Samsung Smartthings

[NCchrisSU]

I'm most excited about the Google Home in relation to home automation. Any idea if you will still need a hub to use Samsung Smartthings or will the home act as the hub? Thanks!

 

[jam4775]

I'm guessing the Home is just a control device that connects to a hub, like your phone or the Echo. During the launch event they didn't say anything about the Google Home directly supporting the z-wave or zigbee wireless standards.

 

[YAYTech]

I would assume it'll run over WiFi like the Chromecast / Chromecast Audio do. I imagine it'll at least integrate with Smartthings through IFTTT, if not more directly. (I'm assuming Smartthings supports IFTTT.)

 

[jam4775]

I would assume it'll run over WiFi like the Chromecast / Chromecast Audio do. I imagine it'll at least integrate with Smartthings through IFTTT, if not more directly. (I'm assuming Smartthings supports IFTTT.)

He's asking if it has a Hub built in.

So typically... Google Home (or other devices like the Echo) are connected to a SmartThings Hub (via your home network) and then the SmartThings Hub connected things like Philips Hue light bulbs (via zigbee wireless standard). The Google Home devices controls the Hue lights through the SmartThings Hub.

He's asking if the Google Home device has a Hub built in where it can connect directly to a Philips Hue light bulb, and you would not need a third device in the middle to act as a Hub. In order to do this the Google Home would need to have radios for zigbee and z-wave in order to directly support these standards without need for a separate Hub.

 

[Christopher Meinck]

Google Home will support SmartThings. It's featured on their site.

 

[Phenix14]

Google Home does support Smartthings directly and will not need IFTTT to integrate (although both do support IFTTT). You will still need a ST hub though (or some other product from Samsung with an integrated ST hub).

 

[Jaycemiskel]

Google Home does support Smartthings directly and will not need IFTTT to integrate (although both do support IFTTT). You will still need a ST hub though (or some other product from Samsung with an integrated ST hub).

This. It can't interface directly with Zwave or Zigbee devices.

 

[French]

So far I've seen one post from an article on Android Central about Google Home where someone has it and is using it with SmartThings. I'm trying to get more information as I have SmartThings home (fairly extensive). I just ordered Google Home but it won't come for a week or so. If I can find it at Best Buy I might just pick one up there. But if anyone out there has it already and SmartThings please post!

ETA: And while not directly related to Google Home...if anyone knows how to integrate commands for SmartThings using OK Google on my phone, PLEASE point me in the right direction.

 

[Steve28]

I have SmartThings (~60 devices) and two Harmony hubs, which are linked to SmartThings and I just bought 2 Google Homes (is that how you make it plural??).

Here's how it works:

• When you link GH to ST, ST will present you with a list of all of your "switch" type devices (wall switches, dimmers, outlets, etc.) you can pick which ones will be exposed to GH.
• Once GH imports your list of switches, you can optionally arrange them into "rooms" in the GH app. (More on this in a bit).
• GH uses the names for the switches you have assigned in ST. You can also assign a "Nickname" in GH in case your ST name for the switch isn't something you want to say all the time.
• At this point you can say "OK Google, turn on the dining room light" or "OK Google, dim the family room lights" etc.

It all works very smoothly. The only issue I have been seeing is that if you have multiple names that are similar, it might assume you want them all on/off together. For example, I had three switched named "Kitchen Lights", "Kitchen Door Light", and "Kitchen Door Outside Light." When I use the kitchen I only turn on the first one - the door ones are rarely used. However, when I would say "OK Google, turn on the kitchen lights" - it would turn on all three. It's "smart" in that it parses the light switch names and guesses that I actually have three lights in the kitchen and I want them all on. So, I had to assign nicknames for the other two so they didn't have the word 'kitchen' in them. I'm sure this will get better with time.

More about the rooms: The rooms construct is there so you can group things together and turn them all on/off together. So if you had Table Lamp, Overhead Lights, and Accent Lights all grouped in a room called "living room" you could turn them all on by asking google to turn on the living room as well as accessing them individually by the individual switch names.

I mentioned that I also have two harmony hubs connected to ST as well. The Harmony activities appear as "switches" in ST so they too can be started/stopped via GH. "OK Google, turn on the bedroom tv"

One small caveat, at present, GH cannot run ST routines directly, but there is an easy workaround. Simply, create a "Virtual Switch" in ST, then use a smart app that triggers the desired routine when the virtual switch is flipped (ST has this smart app in the marketplace). Since GH sees the virtual switch just like any other switch, it works great.

I also have a Nest, which the GH can control directly.

 

[RocketmanN7]

Got my Google home on Friday. It works great with smartthings. It can only control devices for now, not routines. But I made a virtual momentary switch in smartthings that is smart app linked to a routine and it works. You have to tell home to turn it on like a switch, but it works with no IFTTT needed.

 

[French]

I haven't tried the virtual switch yet but did figure out how to get OK Google to work on my phone to control my switches (via SharpTools, Tasker and AutoVoice). I'm so excited to have voice control and Google Home will make it even better. So the virtual switch... Any tricks to this?

 

[Steve28]

You can look at instructions I posted over here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/googlehome...and_smartthings_discussion_thread_vs/d9m8d7t/

 

[French]

Thank you SO much for that instruction link. Awesome. I just set one up. I think I need to think outside the box a bit more. I have the standard home and away routines, and I created a couple to dim lights where I was forced to use two switches for the same light (wall switch turns the receptacle on/off, but I also have a dimmer plugged into the receptacle...room is lit by table lamps so I couldn't just install a dimmer switch on the wall)...so I have a couple of routines that makes sure the wall switch AND the dimmer are on and set to a specific level. I'm going to have to play with this because the button off is throwing me off a little...and Google Home is actually able to control the dimmers via voice with no issue.

I love the SmartThings integration. Very happy with the out of the box functionality. I'm loving this Google Home MUCH more than I thought I would (and I knew I'd like it but I thought it would be a novelty which now I don't think so at all).

 

[French]

I just had a bad thought... Since GH is not voice trained anyone can say Hey Google or OK Google and get a response. The speaker is very sensitive... I've said it can pick my voice up from anywhere in my condo. I personally do not have a SmartThings lock on my door but how easy would that be to stand outside my door and just say very loudly "Hey Google unlock the door". My speaker is in the kitchen and I can hear my music outside the door so I'm pretty sure the speaker could hear me if I spoke loudly from the other side of the door.