I’m about to embark on a renovation of a new house which lends itself to a brand new HA setup free from the kludges applied to get my current setup working and ripe for a whole new set of challenges.
Currently my home lighting is controlled via Z-Wave modules installed behind the switches in the walls, with a Vera controller integrated into HA.
For my new setup, I’m looking at Zigbee lighting as Clipsal in Australia offer a range of zigbee switches which would save me (my electrician) a lot of time and effort in setting up and may make maintenance easier.
The only fault I have so far with the z-wave light dimmers I use (Aeotec) is the size and challenge of getting multiple dimmers into the wall cavity for 5-6 switch plates. I’ve also recently had a couple of failures on recently installed modules which I haven’t in about 10 years of running these switches previously. Changing them out is a major hassle given to how they’ve had to be installed in the walls behind the switches.
On paper the Zigbee switches look like a no-brainer with a new Tube PoE powered gateway (considering I already heavily use MQTT for other applications so no issue there), both will give me off-line operation and range isn’t really an issue.
Curious to hear of other people’s experience with Zigbee vs Z-wave practically without starting a religious debate.
Theres so many variables it’s not a fair comparison.
ZWave is (edit, previously ‘not’ thanks autocorrect) in a clear radio spectrum in all countries (they registered specific frequencies by country)
Zigbee shares the 2.4Ghz space with all kinds of things.
This alone means without a full rf survey of your site none of us know how well zigbee will do for you. You can follow best practices for Zigbee on this site - It’s mentioned plentof times I won’t repeat it. - And still have crappy connection because you just have a lot of rf. Interference. (a friend in an apartment simply cannot zigbee because of the 2.4 Ghz wifi density around his apartment)
While some people do fine with zigbee and struggle with other protocols.
Use what works. And there’s no reason to toss anything. Use both.
My vote is Zigbee. I ran ZWave solo, ZWave and ZigBee together and now I have moved everything to ZigBee.
@NathanCu is 100% correct with his interference comments and it took me a bit to solidify my setup.
My driving factor was the number of new devices available and most core systems like Hue , Sonoff, Tuya, etc… are running ZigBee. It feels like the industry is leaning more towards ZigBee.
I control 60+ devices with 1 Zigbee coordinator (hubs eliminated) across a sizable area with really no issues.
ZigBee Pros
Faster speeds
More device availability
more hops with a single transmission
slightly cheaper
open source allows for editing
Cons
possibly more interference
less distance
less security
Zigbee 3.0 - mesh radio, IEEE 802.15.4, more central certification?, less cheap?
Thread - mesh radio, IEEE 802.15.4, central certification, needs a recent micro for hardware crypto.
Bluetooth Low Energy - low range, uncertified, very cheap.
And a longer read version with more market economics and the implications:
If you’re rewiring, bring cables back to a sub-main DB allowing you to install ANY system as DIN-rail modules (star / radial / home-run). At the very minimum, connect phase, load and neutral to light switch points with the deepest back boxes you can get.
Oh, and always think about failure modes - my system will still allow local control of lights (and heating) even if all control software and server hardware has fried.
Thanks all - I’ve been down the BLE path - there be dragons and not for me.
Z-wave in AU runs on 921.4Mhz so not really much in the way of interference but the limitation on AU certified modules, choice and thus price has forced me in the past to get creative.
I’ve got a bunch of 2.4 wifi stuff on my IOT network from roll my own ESP projects and various things.
I’m less worried about interference that’s not my own as I’m on a larger block and its a stand alone house, so I’ll be my own worst enemy there. I was curious as to people’s general experience vs the extreme ends of the spectrum.
I’ve been leaning toward Zigbee as its going to be easier and cheaper to install (In Australia you need a licensed electrician to do all install work and the gear needs to be approved here otherwise your insurance company won’t touch you in the event of a claim such as a fire), just I hadn’t really played with it given I’m in deep with Z-Wave and don’t need yet another integration into my HA to deal with.
I’m not rewiring to the point I can centralise it all, and yep the local operation factor is already a core requirement of my current setup as my wife has a strict rule that switches / taps / doors need to still work when the internet doesn’t.