I need help, smart home, stupid human

I think I'll get a hubitat and use Z-Wave Thermostat + locks + Ecolink Zwave Plus Wireless Audio Detector.

Then use the Minut noise detector and anything else non-essential on WiFi.

Thank you so much for your help, everyone's help!

1 Like

That is what I would do.

1 Like

i would use zigbee locks.. i use kwikset i find them better than zwave.. cant comment on yale or other.

Doesn't that mean I should use Zigbee everything though? Doesn't seem to be as common as Z-Wave and products are already pretty scarce in the UK from the looks of it!

I wish I could use just one protocol or the other - but seems some "things" work better with one than the other. Zigbee is MUCH faster for motion sensor to lighting. Zigbee can have "network" interference from other things like WiFi and microwave ovens. My initial smart house build out was everything Z-Wave except motion (because there weren't any at the time). Then I ran into issues with my motion sensors not being able to reach the hub (I started with SmartThings - would NOT use that now). I ended up adding multiple switches and outlets in Zigbee to act as repeaters and my networks are fairly stable now.

Adding in WiFi devices adds a reliance on network being up. Adding anything "cloud" requires reliance on both network and Internet (as well as each cloud app) being up. Keeping everything on Z-Wave and/or Zigbee means "local" control by a hub that doesn't rely on anything else. But that is often not 100% doable in my experience - but close.

You will definitely find HE forums have lots of fast smart responses from both owners and staff - unlike some other platforms.

This was my life for years :slight_smile:

I picked ZWave because early on, I found all the "fun devices" and were easily found were ZWave. Then I found ZWave devices that didn't work with the hub I had picked so I had to create an alternative. The method I chose was to add multiple controllers to a single ZWave mesh. It works, but it has its own set of problems. I avoided those problems by being excessively pedantic in where I added devices. Fast forward past my SmartThings years and to Hubitat and I was able to throw out ALL my previous hubs. A single hub.. and that lasted about 2 months before I got a 2nd Hubitat hub and linked them with the old HubLink/Link2Hub apps. THAT lasted a few months before I started using the early form of HubConnect. Throughout it all, I tried to stay all ZWave but it was those Home Depot/Hampton Bay Fan controllers that broke my resolve.

I thought that The Industry would see the success Zigbee Fan Controllers saw and push out a ZWave version. After 8 months I gave up and bought 4 of the Zigbee Fan Controllers. That in turn meant I needed to create a mesh, meaning I needed even more Zigbee devices. Now I'm at 26 Zigbee devices and like you, a bunch of those (7) are Motion Sensors.

Start with the hubitat official compatibility list and go from there. A lot of things not on the list will work with generic drivers, but start small.

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=List_of_Compatible_Devices

Also check the z-wave alliance page to see what is out there

https://products.z-wavealliance.org

2 Likes

also if in europe be aware there are different zwave frequencies there

https://www.silabs.com/wireless/z-wave/global-regions

Sunricher is a good place to look for ZigBee and z-wave. They are also doing mains powered ZigBee 3.0 motion sensor now. They also do low voltage powered ones.