Hmm, Switchbot just sent me the Hub Mini – nice enough, simple box with recessed microUSB connector – comes complete with power supply.When it arrived, the light was flashing so I thought “no need to press any buttons here to pair”.Wrong – I had to press the button on the top (back depending on orientation) of the unit and within seconds the Hub Mini was paired with my Switchbot APP (on Android).
Simple… so next, I checked for updates – there was one available.I pressed UPDATE.“Could not connect to your device”.
Oh, dear.I tried again and this time the page showed “Firmware version” and under that “Firmware version”.Some work needed there.
I backed out to see the page you see here on the left.I opted to “Go to Update”.This time I could see version V5.7-4.0 was available.
“Upgrade” said the page – so I did.Maybe a minute later it was done.How it seems you can use this device as a univresal IR controller but also as a Hub for Switchbot devices – so next, I opened one of the little Switchbot Indoor/Outdoor Thermo-Hygrometers they sent me previously – one I’d never touched.
These come with two triple-AAA batteries and a tag stopping them running while in transit – I removed that.With the back off, I noted a button inside… erm… hold on – this Hub Mini is only an infra-red hub – nothing about adding other devices… or does it? I disconnected my other switchbot hubs, pressed the button on the temperature sensor for 2 seconds, hit NEXT on the APP and… OUTDOOR METER 65.I noted that my other devices no longer worked so I reconnected my usual Switchbot hub and they came back on.
It looks like you can have several hubs…..maybe I should have paired the temperature sensor with one of the other hubs as I have no immediate need for another power-consuming hub and don’t need any intra-red device hubs right now.Sure enough – a quick DELETE on the temperature sensor and add it into one of my existing Switchbot Hub 2 units.
On the left you see Hub 2, not the sensor.Hub 2 has 2 programmable buttons – preset to turn the temperature/humidity diaplay on and off.Overall I think I prefer Hub 2 over Hub Mini.
I’ve already covered Hub 2 and the outdoor sensors in a previous Switchbot article – so I won’t labour the point but the sensors are nice and certainly seem weather-resistant from my experiments.
