So happy to see new video from you. You wiring videos were key to helping me tackle building out my smart home. Thank you for those and making new videos again!
Want to tickle the TH-cam algorithms for you since I'm so happy you're back!! Yes there are other smart home guys but your content is unique, I especially like your continued exploration of Hubitat.
Thanks John! So great to see you back and hope you're doing well. You are THE reason I am rocking my existing Hubitat... And loving it. Be well and hope to see more content soon!
Super happy to see you back John! I've loved your content and have been eagerly awaiting your return (and what a return!)... looking forward to seeing more of you!
Thanks Andrew. It truly is humbling and inspiring to see the response to the video. I will be doing more videos for sure. Thanks for all your support, it does really mean a lot to me. Cheers.
Great to see you back! Watched you in the early years when you were on ST. You are one of the reasons I made the switch to HE. Looking forwared to more great content!
Good to see you back. I was hoping you would return. I cut my home automation teeth on your videos as it were and thought, "This guy knows what he's talking about" 😃 Looking forward to seeing more of your video's, even if i am no longer using hubitat i still like the home automation ideas you come up with. Keep up the great work. 👍
Thanks Larry - very much appreciate the feedback. No worries for me what hub anyone uses, as long as it does what you need, you're on the right platform! Best of luck with your channel!
Thanks Eric! Thanks also for all the encouragement at CES. You helped pull be back from the brink of shutting it all down. Next time you're in Vegas, the beer is on me!
Your videos have helped me with my smart home journey for several years. Then you disappeared. I was so worried something happened to you. I am so happy to see you again!!! Welcome back.
Well it has been hard for me as well. I have a sick child and things have been very difficult with COVID. Believe or not smart home has been keeping my brain occupied and sane. Again really good to see back doing videos again.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I wish I followed my own advice I got exited and replaced my C7 with the C8 then the zigbee started having issues Hue motion Aqara sensors will not connect and if you get them connected they will drop off quickly even with the new update. .113
I've long since trashed my old Schlage so can't be sure. However, my guess is that it will absolutely solve the problem 99%. I do seem to remember that even on the Wink Hub. every now and again, the Schlage radio would go crazy and drain the batteries. I doubt this solves that problem. That said, that is precisely why I tested a lock at 80+ feet. Good to hear from you Steven
Hats off to Hubitat for sending the hub in advance of the announcement. I am honored that I earned their trust to keep the secret while they worked out the details of the release.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I know it is a lot of work, but I know it must feel good to see how much of an impact that work is making with the people you are trying to reach. With that said, would love to see a video on your hub mesh setup. I have over 300 devices on my new C-8, and now have a C-7 without a job. Sounds like you have figured out good approaches to divide the workloads. Would love to learn any best practices!
I honestly didn’t expect this much outpouring of support. My goal from the beginning was to bring answers and not creat questions. I always knew it meant a smaller channel, but I don’t do this for the subs (even though they are needed to make sure people can find the content). Anyway, thanks for everything. It’s been humbling.
Let the record show that I'm STILL waiting for the follow-up to the Fibaro Smart Implant Z-Wave Plus *surprise* project video. 👿 Fantastic to have you back John! Always appreciate your unique take and sometimes 'niche' approaches to smarthoming. Hope you and your family are (and stay) awesome.
LMAO - I was just reading my video notes on that this morning. All the parts for that are lost in a box somewhere, and I do really want to finish that idea. But in the mean time I have some other fun DIY tinkerings in the works.
Tell ya what. I wouldn't normally do this, but I'll leave you a link to the build list on Amazon. It has all the parts I was considering at the time. You can probably figure out where I was going at the time. :) www.amazon.com/shop/diysmarthomeguy/list/3LCNPO7YWFENP?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_aipsfdiysmarthomeguy_PKKXF6MWX7AXMK8YBXC6
Welcome back! Great video and I hope you will continue to make videos on using or tips for C-8 in near future. Is your tweet account still active? I sent a few tweets but seen nothing yet. Looking forward for new upcoming videos if you still continue to do them.
Hi Bill, Thanks for the kind words. I'm going to try to stick to it. Things seem to be stabilizing. Have C-8 plans and other plans as well. Not sure on my Twitter account. I'll check.
Great review. Thanks for covering the range differences. I will wait for a sale as nothing is broken. I think they make too much light over thr 3rd party integrations needed to be reconnected. This can be significant for some as the GUID of the device will change. This means that anything connecting into your hub via LAN will need to be touched - I.e 3rd party presence apps, etc.
Hi Brian, I can't disagree with the 3d party stuff. Guessing there is some kind of security certificate issue. At least we have the Zigbee and Z-Wave transferring. That saves a lot of time and eases the upgrade process.
Spray and Pray will get you a long way! Not sure of the issues, but should work out most range related. Depending on the distance and th hops from the hub, you may also consider multiple hub lined with Hub Mesh. But that's another topic :^P
On my desk I have an awesome button controller, a strange circuit board or two, and some Hubitat instruction manuals. I'll leave the reset up to your imagination! Thanks, as always, for all the support!
I just upgraded by C-5 with the C-8. I use a C-7 for all Zigbee and automations, the C-8 runs all my Z-wave. Tied all together with Hub Mesh. I'm going to get another C-8 (just cuz) and dedicate the C-7 to all my testing/lab work.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 - I was JUST about to order up a C8. It'd end up being about $230cdn with shipping and exchange. Ouch. When's the next black friday sale coming??? :D
haha - well, I can honestly say that a) I did give my input on what the price should be, and b) I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO control over how they set their price. Start saving all of your change and skip a few latte's. That's what I do when I want things that are a little to rich for my budget.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 - As usual, it's not the item... it's the damn exchange, and shipping as soon as anything crosses the border! I've seen shipping rates be twice the product or worse. That does it, I'm moving down there. Just so i can get this cheaper. Hahaha
New to your channel and this is my first video to watch from your content. I have a somewhat related question. What are you using to map out your home and devices? I have yet to do this despite being at the home automation game for 20+ years. I am a HomeSeer 4 user (started back in the HS2 days) and have seen similar applications for HS, but what you have is very slick. Your video was an inspiration for me to purchase my first Hubitat (C8) and I am now looking forward to evolving my HA system to the next level with the 70+ devices I currently have.
