I do agree Local WIFI is good. Lutron is technically local WIFI. I have had a lot of issues with smart bulbs in general; I much prefer hard wired switches.
We will have to give the new category a look
I use mostly switches for lighting, but for the occasional table lamp I use smart bulbs with a pico switch on a pedestal next to it.
I more or less do the same.
Sengled RGB zigbee bulbs pair well with inovelli red
zwave dimmers/switches. I have a pretty good mix of ZigBee and zwave. All of the light switches are zwave and most of the outlets are zigbee. For motion I use ZigBee because it responds faster.
Now everything is very reliable; I'm using:
- WiFi (aka Shelly) - thanx to a very good router (Fritzbox).
- Zigbee - thanx to a bunch of IKEA repeaters.
- Hubitat - thanx to avoiding Rule Machine.
The only "problem" are my Google Minis: Every some weeks a random one is loosing the connection to Google Home and I have to "reboot" (i.e. briefly interrupt the power supply of) that one Google Mini.
Except that it broadcasts at a much lower frequency of course (ala Z-Wave).. I guess you meant the bridge communication? The only slight concern for me is Lutron eliminating telnet which hopefully won't matter for existing setups. I agree though it is the most reliable solution.
Like Lutron I would also maybe add "Hue Hub" integration. While technically Zigbee, Hue devices just work really well with the Hue hub so I consider it a separate solution.
Also there are some ancillary servers that have been working really well... at various levels of technical difficulty..
Homebridge
Node-RED
Home Assistant
How so?
Lutron Clear Connect sounds like a different wireless protocol to me, although I’m no RF engineer.
https://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/Clear_Connect_Technology_whitepaper.pdf
Thankfully it is.
Perhaps @silverton38 was referring to Lutron using a WiFi-esque radial network topology with each device directly connecting to the bridge/hub rather than a true mesh. Assuming, off course, that one isn't using a Caséta or Radio RA2 repeater .....
I agree with your list.
I have Lutron Caseta dimmers switches, plugs, and PICO remotes throughout the house. They have always been rock solid.
I seldom have problems with Zigbee. It is not really accurate to say Zigbee 3.0. Although you might have some Zigbee 3.0 devices, Hubitat only incorporates a HA 1.2 radio, so devices are operating as Zigbee 1.2.
I routinely have issues with Z-wave Plug devices dropping off line, Despite having multiple repeaters. My three most troublesome Z-wave devices are in the basement: a ZOOZ Zen15 power plug, a ZOOZ Zen16 Multirelay, and a Smart Home Automation Z-Wave Water Auto Shutoff Valve.
The Zen 15 is mains powered and the others are powered by chargers. I know that a basement with is not the best environment for RF signals, but I never have issues with my Zigbee devices in the basement.
That’s true, Clear Connect is typically a wheel-and-spoke type topology, like wifi.
But unless I missed something, the two protocols are no more related than wifi and z-wave are to each other.
I was referring the the Bridge-Hubitat communication; which is WIFI.
When I refer to WIFI; I am talking about the connect between Lutron and Hubitat.
Technically, the Lutron SmartBridge to Hubitat hub is wired Ethernet (unless one adds a USB WiFi adapter to the Hubitat Hub.) Same is true for the Philips Hue bridge to Hubitat integration.
I pulled my Inovelli Red switches. I found that they were drowning out my Z-wave network. I had a few of them on the network. After I pulled them and Zooz multi sensors my Z-wave network and Hub works perfectly.
The zooz multi sensors were the problem. It's a known issue widely reported on the forums. I don't use the power monitoring feature but don't have any slowdowns with the reds.
The hub can usually handle 1 or 2 of the multi's but going over that causes issues. Especially if you paired them as S0.
A lot of repeating can also bog down your mesh. Especially when you add in a spammy device.
Correct. I should have said local networking. I actually use WIFI bridges for most of my connections but I should have said local networking. I usually add a WIFI Mesh system (TP Link Decos) to all homes that I setup. I then find a perfect center location for the Lutron hub and Hubitat; I use the ethernet off the WIFI mesh.
I was worried that all 700 series devices had issues. Though I did pull Inovelli at the same time as the Zooz sensors. My goal was to minimize Z-wave and switching to all Lutron for switches was one way to do it.
I split mine 50/50 so neither radio would get overloaded.
Telnet via ethernet, no wifi involved at all