink App, created an account for her, and shared our Hub from my account with hers.
I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Nothing.
Nothing ever showed up on her phone. I waited 2 days. Am I missing something here?
 
dgruhin said:
So I finally got to setting up my wife’s phone. I installed the Wink App, created an account for her, and shared our Hub from my account with hers.
I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Nothing.
Nothing ever showed up on her phone. I waited 2 days. Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...
Have to give access to individual devices ha ha....they don't just show up.
 
winkshare.jpg


I do not want to have to deal with continually checking to ensure the devices I have connected, and new devices I connect in the future are accessible by my wife.
 
Wink is showing API issue for GE Link bulbs at the moment.

Additionally I tried to pair a Caseta plug-in dimmer just now and it would not pair.

I called Wink and they stated that for the last 2 hours they have been experiencing device pairing issues across the board and that I should try back later tonight.

On the upside, at least they are "aware". I did request that they update their status page faster when they are "aware" of an issue so we would not need to waste our time calling.

I also suggested putting service alerts right in the app so we would not need to check a website if there indeed was an issue.
 
dgruhin said:
Additionally I tried to pair a Caseta plug-in dimmer just now and it would not pair.

I called Wink and they stated that for the last 2 hours they have been experiencing device pairing issues across the board and that I should try back later tonight.
Click to expand...

This is what frustrates me about Wink's current control strategy. Why does a physical hardware switch that I've bought to control my lights, which works perfectly every time manually, magically stop working via remote due to some software glitch in the online server? Can you imagine how frustrating this must be to a non-technical user who just picks this stuff up at Home Depot with the label "it's easy & it just works"?

We have a saying now when our Wink system doesn't work - "it must be raining in the cloud" 😀
 
dgruhin said:
On the upside, at least they are "aware". I did request that they update their status page faster when they are "aware" of an issue so we would not need to waste our time calling.



I also suggested putting service alerts right in the app so we would not need to check a website if there indeed was an issue.
Click to expand...

I've said the same things to them and I've yet to hear anything or see anything in development. The crazy part is that should have been in the application from day one with something that is cloud based.

At this point my hub works MOST of the time but dealing with the random issues and such of the cloud only connected side of things has turned me off to any more purchases and I will not recommend it to any of my clients. I would just assume wait for something solid before investing anymore into anyone's infrastructure.
Luckily the bulbs can be switched to a different hub, whenever I find one that is good enough at least.
 
dgruhin said:
Wink is showing API issue for GE Link bulbs at the moment.

Additionally I tried to pair a Caseta plug-in dimmer just now and it would not pair.

I called Wink and they stated that for the last 2 hours they have been experiencing device pairing issues across the board and that I should try back later tonight.

On the upside, at least they are "aware". I did request that they update their status page faster when they are "aware" of an issue so we would not need to waste our time calling.

I also suggested putting service alerts right in the app so we would not need to check a website if there indeed was an issue.
Click to expand...

I received a series of emails from Wink starting around 10 am notifying of this exact issue...
 
I think the biggest constraint holding them back from giving local control is the fact that the hub works with so many different radios.

The can't add Honeywell support directly to the hub. They can add a radio to control it, but the commands need to come from Honeywell, thus pass through the Wink servers.

Same for Nest. Same for GE. I guess they just figured that if so much stuff HAS TO go through the cloud, might as well just make everything go through the cloud.

Even if they did localize some of the control it STILL has to go through the cloud most of the time since I doubt the average user has any form of static DNS entry going to their house.

Insteon's Hub app allows for a local AND remote url. that way, the control is local when on the same network, and through their cloud when somewhere else. But the problem with that is they use their own devices on their hub. Wink uses other company's devices on the Wink hub, and most require some form of translation.
 
trunzoc said:
I think the biggest constraint holding them back from giving local control is the fact that the hub works with so many different radios.

The can't add Honeywell support directly to the hub. They can add a radio to control it, but the commands need to come from Honeywell, thus pass through the Wink servers.

Same for Nest. Same for GE. I guess they just figured that if so much stuff HAS TO go through the cloud, might as well just make everything go through the cloud.

Even if they did localize some of the control it STILL has to go through the cloud most of the time since I doubt the average user has any form of static DNS entry going to their house.

Insteon's Hub app allows for a local AND remote url. that way, the control is local when on the same network, and through their cloud when somewhere else. But the problem with that is they use their own devices on their hub. Wink uses other company's devices on the Wink hub, and most require some form of translation.
Click to expand...

I would say that Wink should minimally allow for local control of any Z-Wave / Zigbee and Lutron device. Those do not require any external cloud access to 3rd party api services.