I'm not doing anything sophisticated. If you're referring to the diagram in this video, I'm using a freeware product called Sweet Home 3D. For complex logic, I often just draw out a logic diagram in Google Slides. As far as the migration goes, take it slow and methodical. Conventional wisdom says that you should start from the center and work outwards. But this breaks down when you're pulling devices out of one hub and putting into another. I cover some good concepts here th-cam.com/users/live68YTYS9nTH0?feature=share&t=753 - The video is a little out of date in some aspects, but the concepts are sound. The only thing I would add is that you should work in automation groups - meaning, there are probably automations that are interdependent. Migrate those as holistically as possible to minimize the impact on the family.
Welcome back, John!! Is it possible to do a tutorial on the Hubitat "Room Lighting" app? I'm new to the smart home community, and I've been trying to do it right for weeks and failing horribly.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 haha that would have been awesome! But only us car nuts would relate. Thanks for the great review I'll probably be ordering one play around with some mobile applications.
Glad your back making videos you re-introduced me to the smarthome thing after i dropped out from the insteon/x10 days. Now that smartthings took away groovy thinking about a change. I see many advantages with Hubitat>ST. May not be fair to ask a Hubitat guy but will there be anything i miss from ST? Also with hubitat can you have multiple hubs? I have a shed with connected wifi and would love to have a seamless smarthome environment.
Hi JR - thanks for the warm welcome back! I'll do my best to answer 'em all. X10 - I was resurrecting my old X10 gear in January of 2016 when I found Z-Wave, Zigbee and Wink Hub. There are still things I miss about the simplicity of X10, but I wouldn't go back if you paid me (well, I guess it does depend on the amount). ST Advantages - It's hard for me to say what you will miss. A lot of that will depend on how you use ST and what you like. As far as Groovy goes, HE has Rule Machine (which is flat out freakin awesome), and recently ported WebCore (which was freakin impossible for me to learn). My guess is that you will miss the mobile app the most, since that is a solid and yet underwhelming aspect of HE. Did I mention Rule Machine? I've not found anything I can't do in HE. I've tested a lot of gear in ST and frankly, any time you need to write logic, ST falls apart pretty quickly from a simplicity standpoint. But that is me. DISCLAIMER: I didn't start on HE. As mentioned, I started on Wink. Did Vera for about 6 months and tried ST for a few months. I'm on HE because I like it the best, not because it's what I knew. Hubitat can do multiple hubs. I personally run two. HE has a built in utility called Hub Connect that allows you to share devices between hubs and it treats them as native devices. Me personally, I use one hub just for my Z-Wave devices with little to no automation on that hub. Strictly command and control. The second hub runs Zigbee devices, all automations, and all dashboards. The automations from hub 2 easily control the devices on hub 1. In your case, you could have hub 2 in the shed and share those devices to hub 1. Everything in the shed runs lightening fast and local, but status and dashboards could be pushed to hub 1 for remote control from the house (like, turn on the heater before I go there, etc.). It would be seamless IMHO.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions in a fair and balanced way. Looking forward to being a new member of the hubitat community!! Also looking forward to more of your great eductional videos!!
Let me start by saying thank you I have been watching your videos for years. I've always appreciated how you articulate the information and make it possible for a Layman like myself to understand. Anyway way I have the older C5 Hubitat Hub. I have lots of automations and Equipment Z-Wave and zigbee. How hard is it to migrate to the new C8 hub from the C5? My old Hub seems to work fine, but that being said would you recommend the upgrade. Thanks 😊
The upgrade is incredibly simple. All of my devices were also on a C-5 hub and I have 90-ish Z-wave components that needed to come over. Most of my automations are on a separate hub, but everything on the C-5 came over just fine. It took about 10 minutes. Just make sure both hubs are registered to the same email address. As far as the upgrade, I'm amazed at how much faster everything is on the C-8. And for me, this is just z-Wave processing speed. As I said, most of my automations run on a C-7, so any improvement is strictly on the Z-Wave processing side. This is due to: 1) Faster Z--Wave chip 2) The antennas drastically reduce the hops 3) Better bandwidth so the payload delivers faster It's lightening fast! But, if you don't have any latency issues, it may not help with anything.
Short Answer: Most Likely Long Answer: Since the range on this thing is so dramatically improved, the number of hops to the hub is reduced, in most cases, to a direct connection. Less hops, better speed. Since it has the Z-Wave 800 chip, that should also provide a performance boost. While I'm only on day 3 of my full upgrade from the C-5 to the C-8, I can say that most of the latency that once bugged me is now gone. I think I still have some flakey devices that are causing some issues, but I can deal with those over time.
I don't see why not. But, I would leave it turned off and in a drawer. Keep in mind that the C-5 would be frozen in time fron when you ported to the C-8. Any updates you made on the C-8 wouldn't be there (unless you were doing cloud backups, you could restore from there). Remember, local backups can only be restored to the original hub, not transfer between hubs. Only cloud backups can restore from hub to hub. Believe me, I've tried.
i've installed external antennas on my c7 so i'm already seeing the range benefit, zwave 800 products are pretty much non existing, barely you can find z wave 700 products so i'll skip this version and get the c9 when it appears.
As far as I know the updates will continue. There is literally no difference in the software functionality. I was still getting updates for my C-5 as of yesterday. C-7 will be fine for years.
