multiple smart bridge pros in the same house?

[smart_home_guy]

Justin, in your setup with multiple smart bridges, I assume that (without the help of third party apps or hardware) automations run independently on each smart bridge, right? Did you have to logically attach devices to bridges based on how they might be used together? Any places where this made for challenges or limitations?

[wkearney99]

Most systems aren't going to run 'anything' on the bridges themselves. It'll all be running on the automation controller and the bridges are just used to trigger lighting changes. Some are smarter than others but few take advantage of scenes that are possible on the controller. Scenes there can be smarter (at least on RA2) in that a single command can be issued that controls multiple lights simultaneously. As in an on or off designed for a whole set of lights. With a scene they can all go on/off at exactly the same time. Without scenes you get the popcorn effect of one light after another changing (like kernels popping in the pan).

[Justin.coolDallas]

Smart Home Guy

I placed the three bridges to ensure all devices were within about 45 ft of a bridge. Then tested to make sure there were no dropped or lost commands and/or communications.

I did did not even try to set up any automations or scenes with the Lutron app, knowing that each bridge (and its attached devices) was in effect it's own silo.

The automations were run only with the third party apps Eve, Home Smart-home, and Apple Home. And they worked fine, and included devices that were spread across the three Smart Bridges.

Likewise, as one would expect, I was able to do the same with the Homeseer controller.

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Smart Home Guy

I placed the three bridges to ensure all devices were within about 45 ft of a bridge. Then tested to make sure there were no dropped or lost commands and/or communications.

I did did not even try to set up any automations or scenes with the Lutron app, knowing that each bridge (and its attached devices) was in effect it's own silo.

The automations were run only with the third party apps Eve, Home Smart-home, and Apple Home. And they worked fine, and included devices that were spread across the three Smart Bridges.

Likewise, as one would expect, I was able to do the same with the Homeseer controller.

[smart_home_guy]

Makes perfect sense, all the automations run on the higher level platforms. I guess the only limitation would be that any Pico remotes would need to control devices only within 1 smart bridge. But that's probably easy to work around.

[Justin.coolDallas]

smart home guy,

With the HomeSeer controller I am able to use any button on any Pico to set off any chain of events.......turn scenes ON/OFF, Dim Lights, Shades up/down, set thermostats, etc etc. When using the LUTRON App to attach the device, just don't select a device for the Pico to control, i.e. don't link it to "TV Room Ceiling Lights" for example. Then in the HomeSeer Controller I use any of the buttons as a trigger for firing off any action I want....... And that can include controlling devices that are on all three of my bridges, as well as setting all three of my Honeywell WiFi thermostats. The sky is the limit in terms of what you can control.

[wkearney99]

With the HomeSeer controller... The sky is the limit in terms of what you can control.

The HS3 software sees all of the device actions as they happen. A motion controller firing, a button being pressed, a dimmer being changed, all of those actions are seen by the main repeater. Any integration software that connects to a repeater is going to be able to see those same things.

[Blurum]

So do the Caseta dimmers, picos, etc directly work/pair with Homeseer bridge ? So no Lutron hub required? Kind of like Wink does .

[wkearney99]

So do the Caseta dimmers, picos, etc directly work/pair with Homeseer bridge ? So no Lutron hub required? Kind of like Wink does .

No. Homeseer runs on it's own box, you're still using the Lutron bridge. HS3 makes it's connection to the bridge (or main repeater for RA2) via your local wired network.

[smart_home_guy]

Your post forced me to go look up the Homeseer hardware last night. Once you're running it, can you still control devices through HomeKit as well? Do you have HomeKit address the smart bridge directly, or are you running the Homeseer HomeKit plugin?

[wkearney99]

Your post forced me to go look up the Homeseer hardware last night. Once you're running it, can you still control devices through HomeKit as well? Do you have HomeKit address the smart bridge directly, or are you running the Homeseer HomeKit plugin?

Don't use homekit, don't care. Had enough of Apple's shenanigans over the years to know to stay far away from them and their products whenever possible.

That said, the repeaters have the ability to accept multiple logins. Nothing keeping multiple systems from making simultaneous connections. Bearing in mind, of course, that apps connecting directly also consume a login. So you're best using a 3rd party integration setup with a controller rather than lots of apps all trying to keep making connections to the bridge/repeaters. Which using Homeseer would accomplish as it acts as a go-between. Any 3rd party integration system would also be able to do this.

Bear in mind that you may run into 'wife acceptance factor' problems if you layer too many things on top of each other. Best to keep things simple, straightforward and sensibly usable. Focus on reliability most of all. So as you start using an automation system don't try and shoehorn it onto some other computer already doing a ton of things. Give it a box of it's own, on a UPS for electric and leave it the heck alone once it's running properly.