I got into home automation via google home mini kinda like:
OH it can control lights lets get a philips hue. Need but those bulps are expensive. Then action came with lsc and my toon termostaat had integrations anyhow, Its all fun and games but not quite reliable all those services talking to each other having to “hack” the lsc stuff.
So to use home assistant reliable (relativly speaking to the budget ofc) what hardware brand should i look at ? But at the same time really do not want to spend more then 5-10 for basic parts of the system bulps, smartplug, detector, door servo,etc Ofcourse a camera or video doorbell are more.
I prefer wifi as I have little experiance with zigbee or z-wave but if thise are the goto I’ll get to it. mainly I like to use one brand/type/chip ofc google home is must.
Such a complex question. However, as a general rule, the benefit of HA is being able to mix-and-match brands, and therefore not have to stick to one.
If you use battery devices like door/motion sensors, then Zigbee is the way to go, as wifi uses too much power. However, not all hubs are compatible with all devices. This is why Conbee II is common (I have one), as it has pretty broad compatibility. I mainly use Aqara battery devices, and I’m generally happy with them (good price, 95% reliable) but also have, for example, the Philips motion sensor (bad price, 100% reliable). Note that it’s not a good idea to only have battery Zigbee devices - you need powered ones to create a mesh network. I use Ikea light bulbs for this purpose, and have Philips and LIFX too.
For powered devices, wifi is good, but if you give them static IP addresses, your router might run out (mine supports a max of 64, and I’m at 61 used). Zigbee has separate, higher, limits. The software for many of the cheap wifi components is a skin on top of Tuya Smart. Rather than use their software, use that from Tuya. They apparently have a local control version in the works, so it won’t need to be cloud connected (therefore more reliable and faster).
You also need to work out a plan for the light switch. People will turn off at the switch, undermining your smarts. I have an old house that I can’t practically rewire, so I’m using Hue remotes stuck next to the dumb switch. The costs mount up.
Having said all that, everyone that answers will have a different opinion. And in a year we’ll possibly all be switching over to thread/matter/chip/next-new-thing anyway.
Such a complex question. However, as a general rule, the benefit of HA is being able to mix-and-match brands, and therefore not have to stick to one.
If you use battery devices like door/motion sensors, then Zigbee is the way to go, as wifi uses too much power. However, not all hubs are compatible with all devices. This is why Conbee II is common (I have one), as it has pretty broad compatibility. I mainly use Aqara battery devices, and I’m generally happy with them (good price, 95% reliable) but also have, for example, the Philips motion sensor (bad price, 100% reliable). Note that it’s not a good idea to only have battery Zigbee devices - you need powered ones to create a mesh network. I use Ikea light bulbs for this purpose, and have Philips and LIFX too.
My exact Problem here is for example philips you need that bridge i belive but also if philips decides to change firmware or anything and take away access to the it the expensive sensor becomes useless.
Like LSC (tuya branded) video doorbell luckily someone “hacked” it but would be useless otherwise.
Maybe the phrase should be I like advice of hardware that has open source firmware on it ? I have no problem with several systems zigbee and wifi for example as you pointed out they have their benefits. Tuya is activily blocking alternate firmware so their motion sensor (lsc branded) is crap takes 5-10 seconds to activate. with Tuya Convert - Tasmota you could trow tasmota on it and the responsiveness was way better.
For powered devices, wifi is good, but if you give them static IP addresses, your router might run out (mine supports a max of 64, and I’m at 61 used). Zigbee has separate, higher, limits. The software for many of the cheap wifi components is a skin on top of Tuya Smart. Rather than use their software, use that from Tuya. They apparently have a local control version in the works, so it won’t need to be cloud connected (therefore more reliable and faster).
I actually use tuya was planning to make it my main hardware but due to the above I am now looking for alternative. I really dislike companies who make an active effort to prevent people from extending life/features of their products via custom firmware. Also dhcp is not a problem I run pfsense I have a dedicated vlan for smart home.
You also need to work out a plan for the light switch. People will turn off at the switch, undermining your smarts. I have an old house that I can’t practically rewire, so I’m using Hue remotes stuck next to the dumb switch. The costs mount up.
I live alone, And visitors are warned to not touch them under penalty of being beaten with a very large silly looking stick.
Having said all that, everyone that answers will have a different opinion. And in a year we’ll possibly all be switching over to thread/matter/chip/next-new-thing anyway.
Yes I do expect that its ok I can filter out what I need.
Zigbee is a standard, Philips can’t change anything in the firmware to not make it compatible with the standard anymore (unless they come to your house and change the chips inside) However, I would not buy a Conbee II, rather a CC2652x based stick.
I tried switching to pihole for DHCP, but it was a disaster. Some config changes to my TP-Link gateway (192.168.0.1) cause it to decide it’s a good idea to change the network address range (say to 10.0.0.* ) - particularly when turning DHCP on or off (or changing the range). With the pihole still thinking the gateway is 192.168.0.1 and happily still dishing out 192.168.0.* addresses, all hell breaks loose. The only way I found to fix it was to turn off pihole’s DHCP, factory reset the gateway and start again. I’m also using a mesh router that doesn’t support creating a separate network. I never did find a suitable solution.