New Construction. Need device advise

Configuration Z-Wave
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I’m currently building a house. We want to have home assistant running much of the home automation. I am currently at the drywall mudding stage, so too late to run new wires, but need some advice and help with some questions. Learning the Hassio system now at our rental (with a few of the items to be installed at the construction) before implementing in new house.
So far here is my equipement

  • RPI3B+ with Hassio
  • Aeotec ZWave Gen5 USB stick
  • (16x) Homeseer WD100+ wall switches - master bedroom, common areas, exterior lights.
  • (1x) GE zwave motion dimmer switch with 3 way add on - master bathroom for night/time based motion activated lighting.
  • HVAC - Carrier Infinity. Unfortunately they don’t play well with aftermarket thermostats and I didn’t know this until after it was installed. Great unit, just not very friendly with non carrier devices.
  • Garage doors - Liftmaster with MyQ support

Question #1: WIFI
I have no IT experience and am probably screwing this up, can you check my work? I wired lots of CAT5E cable throughout. I believe the proper way to manage hardlines is… Fiber/Data into house from road >>> modem >>> 24 port unmanaged switch >>> then to a) all the cat5e wall outlets & b) three points of wireless signals.
Should the Hassio/RPI3b be attached to the switch for best “hassio.local:8123” access?
Is it better to have the 3 wifi nodes be mesh network (ie google wifi), or should I use 3 wireless routers and setup individual access points with the same settings since they are all hardwired anyway? I don’t want my family/guests to have to change any settings besides adding a single network one time and then be able to roam throughout the house maintaining good signal/data transfer.
Can you recommend a device? Other than having good data rates and signal and ease of device handoff between AP/Nodes, I pretty much just require the ability to assign static IPs, port forwarding, and maybe running Private Internet Access VPN on the router rather than individual devices on the network.

Question #2 - Ceiling Fans
Great room is vaulted 2 story room, so peak height is at least 22’. I would like a high volume, low RPM fan that can integrate into HA via hassio and don’t really want another remote laying around. This means automating it or having a wall controller (I hate having excessive remote controls around and it seems like many now include a remote as the sole control). Currently the construction is electrically wired for the ceiling fant (regular electrical, not cat5) and has a switch box on the wall at ground level for it. What fan would you guys recommend or have had success setting up without excessive expenses or ongoing monthly subscriptions? It seems like most fans run $500-$1000 unless I go with Big Ass Fan and then they get to be a few thousand which is more than I want to spend.

Thanks for the help in advance. I have been reading this forum for a few months but decided to finally make an account to see if you can give me some advice from all of your experiences.

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Use a single router, doesn’t need wifi. Get 3 WAPs (Wireless access points). These will mesh together to form one giant wifi area (If you get a brand that allows them to). I do this because if a wap dies, you just replace the wap. If a wap/router combo dies you have to replace the router and wap. Also, having 3 routers on a network WILL cause problems. They will all want control of the network unless you make one of them the master. Which can be a pain in the ass. Some routers might not even let you do that.

Anything connected to the waps, router, or switches will be on 1 network unless you make virtual networks. The router will do all this. Don’t get a cheap router, you’ll need to have the ability to do advanced things with this router for some HA devices. Be prepared to learn a lot. Networks can be hard to manage. Plan on spending many hours with this alone if you want to fully secure your network.

                      > WAP 1
modem->router->switch-> WAP 2
          |           > WAP 3
          |           > HomeAssistant
          |           > ..etc.. other hardwire devies.
          |
          ------------> ..etc.. other hardwire devies.

Personally, I use ubiquiti devices and plan on replacing everything with mostly ubiquiti. My current setup is a motorola surfboard modem, linksys home router with WIFI off (This needs to be replaced, had it before I setup my network, too cheap to replace right now), 2 16 POE ubiquiti switches, 3 unfi lite APs (WAP).

POE is for cameras and the WAPS. POE stands for power over ethernet. This is good to have for devices when you don’t need a plug, because they get their power from the switch.

I really like the ubiquiti stuff because it’s easy to setup and if you run the controller software, you can access them remotely. They also have Vlans. Vlans are nice when you want to separate networks, like having a network for cameras that only YOU have access to. But these devices can be expensive.

