Is there a list of super compatible Hardware?

[jerrm]

@fleskefjes

10+ months battery life from a CR2032 or CR1632 battery.

That’s on the short side. I have battery devices pushing 3 years at this point. I don’t think any have been less than a year, and those were on the manufacturer’s supplied battery.

[fleskefjes]

Yeah I have some that have lasted way longer (one door sensor is on year 2), my temperature sensors usually drop out at around 12-15 months. BLE plant sensors usually 6-ish months. Point was you don’t need to change batteries too often.

[stevemann (Stephen Mann (YAML-challenged))]

There is no list because as soon such a list were compiled, it would be obsolete.

I personally avoid any cloud device, and smart lights.

[Sapaka]

Hey folks,

I would like to genuinely thank you all.
Now I know more what I want, what I should look for, what I should avoid,…
I know now things I didn’t know I didn’t know.
I actually get really excited by this new adventure.

Last but not least, I love this community already! Thanks!
I can’t wait to be experienced enough to be able to help and welcome new comers as well

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@fleskefjes

Yeah I have some that have lasted way longer (one door sensor is on year 2)

@jerrm

That’s on the short side. I have battery devices pushing 3 years at this point.

Still a short runner

I really avoid battery powered devices were possible because as they run on the most expensive and dirtiest energy available. It is also impossible to use locally available regenerative energies when opting in for non rechargeable batteries

But I need to admit I made a good catch back in the year 2019 and got myself some reed switches which still run today with the battery they were shipped with (yes, around 2000 days of service already! That’s more than 5 years ).

@orange-assistant

This reed sensors of mine are simply great, they just very reliable do there job and that with a power draw less than a uA. I’m not aware of any other battery powered device I can call my own which was such a good investment.

@orange-assistant

Without taking a battery self discharge into account @1technophile calculated a estimated runtime of 11.439 days based on his measurements .

Yes that equals more than 30 years on planet earth

The receiver obviously are esphome nodes

Another thing that bothers me about the battery operated connected devices is that they can (and do) stop delivering their service at the worst moments (like when travelling). Actually I started already hard wiring some of these BLE Xiaomi Hygrometers so that they take 5V USB instead of the coin cell

@fleskefjes

Hue for example) and are not required to create a cloud account or use a third party app / hub / cloud to control your Zigbee devices.

Might be a bad example as they are now forcing cloud accounts by the looks of it

@Springrbua

As much as I know Hue already supports Matter and Matter should run locally.
So how can they force you to create a cloud account ?

@aaroneisele55

They can force cloud on you by locking the option to get the Matter code so it can only be paired via Matter if you have such an account

[fleskefjes]

Yeah, we get that you like esphome. I wouldn’t be too worried about Hue Zigbee devices, they have no internet connection (duh) and firmware updates are optional if you run Z2M.

🥹

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@fleskefjes

I wouldn’t be too worried about Hue Zigbee devices

I’m not because I don’t own any

[Update Oct 2: data sharing to become optional] Philips Hue will force users...

From what I understand cloud account is still mandatory but you get options for data sharing. The nasty thing of all this as even when you bought your hue system (including the bridge) years ago - while it still worked completely offline - they now force you to come online

[francisp (Francis)]

The funny thing is, you don’t need a Hue Bridge to use Hue devices

[fleskefjes]

Can you please explain how Philips could force a cloud update or break functionality on Zigbee bulbs that are used with Z2M? I don’t get how, Philips has no clue that I even have bulbs from them. They are controlled purely local, and as I said firmware updates are optional.

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@francisp

The funny thing is, you don’t need a Hue Bridge to use Hue devices

Regarding to the quite extensive thread with 200 replies at the moment hue owners don’t look to happy about this. Mostly because people loosing functionality from what I understand

@aaroneisele55

I have started moving off the Hue bulbs in my house off the bridge, but the one thing that stops me is that some of the rooms have enocean switches which are connected to a Beckhoff SPS which controls the Hue lights over the bridge, and its a unacceptable, irreversible decrease in acceptance for my system if I take down that feature by moving it off, even if it brings direct connection of HUE dimmer switches and bulbs.

@aaroneisele55

I’m really concerned about this, as in my home, a lot of systems rely on the Hue local API, for me, as I have a secondary (ZHA) zigbee network, it would be an easy switch-over in just some minutes, but my family probably will say nope for that as it would take hours to reprogram everything so it works like before, with the “Wake-Up” feature

Maybe you folks having your hue’s locally could help others escape?

@Spin

This would be a great time for someone to post a really simplified “How to” guide for first-time setup of Home Assistant and converting Hue Bulbs from the Hub hub to direct Zigbee control.

Make it non-nerdy, non-techie, and don’t assume the user has much understanding of HA.

If done right, would be a great first time experience for a lot of consumers concerned about privacy and the heavy-handed Hue policy and bring them into the HA arena with a nice soft landing.

But even then… will users get the “full experience” they payed for in the past?

@Mariusthvdb

Compared to the full Hue experience any zigbee solution we have in HA is a bare metal products. It’s like the poster above said: you can still turn /off lights…

@mundschenk-at

@aaroneisele55

I think he means those fancy Hue Entertainment features that only the Hue Hub with official Hue bulbs has…

Oh, OK, yeah, that is a proprietary extension to the ZigBee protocol that right now only the Hue bridge supports. There have been some feature requests for this on Z2M and I think in principle it is known how it works, but no-one has actually implemented it so far.

So from what I understand if I have had made the “mistake” buying such a hue kit (like three bulbs and the hub) in the past I could now continue with a cloud account or as alternative go private/dark which would need a new investment (router/coordinator type of hardware) while at the same time loosing some functions?

@Mariusthvdb

Believe we shouldn’t let this topic turn in to a can/can not do in ZHA or what ever. HA can do a lot, but it takes a lot where Hue is easy.

This should be about Hue/Signfy not abusing our private data.

I don’t even give any manufacture the change to screw me over Not when buying stuff and not years later when they want a little more monetization from their (former) customers

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@Sapaka

• Integrations with local push offer the best experience

Also one more thought about “super compatible” stuff is the quality scale of a integration

Quality Scale

So the tightest HA bonded things you can get use a “Internal ” integration (developed by the HA team) and make use of the superior “local push”

You can spot this information on the integration pages, for example

Quality is internal but only local polling

Local Push Quality “only” platinum

Quality is internal but only local polling

Local Push and Quality “Internal ”

Local Push and Quality “Internal ”

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@orange-assistant

Local Push and Quality “Internal ”

But be aware! Looks like the newer “flic 2” products are cloud only, need a dedicated bridge and are not even compatible with the present HA integration

Flic | The Smart Button and Dimmer for Lights, Music, Smart Home and more

summa summarum

If you want “super compatible” Hardware go with something that allows privacy, sustainability and choice

For me that is hardware based on esphome which has the tightest/best possible integration with HA and allows to be fully independent from the hardware manufacture