Question

I am new to this group that being said , What hub is best v2 with the battery backup and no wifi or v3 with wifi and no battery backup ?  

Answer 1

V2 will become obsolete sooner so I’d go v3 on a UPS if you want battery backup (plus with v3 you have the option of WiFi connection).  

Comments

What is the UPS ? is there 2 diff v3 hubs ?  

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Uninterruptible power supply

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@vouchsafe12715 Ok i see , Thank you .  

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@vouchsafe12715 Uninterruptible Power Supply - it’s a power supply with a battery in it so you can plug whatever you want into it and when power is lost, it’s fails over to the battery. The cost is a very large range but if you were only keeping this little appliance alive for a few hours I don’t think you’d need to spend more than 50-100. I’m not an expert on them though.  

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@pecos7540 Ok thank you .  

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Thank you .  

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The V2 hub is actually more powerful hardware than the V3.  

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@raddi I read that it was and also has more ram / memory !  

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Costco also has good pricing on UPS systems.  

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V1 still works fine, what makes you think V2 will become obsolete, support will drop and it won't work anymore?  

Answer 2

V3 Wi-Fi no doubt

Comments

Thank you .  

Answer 3

V3 with UPS. You'd be better with a UPS if you got a V2 anyway though the battery backup is an option

Comments

Thank you .  

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What is the point of having a battery backup for the smartthings, if most of the things it controls requires electricity and are not backed up? You could make the argument that you use it as a security system, but it really doesn't do that well. You would have to have all your internet equipment on a UPS as well, cause not much works on smartthings without internet. Anyhow, I have heard V2 actually has better specs and is the superior hardware. Only get V3 if you don't have access to a wired connection where you want to put the hub.  

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@raddi Lamb For one it never goes offline during power outage. So it’s works as soon as power is restored.  

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@raddi Lamb Thank you.  

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@stout1 "So it works as soon as power is restored. " You don't think the smartthings hub will work as soon as the power is restored too? Sure, maybe it will take 10 seconds or some to come back online. But I bet all of your devices that are connected to smartthings that are not on backup power will take a few seconds to come back online too.  

Answer 4

Battery isnt a selling point of a v2. Recommend running without it even if you have it because for some reason most alkaline batteries tend to leak in the hub if left in. Also will go out of support sooner. Unless someone gives you a free v2, go v. 3.  

Comments

@anatolia7046 the battery leak problem was solved years ago with a firmware update.  

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@hokkaido not worth the risk when a UPS is so much better.  

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Thank you .  

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The batteries are a pain in the backside if you want to power cycle your hub.  

Answer 5

I had both started out with V2 hub and used it for several years. Now V3 hub for 2+ years. I have a UPS on my V3 hub and glad I switched. The V3 hub is much more Zigbee friendly as it is Zigbee stack 3. 0 compliant, whereas V2 is not. Some may say V2 has faster processor and more memory, which is true, but I am much happier with V3. I have over 100 devices and not any issues.  

Comments

Cool thanks for the info !  

Answer 6

The battery backup on the V2 is useless, so you can eliminate that from your decision

Answer 7

I use V3 at both my home and business and have no regrets.  

Answer 8

I have a V2 hub, I don't use the battery backup, I use a UPS. SmartThings realised that the battery backup was a pointless added cost so they removed it from the V3. Get a V3.  

Answer 9

I took the battery out of my v2. whats the point if the rest of my network is all down and most of the devices it controls require AC?  

Answer 10

Version three for sure. You can add a battery back up. You can’t add Wi-Fi

Answer 11

Version 3 supports a wider variety of devices. There two "versions" of V3 though. There is the stand-alone hub and there is the WiFi hub. They both do the same SmartThings hub things. The later can also be part of a mesh WiFi setup to improve WiFi coverage in your home. I have the WiFi hub and like it quite well. However, if you have a small home or already have good WiFi coverage, the straight V3 hub will do just fine.