@DIY Smart Home Guy oh! That's good news. I've had my hub for less than a year. I'm very happy with it. You and your videos have been very helpful in my selection of the hub and other devices, and I continue to enjoy the challenges of perfecting my automations. Again, glad to see you back. I hope you continue to be active!
For me personally and for my core audience, I don't see Home Assistant on my near term radar. I have nothing against it personally and hear rave reviews. My goal all along with smart home technology was to be in a place that required as little of me and my time as possible. I know, counter intuitive since I spend time making videos LOL. The Home Assistant requirement to have a Raspberry Pi or an old laptop or something else to maintain is not where I want to be economically spending my time. Just one more thing for me to worry about. Many in my audience are fearful enough over leaping into HE (or other hubs), I don't feel like adding that additional step for them. I see HA as a place people would 'grow up' to after cutting their teeth on a simpler platform. Not that HE is the simplest by any means, but it provides a nice next level beyond the typical WiFi smart stuff approach. Great question and thanks for reaching out. Cheers
Not sure. They have seemed oddly silent on the thread topic for years. it came up in chat on the Hubitat Live last night (about 15 entries that I saw). Never got answered. I suspect that either means it's already in work, or never going to happen LOL. Matter is only a matter of time. They know they need to do it, but what it really means is left to be seen. I'm not sure if it will be an actual Matter Bridge, or just be able to link to Matter compatible devices. Not sure I care either way honestly. All good mental exercises.
I have not personally looked into Sensibo. But it would seem logical that if Sensibo provides an direct LAN integration (Local IP to Local IP), then yes, all local. IF it's a cloud integration (like Ecobee), then that portion of the integration would not be local.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 You're the reason my zwave works flawlessly for years I suspect... Stayed subscribed out of gratitude... Good to have you back sir! 🥂 Hope you post more
I have fun stuff planned. At least I hope others find it as fun as I do. Just need to work it in around my work schedule. Thanks for hanging in there with me!
Can you set the new C-8 hub to use the same internal network IP address as a C-5 hub you are placing, so that any connection with Lutron Cassetta and Amazon Echo stay the same?
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I will still probably have to go into my router and change the reservation of the IP Address from the MAC address of the old C-5 hub to a new C-8 hub. Once the new C-8 hub is functioning and you have done the restoration of the previous hub's database, is it wise to run the process to rebuild/repair the Z-Wave mesh? Does the new C-8 hub come with a USB-C power unit and cord or do we have to use our own?
I ran the repair, but it probably didn’t matter. Most everything direct connects now. It did take a couple of hours to “settle down” USB C chord and PS in the box. Also an Ethernet cable.
I have not done it formally. I did run two hubs (C-7 and C-8) from a 1500mHr power bank for 6-7 hours without running it dry. Not sure what that means other than between the two they don't drink all that much.
The one question not covered is: What about the old hub after you migrated? I'd expect that the old hub would conflict with the new hub if it was turned back on. Does it automatically deconflict the old hub in some way or automatically reset the old hub? (I'm thinking the old hub ultimately could be used to run a hub mesh setup.)
Hi Bork, great question. I had covered this in my video and Hubitat (for reasons not disclosed to me) asked me to pull it out of the video. So, I will tell you what I did, and this may not necessarily be what Hubitat recommends. They did give some details on their live broadcast when they announced. First, this is an EXACT copy of your old hub, minus any cloud or LAN authentication certificates, and minus the IP addresses. This means that when you upgrade/migrate, you essentially have a clone trying to assert dominance. No - it does not wipe the original. No - it does not 'deconflict' Here is what I did: 1. Saved the cloud backup of hub 1 (original C-5) 2. Verified that hub 2 (new C-8) could see the backup of hub 1 3. Shut down hub 1 (the safe way). Once shut down, I unplugged it and put it on a shelf 4. Ran the import utility on hub 2 5. Freaked out for about 5 minutes while the hub figured out that it was now the boss of the smart home 6. Ran the hub-mesh fixer utility to restore connection with my C-7 apps controller hub 7. Ran around the house in amazement at how fast everything was triggering 8. Had a celebratory drink while secretly wondering why no one in the family noticed that everything was so much better. I finally realized that they didn't care. This prompted another drink. I plan to use my C-5 for testing purposes only. May try to learn how to write apps, or make it into a web server for my house. May run MakerAPI stuff - who knows. Someone suggested that it was the prefect size for a coaster. That is an option also. I don't plan to use it for anything of importance since, in my case, it's a C-5 and is so much slower at everything. I do have a C-7 that I'm about to upgrade. That will be repurposed as my official Super Duper Lock Test-o-Matic hub. Its one and only one purpose in life from then on out.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Ahhh... Step #8 really pulls it all together! 🍺 Thanks. I have a weird range problem with my C-7 setup. My house has a foil backed drywall for insulation so it is basically a Faraday cage. I placed the C-7 up in the attic so it's above the outer walls in a sealed insulated box (styrofoam cooler) with a fan and ducting to cool it from vents in the ceiling below. It still hasn't been able to get a reliable connection to a z-wave (ver2) tilt sensor I put in the mailbox door on the other side of the street 100 ft away. I'd programmed a chime to tell me when the mail comes but it rarely works. I'm thinking the C-8 might be the magic bullet and if not I can use the old C-7 out on the fence as a mesh hub! 🤯
"use the old C-7 out on the fence as a mesh hub!" That's exactly what I was thinking! The C-8 will help for sure. I know what I'm about to say is not the most ideal solution (in terms of cost), but with the hub mesh capability, you could theoretically distribute hubs all over the house and just link them together. The hubs talk over the internet channel anyway, so no big deal (as long as they have LAN connections to each other). At any rate, C-8 will be better, but a Faraday cage is a tough nut to crack. The attic idea is genius!
@@BorkToThe3rd i had latency issues and automation not being triggered with one c7 hub on a 2 floor house because of very thick walls and tons of iron and concrete. I added a 2nd c7 hub to have for each floor and things got better and usable but still wasn't happy. Then i added external antennas to both hubs and now i can finally say my smart home is reliable, very rarely happens to see a 1-2 sec delay on a light turning on or very rarely devices misses commands so for me external anthenas are a must unless you live in american card bord house . Is still not perfect but in my experience gen 7 zwave devices work so much better than gen 5 and i'm pissed i don't find too many gen 7 products but would be expensive to replace everything anyway. I have gen 5 devices that are 4-5 metters away from the hub after a thin wall and get 9.6Kbps connection while gen 7 devices in my garage (different building) 30 M away and between 70 cm of total walls rocking 100Kbps connection.
That is a question I do not have the answer to at this time. When I find out, I'll let you know. As of right now, the only purpose for the WiFi is so that you don't need to use the LAN cable. Cheers
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Thank! I have a lot of WiFi devices that I would like to bring into the Hubitat. I ask the question last night but never got an answer on their live event.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I’m enlisted aircrew. Still AD, looking forward to retired life. Thinking about turning this home automation thing into a side business once I do. I’m doing quite a bit of it, and other electrical work for friends and family now. Anyhow, I love your channel. And I thinks it’s nice to see a somewhat similar background as well as shared interests.
The "bad" news is that Hubitat, like ezlo before it, is owned, developed, marketed and run by an egotistical multi-millionaire who really could care less about what customers say, want or need. It's his way or the highway. The "good" news is that this also means he's unlikely to sell out the company, only to have it compromised or shut down by some corporate entity.
Since you're a Fully Fanatical Subscriber, I'll see what I can do. If you meant Five Fighting Samurai, I'm not sure what they have to do with the audio. Thanks for watching. Cheers
So happy to see new video from you. You wiring videos were key to helping me tackle building out my smart home. Thank you for those and making new videos again!
Thanks Brian. I'm always glad to hear that the videos help. Always my end goal.
Want to tickle the TH-cam algorithms for you since I'm so happy you're back!! Yes there are other smart home guys but your content is unique, I especially like your continued exploration of Hubitat.
Thanks a bunch Michael. Very much appreciated.
Thanks John! So great to see you back and hope you're doing well. You are THE reason I am rocking my existing Hubitat... And loving it. Be well and hope to see more content soon!
Humbled and honored by you and your comments. Thank you
Same here. I have to remember how to do things with it because it just works. I do have a dead ceiling fan switch that needs replacing.
I am so happy to see you are back, you have been a great inspiration to me on the home automation. Great video.
Cheers!
Thanks Jeff!
Super happy to see you back John! I've loved your content and have been eagerly awaiting your return (and what a return!)... looking forward to seeing more of you!
Thanks Andrew. It truly is humbling and inspiring to see the response to the video. I will be doing more videos for sure. Thanks for all your support, it does really mean a lot to me. Cheers.
Glad to see one of your videos again!! Keep them coming
Thanks Ramon! Going to do my best!
Great to see you back! Watched you in the early years when you were on ST. You are one of the reasons I made the switch to HE. Looking forwared to more great content!
Thanks SHW! It's hard to believe how long I've been doing this. I appreciate the support. It really means a lot.
Got my C8 on order and so great to see you back!
I'm ordering my second one. I want a matched set!
You're back! I'm so glad to see you and also super excited for the new C-8
I am! and Me too!
Very happy to see you back John ! Excellent review as always. I hope that you will be doing more soon.
More to come! Still very busy, but am dedicated to making this sustainable this year!
Good to see you again!! awesome videos as usual
Thanks Bilal - much appreciated.
Glad to see you back, always enjoyed your videos. I seem to remember you were taking a break for family reasons, hope all is well.
Thanks! Yes, we had some stuff. We seem to be through it, but very busy. Going to make this work.
Awesome video, John! Great to see you back on TH-cam.
Thanks Team Hubitat. I appreciate the opportunity to evaluate the hub prior to the official launch.
Just happy to see a video from you!
Thanks. That means a lot!
Good to see you back. I was hoping you would return. I cut my home automation teeth on your videos as it were and thought, "This guy knows what he's talking about" 😃 Looking forward to seeing more of your video's, even if i am no longer using hubitat i still like the home automation ideas you come up with. Keep up the great work. 👍
Thanks Larry - very much appreciate the feedback. No worries for me what hub anyone uses, as long as it does what you need, you're on the right platform! Best of luck with your channel!
Welcome back!!!
I hope you continue making videos
That's the plan! Thanks!
Ordered!
Ditto!
The reason I picked up a Hubitat. Excited and hope to see more!
Humbled by your trust. Thanks for the kind words. Hope to make more soon!
Happy to see you back John. Very nice summary of the C8. Thank you.
Thanks Steve. Good to hear from you.
The Man, the Myth, the LEGEND!! Well done, sir!
Thanks Eric! Thanks also for all the encouragement at CES. You helped pull be back from the brink of shutting it all down. Next time you're in Vegas, the beer is on me!
Your videos have helped me with my smart home journey for several years. Then you disappeared. I was so worried something happened to you. I am so happy to see you again!!! Welcome back.
Thanks Shane. It's been a rough couple of years, but we are back in the saddle! Hopefully the content continues to help.
Well it has been hard for me as well. I have a sick child and things have been very difficult with COVID. Believe or not smart home has been keeping my brain occupied and sane. Again really good to see back doing videos again.
Sorry it's been rough for you as well Shane. Keep well.
Welcome, back John 🙏
Thanks Amit
John: It's great to see you back... best of luck in the future!
THanks Jack
Welcomeee Backkkkkk!!!!!
Thannnkkkkssss!
Yay! You're back!
