Best and most complete system that meshes?

Hardware
1

Warning! Wall of text.

I am currently using Home Assistant and a mix of 433MHz devices (Tellstick) and a few MiLights. While it works it is less than optimal. Our house is big and old with realtivley thick inner walls and it’ also covered in chicken netting (to keep the facade stuck the logs). This means that I need to carefully place my Tellstick and MiLight bridge so that they cover the areas needed. It also means that it is super hard to extend beyond this fixed area. For instance I can’t place any sensors outside because the range is so limited by the chicken netting. Also the MiLights are affected and I have one lamp just on the edge of the range that works, mostly.

So what I belive I need is a system that meshes. What I want for my home automation system is support for the following:

  • Remotes
  • Wall plugs (preferable with power consumption sensor)
  • Light bulb - at least E14 and E27 (color is not a requirement so far)
  • Sensors - Thermometer, open/close and possibly motion
  • LED Strip - This a wish item.

My dream is to use one system for everything but it might also work with two systems (e.g. one for wall plugs and sensors and one for light bulbs).

So have anyone forged the One Ring of home automation yet or am I looking at different systems? The systems I have been thinking about are these.

Z-wave

Awesome amount of wall plugs and sensors. Meshes as I require. Severly limited options when it comes to light bulbs. I have only seen a few and where super expensive and didn’t come in all the sockets I require. Would have to be paired with a lightbulb system and is not the cheapest system.

Philips Hue

Many options for different bulbs and led lists. No sensors or wall plugs, unless I have missed something. Would have be paired with a system that supplies those.

IKEA Trådfri

Limited offerings but the bulbs they do have are all I need. It is also a young platform so the question is how far will they extend it? (E.g. I have heard rumors of colored lights that should come this fall. I have also heard rumours about wall plugs.) Should the rumours be true and they also extend this with led strips and sensors this seems like the golden choice. While they are compatible with Hue I suspect that they won’t mesh with Hue bulbs, correct? Because if it is possible to use the Hue (or Smartthings) as a base and have Hue and Trådfri meshing togheter it sounds like a clear winner.

Xiaomi

Wrong plug makes this a hassle even before it has begun. But despite that they do seem to offer most of the things I want in one package, except wall plugs. (Too many adapters needed to make it work.) They have the absolutley best looking thermometers I’ve seen!

Smartthings

While not a platform per se but if I need to use two platforms is this the answer? It should work with both Z-wave and Hue (and perhaps also Trådfri and Xiaomi), right?

Since money is always an issue the cheaper the better. But if I need to pay up for a system that actually works as I want and at least fairly stable then I won’t have a choice but to pony up the dough. Given this we stopped by IKEA a couple of weeks ago and show Trådfri to my wife. She was really sold on the idea with a wall mounted remote in every room so they have the WAF and price going for them. It seems like I really would like to combine different Zigbee based systems but I’m guessing that they will only mesh within their respective series. Which makes it a really dumb idea in my use case, right?

So for those who got through my ramblings, thank you. Any suggestions on what I should invest in?

TL;DR; What system or systems (max 2) should I invest in to get access to a mesh system for wall plugs (EU), light bulbs (E27 & E14), led strips, thermometers, open/close sensor and motion sensor?

2

The best meshable system would be wifi, but its main draw back is power.

You have mixed up the question kind of, what you want is the best communication protocol, which in my belief is wifi, z wave and then probably some kinds of rf protocol.

Then you want the right products, they don’t all need to be the same communication protocol with let’s say vera or Home Assistant and I’m sure many more.

3

Given the insane wall of text and the what of day it was when wrote it (not that it’s any earlier now) I can understand how might not have gotten my point across.

I don’t really care about which protocol the products use as long as the devices relay the signal to each other and form a mesh network. Because given the size and construction of the house there is no chance for me to have the Milight bridge placed in a position were it can reliably reach both the master bedroom and the lights outside the garage. However they would if they created a mesh network between each other. Likewise it is impossible for me to place my Tellstick in a position were it can reliably reach all my wall sockets and all my sensors. Especially sensors on the outside who only reach like a meter inside (and there is no way I could keep tabs on the garage since it’s even further away).

So what I want is a system that can create one gigantic mesh network containing all the different types of devices I want to use (wall sockets, light bulbs, sensors etc). Does such a system exists?

If no such one system exists, what would be the recomendation for using two? E.g. Z-wave + Hue/Trådfri or are there any other recomendations? (I’m limiting it to two since if I would needs so many devices if I needed to create 5 meshing networks covering the same area.)

4

Well you are in luck because zwave can use repeaters, zigbee are repeaters and wifi can use repeater or better yet hardwired. It is the protocols that are important, not that all products use the same protocol standards. And as long as Hass has a component to control the product and or protocol all is good. Browse the forums and see what products give the best performance and which ones are a pain in the a$$.

If you are a do it yourselfer than you could use raspberry pi’s with sensors there are many different projects.

5

As a side note I prefer switches over light bulbs, they always have power and you can put any light bulb in the fixture, Not a colour bulb kind of person mine are all daylight.

6

Both of these are proprietary standards, but they both seem to have some support in Home Assistant.

Moving to a more open protocol will be a learning experience but very rewarding and you don’t need to pick just one you could do all of them with Home Assistant. Of course standardizing on one would be easier as you only need to learn the one protocol idiosyncrasies.