Well I went head first into Hubitat and Home Assistant. While I have most of my functionality back I am having some stability issues with both platforms. I decided to use proxmox to run HASSOS and occasionally get kernel panics with HA
Overall very happy with HA so far, integrating tons of things I didn’t even know I could add.
To answer some of my previous questions, I initially tried the built in homekit support from Hubitat, and while the devices it was able to share did work, there were too many that were restricted (3rd party apps like ecobee thermostat, konnected alarm sensors) to keep using it. I ended up just using the Maker API integration that oddly did allow me to share every device hooked up to HE with HA. Then HA’s homekit support did the rest. HA doesn’t have full camera support yet so I’ll be keeping my homebridge around for a few custom integrations that just work well there (orbit irrigation, flume water monitor, bond fan controller hub).
I was relieved to see two very important integrations for me in Hubitat, Home Safety Monitor (HSM) and Lock Code Manager. Which were really easy to replace similar functionality from STHs home monitor. The HE app and UI leave a lot to be desired from a UX standpoint, but it mostly works.
Z-Wave has been pretty solid in HE. The only issue I had was a few devices not automatically finding the right driver. Zigbee however is another story. I’m having trouble keeping some Sonoff Zigbee motion sensors & Zemismart roller blinds online/paired in HE. I’ve tried 3rd party drivers & stock generic drivers with limited success. They seem to work for a while then drop off the mesh network. I just saw they launched a new C8 hub with stronger antennas but since I JUST bought mine I don’t plan on upgrading. I don’t really think it’s an antenna gain issue, since they DO pair and work for a while. It seems like driver issues to me. Hopefully I’m able to figure that out. I bought a usb Zigbee radio so if HE keeps being flakey I may go that route in HA.
I know a month has elapsed, but I can add some adecdotes as well: I had bought HE a few years back and had drug my feet in transitioning from ST and only used for a few (segmented) solutions. I will say that HE as a hub and for what I had on it seems stable over the years, but recently started moving legacy devices over to HE [due to ST groovy plans and Smartapps starting to stop working] and to take advantage of localization. however, I have had issues with the Zwave and Zigbee connectivity dropping (and am still not sure yet if it is wrong drivers being selected, radio signal strength, interference, and/or mesh issues). To wit, HE is currently releasing a new hub with external antennas which presumes that there was a signal strength issue in older units up to version C7. My issues are both with zigbee motion/contact sensors dropping (Smartthings, 3rd reality, etc), zigbee outlets drop from responding until I manually go over and push their button, as well as Zooz Zwave dimmers not being consistently triggered in group scene activations). This unreliability gives me pause until I figure out why what used to work with ST for years, even in cloud mode, with never a hiccup (except with occasional WAN or SmartTh cloud short term outage) but is so sporadic in HE. My plan is to keep all hubs until I figure out the HE issues. If that gets resolved, I will likely divest of ST and use HE as my Z/Z hub to supplement my HA incremental build out. Hope this helps everyone in decision-making.
PS- it should be added that I have Sharptools (shameless plug) dashboards that integrate with the three platforms discussed here (sometimes I even stitch together attributes from two hubs in one dash component or use the rules engine for cross-hub automations); I know it is not localized, but has been rock solid for years with exception of ISP problems on my side. And I also have HA which has come a long way but is more intensive for me as non-developer (have to find time to learn) and I have more Z/Z devices that wifi ones at this time.
Whilst the C8 does include more power for the ZZ transmit and also a bit of extra gain on receive you really only need to reach the next ‘local’ devices and they can repeat onwards from there. So possibly a C8 may not provide a fix to the dropouts you experience. It could be devices using marginal paths deeper in the network. In fact more distant devices may become attached directly which may improve things but theoretically could even make things more problematic
Routing in all these ZZ networks is quite a dark art and typically requires that the network is ‘built out’ from the hub in a recommended way. Moving to a C8 could alter that. I think most frustrations stem from routing path issues and not specifically the direct to hub path. That does reduce hops and hence routing steps though.
There are many people with stable networks and a few with frustrations which of course get vented on here. I have one particular area in my house, a corridor, where even 5m line of sight just won’t work. I think it’s to do with interference with the energy reporting Z network that my supplier implements. But I only have a few Z devices. Lighting is all hard wired with C-Bus.
Fair points on C8; thanks. I know I have my work cut out for me to build out mesh and resolve configuration and interference issues, especially since I haven’t finished moving things over. Part of my issue on Zigbee side is I currently have limited devices. Smartthings devices were very reliable once connected. I wish a reasonable, DIY C-Bus type solution was more common in US.
If you are moving from Hubitat, and with devices already on Hubitat, yes. This gives you the buffer for easier migration, and if down the road for whatever reasons you want to (or have to) move to zwavejs ui, etc., you have the options to do so.
If you are starting from scratch, then no. No need to use Hubitat just for the radio.
but since I JUST bought mine I don’t plan on upgrading. I don’t really think it’s an antenna gain issue, since they DO pair and work for a while. It seems like driver issues to me. Hopefully I’m able to figure that out. I bought a usb Zigbee radio so if HE keeps being flakey I may go that route in HA.