Thanks!
What a great video! Thank you very much😃
Thank you very much. I appreciate the feedback!
Glad to see your return keep up the good work. And I think I will upgrade to the C8 in a month or so after it has some time on it.
I'm always a fan of letting some things burn in :)
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I wish I followed my own advice I got exited and replaced my C7 with the C8 then the zigbee started having issues Hue motion Aqara sensors will not connect and if you get them connected they will drop off quickly even with the new update. .113
Damn! It's great to see you back!
Damn, it's great to be back!
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Will the C8 work with these old Schlage locks we had trouble pairing? Made my night to see you back!
I've long since trashed my old Schlage so can't be sure. However, my guess is that it will absolutely solve the problem 99%. I do seem to remember that even on the Wink Hub. every now and again, the Schlage radio would go crazy and drain the batteries. I doubt this solves that problem.
That said, that is precisely why I tested a lock at 80+ feet.
Good to hear from you Steven
very prompt review! glad to see the DIY Smart Home Guy back 🙂
Hats off to Hubitat for sending the hub in advance of the announcement. I am honored that I earned their trust to keep the secret while they worked out the details of the release.
John-pretty good showing of your fans, and count me as one of them. Great to see you back, and look forward to more!
Thanks Charles,
It's been overwhelming honestly (in a good way). Didn't expect the reaction. Just the shot in the arm I needed.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I know it is a lot of work, but I know it must feel good to see how much of an impact that work is making with the people you are trying to reach.
With that said, would love to see a video on your hub mesh setup. I have over 300 devices on my new C-8, and now have a C-7 without a job. Sounds like you have figured out good approaches to divide the workloads. Would love to learn any best practices!
I honestly didn’t expect this much outpouring of support. My goal from the beginning was to bring answers and not creat questions. I always knew it meant a smaller channel, but I don’t do this for the subs (even though they are needed to make sure people can find the content). Anyway, thanks for everything. It’s been humbling.
Missed u on TH-cam bro appreciate the content
Thanks - working on a pipeline. Let's hope life cooperates!
Hoping for more of your great vids soon!
I hope so too!
You're back!
Si. Juan está aquí!
Wow you're back!
Front and center!
John, Welcome back!
It's been too long, been missing your videos my friend.
Thanks David! More in the pipe. But at a reasonable pace
I ❤it🎉 Thank you DIY Smart Home Guy😍
Thanks to you Mama GK!
Let the record show that I'm STILL waiting for the follow-up to the Fibaro Smart Implant Z-Wave Plus *surprise* project video. 👿 Fantastic to have you back John! Always appreciate your unique take and sometimes 'niche' approaches to smarthoming. Hope you and your family are (and stay) awesome.
LMAO - I was just reading my video notes on that this morning. All the parts for that are lost in a box somewhere, and I do really want to finish that idea. But in the mean time I have some other fun DIY tinkerings in the works.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Lol. No worries. I've already waited 2 years +. What's a few months more....😅 Glad you're back though.
Tell ya what. I wouldn't normally do this, but I'll leave you a link to the build list on Amazon. It has all the parts I was considering at the time. You can probably figure out where I was going at the time. :)
www.amazon.com/shop/diysmarthomeguy/list/3LCNPO7YWFENP?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_aipsfdiysmarthomeguy_PKKXF6MWX7AXMK8YBXC6
Good to see you back John. Good review sir!
Thank you kindly. Dig your vids BTW. Very smooth - we should talk colab some time.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 - Hey thanks John. I like your style as well. I would definitely be in with the colab suggestion.
how can I find you on FB?
Welcome back! Great video and I hope you will continue to make videos on using or tips for C-8 in near future. Is your tweet account still active? I sent a few tweets but seen nothing yet. Looking forward for new upcoming videos if you still continue to do them.
Hi Bill, Thanks for the kind words. I'm going to try to stick to it. Things seem to be stabilizing. Have C-8 plans and other plans as well. Not sure on my Twitter account. I'll check.
Great review. Thanks for covering the range differences. I will wait for a sale as nothing is broken. I think they make too much light over thr 3rd party integrations needed to be reconnected. This can be significant for some as the GUID of the device will change. This means that anything connecting into your hub via LAN will need to be touched - I.e 3rd party presence apps, etc.
Hi Brian, I can't disagree with the 3d party stuff. Guessing there is some kind of security certificate issue. At least we have the Zigbee and Z-Wave transferring. That saves a lot of time and eases the upgrade process.
Ordered the c8 after about 30+ days of struggling with the c7 signal strength in a large install. Spray and pray! Thanks for the intel.
Spray and Pray will get you a long way! Not sure of the issues, but should work out most range related. Depending on the distance and th hops from the hub, you may also consider multiple hub lined with Hub Mesh. But that's another topic :^P
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 mesh topic would be rad.
You’re back!!!
I AM!
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 how exciting, what type of content do you have in the works? I’m excited to see the new setup and everything you’ve been up to
On my desk I have an awesome button controller, a strange circuit board or two, and some Hubitat instruction manuals. I'll leave the reset up to your imagination! Thanks, as always, for all the support!
Still rocking my C5 here. When the C7 started going on sale several times, I had a feeling there was a new one coming soon! And … here it is!
I just upgraded by C-5 with the C-8. I use a C-7 for all Zigbee and automations, the C-8 runs all my Z-wave. Tied all together with Hub Mesh. I'm going to get another C-8 (just cuz) and dedicate the C-7 to all my testing/lab work.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 - I was JUST about to order up a C8. It'd end up being about $230cdn with shipping and exchange. Ouch. When's the next black friday sale coming??? :D
haha - well, I can honestly say that a) I did give my input on what the price should be, and b) I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO control over how they set their price. Start saving all of your change and skip a few latte's. That's what I do when I want things that are a little to rich for my budget.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 - As usual, it's not the item... it's the damn exchange, and shipping as soon as anything crosses the border! I've seen shipping rates be twice the product or worse. That does it, I'm moving down there. Just so i can get this cheaper. Hahaha
@DrFiero - I'd think you move for the better weather! Speaking of, will this winter ever end? Bring on the heat!
