The use of smart devices in your home should improve your life. Once you spend some time preparing them, they can save you time, energy, and money.
Unfortunately, technology is rarely that simple. Things always go wrong. And if it takes you longer to fix your smart home device than it does to perform a given task manually, the device quickly starts to lose its appeal.
If setting up your Samsung SmartThings is giving you pain, what are your options? In this article, we'll offer some common troubleshooting tips and look at alternatives you could use instead.
Here are three of the most common issues you'll encounter when using SmartThings devices.
Samsung SmartThings is a modular system. You can keep adding more devices over time.
Some users have complained that their new devices won't pair with their existing hub. The four affected products are the multipurpose sensor, the motion sensor, the arrival sensor, and the water leak sensor
A faulty Remove to match pull-tab is often the cause of the problem.
It's easy to tell if you can tell if you have a bad pull tab. The LED on your device will not light up and pairing will be impossible. The problem is especially common if the tab broke when you first removed it.
To fix the problem, you need to remove the device cover. Once exposed, remove the battery and blow out both the battery and the battery compartment of the device. Your goal is to remove any remaining part of the tab.
SmartThings devices communicate with each other wirelessly. As such, they are often affected by a weak signal .
A weak signal can make a device unreachable for long periods. And in the event of a water leak or an intruder, a disconnected device could be very costly.
However, you can modify your settings to improve the situation.
First, try to make the line of sight of a device as clear as possible. Wireless signals struggle to get through thick walls.
If that doesn't help, try adding a socket halfway between your hub and the problem device. Because SmartThings uses a mesh network, a socket will act as a signal repeater.
You can also try disabling 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. It will reduce the congestion on the frequency and thus improve the range of your devices.
Lastly, you can try replacing your troublesome device with a Z-Wave alternative. Z-Wave works at 900MHz What is Z-Wave and is it compatible with your smart home? What is Z-Wave and is it compatible with your smart home? Z-wave support is a popular feature in smart home technology, but what exactly is it? Because it is important? How does it work? We have answers and more! Read more . It is not a widely used frequency among other household items..
When you try to add a new device to your SmartThings settings, you will occasionally see an Unknown Device message.
Typically, the message is caused by one of two things:
If your problems with SmartThings run deeper, it may be time to accept that it's time to move on. Samsung SmartThings isn't the only way to automate your home.
Here are some alternatives.
Many of the major smart home manufacturers offer a hub. Along with SmartThings, other common products include the Insteon Hub, VeraLite Hub, and the Lutron Smart Bridge. We have examined them in detail. Which Smart Hub for Home Automation is Best for You? Which Smart Hub for Home Automation is Best for You? For a while, people thought the idea was nothing more than a gimmick, but recent product launches have shown that smart home automation is starting to deliver on its promises. Read more elsewhere on the site.
You could even try using openHAB Introduction to OpenHAB Home Automation on Raspberry Pi Introduction to OpenHAB Home Automation on Raspberry Pi OpenHAB is a mature, open source home automation platform that runs on a variety of hardware and is protocol agnostic, which means that can connect to almost any home automation hardware on the market today. Read more . While most other companies' products use proprietary communication protocols or one of Zigbee and Z-Wave, what is the difference between Zigbee and Z-Wave? Here is everything you need to know What is the difference between Zigbee and Z-Wave? Here's everything you need to know To ensure your smart home devices communicate well with each other, it's important to know which wireless language they speak! Here is everything you need to know about Zigbee and Z-wave. Read More
In that sense, openHAB is the closest replacement for SmartThings (SmartThings hubs use Zigbee but also have a Z-Wave radio).
On the downside, openHAB is much less user-friendly than SmartThings. You must have a fair amount of code knowledge for it to fulfill its potential.
It's also worth spending some time researching lesser-known centers. Some Hubs You've Probably Never Heard Of 7 Smart Home Hubs You've Never Heard Of Before 7 Smart Home Hubs You've Never Heard Of Before Some smart home hubs get all the press, so you might not be aware of these lesser known gems! One of these lesser known smart home hubs might be the perfect fit for you! Read More Securifi's product range is particularly impressive.
Whether a smart assistant can replace your SmartThings smart home depends on how complicated it is to set up.
If you use a lot of third-party SmartThings apps, you may be missing a smart assistant. But if your hub only runs a few smart lights and a security camera, you might be able to remove the hub from the equation.
Most modern smart home devices can communicate with each other (and thus your virtual assistant) over your existing Wi-Fi network, not just relying on Zigbee or Z-Wave. That's why we recently argued that distribution centers were slowly becoming obsolete. Building a smart home? Avoid These 5 Popular Gadgets By Building A Smart Home? Avoid These 5 Popular Gadgets Building your smart home is an exciting time, with endless possibilities. But it's important to note that while these gadgets sound good, they're not what you want in your smart home! Read more in the world of smart homes..
Of course, if you have a lot of older Z-Wave devices, you'll need to keep a Z-Wave compatible hub.
The main final selling point of a SmartThings Hub is its ability to automate events.
For example, if a motion sensor detects a door opening, it could tell your smart lighting system to turn on the light, even if neither system is made by Samsung.
But, as long as the devices you want to talk to are running on your Wi-Fi network, the free IFTTT app can do the same.
We've looked at IFTTT recipes for both SmartThings and the wider smart home 10 of the Best IFTTT Recipes for Smart Home Automation 10 of the Best IFTTT Recipes for Smart Home Automation The Right IFTTT Recipes for Your Smart Home They can save you time and effort, and energy. Here are ten of our favorites to get you started. Read more . Take a look at the articles to see what is available. You might also consider some budget projects to build your smart home Smart Home on a Budget:10 Cheap Alternatives to Popular Devices Smart Home on a Budget:10 Cheap Alternatives to Popular Devices All the features of your favorite smart devices for a fraction of the cost ? Yes please! Here are 10 less expensive devices that you can easily replace in your smart home. Read more.
