hey everyone,
i just recently bought a new house circa 1884. its been remodeled quite well from the previous owner. so i wanted to finally jump into the smart home stuff since i dont need to worry about updating the house.
i acquired my new C8 Pro and had some Wiz lightbulbs that are WiFi/Matter, multiple issues & questions came about..
the whole point of going "hubbed" with my smart home is my WiFi has a lot of outages in my area and is sensitive to overcrowding. is there a way to make Matter strictly local? or should i stick to zwave & zigbee?
also the wiz lights have been nothing but trouble. i got one A19 bulb to stay paired in the wiz app and into hubitat thus into my google home but the br30s(?iirc?) will pair in the app but then become offline, making them useless. is there a way to cut out the wiz app altogether and just pair to the C8?
My new home is 2500sqft with double brick walls, so whatever protocol i want to use i need to use them in abundance to build the mesh network. i like matter because ive seen "Edison" style bulbs that are matter enabled which would fit the 1800s theme of my house but if they're all going to be a hassle like wiz or too complicated to be local only i'll have to do without..
i am 10hrs old to smart home stuff. kinda jumping in head first, so dont be shy and lay it on me.
That way you can use any dumb bulb you’d like. And it’s often possible to save money that way since one switch typically controls multiple bulbs in most homes.
Smart bulbs are particularly useful if you want control of bulb color or color temperature.
But if that’s not important to you, smart switches are the way to go, IMO.
One other major consideration in a house as old as yours could be the wiring. When the remodel was done, did they pull neutral wires into the light switch boxes in the walls?
You’ll have considerably more smart switch options if you have neutrals at each switch. But even if not, there are still no-neutral options.
Yes, the previous owner was a power grid operator and spared nothing when he redid the wiring. definite selling point when we bought it.
the only place i would like to have color control and such would be outside. we have five floodlights on the garage and barn that would be cool to add some ambiance to our summer parties. but creating a mesh to reach that far seems like a hurdle.
the smart switches and outlet are a good idea to keep the "edison" style bulbs.
should i go with zwave since i have such thick walls with the old house, or is zigbee just as good with wall penetration?
for the matter of matter. is there a way for it to be local only?
and the floodlights, should i try to find some rgbw zigbees or zwaves since theyre going to be outside?
I'm zigbee only (4000 sq ft) and have no trouble penetrating two or three 7-inch stud wall. Don't just think in 2 dimensions, though, you can go over or under some barriers by setting up your mesh to zig-zag through floors and ceilings.
Since both form mesh networks, it’s not always a matter of wall penetration in real world usage, although z-wave theoretically has an advantage there given its lower frequency.
There’s also Lutron to consider for lighting control. Their Caseta line is nice, and their (more expensive) lines like RadioRA are really nice. All Lutron smart lighting products share a reputation for being ultra reliable, and are definitely an example of you get what you pay for.
i almost have everything sorted for complete zigbee usage except for wall outlets. looks like its zwave or bust on those.
i am concerned about coverage because the hub is in the far corner of the house on the main floor, and its my first adventure into this side of smart home stuff.
do we know a rough guesstimate of the hubs range?
I'm heavily zigbee-biased. I started HE with Zwave primarily because I thought range would be an issue. But reading here it became apparent that zigbee had a better track record regarding installation maintenance, ghosts, & re-pairing. I painfully dumped $300 of zwave devices.
coverage
When I was working on my layout I used 30 feet between hardwired devices as the rule. As mentioned about zig-zagging through floors, I installed 2 plugs (used solely as repeaters) in the attics and 1 in a tray ceiling to be sure HE reached my utility room filled with water heaters, metal plenums, and HVAC units. Now, there are range extenders and I'm pinging the mailbox over 200 feet from the house.
That’s not very nice
I have over 150 Zigbee devices and definitely prefer zigbee, although I do have around 30 or so z-wave devices that work well. I would suggest that you start by adding 3 or 4 Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 dongle S repeaters. They’re available on Amazon and easy to flash to router firmware. Hide them as you see fit around 20 feet from your hub in all directions. Then add devices to your hearts content. @danabw would probably be willing to post the information if you need.
Heh! Don't listen to these zwave guys ...they tend to be self-deluding apologists about their choice of needy devices. Get your zb mesh right and the biggest problems you'll have in the long run are remembering how to code Rule Machine or find your HE dashboards because you just don't use them often.
I have to agree ... ZigBee seems to be way more stable and less work then z-wave.
I have 23 ZigBee devices and they work 99.9% of the time with no problems.
And as rcjordan says : better track record regarding installation, maintenance, ghosts, & re-pairing.
Also way less head aches when a device dies or you want to change out the device.
i have no problem using both protocols.
probably going to stay away from Matter till necessary.
seems like zwave outlets are more plentiful on the market.
now knowing that zigbee dongles exist. i wont worry about coverage that much.
my layout looks to be zigbee used accross a larger area with more gaps in the mesh while zwave will be more condensed between devices.
now to find a way to view my reolink cameras, emporia vue3, and PT Level device on a Hubitat dashboard.
