Hello,
I'm starting a smart home and beginning with the Hubitat Hub. What kind of smart bulbs , PIR / door sensors and smart light switches should I be looking out for it to work with Hubitat?
Thank you
Welcome! You're going to enjoy your Hubitatted home. Here's a start for a list of compatible devices:
https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=List_of_Compatible_Devices
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Perfect, thank you!
For Smart Bulbs, you have a few choices available:
- Directly Paired to the Hubitat Hub? Yes, then Sengled makes decent Color and Dimmable White bulbs that are well supported by built-in drivers. Sengled bulbs are also nice in that they are NOT Zigbee repeaters. Most bulbs are very poor Zigbee repeaters and can screw up your Zigbee mesh network. Note, if you do go with directly paired Zigbee bulbs (i.e the Sengled bulbs), be sure to also get some plug-in Zigbee smart outlets (IKEA Tradfri, Samsung/SmartThings, Sucurify Peanut Plugs, etc...) to act as Zigbee repeaters!
- Non-directly paired - Philips Hue bridge + bulbs. These work well with Hubitat and are integrated via a LAN connection (i.e. no cloud connection required.)
Most smart bulbs are Zigbee based. There are a few Z-Wave bulbs available, however they are far less prevalent.
There are also WiFi based bulbs, like LIFX. These usually require a cloud integration which is most often written by community menmbers and not officially supported by Hubitat. I believe Hubitat does support the Yeelights... not sure if there is official support for any other WiFi bulbs.
Motion/Door/Window Sensors
- Most users find Zigbee sensors less expensive and faster to report status changes as compared to Z-Wave sensors. Personally, I like the Lowes Iris V2 sensors. They can still be purchased on ebay for very low prices. Early batches from this seller came with new batteries. YMMV! Hard to find decent quality sensors for prices this low.
Motion Sensors
Door/Window sensors (do NOT come with magnets!!!)
Leak Sensors
Iris v2 Smart Outlets (good Zigbee outlets/repeaters, except for Xiaomi sensor devices. Also act as Z-Wave repeaters)
Others have had very good luck with Nyce sensors, Samsung/SmartThings sensors, etc... Again, these battarey powered devices are mostly Zigbee and will need some Zigbee repeater devices to be reliable. There are Z-Wave motion and contact sensors as well. However, these are often slower to report status changes to the hub, making them less optimal for lighting automations. There are a few decent Z-Wave brands, however they are expensive.
As for light switches
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Lutron Caseta - requires a SmartBridge Pro2. These switches, dimmers, fan controllers, and Pico remotes are incredibly robust and reliable. They 'just work' which is not something I can say about other smart light switches I have used.
The integration with Hubitat is via a local LAN connection. Performance is excellent. Nice thing about a Lutron Caseta smart lighting setup is that it also works natively with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Logitech Harmony Hub, SmartThings, Apple HomeKit, etc... -
Z-Wave PLUS switches, dimmers, and fan controllers. Avoid older Z-Wave (non-plus) models. Popular brands are GE/Jasco, Zooz, Innovelli, Leviton... Do some research on these before buying any of them as some may require firmware upgrades (e.g. Leviton) before they will work properly with Hubitat. Upgrading firmware on Z-Wave devices is not supported by Hubitat, and is non-trivial for new home automation users.
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Zigbee - Ge/Jasco does make some Zigbee switches and dimmers. These are less common, but can be helpful in building a strong Zigbee mesh network. Some people try to avoid Z-Wave, so these switches can be useful in achieving that goal. (Note: Likewise, some people try to avoid Zigbee...as you can guess, I am not one of those people!
)
Hope this helps... Lots of similar threads in the forum to read through.
Welcome to Hubitat!
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Wow! Nice piece! BTW can you send Trump a message to make sure USA products get to the rest of the world too? There are so much good products made in the USA that are just not available in EU. That is too bad.
My LIFX drivers run entirely locally - see LIFX Local Control
They're still evolving, but they work well enough I think, others may disagree 
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It's such a shame that ZWave uses different frequencies in different countries
Yes that also. But that is not the fault of z-wave. It's local law.
Indeed, the RF spectrum is rather crowded in many countries
I 100% agree!! I have tried 5 or 6 different brands of z-wave/z-wave plus/zigbee switches and the Caseta system blows them out of the water. I’m in the process of updating all of my old z-wave switches to Caseta. My only regret with the Caseta setup is that I didn’t do it sooner!
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My house came with Caseta installed. I'm glad I'm spoiled right out of the gitgo... 
The water leak sensors, what valves do these sensors work with or doesn’t the valve matter? Just trying to understand how they work and are they a good sensor or is there another leak sensor that’s better investing in? Thanks!
The valve shouldn't matter, as long as the valve is also supported by Hubitat. I use Aeotec z-wave leak sensors with a LeakSmart zigbee main water valve. I have rules that close the valve if any leak sensors are triggered (except when the maid is at home).
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I have Dome sensor and valve, but only because they were on sale at some point. They work fine, and seem to work great with testing. The great thing about smart hubs, and Hubitat in particular, is the ability to work with and coordinate many different types and brands of device.
Wow great info guys, thanks!
