Frustrated and getting fed up

#1

I set up ST and webcore 2 or 3 years ago, controlling lights, fans, etc, with several automations and custom pistons. Everything worked flawlessly for years. And then ST went and “updated” their stupid software, and nothing has worked since after switching to the new app.

About two weeks ago, it stopped working completely. None of my webcore routines work at all now. I can still turn on a light or something inside the ST app (once it finally loads), but none of the webcore stuff works.

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything with it. Is their a step-by-step guide somewhere on what I need to do to get Webcore and my old pistons working again, and maybe even on the dashboard? (The webcore dashboard wasn’t finished yet the last time I messed with it…I was using smart tiles or something, until that went away too).

So frustrated…

Thanks for any help.

Hubitat v SmartThings Questions
#2

webCoRE runs locally on Hubitat (and much faster than ST)…

#3

I feel your pain, as I think many of us do. However, and maybe I am just OCD, I am nearly constantly monitoring, tweaking, updating and maintaining my pistons. I think you have to. Webcore is completely contingent upon a well functioning SmartThings environment. And that environment is in a nearly constant state of flux. So generally, pistons are not fire-and-forget. You have to periodically keep them up to snuff.

#4

Yeah, I get that. But Webcore has worked perfectly for years. It’s the not-so-SmartThings that has recently caused everything to go south. I just need to know where to start on getting things working again, before yanking the ST hub and tossing it in the trash and starting over.

#5

What does that involve?

I assume I would need to purchase the Hubitat hardware, add all my devices, and then install Webcore on it?

Does it support the same devices as ST? I currently have Phillips Hue lights and motion sensors, some Samsung sensors, Wemo switches, Ecobee thermostat, Harmony hub, and a couple of GE switches for ceiling fans. I’m using custom device handlers in ST on some of the sensors and fan switches (dimmers).

#6

Overall yes that is the process. There are varients that uses devices on both platform (hubconnect)

The he forums is where you can research if you devices are supported

I found all mine were but each has to check what they have

#7

The GE switches you have if they are the older ones will need to be polled separately as it doesn’t report status in the Hubitat system. There are workarounds to it that involves poller apps or webcore itself. If you only have a couple, it shouldn’t be an issue. I have 3 of them myself.

Search their forum for the device model number to see if there are any issues or gotchas with those devices. I know the Samsung sensors, Hue, and ecobee work with the HE system.

#8

So I guess my options are

  1. Dump ST and get hubitat, or…

  2. Just give up on home automation

#9

I’d suggest getting Hubitat first, start small using the devices with native integration, get webCoRE working with it and go from there.

Keep your ST email subscription active just so you can feel good about the switch every time there’s a service degradation email :wink:

#10

So I want a Hubitat Elevation C-7?

#11

that is their current/latest hub

The hub models are overall similar. The key difference is the chipset for radio/zwave. The C7 has the latest 700 series chipset.

#12

@calan - I am a few weeks into a similar journey, so let me temper expectations a bit.

  1. STv3 to HEC7 - migrating devices was took a bit of time, but was generally straightforward. My biggest headache was finding that some hardwired Z-Wave devices would only exclude/include when they were within 10 feet of the hubs. Expect a few days to get the mesh fully stable.
  2. Installing webCoRe on Hubitat is way easier than the instructions look. Import & install 4 groovy files. Add the App. The thread is verbose and I have attention span issues, so it took 10x longer to read the instructions than it did to get up and running.
  3. In retrospect, I should have taken green snapshots with backup codes before getting started. Even taking them after all of my devices were removed from ST, it was fairly straightforward to get them running on Hubitat.
  4. Rule Machine - I really wanted to like the native tools and I encourage you to at least check them out at some point. It just did not make sense to my brain (may be related to the aforementioned attention span).
#13

You shouldn’t have to throw away the whole hub. I know Smartthings has been less then ideal with the new app implementation, but webcore still still works with the new app and its been pretty reliable for me. I came from wink though so my expectations are probably lower then others.

Does Webcore show in your smartapps? Can you get to the webcore dashboard and Smartthings IDE? Did you back up the pistons? Its possible you might just need to reinstall webcore to get it working again, then restore the backups.

#14

Realistically, ST is going to continue to frustrate you. They are retiring the old platform so they are in the process of ‘forcing you to change everything’

  • the key issue of the old platform runs in the cloud will be the key issue with the new platform

Your decision is

  • do you change everything again from ST old -> ST new ?

  • do you change everything to something else?

    • is it all from scratch?
    • what are the strengths weaknesses of the new choice?
    • or in case of HE, is it pretty similar in that webcore works (and locally!), most all of your devices work, etc.

  • when do you want to do this?

    • on your schedule ? (somewhat forced by ST, but you have time now to decide)
    • when ST forces a deadline on you?

Given ST is out of the hub business, they are effectively force a platform (HW) change at some point

Addressing the end of webCoRE