Smart Home Hub or Nah? When and How to Use a Hub
Smart Home Hub or Nah? When and How to Use a Hub
When do you need a smart home hub and what’s the best way to use one? I’ll explain why a hub will help you level up your smart home. There are some automations you can do with voice assistants and IFTTT, but a hub will help you dial everything in.
If you already have a hub, this video will give you some tips for organizing your automations to be more efficient.
LINKS (affiliate):
SmartThings hub: https://amzn.to/2ubJeXV
Echo Dot: https://amzn.to/2UhXc55
Google Home Mini: https://bestbuy.7tiv.net/kGYGn
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MY SETUP & GEAR
See the list of everything I use in my smart home and other favorites:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/smarthomesolver
DISCOVER MORE
SmartThings Virtual Switch: https://youtu.be/Ys5vQdr_1WA
TV Automations Setup: https://youtu.be/70HGHAJJxv0
25 Alexa Routine Ideas: https://smarthomesolver.com/reviews/alexa-routine-ideas/
5 Best Smart Home Hubs: https://youtu.be/9YIc0-YVYZM
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Song titled The Other Side by Nihilore
http://www.nihilore.com/latest-tracks/2017/7/23/the-other-side
Song titled The End by EVA
Disclaimer: Smart Home Solver purchased SmartThings, Google, and Echo devices with their own money. As always, our opinions are 100% our own and not influenced.
But if you do not have a hub can you use your phone to connect everything to the smartthings app and have your phone act as the hub>?
no Justin Bieber 😂😂😂
Hi i am in the process to buy a hub and i am looking for the Aeotech smart home hub i would like to know if it is possible to control IP camera Axis M3116-LVE the camera is not wireless is there a trick to make it work?
I moved into a home and a hub was left behind. My home apparently has lights,doorbell camera,thermostat, door handle. I contacted the hub manufacturer and apparently it’s a paid service?? Can I just get a different hub to use all these things?
I’m not sure about homeassistant or Hubitat but it seems like Smartthings is definitely putting significant effort into including Wi-Fi based devices in to Smartthings automation. They definately see the consumer trends of Preferring the ease of Wi-Fi based devices. That Being said I still thing Hub based (zigbee/z-wave) automation is the way to go. Zigbee and Z-wave devices use less power when in standby (off mode) than their wi-fi counterparts and you’re not sacrificing your wi-fi bandwidth on light-bulbs switches and outlets since zigbee and z-wave use a different protocol entirely, plus most wi-fi based devices require connection to a third party cloud service which increases latency and runs the risk of your smart devices becoming useless if the manufacturer decides to end support for the cloud service that connects the devices to the internet.
Thank you for making these videos. I am the only person I know that’s into smart home stuff and I find myself watching a lot of your videos lately
I have some diveces that works with Tuya app, but dont are compatible with smartthings, Can I do that diveces compatibles with a Hub?
Is there any way to operate light using QR code? I need to manage inventory using automation?
If I buy a smartthings hub will it colate all my smart stuff across all the apps in one place because I have stuff that isn’t compatible with smarthings app on my phone??
Google nest mini is hub or not?
I have a few questions:
1a) How do Smart hubs actually communicate with devices – do they talk them via your router (assuming they are wifi devices) or do they form a direct connection to the devices themselves?
1b) Following on from 1a, do Hubs create their own "wifi network" that the wifi devices connect to, or do the wifi devices all still connect to your home wifi network.
1c) Also linked to the first two: If you have a mesh wifi system for your home internet, so that all your devices around your house get a good connection, does a smart hub render this redundant for your smart devices (i.e. if the smart hub communicates directly with the devices instead of via your home mesh wifi network).
2) How are devices added to hubs – do the devices first have to be added via the manufacturer’s own software, and then linked in to the hub?
*I like the old style Echo Dot because it’s small also **Newest.Technology**, gives out decent sound and doesn’t take up a lot of shelf space if you want to put it on beam in the workshop or shed.*
Biggest benefit of having a hub of some sort I see is that you are independent..
– of whatever screwed the morning of XYZ company’s CEO that he decided to dump whole smart things project.
– of XYZ’s CFO that he decided that customers now have to pay $.10 for every single use of let’s say switch, or if they need more than 10 devices.
Making you immune to corporate cr@p and greedy decisions.
You never said any about control wifi AND IR units at the same time via button.
