My smart home journey started with a Vera hub about 8 years ago with ZWave, then going to Home Assistant, adding wifi devices, Bluetooth, smart fans, smart air-con, alarm integration, to what is now a bit of a mix of most things (no Zigbee though). I run HA on a VM, with an Aeotec Gen5 ZW090 ZWave stick. I have 60 ZWave devices; about 20 of them are battery-powered: door, water, temp, motion sensors. The rest are about 30 light controls and about 10 power switches.
The ZWave mesh is built using Fibaro mains-powered light switches in every room across the house.
I find that ZWave is ~ok~, working well 90% of the time, but at times bogs down and goes slow.
We are building a new home in 2025, and I’m starting fresh. The intent will be to build a HA-managed, local comms smart home where possible.
Current design parameters:
- Minimise battery-powered devices
- Motion and door sensors will be cable-connected through an Ethernet-connected Konnected system, not ZWave
- Cat6 everywhere, Ethernet connect where possible
- Unifi network, wifi access points and cameras, all the network and cameras POE, UPS-backed, etc. (same as current place)
- Cloud integration is ~ok~ but not first choice
The biggest question I have (at risk of re-igniting flame wars from threads which I have read) is whether to do a like for like replacement of my lighting control, i.e. Fibaro in-wall ZWave devices behind all light switches.
I use ZWave for 2 main purposes which will continue in the new home:
- Lighting/dimmer control
- Power tracking (from lights and also from about 10 Fibaro power switches - about 80% of household power consumption is tracked).
Motion, door sensors will no longer be on ZWave.
In looking at new Fibaro switches (about AU$90 each), I noted that Shelly now also do ZWave switches at about AU$50 each (no Shelly ZWave dimmers yet though). Over a whole house that’s a big $ difference.
Shelly of course also do their Wifi switches; given a very strong and reliable Wifi network with Unifi APs through the house, I am seeking thoughts and advice on:
- Stick with ZWave - Fibaro ZWave devices vs Shelly Zwave devices? (or others?)
- Lose ZWave and go Shelly Wifi devices?
I’m NOT looking for a religious debate on one protocol vs another. I have ZWave now, it works mostly well but has downsides; Wifi also has downsides. I get both, they both have their pros and cons. I have the advantage of being able to start with a green field (literally lol), and I’d like to hear from people who have considered these choices.