SmartThings Starter Kit

[Mavis]

I was given the SmartThings Starter Kit to test about a month ago and the kit is very promising although the general consensus is that it has been released in the UK too early as there has been a lot of kit failures and compatibility with IFTTT not materialising until the last few weeks.

The starter kit contains:
presence sensor (phone also works as a presence sensor)
Plug in outlet
multipurpose sensor (temperature, open/close)
motion sensor

I have gone for the novelty factor and stuck the multi sensor on the letter box and linked it to my Sonos to play 'Please Mr Postman' when the letter box is opened. I also have the presence sensor on my hubby's keys and the kitchen Sonos plays the Italian National Anthem when he comes in

What is good with SmartThings is you can see the status of your Things in the App. I already have LightwaveRF and that is the main complaint with LWRF - that you cannot see whether a plug is on or off.

There is also the promise that compatibility with Honeywell Evohome is coming shortly so there is the potential to link the multisensor and/or the presence sensor to it.

There are also set SmartApps within the app which means you can set your kit up quickly.

I like it but with anything like this I really should spend some more time on how I could use it to its full potential.

I have been told I get to keep my kit but I think that I will add to it with compatible kit as the individual items are very expensive - £45 for the plugin outlet.

[Otto-Mate]

Thanks for that Helen.

I've added the Aeotec Multisensor 6 to our SmartThings setup and it works great with it...
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/new-p...isensor-6.html

Watch out for a special video showing the power of SmartThings tomorrow.

Thanks

M.

[SiliconPixel]

I'd also recommend a couple of must-have smart apps for ST:

1) Rule Machine - a VERY capable custom rule creator - basically get ST to do pretty much anything based on a number of triggers. Highly configurable. My go-to rule creator
2) SmartTiles - a cool tile based interface for your ST system - what's best is that it's HTML based and runs on pretty much any browser - iOS, android, desktop etc

[Mavis]

So much to read up on! Where do I start? Do these replace the official app or do you create things in the original app and then control from these?

[SiliconPixel]

Yes there is a lot to read up on - but for me, that's half the fun of it

The smart apps are components of the ST system - pieces of code that run on ST. There are two ways to install them - through the ST app and the marketplace or through the IDE (the Smartthings development website that you can log on to with your ST username).

In fact the SmartTiles app now uses a really simple installer. Search the ST community forum for the details - there's full info on there.