Is the device ZWave, Zigbee, or not?

[DaveEmo]

Hi all, Newby question: I've a few devices and only just starting out home automating. My first stop was Alexa and we have three of these dotted round the house.

How do I know if the devices which are connected to the Alexa are Zigbee, ZWave or some other system please?

Also I've searched for Tado as that's our heating system but cannot find how to integrate it with Hubitat. Can anyone direct me to a source of information please?

Thanks in Advance.

[hydro311]

Echos can't do z-wave at all, so that's definitely out.

Some Echos can do zigbee, but the most likely connection is wifi.

[danabw]

@DaveEmo

How do I know if the devices which are connected to the Alexa are Zigbee, ZWave or some other system please?

Please specify what devices you're referring to - brand and model, so folks can bettter help you. AFAIK, traditionally Alexa relied on Zigbee or Wi-Fi-Cloud for connections to devices. More recently they have added support for Matter devices as well, both Wi-Fi and Thread AFAIK.

[DaveEmo]

Thanks for quick responses. All I know is they "Work With Alexa" on the box. I take it from this that I'd need to put each device into discovery mode and then, hopefully, Hubitat will find them?

[aaiyar]

@DaveEmo

I take it from this that I'd need to put each device into discovery mode and then, hopefully, Hubitat will find them?

No - that will not happen.

If you need help with determining whether the devices you've purchased are compatible with Hubitat, you need to address this question posed by @danabw

@danabw

Please specify what devices you're referring to - brand and model,

[thebearmay]

@DaveEmo

"Work With Alexa"

Normally means that these are WiFi Cloud-Cloud devices. We can usually use virtual devices in HE and Alexa routines to give you control and status information in HE.

[jtp10181]

@DaveEmo

Also I've searched for Tado as that's our heating system but cannot find how to integrate it with Hubitat.

I think it is Wifi, so not directly compatible but there is an old integration from 2018, not sure if it is still being maintained. Found that just by searching myself.

[Release] Tado (Connect)

I have released v2.8 of my Tado (Connect) this is a port of my Smartthings Smartapp and Device Handler (seems to work ok, however i am very new to Hubitat and still havent got my head fully around the platform, so please test and give any feedback) countless hours have been dedicated to updating this smartapp and associated device types, if you use these and find them useful, please consider donating, this aids in further development and support. and any and all donations would be very much …

[user2574]

@DaveEmo

"Work With Alexa"

Do you remember how you connected them? Wifi devices with Alexa usually need a separate app to connect them, like SmartLife or TuyaSmart, and then that skill is added to Alexa to bring in the devices.

If so, there are still options for using these with Hubitat, but you either need to go through getting a Tuya developer account to use the community Tuya cloud integration, or flash the chips on them to make them local wifi devices to use with Tasmota drivers, or you leave it in Alexa and use some work arounds to control it from Hubitat. The most common work around is to use a virtual contact sensor in Hubitat, share that with Alexa, and then write a routine that uses that virtual contact sensor as a trigger in an Alexa routine that change the device state when the contact sensor changes. You then control the switch through the contact sensor (or virtual lock, or virtual motions sensor, and maybe even a virtual switch, but Alexa doesn't always allow those for routine triggers. Virtual switch is best if it works)