Hello, automaters and IoT lovers! I am passioned with an idea of IoT changing our everyday life. I want to try go seriously in IoT (creating a business in that field if everything goes ok) and to do that I am starting to automate my own home. What build should be a good start to understand all the basics and have possibilities to create some really amazing scenarios?
What I already have:
raspberry pi 3b+;
Conbee II;
Xiaomi aqara motion, light and vibration sensors (zigbee);
Xiaomi aqara magic cube (zigbee controller);
OPTO zigbee bulbs (x3);
FIbaro motion sensor (zwave);
Defaro UZB7 (zwave stick);
First of all I bought zwave sensor and stick, but could not connect them because of stick does not work very well with HA. I tried to go into zigbee because it is more universal in terms of frequency (the same for each country). Xiaomi aqara devices are very unstable, they disconnect often and it is impossible to use them in the working home solution. There are also 3 IKEA tradfri bulbs coming to me soon, hope will have no problem with them.
I have big plans on automation, but need to have a stable start. Therefore there is a question: which devices may be a core of house automation (can make a huge value and still be really stable?). Thank you in advance.
P.S. I am not living in the US, so zwave devices in the US frequency are not supported.
Are they connected to ConBee? Are you using DeCONZ or ZHA for the ConBee?
For me the Xiaomi devices are very stable, never lost connection. Is there any mains powered ZigBee devices between the ConBee and the Xiaomi sensors? ZigBee main powered devices act as routers and extend your network, so if you have a battery powered end device somewhere far away from the ConBee and no mains powered ZigBee device in between, it could be that the end devices have problems.
Everyone has its own needs and preferences. There are many different devices, protocols, manufacturerers etc. so it’s hard to suggest anything without knowing the exact needs. There are also a lot of people building their own sensors.
I use them all in the flat, there might might be only like 6-8 meters between conbee and devices. I do not have main powered devices (if the bulbs do not count for them). I use DeCONZ.
They are not going offline in the HA, they just do not react. They may have no reaction for hours. But sometimes they may go offline also. I am using the latest build of hass.io and DeCONZ.
Any concrete walls or other obstacles between the conbee and the devices?
The bulbs count as mains powered devices however it might be that the Xiaomi devices (they have some troubles connecting to mains powered devices from some manufacturers) are not able to connect to the bulbs and therefore connect to the stick directly. You can see the mesh network through DeCONZ VNC, there you see to which device your Xiaomi devices are connected to.
Hi, @aiinhome, same here, I am passionate about Home Automation. To answer your question, time ago I’ve found this article that I think is worth a look: DIY home automation foundation
What @sjee wanted to say was that you should choose different (non-overlapping) channels for ZigBee and WiFi. There are some tools to scan the nearby WiFi and see channel and usage, this is to avoid that you choose a channel that is already used heavily by any neighbours (if you have neighbours).
As I said, some Xiaomi devices don’t connect to ZigBee routers of some manufactureres. What you can try to do (worked for me with Philips Hue bulbs and Xiaomi Door/Window sensors) is removing the motion sensor from the network, then in Phoscon search for new LIGHTS and while it is searching do the process on the end device for pairing. If you are lucky you will see the motion sensor under sensors.
however it might be that the Xiaomi devices (they have some troubles connecting to mains powered devices from some manufacturers) are not able to connect to the bulbs and therefore connect to the stick directly. You can see the mesh network through DeCONZ VNC, there you see to which device your Xiaomi devices are connected to.
but here you go;