Been in the eco system long enough to have E1, M2, and M3.
I know I would have to re-pair devices to hubs, but is there a value to having multiple hubs, or more directly what would I loose by retiring the E1 and M2 so I just have M3?
I am in a split level home with the E1 upstairs and the M2 and M3 downstairs. House is 2600 sq ft so the M3 should cover the entire space. I know I would lose the voice that talks when pairing while upstairs but that isn’t a deal breaker.
The M3 stays downstairs because I am using the IR feature in the room it is in.
Personally I only pair everything with my main hub (I have two camera hubs and I could pair with them), but I believe you can use a hub cluster for latency reasons.
If you have a network of devices, the furthest devices don’t connect directly to the hub, but to the closest devices in the network. The communication is forwarded through several devices.
That means, when you run an automation, it will probably be a local automation that sends some communication from the hub to the target device. For example, WHEN click a button THEN turn on/off the smart plug. If the button and the light is far from the hub, but close to each other, then the click needs to go all the way through multiple devices to the hub, then the hub needs to send a request all the way back.
But if you have a hub cluster and a second hub (for example M2) in the same room, the nearest hub will run the automation given you don’t pair the devices with the main hub, but with the closest hub.
I believe that latency due to distance from the hub is mostly unnoticeable, but if you see a slight delay while running some automations, then you may try the setup I suggested.
The another reason for hub cluster is that you hit a device limit on a hub (possible if you have 20 leak sensors, 30 window/door sensors, 60 light bulbs and some other devices).
2 Likes