New to your channel and this is my first video to watch from your content. I have a somewhat related question. What are you using to map out your home and devices? I have yet to do this despite being at the home automation game for 20+ years. I am a HomeSeer 4 user (started back in the HS2 days) and have seen similar applications for HS, but what you have is very slick. Your video was an inspiration for me to purchase my first Hubitat (C8) and I am now looking forward to evolving my HA system to the next level with the 70+ devices I currently have.
I'm not doing anything sophisticated. If you're referring to the diagram in this video, I'm using a freeware product called Sweet Home 3D. For complex logic, I often just draw out a logic diagram in Google Slides.
As far as the migration goes, take it slow and methodical. Conventional wisdom says that you should start from the center and work outwards. But this breaks down when you're pulling devices out of one hub and putting into another. I cover some good concepts here th-cam.com/users/live68YTYS9nTH0?feature=share&t=753 - The video is a little out of date in some aspects, but the concepts are sound.
The only thing I would add is that you should work in automation groups - meaning, there are probably automations that are interdependent. Migrate those as holistically as possible to minimize the impact on the family.
Welcome back, John!! Is it possible to do a tutorial on the Hubitat "Room Lighting" app? I'm new to the smart home community, and I've been trying to do it right for weeks and failing horribly.
I've just started playing with it myself. I'll see what I can do, but not (never)_ sure on the timing LOL
I'm still running a C5 with a C7. Now I need a C8 for mobility use :) plus I like C8 like my corvette C8 lol
I was soooo close to putting in a Corvette reference.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 haha that would have been awesome! But only us car nuts would relate. Thanks for the great review I'll probably be ordering one play around with some mobile applications.
I have a 3-story home and never had range problems.
Yeah, some do, some don't. It was the biggest problem on locks from what I understand. Thanks for watching.
Glad your back making videos you re-introduced me to the smarthome thing after i dropped out from the insteon/x10 days. Now that smartthings took away groovy thinking about a change. I see many advantages with Hubitat>ST. May not be fair to ask a Hubitat guy but will there be anything i miss from ST? Also with hubitat can you have multiple hubs? I have a shed with connected wifi and would love to have a seamless smarthome environment.
Hi JR - thanks for the warm welcome back! I'll do my best to answer 'em all.
X10 - I was resurrecting my old X10 gear in January of 2016 when I found Z-Wave, Zigbee and Wink Hub. There are still things I miss about the simplicity of X10, but I wouldn't go back if you paid me (well, I guess it does depend on the amount).
ST Advantages - It's hard for me to say what you will miss. A lot of that will depend on how you use ST and what you like. As far as Groovy goes, HE has Rule Machine (which is flat out freakin awesome), and recently ported WebCore (which was freakin impossible for me to learn). My guess is that you will miss the mobile app the most, since that is a solid and yet underwhelming aspect of HE. Did I mention Rule Machine? I've not found anything I can't do in HE. I've tested a lot of gear in ST and frankly, any time you need to write logic, ST falls apart pretty quickly from a simplicity standpoint. But that is me.
DISCLAIMER: I didn't start on HE. As mentioned, I started on Wink. Did Vera for about 6 months and tried ST for a few months. I'm on HE because I like it the best, not because it's what I knew.
Hubitat can do multiple hubs. I personally run two. HE has a built in utility called Hub Connect that allows you to share devices between hubs and it treats them as native devices. Me personally, I use one hub just for my Z-Wave devices with little to no automation on that hub. Strictly command and control. The second hub runs Zigbee devices, all automations, and all dashboards. The automations from hub 2 easily control the devices on hub 1. In your case, you could have hub 2 in the shed and share those devices to hub 1. Everything in the shed runs lightening fast and local, but status and dashboards could be pushed to hub 1 for remote control from the house (like, turn on the heater before I go there, etc.). It would be seamless IMHO.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions in a fair and balanced way. Looking forward to being a new member of the hubitat community!! Also looking forward to more of your great eductional videos!!
Let me start by saying thank you I have been watching your videos for years. I've always appreciated how you articulate the information and make it possible for a Layman like myself to understand. Anyway way I have the older C5 Hubitat Hub. I have lots of automations and Equipment Z-Wave and zigbee. How hard is it to migrate to the new C8 hub from the C5?
My old Hub seems to work fine, but that being said would you recommend the upgrade. Thanks 😊
The upgrade is incredibly simple. All of my devices were also on a C-5 hub and I have 90-ish Z-wave components that needed to come over. Most of my automations are on a separate hub, but everything on the C-5 came over just fine. It took about 10 minutes. Just make sure both hubs are registered to the same email address.
As far as the upgrade, I'm amazed at how much faster everything is on the C-8. And for me, this is just z-Wave processing speed. As I said, most of my automations run on a C-7, so any improvement is strictly on the Z-Wave processing side. This is due to:
1) Faster Z--Wave chip
2) The antennas drastically reduce the hops
3) Better bandwidth so the payload delivers faster
It's lightening fast!
But, if you don't have any latency issues, it may not help with anything.
Thank you very much for your reply. I will take everything you said into consideration, before making my decision to upgrade.
Thank you for this interesting video. Can I integrate NodeRED directly on the device (like in ioBroker)?
I've not tried that personally. The best place to find out would be community.hubitat.com - best of luck!
I have a C7 and it boots to the Error 500. Can you help with this to get it reset ?
My HE system is currently working fine but could I expect a speed increase of how my devices respond?
