Learning how to WINK

Last week I was trying to get my WINK installed as my only Z-Wave controller, to answer questions sent to our website. So the biggest issue was user error (surprise). This is not an admission of guilt, as the WINK has some particular tastes when it comes to a WiFi signal. I had the WINK installed in my home office, where I could monitor the lights when testing devices from zwaveproducts.com. It turns out that WINK doesn’t like to be too far from the WiFi source (my router), but it doesn’t want to be too close either. Go figure! So, moving the WINK 2 rooms over to my living room was the ticket. Once the hub was happy, I got repeated messages on Tuesday and Wednesday to update the hub. I was asked 3 times for the same update, which never ‘took’. I asked for some help with this (again, support was quick and very basic) and Wednesday I was up and running. The wizards were included to help install any devices you bought from Home Depot, WINK, or Quirky. Since most of the devices I had were from ZWP, there was no device name to chose for the majority of my devices. I had very limited success until I googled a trick.


From the main screen, choose Hubs. In the upper right corner there are 3 dots. Choose those dots, then select your hub. Scroll down to Z-Wave Controls and select the right arrow. Now you have more advanced Z-Wave controls to include (enroll) or exclude devices.

Within a few minutes, I added two Remotec ZDS-110NA plug in dimmers in my living room and entry hall. My Remotec ZFS-110 stats in my living room and breakfast area went in with no issues. The ‘Robots’ (scenes and automation controls) were intuitive once I completed one. The ‘Schedules’ were buried in the device information, and was not handled by the Robots. Almost on cue, a client asked me if any of our Trane or American Standard thermostats would work with a WINK. I powered both from my mobile 24VAC rig, but neither would work. They both appeared to include, but the temps were wrong. The Trane TZEMT400BB3NX would catch up to some modes every now and again, but it was not responding predictably. The American Standard AZEMT500BB32MAA was slightly better, but the humidity would show up in the temperature spot on my smartphone.

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