The hub you show, did not have IR
So, because my better half works 3rd shift and I work 2nd shift, if I were to come home early but I don’t want the lights to turn on would I need a hub if the app I’m using to automate my lights for my location isn’t working properly to know the difference between night and day to keep the lights off even if I have the automation in the app set to keep the lights off during a sunny day even if I come home?
Hi. I already have a yeelight hub, a SPC hub, a Xiaomy hub.and several Google home devices.
Do Samsung hub or Homey integrate all that hubs? They don’t talk each other and it is very annoying.
What do you prefer Samsung smarthings hub or Homey? Thank you
Can i control the hub by connecting by Bluetooth. The Internet is not available for my project and no WiFi modem ?
Great, clear info, and relatable on the family life reference, lol! Thank you for sharing this information!
I freaking love your videos. So helpful. Thank you!
I’m just starting in the home automation world. I an an Alexa user. What would be the best type of hub to purchase that would allow me to connect switches, Ring cameras, Feit door sensors, etc.? Thanks!
Hi thanks for the video 🙂
One basic question: is it true that hub can take over the need of connecting the smart device to the wifi instead it can be connected directly to the hub and save the wifi traffic?
Why is the hub $525. I thought it was less than $100.
i have kasa smart plugs and i notice my wifi been lagging ever since i add too many smart plugs. it wasn’t the internet because a modem reboot solve the issue right away.
is there a hub for smart plugs?
Question: there are so-called multi – mode hubs. Can those deal with Zigbee devices and non-Zigbee devices like the Tuya/SmartLife devices I already use? Some expert feedback is very appreciated 😊
With Samsung, you can use any of their Smart TV’s released in or after 2022 as a Hub, and that’s what I do now, and it works identically to having a hub, except without needing to buy one (I had the TV before deciding to go smart)
is there any difference between smartthings hub V3 and Aeotec hub? which one is better?
Thumbs up for Ferris Bueller
Can the wifi hub with Plume be used ONLY as a hub for smart home? I have a brand new router that I really like and I don’t want to use the wifi router part of the ST hub. Can that be done? Thank you!
Question though, how many hubs do i need? Just 1 for the entire house? Floor?
You can only use IF THEN automation features if you have a HUB? is that correct? I simply want to trigger something that says – IF i turn on one device THEN turn on the others. Trying to figure out if i need a HUB for that simple task
Can i use this hub to airthings wave plus?
I still don’t understand why i need a hub when i have a smartphone with Smartthings installed on it…
is there any door contact or door lock that can send me notification when i am at work? (mean no wifi conection of my phone just data). thank you
Nice design, works well and very easy to set up.
Will hub solves problem of not having a N wire in switch panel ?
I know I’m just scratching the surface on hubs but I hope this bridges some gaps to more advanced automations I will be doing soon. Ferris Bueller had some pretty impressive automations for a high school senior. I wonder what his smart home set up would look like… 🤔
Where can you find a Samsung Smartthings hub?
Great video! Thanks
like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)… but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn’t support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have…. Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with… I don’t sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn’t really matter to me….
Hello. I don’t get the idea of a Hub, I mean, I can create scenes (with all the advanced feature that you mentioned) on my phone with Samsung Smarthings. Why would I need to buy another device to do the same? (And by the way a really expensive one)
I got one those free from the city when I was on a short house arrest (for reckless driving 160MPH) I’m and sure glad it’s gone, yet you actually want this and are willing to buy it. I think that’s crazy but that’s your choice and your right. Soon will be smart toilet to tell you when to Pee. I’ll wait until it can just take a Piss for me.
The best is the switch, wire … light bulb …
Fuck all that nonsense that only brings trouble
So, will the hub still control smart bulbs and other smart appliances should the internet go out?
I had connected IKEA Tradfri Dimmer to Smartthings(ST) to control my HUE lights. It worked fine. Two days back by mistake I removed my ST HUB V3 from the APP. However when I set that up by resetting it. The IKEA Dimmer Switch will connect to ST but no button actions are registered in the APP and I am also not able to control anything with these paired IKEA Dimmers.
How can I solve this?
Can you make a video of how to use it?
What is Zigby and Z Wave?
is it possible to add motion detectors in different locations of the house that it triggered would turn on the Samsung frame TV? This particular TV shows art on the display what he great to have a showing the art before you walk into the particular room with the frame tv
I have added a second bridge to control outdoor lights but now cant use it with google home automation because my indoor one is registered with hue account…this is such a disappointment..any idea if samsung bridge could help with this scenario ?
Unfortunately, Samsung smartthings was discontinued.
Thanks for showing great videos instead of sitting there and flailing your hands around like most annoying YouTubers are doing now.