Well I have a new project where the client wants some smart outlets in each room. They don't want the ugly plugins like Peanuts or Centralite. I was doing some poking around and I was ready to start to go with my old Jasco Standby for Z-Wave but they are also looking at smart bulbs for "mood" lighting and now I have think about ZigBee and repeaters. I was able to talk them out of Wifi devices for security and local control.
What are folks thoughts on the Jasco ZigBee outlets? When their home is completed in March next year they will have about 60 ZigBee lighting devices. Also I was thinking about adding a Jasco ZigBee outlet per room just to be safe, That would be about 10 outlets in their home.
I have I think five of them in service. They work, not really much else to say about it. . I mean, it is an outlet... Not a whole lot of features to talk about
Note that they do not report power usage though. There is supposedly a different model number that does, but I've never seen it for sale or in the wild.
Depends on what kind of Zigbee Lighting devices you are talking about? If bulbs then be careful about the poor repeating and also when turning power off at the switch (Zigbee is much better than ZW in this regard). Adding smart outlets in each room is a good way to help mitigate things it would seem. I prefer smart switches where ever possible..
Both Zooz and Inovelli Z-Wave+ (500 series) work great in my experience. With Zooz you can usually get some good deals by buying bulk or waiting until a holiday sale. The 700s are too new for me to have a strong opinion about yet - The few I installed are working fine at my house so far. Jasco/GE is best for things like fans etc.
Have to go the ZigBee route need repeaters to support their background lighting requirements which are ZigBee bulbs and light strips. None will be repeaters.
Not yet we are still having discussions on security and locks. The goal is to pull out their Innovelli Red Z-Wave switches from their old home and reuse in the new. If they go with smart locks will make sure they are Z-Wave.
I was going to recommend Zigbee for the locks.. I know others have had success with Z-Wave but having used both, Zigbee seems the most trouble-free. I have both Yale and Kwikset locks with Zigbee modules.
If you're installing a number of repeating Z-Wave switches near the areas of the lock(s), then Z-Wave would likely be fine. If you're putting in a lot of Zigbee plugs in those areas then a Zigbee lock may also be appropriate.
I've had zero issues w/a Schlage "BE468 gen 1/SO version" Z-wave lock on Hubitat, but I made sure it was the last device I added to my hub when I was initially converting over to HE, and I had three repeating switches within 10' of the lock, so I had a full/robust mesh with nearby stable repeaters to add it to.
However, the Z-Wave side of HE does seem to be the most trouble-prone, so when I recently added another lock, I went with a Yale Zigbee. It's also worked perfectly.
I have a number of the Jasco Z-Wave outlets and they are set-it and forget-it reliable. I would expect their Zigbee outlet to be the same. Jasco ain't flashy, but they have been rock-solid for me.
Just my impression here.
I replaced my 3 old Kwikset Z-Wave locks last year with new Yale ones and they kinda suck for connectivity. I have Aeotec 6 repeaters near them and they don't seem to use them. My floor plan isn't that big an all my in-wall switches are Z-Wave so repeaters everywhere.
I can't get them past 40K. The delays in the Z-Wave app are usually in the thousands of ms with lots of route changes. My WC pistons tell them to open when I arrive but quite often all the commands in the piston execute fine but the door remains locked.
Personally, I would like to try a Zigbee module but finding a supplier other than the dealer $ is elusive.
I have on GE/Jasco Zigbee smart switch and one GE/Jasco Smart Dimmer. If the reliability of them is any indication, then I would go with Zigbee outlets. They will also serve as repeaters, which will help with the mesh reliability. Just be aware that outlets (at least the GE/Jasco ones) have one always on outlet and one Zigbee controlled outlet. I don't know if other brands also go this route.
I've been rebuilding my networks and have started using the Embrighten Zigbee outlets. So far they have been working great. Mostly they are acting as repeaters for my motion sensors and contact switches. I'll be adding them to my lighting mesh as well.
Just recently the price went stupid. As soon as it comes back down I need to pick up a few more.
I have those delicate Hampton Bay Fan Controllers that need Zigbee repeaters. I used those Iris wall warts initially but every time guests came over, one fan wouldn't work. During Clean Up, the wall warts would get unplugged and thrown in a drawer. The first couple of times I found an Iris outlet in a drawer I didn't make the connection back to the fan not working. I only saw the outlet and thought "this needs to be plugged in always."
My solution has been to replace the wall warts with In-Wall Zigbee. In two cases I swapped a ZWave switch for a Zigbee, but the final two were the GE Embrighten Outlets. They are not used for any automation, they are only repeaters.
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