I’ve been in my home for about 4 years now. It’s safe to say that over those 4 years, everything has gone to pot and now my smart home doesn’t work.

Everything is running through my network of Amazon Alexa’s. I have mostly Philips Hue bulbs with a few GE switches and Samsung Sensors connected through Samsung SmartThings. August Smart Locks. A few other odds and ends.

I’m to the point now where nothing in my Apple Home Kit shows as online anymore. None of my timed or sensor based automations work now.

I’m sure this is normal…right? Has this been your experience that everything slowly stops working? Any tips to keep things alive and fresh? Is the only solution to delete everything and start over?

  • Z-Waver@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Over a decade in and this has not been my experience.

    My personal setup is composed almost entirely of Z-Wave devices, with a small few WiFi connected devices. All of my devices work without internet access. There is no cloud dependency, except for remote access when I’m on the road and notifications. Over the years, I have swapped out controllers because I just wanted to try a different controller, or some other reason. But, regardless of controller, I have not experienced the deterioration that you report.

    I have had a small few individual devices fail and require replacement. But, the overall system continues to function well.

    I would guess that your deterioration is caused by a few factors. Things such as disparate systems, cloud connectivity, and WiFi issues are a common source of unreliability.