I’d love to automate a few things in my new apartment, and I’m trying to get myself up to-speed with today’s available options but they are too man, here are my requirements:
What:
I need to automate my
shaders/blinders (power smart switch)
measure how much water goes through a pipe (smart water flow meter) I have 3 pipes I need to measure the flow off, so just a sensor above my main water meter won’t do.
open/close a water valve (water smart switch)
How:
it has to be reliable (especially for the water ones) and work with home assistant without potential flakiness (I’m looking at you thread, last time I checked HA thread support was still beta)
it has to not be crazy expensive
ideally it would be self powered (connected to power supply?) so that I don’t have to change batteries (or if I have to, it should be once a year)
But mainly:
Whatever sensors/hardware I end up using must not constantly be emitting radio frequencies.
most mesh networks like Zigbee, or ZWave, or even OpenThread keep a constant network layer connected (and send a heartbeat on frequent intervals for example) or some other ones like the ones using WiFi are even worse, and emit all the time.
I’d like something that only emits radio frequencies when used - i.e when the blinders are opening or closing, and not all day long when unused).
Possible solutions?
I think I’ve read that direct Matter-thread connection is one option, as I’ve read it’s not using heartbeats and only emits when needed. I just don’t know for sure if the above is true, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the hardware I need that use matter-thread.
Another one is X3D proprietary protocol from DeltaDore - but it’s proprietary and not easy (or possible?) to connect to home-assistant. Some guy in the forum did it but it feels like a hack.
I thought of wired solutions which I don’t have an issue with but KNX is WAAY too expensive, and I think it may be outdated too (I wonder if there are more modern solutions that are cheaper too)
I’ve heard there are some other plain RF options which seem to be close to what I’m looking for but I don’t know which ones are still used today, are reliable and what potential issues I may face with those
I’m not into DIY guy, but I’m a software developer and I could sit down and fiddle with stuff if needed.
I’d appreciate your thoughts and suggestions
Thank you
jchh
(my username is my initials (and my first name isn't John))
2
Genuine side question: Is this requirement due to some interference concern or something else?
I echo what’s been asked and said. There’s a ton of completely natural radiation already around you, and unless it’s ionising and at higher levels, there really is no danger (be careful of that big ball of gas we call the sun though). Note that radio frequencies to an engineer refers to a specific part of the spectrum.
I can’t speak for Zwave or Zigbee, but many devices on WiFi uses the ESP8266 or ESP32 chips which (if programmed) can go into deep sleep mode. This means it will wake up and emit data when needed. Of course, the downside is that this only works for devices that emit data and not ones that can be controlled (typically also for battery-operated devices). I stand corrected, but I’m not aware of a way to wake a device up remotely (unless it’s on LAN and you use WOL).
You can wire back from blind an out hardwire solution inside metal box. Basically you want a relay that controls power to motor of blind and a device to control relay on/off. ESP8266 is standard device for this but there are modbus relay with POE input that would work great for this and emit no RF.
Google “POE modbus relay”. I think that device may get you where you want to go.
If you can’t use full wired connection, you can use ESP8266 or ESP32 with deep sleep mode. In deep sleep, device wake up and emit radio frequencies only when they emit data. It is okey mainly for device that only update her status (example your smart water flow metter)
But, if you need to control your device from home assistant or other, you need this “always open” connection because device has to be connected to receive the order of open or close.
Deep sleep can be used only if you need to receive the status of the device but not control it remotely (outside of the esp button itsel).
(You can also use deep sleep if you are okey with delay for control your device. For example esp wake up every 30 min and check if it has to change the position of the valve)
So ESP8266 (or ESP32) are microcontrollers that I can use to connect IOT devices like smart switches or sensors, and in my case that would mean directly connecting those shader switches and volume water flow meters on the micro controller correct? (I assume if I decide to go by wire that would be by RS-232, RS-485)
And then I would connect ESP8266 to my home assistant software (I’ve been eye-balling home-assistant yellow)
Does that sound like a feasible and realistic scenario?
Are there any downsides to that aproach?
Possible, but to find wired versions of everything you need might not be easy and will be a lot of wiring work. You may need to DIY your devices e.g. using ESPHome. You can add an ethernet shield to ESP devices.
