For the past 2 years my home has mostly just worked with a wink 2 hub. I say mostly because there have been issues with certain things that I just stopped caring about. As you may know right now, Wink is holding people hostage.
I have a mix of products. Hue, Caseta, Insteon, zwave and I may even have a zigbee or 2.
I’m a software developer so this kind of excites me, except I have a ton of other projects going on.
I’m torn on 2 things right now. Do i go with another hub like a Vera plus or some generic zigbee/zwave hardware. Does vera give complete device control in HA? The other question is around hosting HA. I have a qnap nas and I could run a container on it. Is it it better to purchase a Raspberry pi for this? I’d rather not have extra hardware. Yes I know they are cheap, but this was all unplanned and the wink 2 is now just a waste of money. Thanks in advance
Personally… go direct. Sure, you could buy a Vera hub to interact with your Z-Wave and Zigbee devices, or you could spend a fraction of the price
I’d use your NAS, rather than a Pi, and getting the Docker install there is documented. It’s even possible to get Home Assistant (with add-ons) installed. The best use of a Pi is to host your Z-Wave and/or Zigbee integrations if your NAS is in the basement/garage/etc.
My wink hub has been in my basement with zero connectivity problems. Is it safe to assume if the wink hub had no problems I can leave the new stuff down there as well? I have a rack in the basement, it’s nice to keep things out of sight. I guess the position of my first devices is enough to create a solid mesh network.
It should be fine. RF (radio frequency) can appear horribly unpredictable as a tiny difference in position can have a significant impact on the signal. It wouldn’t hurt to plan on buying a USB extension cable for the stick(s), or even put them all on a powered hub on top of the rack. Moving them away also cuts down on interference and can give you what appears to be a stronger signal.
Thanks, I’m already up and running with Hue and and few other integrations.
Lutron Caseta and Insteon I know are supported, but these ones don’t show up in the UI? Can these only be added via configuration? (update, i see lutron was auto detected as home kit controller)
I don’t use z-wave any more but one thing that really used to annoy me was the network re-initialisation after every home assistant restart. If this is still the case it’s a good argument for spending the money on the Vera hub.
Right now, yes. However, as of likely 0.110 the new Z-Wave integration will get initially merged. That separates Z-Wave out from the core of HA, so restarting (or upgrading) HA won’t impact it any more.
That new integration has been undergoing beta testing for a while and I don’t imagine it’ll be many releases before it’s fully able to replace the current one.
I only have 4 zigbee devices and they are just AC wall plug modules. I can easily replace those with zwave or insteon as one option
Does this device work well GoControl CECOMINOD016164 HUSBZB-1 USB Hub, It seems to have semi good reviews. Am I better off with the Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 for zwave only.
I have one ordered, sadly won’t be in until the end of the month. Thankfully my house still functions with the exception of 1 under the cabinet lighting strip that the module is above the refrigerator and requires a ladder to get to.
No, that’s a Zigbee Controler, you need a Lutron hub, I would get the one that says HomeKit. Wink had some deal with Lutron so they could have a controller built-in.
I received a “homekit” one with blinds I purchased and I almost gave it away. I can confirm it’s working good. The only thing that doesn’t seem to work are fan controls. The hub is showing them, but i can’t control the entity(s) in HA
