I am completely new to the smart home/automation world. I am currently building a house and I would like to integrate as much smart features as possible... but my budget is extremely tight. I have found a number of Zigbee 3.0 suppliers on Alibaba, I'll attach price list ect. My understanding is even though these are zigbee, they are zigbee tuya which only work with the tuya app. I would really like to get the Hubitat hub and run a local system, I've read a lot about Tuya customers getting charged huge subscription fees and you've no out as it's a cloud system.
My question is, I'm I safe to buy the above switches/scene switches control panels and implement them with the Hubitat Ecosystem? Or will I be wasting my money because they won't work?
Alternatively can anyone recommend similar products for a similar price? Don't mind paying a small premium to know that they'll all work.
As long as they're tuya zigbee they're pretty much fine, although there are some devices that can spam and cause problems. Keep bulbs off (on a separate tuya zigbee Hub, or a different Hubitat) because some can cause issues with acting as dodgy repeaters.
There is a way to get tuya WiFi stuff to work but it's a bit of an enbuggerance especially for newbies.
I've a mix of Loratap (remotes), Aubess (sensors), Germa (plugs) amongst others. Once they're set up they're fairly reliable. You might have to double pair and pair close to the hub.
Repeaters might be good, but that depends on the building - you might try 1 a floor (centrally) but if you are going to use them, install those first. That way the devices will see them from the start and include them in the mesh as required.
A C7 or C8 Hub will be fine. On balance I'd suggest a C7 since C8 has more teething troubles than a Napier Sabre on a cold day and some of those issues can be complicated to sort out.
Oh, and you'll want the HD+ app if you're controlling from a smartphone, or Hubivue.
I can't even post pictures to this post (Can't embed media?)... That will tell you how tech savvy I am, I thought this day would come a lot later than the age of 32!
Thank you so much for your replies, and quick responses. Gives me confidence that if I do have issues, help is close at hand.
In relation to the version of hub, I thought from what I read that the C8 was the only one caple of working with zigbee 3.0. However if the C7 works better and is more user friendly I'm happy to go with that.
The house is 2 stories, Ground floor is 160sqm and upper floor is 110sqm. Would a single hub be enough? And like you say install a repeater on the next floor. Just an fyi all switches ect. will be neutral wired, not sure if that makes a difference?
My heating system will be heatmiser with neo stats and a neohub.. can this also be integrated? Or will I effectively have two separate systems?
The C-8 is the better hub hardware-wise, but it's just been released a few weeks ago, so some bugs are still getting shaken loose from broad use. The user-friendliness will be the same -- same software -- and based on the history of the C-7, I'd imagine the bugs will be dealt with promptly over the next month or two. Buy either and it will be a solid choice.
C-8 has actual ZigBee 3.0 support, but basically all devices are backwards-compatible and will work just fine.
