Even Staples getting into HA
- Thread starter Automate
- Start date
Really the only support seems to be through this number 1-800-380-1518 found on this page: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/staples-connect/ and this page: https://linksys.com/en-us/ha1000/
The rest of the "documentation" is presumably in the app which requires you to activate a hub to view.
The rest of the "documentation" is presumably in the app which requires you to activate a hub to view.
wkearney99
Senior Member
Given the utter lack of documentation online I've decided to pass on this, and I wouldn't encourage anyone else to buy one at this time. It just doesn't appear to be ready for prime time.
So the hub inside is basically a pogoplug w/ 256MB flash/ram. Which means it has more than enough resources to operate without the cloud. Also means there is a lot of open source software supporting it. The Lutron interface is a full subsystem with its own microcontroller and eeprom so Lutron probably provides this preprogrammed for assembly as to keep tight control over the code and functionality (Insteon also does this with Revolv). It may even have a similar serial API to their existing products.
But there is definitely potential to take control of this device and use it standalone as a Lutron bridge and maybe with open z-wave if someone is motivated to look into it.
But there is definitely potential to take control of this device and use it standalone as a Lutron bridge and maybe with open z-wave if someone is motivated to look into it.
I had hands on this device. Its good product for the price range. The only disadvantage I think is lack of connectivity with Alarm system eg DSC / Honeywell. It comes with Zwave Ecolink Door sensor and motion sensor, which are not compatible with DSC or Honeywell. This means we had to put two door sensor, one to use with DSC and other to use with Staples Connect.
Do you guys have any idea to connect DSC to Z-wave EcoLink sensors though any module.
Do you guys have any idea to connect DSC to Z-wave EcoLink sensors though any module.
damage
Senior Member
I also found this
So a device that supports 6 radios
WiFi
Bluetooth
Zwave
Zigbee
Insteon
Lutron (Clear Connect)
For $50! Somebody has to figure out how to use this without the cloud service
http://www.cepro.com/article/staples_connect_vs_lowes_iris_home_automation_smackdown_at_ces_2014/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2454038,00.asp
So a device that supports 6 radios
WiFi
Bluetooth
Zwave
Zigbee
Insteon
Lutron (Clear Connect)
For $50! Somebody has to figure out how to use this without the cloud service
wkearney99
Senior Member
Has anyone done a tear-down of one yet?
EricHacker
New Member
So I haven't taken it apart yet. I probably should since it is pretty worthless to me as it is for any automation. Sure you can connect to it and manipulate things, but that's not home control and even that is weak.
Two months ago I got an email from Zonoff asking for feedback. I delivered a wallop and never received a response. Here is my the email:
We just wanted to reach out to you since you are a new user to Staples Connect.
We'd like to hear a bit of your experience with the system since we are continuing to improve.
If you are interested, please let me know some of the following information:
- How has your experience been with Staples Connect?
- Have you experienced any problems that you would like to report?
- Tell us about your Staples Connect home automation system - what type of devices have you installed? What user interface UI are you using and which SW version for that device?
- Tell us about what you like or don't like.
- Tell us what additional types of home automation devices you would like us to integrate into Staples Connect.
- Tell us anything else that you would like to relay to us as we work to continuously improve and expand the system with new devices.
Thanks for participating, and thanks for purchasing Staples Connect!
Best Regards,
Zonoff
Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate an have seen evidence that you are continuing to improve, but overall my experience is very disappointing.
For starters, you are using email to collect issues rather than having some open issue tracking system, a user support forum, wiki or anything like what many such products would be doing to support their early adopters.
My setup consists of:
HA1000 SC hub
Phillips Hue Bridge and 5 bulbs
Schlage door lock
Trane Thermostat TZEMT400BB3NX for simple boiler operation
Water Sensor
Fire/Smoke Alarm
3 Dlink Cameras (930L, 5010L and 922L)
3 Appliance modules (Schlage branded, but the same as GE)
2 Lutron switches (not yet installed)
I have used Web, Android phone and iPhone interfaces. I only used iPhone because I have one at work, and I was disappointed that it seemed better supported than Android.
It would have been nice to have had a link to my.staples-connect.com right on the Staples web site to start with instead of forcing the user to access through a smartphone and then find out the URL to access the web site from a PC.
The android app is very buggy and likes to crash or forget what it was doing quite frequently. I just saw that there is a Jan 17 update that I haven't tried yet. Maybe that will be better. (it wasn't)
In Android the upper left corner of the screen where there is a < should go back like the back button. That is what gmail does and is very intuitive. (They did fix this)
I have deleted some manual activities and on Android and iPhone there are a bunch of (null) activities. (fixed)
The Philips Hue controls with the Apps are very difficult to use. It is much better just to use the Philips app. After a Philips bridge update, the SC hub lost its connection and I haven't bothered to restore it because it wasn't doing much for me. Phillips has an Open API and lots of published info, scene sharing and other cool stuff that makes the Staples Connect offering look weak. (Haven't retried the SC app for Hue)
The door lock works OK. When setting it up, I thought that I read somewhere that the user codes for SC would be enabled on the lock, but that didn't seem to happen. I haven't done enough testing here as I haven't needed it yet.