Short Answer: Most Likely
Long Answer: Since the range on this thing is so dramatically improved, the number of hops to the hub is reduced, in most cases, to a direct connection. Less hops, better speed. Since it has the Z-Wave 800 chip, that should also provide a performance boost. While I'm only on day 3 of my full upgrade from the C-5 to the C-8, I can say that most of the latency that once bugged me is now gone. I think I still have some flakey devices that are causing some issues, but I can deal with those over time.
Would my old C5 still be functional and able to perform in a back up mode should there be catastrophic failure of the new C8?
I don't see why not. But, I would leave it turned off and in a drawer. Keep in mind that the C-5 would be frozen in time fron when you ported to the C-8. Any updates you made on the C-8 wouldn't be there (unless you were doing cloud backups, you could restore from there). Remember, local backups can only be restored to the original hub, not transfer between hubs. Only cloud backups can restore from hub to hub. Believe me, I've tried.
Ok, so how do you add a thread radio???
Nada
i've installed external antennas on my c7 so i'm already seeing the range benefit, zwave 800 products are pretty much non existing, barely you can find z wave 700 products so i'll skip this version and get the c9 when it appears.
C-7 is still a very capable hub. And if you have the antennas already, you're in good shape. Cheers
I didn't ask the Hubitat folks earlier, but I'm assuming updates support for the C7 will no longer happen. If so, that's a good reason to upgrade.
As far as I know the updates will continue. There is literally no difference in the software functionality. I was still getting updates for my C-5 as of yesterday. C-7 will be fine for years.
@DIY Smart Home Guy oh! That's good news. I've had my hub for less than a year. I'm very happy with it. You and your videos have been very helpful in my selection of the hub and other devices, and I continue to enjoy the challenges of perfecting my automations. Again, glad to see you back. I hope you continue to be active!
Thanks! Much appreciated.
Can I control my smart devices connected to Hubitat also over the internet?
Yes. You can set up dashboards to get access to the devices while outside the home.
Do you think in the near future you will graduate to Home Assistant and out grow Hubitat ? Home Assistant looks to be more advanced .
For me personally and for my core audience, I don't see Home Assistant on my near term radar. I have nothing against it personally and hear rave reviews. My goal all along with smart home technology was to be in a place that required as little of me and my time as possible. I know, counter intuitive since I spend time making videos LOL. The Home Assistant requirement to have a Raspberry Pi or an old laptop or something else to maintain is not where I want to be economically spending my time. Just one more thing for me to worry about. Many in my audience are fearful enough over leaping into HE (or other hubs), I don't feel like adding that additional step for them.
I see HA as a place people would 'grow up' to after cutting their teeth on a simpler platform. Not that HE is the simplest by any means, but it provides a nice next level beyond the typical WiFi smart stuff approach.
Great question and thanks for reaching out. Cheers
Thread?
Or will matter be only over WiFi?
Not sure. They have seemed oddly silent on the thread topic for years. it came up in chat on the Hubitat Live last night (about 15 entries that I saw). Never got answered. I suspect that either means it's already in work, or never going to happen LOL.
Matter is only a matter of time. They know they need to do it, but what it really means is left to be seen. I'm not sure if it will be an actual Matter Bridge, or just be able to link to Matter compatible devices. Not sure I care either way honestly.
All good mental exercises.
The new hub works local for sensibo?
I have not personally looked into Sensibo. But it would seem logical that if Sensibo provides an direct LAN integration (Local IP to Local IP), then yes, all local. IF it's a cloud integration (like Ecobee), then that portion of the integration would not be local.
Welcome back! Worried you died 😂
No one is that lucky... at least not yet! 😂😂
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 You're the reason my zwave works flawlessly for years I suspect... Stayed subscribed out of gratitude... Good to have you back sir! 🥂 Hope you post more
I have fun stuff planned. At least I hope others find it as fun as I do. Just need to work it in around my work schedule. Thanks for hanging in there with me!
Can you set the new C-8 hub to use the same internal network IP address as a C-5 hub you are placing, so that any connection with Lutron Cassetta and Amazon Echo stay the same?
Yo Clifford - you been around a while my friend!
Yes, after you migrate you can shut down the old hub and assign the new hub the old IP address.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I will still probably have to go into my router and change the reservation of the IP Address from the MAC address of the old C-5 hub to a new C-8 hub. Once the new C-8 hub is functioning and you have done the restoration of the previous hub's database, is it wise to run the process to rebuild/repair the Z-Wave mesh?
Does the new C-8 hub come with a USB-C power unit and cord or do we have to use our own?
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 BTW, have you found any use for our old Wink hubs? I got two of them sitting in a closet.
I ran the repair, but it probably didn’t matter. Most everything direct connects now. It did take a couple of hours to “settle down”
USB C chord and PS in the box. Also an Ethernet cable.
I just wish you could add wifi devices, maybe the C9...
It's interesting to think about what that would do for the adoption of the hub. Haven't heard of any plans though.
has anyone tested the C8 power consumption?
I have not done it formally. I did run two hubs (C-7 and C-8) from a 1500mHr power bank for 6-7 hours without running it dry. Not sure what that means other than between the two they don't drink all that much.
The one question not covered is: What about the old hub after you migrated?
I'd expect that the old hub would conflict with the new hub if it was turned back on. Does it automatically deconflict the old hub in some way or automatically reset the old hub?
(I'm thinking the old hub ultimately could be used to run a hub mesh setup.)
Hi Bork, great question. I had covered this in my video and Hubitat (for reasons not disclosed to me) asked me to pull it out of the video. So, I will tell you what I did, and this may not necessarily be what Hubitat recommends. They did give some details on their live broadcast when they announced.
First, this is an EXACT copy of your old hub, minus any cloud or LAN authentication certificates, and minus the IP addresses. This means that when you upgrade/migrate, you essentially have a clone trying to assert dominance.
