WIRED vs WIRELESS Automation

Hello Beloved Community

Have any of you used Local areas for your automation with structured cabling before?
Or is anyone there who can give some Pros/Cons between structured cabling and any wireless protocol(zigbee, z-wave, wifi,ifttt, etc)

The only structured wiring I have is my audio system. Given the recent Sonos kerfuffle I'm happy I went with a wired solution. :wink:

One advantage of a wired system is no batteries. On disadvantage of a wired system is wires.

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That about says all that needs to be said.

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I’m lucky. The house originally had a flat roof and around 2006 they put a peaked roof on it. I have a roof over a roof. It makes it easy to wire in ceiling speakers.

I prefer wires. And if I do wireless, I prefer GE caddx connected to my alarm panel (Elk M1 Gold, works with HE) . It's WAY more reliable than zigbee or Z-wave sensors, and batteries last forever. My garage door tilt sensors have batteries that are over 6 years old, and I have some door sensors that are going on 5 years.

But, they aren't 2 way. They are just sensors. No controlling stuff using Caddx as far as I know.

Otherwise, I do like Zigbee. Battery life sucks though compared to Caddx. I hate Z-wave because of pairing and unpairing problems.

When this discussion comes up with my clients I tell them;

The word "dropped call" was not in the English vocabulary until the invention of the cordless/cellular phone. The fact that we changed our vocabulary in order to explain the instability of this new found technology marvel, should prove that the technology was never as stable as their wired counterparts. You may have strangled someone with the 25 foot kitchen phone cord, but you never had a "dropped call" (well maybe into the chicken soup :see_no_evil:)

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The majority of my system is wired, partly because Z technologies were in their infancy when I got into HA. So lighting, switches, security, some heating (zoning) and AV although I use Sonos now (wired). I do now use RF radiator valves though. I am happy with WiFi for RF though and need few battery devices, not even motion sensors as they were wired too.

Delighted still with that wired choice but it’s a difficult one to justify if you’re in a retrofit situation, both the mess and the cost but reliability is great. I don’t have hub slowdowns but that isn’t proven to be Z network related.. oh and by the way I was an RF Engineer !

Oh - one other point - you can’t take wired with you when you move home.

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