I'm running a C7 hub with a C4 hub as child, Mostly just devices connected to them, almost no rules at all.
I then run Home Assistant on a virtual host in one of my Dell R720 servers. There I run almost all of my rules in Node-Red.
I then use the Maker API plugin i Hubitat Elevation to connect all devices back to HA. I have lots of Zigbee lights and motion detectors + a lot of Z-Wave door sensors and outlets, even got some Philips HUE stuff and some WiFi devices, as I said, All devices are connected through HE.
I m getting very frustrated because ever since I got my forts smart stuff setup (some years ago when i bought my C4 hub) I dont feel like I can fully trust my lights/rules to work. This has gotten MUCH better after I moved the rules over to HA.
Now to my question
Will I see smoother and more stable Z-wave usage with a Z-wave controller directly connected to HA? Like Aeotec for example...
And the same for Zigbee?
Don't like running multiple hubs when I feel i have all I need in the HA universe (even though I am still a fan of HE)
So am not clear - Why is HA being used in this scenario? Devices are paired with HE but then you bridge them over to HA and then use Node-RED to control them?? Why not bridge HE directly to NR using the node-red-contrib-hubitat nodes? Or are you using NR as a Home Assistant add-on so get HA for "free" with your NR?
If you like HA and have the technical skills and patience to handle the missing devices / edge cases / breaking updates then I say go for it.. Pair all your devices in HA directly and for those that are problematic use HE. You could even use the community HA bridge app if you wanted to still use HE for things like the dashboard or other fun stuff.
For me it's too much of a time-suck though so am not likely to go all in. My current setup is NR as a centralized rules controller that connects to HE, HomeBridge and (occasionally) Home Assistant. My devices in HE have been very stable except when I mess around with stuff or a device dies. Likewise in NR my rules work for the most part.
I have been noticing an uptick in some Z-Wave devices not fully responding usually after a reboot but am still looking into this and cannot say that it is an HE issue.
Iāll answer horriblyā¦
Nodered - because nodered
Hubitat because everything is already paired and itās simple to get them to act as antenna for HA
HA - because options, non HE integrations, and reallyā¦ Lovelace.
It took a day or two of basic Lovelace playing around before my wife installed it on her phone and has her own interface, controlling Christmas lights that arenāt already automated and even the kids internet access. She never wanted to even have the HE app installed or touch HEs buttons at all, and now sheās poking around to the point that Iām this close to poking back with a sharp stick.
It just looks miles better than HEs UI and of course allows way more integrations than HE does and is quite responsive; HE just doesnāt have that.
Anyway thatās why I have all 3 currently running.
I am in a similar scenario mostly because of a similar progression.
I started my home automation with HE and initially loved it. Really simple to pair devices, do simple automations.
I hate the dashboards. Yes they work, but I do not have the patience to write and maintain a CSS solution to make them suitable for the Significant Other (Boss).
I initially installed HA just to make some decent dashboards, but then we got solar & battery which can only be integrated with HA (through MQTT integration) and I had to create some custom controls to adjust settings which I could not do on HE (lack of Groovy skills).
I have since bought an Aeotec z-stick and am waiting on a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus. I will be setting up Zigbee2MQTT and Zwave2MQTT on HA. This is mostly because any device I have paired to HE which has monitoring capability such as my smart plugs and light switched (power usage, etc) does not send that data across the API link.
My SO works in the environment, and this is what she is currently pestering me for so we can measure what impacts the environment most, and what we should invest in to reduce that impact.
I think it is a shame but likely in the next 12 months I will have completely moved off HE for that reason.
I already got my Sonoff Zigbee stick running though I used zha first to test it. FYI HA flipped out when it thought the device moved USB ports (passing through proxmox) but since I moved it to other ports itās been fine. Iām also using an Aeotec stick for zwave and Iāve had no freak outs, been solid but I found things like my zooz double plugs responded horribly when paired normally - but paired with no security they work great. ( theyāre the only devices that have acted up)
I agree that Iām getting off HE soon, I never really had an issue with HE but HA has more options for me, and the UI brought much more āacceptance ā from the wife, especially with stuff like the live front door camera view and buttons to interact with to lock/unlock etc.
This is the reason I'm now getting started with HE. For me zwave had been very flaky on HA, especially with the move to zwavejs. Devices disappear, or they suddenly get a different, default name, causing my dashboards to be flaky. Fingers crossed that I can get the best of both worlds.