No - it does not wipe the original.
No - it does not 'deconflict'
Here is what I did:
1. Saved the cloud backup of hub 1 (original C-5)
2. Verified that hub 2 (new C-8) could see the backup of hub 1
3. Shut down hub 1 (the safe way). Once shut down, I unplugged it and put it on a shelf
4. Ran the import utility on hub 2
5. Freaked out for about 5 minutes while the hub figured out that it was now the boss of the smart home
6. Ran the hub-mesh fixer utility to restore connection with my C-7 apps controller hub
7. Ran around the house in amazement at how fast everything was triggering
8. Had a celebratory drink while secretly wondering why no one in the family noticed that everything was so much better. I finally realized that they didn't care. This prompted another drink.
I plan to use my C-5 for testing purposes only. May try to learn how to write apps, or make it into a web server for my house. May run MakerAPI stuff - who knows.
Someone suggested that it was the prefect size for a coaster. That is an option also.
I don't plan to use it for anything of importance since, in my case, it's a C-5 and is so much slower at everything. I do have a C-7 that I'm about to upgrade. That will be repurposed as my official Super Duper Lock Test-o-Matic hub. Its one and only one purpose in life from then on out.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Ahhh... Step #8 really pulls it all together! 🍺 Thanks.
I have a weird range problem with my C-7 setup. My house has a foil backed drywall for insulation so it is basically a Faraday cage. I placed the C-7 up in the attic so it's above the outer walls in a sealed insulated box (styrofoam cooler) with a fan and ducting to cool it from vents in the ceiling below.
It still hasn't been able to get a reliable connection to a z-wave (ver2) tilt sensor I put in the mailbox door on the other side of the street 100 ft away. I'd programmed a chime to tell me when the mail comes but it rarely works. I'm thinking the C-8 might be the magic bullet and if not I can use the old C-7 out on the fence as a mesh hub! 🤯
"use the old C-7 out on the fence as a mesh hub!" That's exactly what I was thinking!
The C-8 will help for sure. I know what I'm about to say is not the most ideal solution (in terms of cost), but with the hub mesh capability, you could theoretically distribute hubs all over the house and just link them together. The hubs talk over the internet channel anyway, so no big deal (as long as they have LAN connections to each other). At any rate, C-8 will be better, but a Faraday cage is a tough nut to crack. The attic idea is genius!
@@BorkToThe3rd i had latency issues and automation not being triggered with one c7 hub on a 2 floor house because of very thick walls and tons of iron and concrete.
I added a 2nd c7 hub to have for each floor and things got better and usable but still wasn't happy.
Then i added external antennas to both hubs and now i can finally say my smart home is reliable, very rarely happens to see a 1-2 sec delay on a light turning on or very rarely devices misses commands so for me external anthenas are a must unless you live in american card bord house .
Is still not perfect but in my experience gen 7 zwave devices work so much better than gen 5 and i'm pissed i don't find too many gen 7 products but would be expensive to replace everything anyway.
I have gen 5 devices that are 4-5 metters away from the hub after a thin wall and get 9.6Kbps connection while gen 7 devices in my garage (different building) 30 M away and between 70 cm of total walls rocking 100Kbps connection.
Great real world experience Ady. Thanks.
Has anyone found a zigbee power strip that works with the c8 at all?
Looked and have not found. Sorry
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1thanks, pity that hasn't been implemented, considering how basic the function is... Hopefully in the future...
Agree. Even Z-wave power strips are hit and miss. Available for a while and then discontinued.
How do you connect WiFi devices to the hub?
That is a question I do not have the answer to at this time. When I find out, I'll let you know. As of right now, the only purpose for the WiFi is so that you don't need to use the LAN cable. Cheers
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 Thank! I have a lot of WiFi devices that I would like to bring into the Hubitat. I ask the question last night but never got an answer on their live event.
Where have you been the last few years?
Paying attention to important things in life. Just had too many coming too fast.
I just bought c7 last week ……………
😔 I hate it when that happens. What's the return policy?
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 don’t know … will try to reach them
He didnt tell you C8 Pro was in the pipeline while speaking to you lol
No he did not. And, don't think he knew about it at the time LOL. I think it was a late breaking decision.
Are you a former Air Force pilot? I see the 757 too... Are you a commercial pilot?
No. Aircraft mech - Air Force and then commercial. Still in aviation, just on the vendor side. Those are all airplanes that I worked on.
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 I’m enlisted aircrew. Still AD, looking forward to retired life. Thinking about turning this home automation thing into a side business once I do. I’m doing quite a bit of it, and other electrical work for friends and family now. Anyhow, I love your channel. And I thinks it’s nice to see a somewhat similar background as well as shared interests.
That’s awesome. I’m actually interested in talking to you about your idea. Can you direct message me on FB some time?
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 sure. Not tonight though, it’s late. I gotta get to work early tomorrow. 😂
No worries. Not in a hurry. It's a long term plan kind of idea.
What about homekit?
Yes - with C-7. Shane Whatley did a nice video on that
It'll never be certified with HomeKit! Maybe Matter if they are lucky.
8:02 I don’t think he got ur matter joke
😂
The "bad" news is that Hubitat, like ezlo before it, is owned, developed, marketed and run by an egotistical multi-millionaire who really could care less about what customers say, want or need. It's his way or the highway. The "good" news is that this also means he's unlikely to sell out the company, only to have it compromised or shut down by some corporate entity.
Dude ...your video screwed up my Alexa....
Srry
ffs drop the background noise on these videos
Since you're a Fully Fanatical Subscriber, I'll see what I can do. If you meant Five Fighting Samurai, I'm not sure what they have to do with the audio. Thanks for watching. Cheers
@@DIYSmartHomeGuy1 The background noise makes trying to understand what you are saying much harder - no need for it