From a post on WinkWorkshop.com by MjnMixael

This image sums it up perfectly
ImageBin.jpg
 
I have been reading this thread all day, (Blame sick day with daughter). But I have both a wink hub and a smartthings hub. I am in the infancy stage here as all I have is 4 or 5 caseta switches and 2 lamp dimmers running to the Lutron bridge. That all works like I want it but I want more. Basically I want motion, tstat, camera control with some water sensors and garage control. The only reason I am considering wink after reading this is the several hundred dollars worth of Lutron I already own. For those of you who went tge other way to smartthings which did you like better or had more pros than cons.
 
Getusmonster said:
I have been reading this thread all day, (Blame sick day with daughter). But I have both a wink hub and a smartthings hub. I am in the infancy stage here as all I have is 4 or 5 caseta switches and 2 lamp dimmers running to the Lutron bridge. That all works like I want it but I want more. Basically I want motion, tstat, camera control with some water sensors and garage control. The only reason I am considering wink after reading this is the several hundred dollars worth of Lutron I already own. For those of you who went tge other way to smartthings which did you like better or had more pros than cons.
Click to expand...

As far as I've been told and seen smart things is currently more capable in almost every way...wink is definitely a simpler UI but there are stability issues, app not reporting correct status of lights, and so on. Now Lutron may be the exception to the rule.
 
Getusmonster said:
I have been reading this thread all day, (Blame sick day with daughter). But I have both a wink hub and a smartthings hub. I am in the infancy stage here as all I have is 4 or 5 caseta switches and 2 lamp dimmers running to the Lutron bridge. That all works like I want it but I want more. Basically I want motion, tstat, camera control with some water sensors and garage control. The only reason I am considering wink after reading this is the several hundred dollars worth of Lutron I already own. For those of you who went tge other way to smartthings which did you like better or had more pros than cons.
Click to expand...

I skipped out on SmartThings v1 because it was a bit too complicated from what I wanted to do (low tinker factor) & I'd already been down that road before. Wink does make things simple, despite their glitches. However, I am very keen on checking out a SmartThings v2 hub because it sounds like it's going to be awesome, but this time I'm going to wait for other people to be the guinea pigs first 😉
 
I can completely understand kaido. The clear connect integration from winks standpoint is the only reason I own one. I feel like I'm in a catch 22 here, I can get z wave product that may or may not be wink certified that May or may not work with wink hub that will probably work with smartthings. I wouldn't be out anything if I have to bail out. Then maybe I'm short changing my wink experience.
 
Kaido said:
this time I'm going to wait for other people to be the guinea pigs first
Click to expand...
I think that's a good idea.

I've had two glitches with Wink this week. Sunday night my internet connection was down for about a hour or so, and this afternoon one of my lights would not turn off(may be related to the api problems noted above). I did not turn that light on, and ended up resetting it and repairing it.
 
Getusmonster said:
I can completely understand kaido. The clear connect integration from winks standpoint is the only reason I own one. I feel like I'm in a catch 22 here, I can get z wave product that may or may not be wink certified that May or may not work with wink hub that will probably work with smartthings. I wouldn't be out anything if I have to bail out. Then maybe I'm short changing my wink experience.
Click to expand...

Yup. I mean, you could always go with Lutron's Hub, but meh. I mean, my Wink Hub was only a dollar, so how much can I really complain? Haha. STv2 is promising, but so far everything has been promising, from the new Vera hub to Wink, and none of it has really panned out so far.

So far I've opted to only buy Wink Certified hardware, mostly due to the horror stories I keep reading about people spending $50 on switches or outlets & then either not having them work or having partial support. I'm also careful not to buy anything actually made BY Wink either, since I don't want to risk getting locked into their system (like their Norm thermostat).

Samsung made some mighty big promises about openness with their STv2 hub, so I'm very anxious for that to make an appearance & evaluate it for effectiveness. Wink's continued commitment to being cloud-only is only going to hurt them in the future as more locally-controlled hubs are released, reviewed, and found to be better offerings (granted, that sure isn't the case right now! haha), which is why I'm taking the approach I am to hardware purchases.
 
Good news/bad news, the continual winter storms here in New England have really done a number on my living quarters - currently have major leaks in 4 rooms with severe damage in one, moderate damage in a second one, and minor damage in the last two. So bad news for the water damage, but good news because I'll probably be able to get all of the windows replaced, and will definitely be looking into Pella's Designer series with Insynctive motorization using between-the-glass blinds.

The only problem I foresee is that, ideally, I'd want transparent blinds between the glass & blackout blinds as a room-facing inside-mount, but they use integrated solar panels to charge the battery built into the blind unit, so the inside-mount blind would never see any sunlight. Not sure how that would work battery-wise; if they have replaceable batteries that last like 6 months, I don't mind changing them out twice a year or whatever, but if the frequency is higher, then that's not going to fly.
 
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