The Trane thermostat doesn't work right. I went with the Trane because the Amazon reviews for the Honeywell one at Staples were bad and Amazon had actually stopped selling it. When I put the Trane into Energy Saving mode, either through the SC hub or directly on the Trane, all the programming on the SC Hub overrides the Energy Savings mode and heat still comes on when I don't want it to. I've resorted to clearing out the days on all my activity programming when I will be away to keep this from happening. (This is still a problem and defeats one of the main reasons for buying the hub)
Thermostats are thermometers which are sensors and it would be good to have device activities respond to them as such.
The Dlink integration is also very poor, and I just use the myDLink and direct camera access. It is very disappointing that the Dlink alarming isn't available in the SC hub.
You'll have noticed that I didn't stay within the preferred ecosystem when buying accessories. I find the Explore button and Eye icon annoying. It is clear that marketing is driving too much of the decisions which will probably lead to more disappointment.
Overall I feel this is an early beta product. Certainly not something that will impress the target audience of people looking for an easy integrated solution. Real geeks will be utterly disappointed and probably abandon the product for something that actual does interesting things.
Regards,
Eric Hacker
Recently I've begun to turn on the motion sensors in the Dlink cameras. This can't be done through the SC hub, and the alerting doesn't integrate with it at all. More than half the time the android app can't access the cameras and I just hit them directly on ports I've opened up in the router.
There have been updates, but not much. There is no communication about what was fixed. No communication on what might be coming.
If you bite and buy one, be prepared to wait a while before you can really do much with it.
Two months ago I got an email from Zonoff asking for feedback. I delivered a wallop and never received a response. Here is my the email:
We just wanted to reach out to you since you are a new user to Staples Connect.
We'd like to hear a bit of your experience with the system since we are continuing to improve.
If you are interested, please let me know some of the following information:
- How has your experience been with Staples Connect?
- Have you experienced any problems that you would like to report?
- Tell us about your Staples Connect home automation system - what type of devices have you installed? What user interface UI are you using and which SW version for that device?
- Tell us about what you like or don't like.
- Tell us what additional types of home automation devices you would like us to integrate into Staples Connect.
- Tell us anything else that you would like to relay to us as we work to continuously improve and expand the system with new devices.
Thanks for participating, and thanks for purchasing Staples Connect!
Best Regards,
Zonoff
Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate an have seen evidence that you are continuing to improve, but overall my experience is very disappointing.
For starters, you are using email to collect issues rather than having some open issue tracking system, a user support forum, wiki or anything like what many such products would be doing to support their early adopters.
My setup consists of:
HA1000 SC hub
Phillips Hue Bridge and 5 bulbs
Schlage door lock
Trane Thermostat TZEMT400BB3NX for simple boiler operation
Water Sensor
Fire/Smoke Alarm
3 Dlink Cameras (930L, 5010L and 922L)
3 Appliance modules (Schlage branded, but the same as GE)
2 Lutron switches (not yet installed)
I have used Web, Android phone and iPhone interfaces. I only used iPhone because I have one at work, and I was disappointed that it seemed better supported than Android.
It would have been nice to have had a link to my.staples-connect.com right on the Staples web site to start with instead of forcing the user to access through a smartphone and then find out the URL to access the web site from a PC.
The android app is very buggy and likes to crash or forget what it was doing quite frequently. I just saw that there is a Jan 17 update that I haven't tried yet. Maybe that will be better. (it wasn't)
In Android the upper left corner of the screen where there is a < should go back like the back button. That is what gmail does and is very intuitive. (They did fix this)
I have deleted some manual activities and on Android and iPhone there are a bunch of (null) activities. (fixed)
The Philips Hue controls with the Apps are very difficult to use. It is much better just to use the Philips app. After a Philips bridge update, the SC hub lost its connection and I haven't bothered to restore it because it wasn't doing much for me. Phillips has an Open API and lots of published info, scene sharing and other cool stuff that makes the Staples Connect offering look weak. (Haven't retried the SC app for Hue)
The door lock works OK. When setting it up, I thought that I read somewhere that the user codes for SC would be enabled on the lock, but that didn't seem to happen. I haven't done enough testing here as I haven't needed it yet.
The Trane thermostat doesn't work right. I went with the Trane because the Amazon reviews for the Honeywell one at Staples were bad and Amazon had actually stopped selling it. When I put the Trane into Energy Saving mode, either through the SC hub or directly on the Trane, all the programming on the SC Hub overrides the Energy Savings mode and heat still comes on when I don't want it to. I've resorted to clearing out the days on all my activity programming when I will be away to keep this from happening. (This is still a problem and defeats one of the main reasons for buying the hub)
Thermostats are thermometers which are sensors and it would be good to have device activities respond to them as such.
The Dlink integration is also very poor, and I just use the myDLink and direct camera access. It is very disappointing that the Dlink alarming isn't available in the SC hub.
You'll have noticed that I didn't stay within the preferred ecosystem when buying accessories. I find the Explore button and Eye icon annoying. It is clear that marketing is driving too much of the decisions which will probably lead to more disappointment.
Overall I feel this is an early beta product. Certainly not something that will impress the target audience of people looking for an easy integrated solution. Real geeks will be utterly disappointed and probably abandon the product for something that actual does interesting things.
Regards,
Eric Hacker
Recently I've begun to turn on the motion sensors in the Dlink cameras. This can't be done through the SC hub, and the alerting doesn't integrate with it at all. More than half the time the android app can't access the cameras and I just hit them directly on ports I've opened up in the router.
There have been updates, but not much. There is no communication about what was fixed. No communication on what might be coming.
If you bite and buy one, be prepared to wait a while before you can really do much with it.
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