You are correct. The Hue and deCONZ components work in HA in different ways.
HA connects to the Hue ecosystem via the Hue Bridge (Hub). Philips makes devices on the Hue Bridge available to programmers via an API. This API only allows for polling the bridge for changes. So, if you trigger a Hue motion sensor, the Bridge will know about it virtually instantaneously as it communicates with the motion sensor over ZigBee. The Bridge also makes the motion detection available via the API, but HA has to poll for that change; depending on the polling interval set up in HA, it could be 2 or 3 seconds before HA is aware of the motion. This is why you’ll sometimes see people complaining that motion events work very quickly if programmed on the Hue Bridge but slower in HA. This can be solved to a certain degree by reducing the polling interval at the expense of more network traffic to the Bridge. HA refers to the Hue component as “local polling”, meaning it doesn’t need to use the cloud to talk to Hue but it does need to poll for changes.
If you take the Hue Bridge out of the equation and pair the motion sensor directly to deCONZ (via the Conbee USB dongle or RaspBee) you get the benefit of something called websockets. Websockets works like a subscription - the client (in this case HA) subscribes to the deCONZ websockets server to listen for changes. Now, when you trigger the motion sensor, deCONZ is aware of it virtually instantly over ZigBee and (unlike Hue) broadcasts the motion detection over websockets for all subscribed clients to receive. HA gets the motion detection without having to poll for the change, and so is aware of the motion that much more quickly. HA calls this type of component “local push”, meaning it doesn’t need to use the cloud AND it doesn’t need to poll.
Outstanding and thank you! I got it now. I get my Conbee stick tomorrow. Hoping to have some fun testing the difference in performance.
I know I can search, but where is the best resource to get the deCONZ, Hue bulbs and motions portion stood up?
I’ve since moved my hassio install and now have it running on Ubuntu vs as the hassio image, giving me more flexibility and options for USB and other things.
It’s really easy to get your devices paired to deCONZ. Once you have it installed (instructions are on the GitHub repo, make sure to use the beta version which I think at present is 2.05.00 as that includes websockets support), navigate to the IP address of your server at port 80, login with the default user/password which is delight/delight. Then under Menu/Settings, at the bottom of that page there is an option called “Reset Devices via TouchLink”. Bring a light close to the ConBee and power it on (a small lamp will help with this). Reset all of your lights in this way, it makes them easier to pair I’ve found.
Then you can use the “Phoscon Web App”; navigate to www.dresden-elektronik.de/pwa/login.html. It should scan and find your bridge automatically. Login (again delight/delight). Then the web app should be pretty self-explanatory for adding devices (it will walk you through what type you want to pair, what buttons to press, etc.).
