Switched a Yale lock to Wink/Indigo

Posted on
Sat Sep 05, 2015 7:03 pm
hwitten offline
Posts: 627
Joined: Dec 26, 2007
Location: British Columbia

Switched a Yale lock to Wink/Indigo

I have 3 Yale locks on a Vera3 but one has always been unreliable as it's installed on a detached garage.
Last weekend we were on GenSet for some 20+ hours and as per usual, Zwave networks takes awhile to become reliable again.

The lock on the detached garage did not fall back into line, even though I have 4 zwave devices just to build a reliable path to that lock.
Been playing with a Wink Hub for a bit now so I bit the bullet and took the lock off the Vera3 and added it to the Wink. Since the Wink Hub only controls some experimental lights I was able to park it in a window facing the detached garage to hopefully get good reliability.

I'm using a python script to connect to the Wink site and load a few Indigo variables every 15 minutes or when some activity happened and 10 minutes after the door is closed I send a close to Wink from Indigo.

Performance is quite acceptable. Only downside is that Internet is required but it's actually a non-issue for me.
If at home, no problem and if away the door should already be locked.

Bottom line... am able to repurpose 4 zwave devices for price of Wink Hub (50 bucks).

Only time will tell if it'll be a success, I.e. reliable.
In the meantime going to try and make a plugin out of the script.

Posted on
Sun Sep 06, 2015 11:44 pm
rhanson offline
Posts: 192
Joined: Apr 30, 2013

Re: Switched a Yale lock to Wink/Indigo

I also dumped my super-unreliable Vera setup in favor of the HomeSeer Zee. It's locally addressable. They recently updated it to a version called Zee S2, which embeds the Z-Stick for Z-Wave. Their software works, and the Z-Wave part is error-free. Since both the HomeSeer and Indigo have RESTful interfaces -- and all on the local network -- communication is just a matter of a scripting a few events on each side.

The one area that Vera was good at was providing a web interface for configuring the lock PINs. HomeSeer doesn't have that; if you don't want to program the PIN codes from the Yale lock, you'd have to write your own UI.

Posted on
Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:00 pm
ehuck offline
Posts: 12
Joined: Aug 18, 2015

Re: Switched a Yale lock to Wink/Indigo

Would love to see the script or plugin when done. My roommate ended up buying wink devices without consulting with me on our home automation. Would be nice to get my his stuff to work with mine.

Posted on
Wed Jul 06, 2016 7:35 am
Different Computers offline
User avatar
Posts: 2533
Joined: Jan 02, 2016
Location: East Coast

Re: Switched a Yale lock to Wink/Indigo

hwitten wrote:
I'm using a python script to connect to the Wink site and load a few Indigo variables every 15 minutes or when some activity happened and 10 minutes after the door is closed I send a close to Wink from Indigo.
...
In the meantime going to try and make a plugin out of the script.


Could you please post these scripts? Home Depot was closing out some GE stuff & I got a Wink starter set with 2 bulbs & a hub for $25. Thought the hub would be no use at all, but now you've got me thinking I could possibly totally ditch my SmartThings hub and use Wink instead.

Plugin? YES PLEASE!


... Or not. Just realized I have a GE Link Hub, not the Wink hub, so only for bulb control. Still... I recall HD was clearing out Wink hubs too. Hmmmm.

SmartThings refugee, so happy to be on Indigo. Monterey on a base M1 Mini w/Harmony Hub, Hue, DomoPad, Dynamic URL, Device Extensions, HomeKitLink, Grafana, Plex, uniFAP, Fantastic Weather, Nanoleaf, LED Simple Effects, Bond Home, Camect.

Posted on
Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:25 pm
hwitten offline
Posts: 627
Joined: Dec 26, 2007
Location: British Columbia

Re: Switched a Yale lock to Wink/Indigo

I've had to abandon developing the script past alpha/proof of concept.
Free time just not in my favor.

As an alternative I implemented 2 Wink hubs with my 3 locks as my doors are at opposite end of the house.
I use Wink emails to Indigo to change status on my control page so that I can see/confirm doors are locked.
I use a Zwave door sensor in conjunction with each lock and have Wink locking x minutes after door sensor closed.

While it's not perfect it seems better than constantly polling Wink for status.

Hope to get back to it but also hoping for better all around solutions coming down the pipe :)

Page 1 of 1

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests