Could I ask you one question? I’m thinking about installing the digitalSTROM system at my place, but I don’t manage to find external reviews of the products or opinions from people using it, which worries me a little bit. Since you seem to be using it at home, can I ask you your opinion about it? Are you happy? Do yo have communication issues? Are the PLC signals generating some sort of interference or malfunction in any of your home electrical appliances?
sure.
I guess the main reason why you don’t find reviews is because the system is not really widely used.
TL;DR I wouldn’t buy it again
I installed my digitalSTROM setup seven years ago. Home automation technology has come quite far since then.
Main reasons against DS:
It’s too expensive
It’s too slow
It’s too closed down
It’s too inflexible
Too expensive
Each device is around 100 Euro. That’s a shitload of money for one light. Go get some Zigbee bulbs
To slow
The average delay between hitting a switch and the light turning on is around 300-400ms. That doesn’t sound much but it’s really annoying in the beginning of you enter a room and the light turns on delayed. You’re just not used to it.
Also nowadays even wireless technology like Zigbee or zwave is faster.
The reason is because of multi tap recognition on the local switch device and communication forth and back - so nothing that will ever change.
To closed down
Back in 2012 systems like HA didn’t exist or were still in their infancy. DS made big claims about integrating third party hardware and being the central home automation hub in the future.
As we know today they failed to do so. They even didn’t release all planned DS controllers.
On the other hand they don’t show any interest of adding or supporting integration into other tools. I had to write the Python client and HA integration myself by reading through other libraries (also 3rd party) the disassembled source of their Android app etc.
The API documentation is - let’s say - limited and it’s easier to win the lottery than to get a useful and fast answer on their developer mailing list.
Too inflexible
digitalSTROM is completely based on scenes. Their state machine also gets confused when devices are controlled directly. However sometimes I would just like to control a specific light instead of turning on the movie or dinner scenes.
On your specific question:
Communication is solid. Basically never had an issue. No interference etc.
But the main reason I would not but it again:
the important parts are closed source. Whenever aizo goes out of business, I will have a damn expensive system without any future.
What would be my alternative today?
In a new building, I would have each light, reach outlet, each switch be connected separately to a central cabinet and have control hardware in there. No signals on wires, no wireless tech.
Whatever technology you would then choose for the cabinet, it will all live in there and could easily be replaced.
Fir me, I’m not extending my DS system anymore. All new stuff is Zigbee.
The main advantage from digitalstrom is, that it controls light by switch or system bycontrolling power. When zigbee, there has to be power on the bulp at all time. If I use the switch and thus cut power, zigbee light will remain dark…
That’s totally right. However I don’t really get the advantage.
In case of digitalstrom, it cuts power from the light bulb but keeps feeding the terminal.
So where’s the difference if the micro computer doing all the logic is still powered. To me i t doesn’t matter if that one’s integrated in the light bulb or a separate device. Same idea.
Hi,
I have just stumbled across your post as I’m checking the possibility to integrate dS in HA oder OpenHAB.
The bell, tor opening and an intercom system of the house we are living in is about to be replaced. I suggested to install an smart system to be futur safe.
As the house is located in Switzerland they prefer Swiss vendors, so I came across dS.
It looks like their system would be easy to install and to be allowed to be controlled by other systems.
Due to your summary I may doubt second. Is there any system you recommend instead?
Digitalstrom is controllable by other systems. It just has many issues doing so.
I’m currently in the process of replacing all my Digitalstrom installation with Shelly clamps flashed to ESPHome.
They’re not Swiss made but the company behind it is at least from Europe.
Also Digitalstrom is not really easy to install as it needs components built right into the switchbox. Shelly is running on WiFi so a stable WiFi like Unifi is recommended.
thx for the quick answer.
Unfortunately Shelly does not offer any intercom solutions.
The idea is to have dS intercom to get easy approval from the others living in the house.
I don’t know if it the current intercom is connected to the switchbox. Let’s see and hope the best. In case that is the case, it can use the current wiring, so no extra have to be pulled.
I hope that it can be easily integrated into HA then. I haven’t found any alternative yet.
Well. Feel free to invest in an extremely expensive, closed source, closed infrastructure system. I wouldn’t do it again.
I mean the best thing about HomeAssistant is that it can orchestrate systems from different manufacturers.
But what do you want to integrate?
Only that it rings or something more feature complete like opening the door, turning on the light in the hallways, etc.?
I don’t see a reason why you’d want to use Digitalstrom for that. Use a specialized system, maybe even an intercom that is already supported. That’s the magic of HomeAssistant - connect different systems.
all that I need is a smart system for the front door of the house and the doors for each individual flat.
I want to integrate into my HA (what is for my flat only), I don’t think that the other residents that much in home automation.
One flat using smart lights and sockets but as far as I know they use a proprietary system but don’t know the details yet.
I will us another system for other devices in my flat.
The installation has to be done by an qualified person as I don’t want to be responsible for the proper function of the front-door bell system (I don’t have the time to do so and insurance is anther topic to regard).
dS just told me that they don’t have their own system, the would use e.g. DoorBird, so even better, as it allows to use other vendors.
Unfortunately, DB is not that easy to install Doorbird, is it any good?
Then there is no need for DS at all if they don’t even provide such functionality.
Think of all the overhead of DS filters, DS meters, DS server, etc. that don’t actually do anything.
If you want to get consultation about intercom systems, please open a new thread.
I’m officially abandoning the Digitalstrom integration as I got rid of their crazy expensive, not so open system and replaced everything by ESPHome based devices. The integration will still be available but remains unmaintained by me.
If someone wants to take over, let me know.
Hey Gaétan. That’s great news, thanks for your efforts! I installed it and looks like I also get messages in MQTT (checking it with MQTT explorer). However, I’m a bit stuck with the next step, i.e. having actual entities and devices based on it in Home Assistant. Do you have any plans to add support for HA Auto Discovery (https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/mqtt/discovery/)?
Also happy to provide you with any feedback that I can give…
I’m not a Home Assistant user. I use OpenHAB. I stumble upon this topic while searching for an existing implementation of digitalSTROM and MQTT. I just wrote here in case someone was interested.
I will not follow any vendor-specific MQTT implementation. I prefer to stay generic by default.
That being said, my project is open source. So if someone is willing to implement the HA implementation and that we have a clear config property to enable it. I would be ok to integrate it. I know that others are doing it like this (like ZigBee2MQTT)
In the meantime, I’m sure HA is powerful enough to allow you to use the “state” and “command” topics.
Hi. This is the address of the system where the MQTT broker is running, not the ds-server…
If the MQTT broker runs on home assistant, then the IP of home assistant.
If the MQTT broker runs separately in a container, then the IP of the container.
