Part 1-Start Your Smart Home: Wink Hub 2, SmartThings, HomeKit, IFTTT, Amazon Echo
Curious about where to start your smart home? Today I’m going to share some solid advice that should get your smart home up and running in Part 1 of a multi-part getting started series. Today’s topic: the smart home hub. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how or where to start with the smart home. I can tell you from experience that the biggest problem anyone, other than you, will have in your smart home is ease of use. The first thing you need is a smart home hub. Two great hubs out there are the Samsung SmartThings and the Wink Hub 2.
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Hub Videos:
Wink Hub 2 Setup: • Wink Hub Gen 2 Setup with Amazon Echo...
Connect Amazon Echo to the Wink Hub: • Connect Amazon Echo / Alexa to your W...
Lighting Videos:
GE, Lutron and Leviton Smart Wall Switch: • GE, Lutron, and Leviton Smart Wall Sw...
Inovelli 2 Channel Plug In Appliance Module (recommended): • REVIEW: Inovelli Show Home Dual Smart...
Leviton Plug In Module: • Leviton Smart Switch Plug In Dimmer a...
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I will directly compare the Wink Hub 2 with the SmartThings hub in a future video. Both Wink and SmartThings have their advantages and disadvantages. Wink has an additional radio that allows control of Lutron and Kidde devices. If you want or need Lutron dimmers, SmartThings doesn’t natively support them as of when I created this video. And, SmartThings has a built in battery backup. Wink falls a bit behind in this area. If you are an Apple fan, there is homekit. Right now there is limited device support for homekit, but I believe that will change. = Hey John, do I even need a hub? Can’t I just piece together things using an Amazon Echo or Google Home and IFTTT? Ummmm… Yeah - You can. A smart home consists of devices that you place in and around your home. Or do you? If you go the hubless route, and you want a truly smart home, every device you select must have an app that integrates with IFTTT and/or the Echo. If you want to integrate all of your devices together in a very useful way, you will need a real smart home hub. And, by the way, most lighting products require a smart home hub. My opinion is, you will ultimately decide you need a smart home hub, even if you don’t think you need one right now - so, pick a hub that is powerful and user friendly. The Echo is not a hub, IFTTT is not a hub. If Look at the five categories of things that comprise a smart home, it should make it easier for you to establish your smart home plan. So you can see that device interaction is a key element - which again, supports the need for a real smart home hub. Think first about how the other people in your house will use the new technology, and you will turn them into smart home believers.
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