You can get any fan. Most of the nice quality fans ($500+) come with that bullshit remote. I just bypassed the remote, didn’t install the receiver or wall control and connected the fan leads directly the wire in the wall. You’ll need to have a 3way wire going from your wall switch to your fan. I connected the red wire to the motor, the black wire to the light, and the neutral to the neutral, and ground to the ground. Then on the outlet side everything depends on what you get. Typically these mesh devices require neutrals for everything. So with that being said, just get a switch that can control a fan (DO NOT GET A NORMAL LIGHT SWITCH), connect that to the red, neutral, and ground. Get a normal switch or dimmer that can control a light, connect that to the black, neutral, and ground.

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What do you think of the WD100’s? You have 16 so I assume you like them :slight_smile: I have some GE switches that are just slow to switch for some reason and drive me nuts.

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No no, I have 2 16-port poe ubiquiti switches, as in network switches. In terms of zwave, I have all GE/Jasco switchs/dimmers, around 40 of them. Don’t have any WD100s. I like GE, they’ve been good. I had one issue where I overloaded a dimmer by plugging a vacuum into an outlet it controlled. My own fault to be honest.

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Ok so just spoke with our internet provider where we are building. No modem needed so that can be eliminated. Cat5 from the wall will be hot and not coaxial or anything.

Router: since I will need a switch to accommodate all the cables, it doesn’t have to be anything huge.

Switch: I counted lines today and it looks like there are 16 cat5 cables total so maybe I will look at the 16 POE ubiquiti switch you mentioned and just have everything go directly to the router or POE switch to decrease power plugs throughout the house where able.

I will need a few WAPs (will look into ubiquiti). I’d like to have them be wired and not merely extender mesh networked with wireless signal back to the main node. Would they be better attached to the switch or router? Does it matter?

Does it matter if HA/RPi is attached to an open router port or should it be on the switch? Does it matter?

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Fan: Thanks for the info. I ordered up a Hunter Fan which has a wall mounted switch with 3 speeds and no light. I will look at replacing the switch after we move in and I have time to mess with it since having the electrician hook up the smart switch will add one extra stress for me to address as we move in.

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No experience with the switch until I bought them. My thoughts were good reviews, there was a sale, they are z-wave, and by sticking with one switch (save a GE motion switch), I could have dimmable lights throughout and only learn one system.
We will be puting dumb switches in the guest rooms and less accessed regions of the house. 42 switches total in the house and probably half will be smart by the time we get done with 3 ways and all the ones I already purchased.

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It does not matter, but I’m fairly sure that these devices are POE only. Meaning you’ll need a POE switch or POE injectors. When plugged in, they will naturally act as a mesh. No need to worry about connecting to different WAPs, it will do it automatically. They also are not extender meshes, they all need a ethernet connection. So they are exactly what you are looking for. It does not matter what you attach them to, as long as they have POE. So if your router does not have POE, attach them to your switch that potentially does have POE. If you don’t have a router or switch with POE, plug them anywhere but you’ll need a POE injector.

No that doesn’t matter. Everything is on the same network.

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Great. Thanks. What ubiquiti model are you using

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just my few cents about wifi/routers/network.
it is inevitable that you will have to learn stuff, but I guess it only looks scary at the first point.

also - buying expensive routers isn’t always a must. you can check the Tomato software - and routers that it supports. most of them are quite cheap & after you will install Tomato on them, their functions increase basically to the level of other, more expensive devices [I guess the same scenario is with other custom firmware as OpenWRT, Padavan etc.].

I use two old Netgear WNR3500v2 routers with Tomato installed. one of them is configured as master, another is “just a repeater”. I’ve got two Wifi networks configured [home & guest, on both, so they cover my whole home, garden & garage] and also wired one. didn’t have any issues and it’s running for a couple of years now :slight_smile:

good luck!

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If you are starting from scratch and all the wiring will terminate at a central location I’d do the following:

  1. Buy a 24 or 48 port UBNT switch to cover your port count.

  2. Buy a couple UBNT WAP’s for around the house. I actually like to use the new IW HD ones at any TV location as it gives you 4 ethernet ports as well as the WiFI AP.

  3. Buy a USG firewall, but wait as new ones are rumored to be coming.

Plug everything into the main switch or the IW HD ethernet ports.

Enjoy a simply and stable network :wink:

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Congratulations on the new home.

I’ve gone through and replaced all my switches and automated my entire home. I’m also a Network Engineer so I have a little bit of experience in what works and what doesn’t with the average consumer.

So here’s my design, reasoning, setup and opinions:

When possible I want to avoid devices that require a cloud service for a number of reasons most notably security and avoiding vendor dependency. I want to avoid Wifi devices to improve reliability, security. I prefer Z-wave over Zigbee because it works on the 900MHz spectrum and is a little less suspect to interference. I want ever device in my house to be a natural experience. Meaning I don’t want house guests to re-learn how to turn a light. :slight_smile: I prefer to avoid battery operated when it makes sense. If possible I prefer to use PoE devices. My opinion is that I don’t want to constantly replace batteries and without batteries there is no such thing as wireless. You’ll eventually need to either run power or run signal. It is always easier to run signal than power. If you have PoE, it’s a win-win.

Here is a partial inventory I think is relevant to you. ( have a lot more than this)

  • RPI3B+ and Aeotec USB Stick (I’m very happy with this setup).

ZWave Devices

  • (25x) GE/Jasco In-Wall Switches
  • (9x) GE/Jasco In-Wall Dimmers
  • (2x) GE/Jasco In-Wall Fan Switches
  • (5x) GE/Jasco In-Wall Remote (3-way switch)
  • (3x) Kwikset Deadbolts
  • (1x) Zooz ZEN 15 Power switch for my sump pump
  • (1x) Everspring Flood Detector
  • (1x) Remotec ZFM-80 dry contact switch for my gas fireplace
  • (1x) Linear GD00Z-4 Garage Door Opener (I have occasional problems with OpenWave detecting this device. Your MyQ might be better option if you aren’t technical)
  • (1x) Ecobee4 Thermostat

Question #1 Wifi
I recommend you get a PoE Switch. I would also recommend you hard wire your RPI for best performance and reliability. For trouble free operation, I would recommend Wifi system that is 2.4GHz and 5 GHz MIMO in a mesh configuration even though you can technical mesh your network with 3 separate routers, have a system designed that way will make it easier if you aren’t a network engineer. Google wifi is a very good solution and should satisfy your need.

Question #2 - Ceiling Fan.
You can use any standard ceiling fan. The fan and light control are separate and run over standard (14-2) wiring and not Cat5. You may need to have an electrician install another gang box and run new wires to the ceiling fan if you don’t already… As I mentioned above, I have the GE Fan Control In-Wall switches. They do OFF-LOW-MED-HI love them!

Additionally, you can use the Ecobee Thermostat with your 2 stage Furnace. I’d look into it.

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I would advise to drop the PI and use a NUC or a Brix (basically a small pc) or even a normal pc if you can easily hide it somewhere, with 8 gb of ram and a ssd (or two from different brands) in mirror. Put that to a small quiet UPS with usb connection so that power failures don’t ruin anything (the pc can shutdown automatically and also start back up). It will save you many possible issues from the start.

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How do you like these? Any issues you have with them?

Does this device randomly open your garage door?

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I have one for my front door, works great!

Mine works as intended, nothing randomly opens.

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Ended up finding a good deal on 3x Yale Assure SL locks. They say z wave plus certified. I hope they work out.

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The Kwikset works just fine the Schlage are arguably better engineered. I chose the Kwikset because I of the the Smartkey. I have an aging mother and have her physical key on her locks and keyed the same. Overall I have no complaints.

The Linear Garage door opener works great. The door never randomly opens or anything, it’s just that OpenZwave needs to be patched to recognize the device as a barrier device. This can be a pain for some see this thread.

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Not anymore with the HASS version of OpenZwave the barrier support was cherry picked and merged.

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I have issues with this on my zwave as well. Will just randomly stop responding and will have to go and physically power cycle the device. Same problem happened with it on my Smartthings hub.

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I’m thinking of getting a UPS for power loss, also was thinking of getting an LTE modem in case someone disconnects the cable line :expressionless: