84 z-wave devices, prefer sub-ghz here in the US and very happy with z-wave. Mostly 700 Aeotec, Inovelli 800 light switches, Leviton 700 fan switches, and some Zooz 800 series devices, also some aeotec 300 and 500 series devices that still just work. Also zigbee, hue, apollo esp32, etc. Home Assistant is a fantastic platform.
I have had jamming and inclusion issues, bricked two Z-Pi 7s with my Yellow before 7.18 fw. I recently managed to recover them using npm and zwave.js on windows from instructions here; so thanks to this vibrant community, you all are great.
All that being said, for our Z-Pi/HA Yellow setup firmware 7.21.6 has so far been very stable here, loving the long range options but the core mesh here is doing very well. So far no more Leviton 700 series fan switches going dead, the most pervasive issue I have seen here the past year. Your mileage may vary, but at least here no issues with z-wave.
No they specifically mentioned it in the latest beta release notes (for the upcoming release) as well as talked about it in the State of the Open Home video, so it sounds like their Z-Wave USB radio adapter hardware will be released later this year, however I read it as they first want to get some related software improvements into the Z-Wave integration, like onboarding and migation into Home Assistant so that backup and restore of Z-Wave NVRAM and network database works as good as it already does for Zigbee in the ZHA integration to make migrating to it easy and a good experience, (which is needed for migrations since Z-Wave adapter is also not just a dumb radio but have your Z-Wave networkās encryption keys and device connections on it), as that will make migration a plug-and-play setup for those who want to replace their old Z-Waveradio adapter. Read:
FYI, you can follow the very active software progress related to this by searching for zwave in the pull requests in Home Assistantās core repository. See:
I think youāre replying to the wrong person. Iām simply passing on the info I came across in these forums. I do not use Zwave, and obviously do not have any insider knowledge of the new HA hardware.
I suggest you wait for at least a week then see what actual users have to say about it. Speculating on an unreleased device is an exercise in futility.
It will have an external ābest-in-classā antenna and support automatic firmware updates, plus part of the profits will go to Home Assistant and Z-Wave JS development via the Open Home Foundation.
If loads of people buy it and start using the official Z-Wave integration in Home Assistant the it should hopefully also show more manufacturers that this Z-Wave userbase is strong and they should therefore do thier best to support out-of-the-box support of Z-Wave devices by becoming an Works with Home Assistant partner and/or providing OTA firmware updates for their products via Home Assistant.
Will therebe a GPIO version with all the benefits of a HA stick? I prefer not to use USB. I am currently using a Zooz ZAC93 Long Range GPIO Module but I donāt get automatic firmware updates.
I know Z-Wave isnāt dead and Iāve made that argument to others (and earlier in here).
So while Z-Wave may not be dead, itās most definitely ādeadā - the quotes are the difference. As in effectively dead, at the very least in the consumer space, as I donāt follow industrial nor commercial trends.
In North America, Z-Wave has in the past few years become a niche of a niche, due in large part to complete lack of recognition by any big-tech smart home platform. Brand selection and device availability is dwindling, even if you can find mainstream names like āLevitionā listed online.
If you search for European light switches supporting Z-Waveā¦ Well, Oh my, itās like playing āWhereās Waldoā
Every light smart switch my home is Z-Wave - Iām in Canada. But as I plan a move to Europe, itās not time to replace or add any switches. One just failed today and thankfully I had a spare to tide me over.
Whatās more commonplace now outside of WiFi wall switches? The selection in Zigbee was never that great and Iām not seeing too many companies rush to market with Matter, let alone Matter over Thread. Seems everyone is most interested in the types of devices the common user can just āplug in,ā like an outlet adapter, small battery sensors or light bulb, and not hard-wired switches.
Iām not sure what youāre talking about, Iām not having any issues finding zwave devices. It seems the same as it was when I started: 5 or so companies providing zwave devices.
After reading this, Iāve opened the page of my favorite smart devices shop in the Netherlands and found more than 100 devices available.
Surely enough to build a Zwave only home with just one order.
The majority of it are fixed devices or " behind a physical switch inserts".
Maybe you need to open your eyes a bit more. Because if a man does not want to see stuff, he never will.
FYI, I live in Europe and Z-Wave are relativly popular here (but very expensive), however note that we do not really use the same type of āsmart switchesā as you/they have in North America where there is more or less just one form factor. Since there are so many different form factors in Europe we instead we use smart switch modules and smart dimmer modules that are used to convert any dumb-switch into a smart switch, and nice thing with that is that you can get design you want (though if you want to use smart dimmer modules then you need to have a dumb-switch that supports adding a spring so you can use it as a push button).
The most well known and trusted Z-Wave brands in Europe that sell Z-Wave switch and dimmer modules are; Shelly, Aeotec, Fibaro, Qubino, Heatit, and Nexa. Also heard that Zooz has plans to release many Z-Wave 800 Series in Europe too.
Zooz in NA seems to be the only brand delivering readily-available in-wall switches (decora style). The other brands, like GE/Jasco and even the Leviton products, dontā seem as readily available. Inovelli completely decimated their original product line and now have only 3 switches that go up to $130 - crazy.
For Europe, Iām familiar with in-wall wiring, but Iām not too keen on deploying modules through-out. Modules are also a much more esoteric concept and while they can work with a regular toggle, a lot of functionality isnāt available unless you have a double throw momentary switch.
I have no problem sticking with Z-Wave and have/had no plans to replace them here in my installations. But Iāll have to leave behind all my switches once this place is sold, at least to switch to the EU Z-Wave frequency - everything non-Z-Wave else can make the move.
I exclusively buy Jasco/Enbrighten (Itās no longer GE) and can have it arrive at my front door via amazon overnight. Iām not in Canada though but the border is less than an hour from where I live.
I buy zooz for the oddball things like a double plug, they are pretty fast with delivery.
Inovelli used to be reliable but theyāve had some supply issues in recent years. Not sure if they ever fixed that.
Aeotec, Enocean, Fortrez, and Hubitat are also available and still sold. Havenāt bought those products in years but they appear to be available on amazon.
Iāve never attempted to buy leviton, so I have no comments on that. EDIT: Just looked up leviton, products are still available on amazon overnight deliverly like Jasco/Enbrighten.
I guess this is also a question of what youāre looking for, kind of confirmation bias. Here (DE) I mostly see tuya based zigbee devices, especially from Jack Maās market place (but also IKEA, Philips, and white-label tuya stuff on the supermarket shelves). Cheap stuff, but so far working well (ZHA/ z2m).
Also be aware that to be covered by insurance if your house burns down then electronic hardware devices need a certificate approved for the country it will be used in if the product plugs directly into an AC outlet.
Most cheap Chinese devices that you or non-serious resellers import are not truely UL or CE certified (even if the manufacturer have printed so on the device and its box).
One of the reasons why many Zigbee devices you can find everywhere are so inexpensive is they do not have those electicity safety certificates or have been independently tested to be safe, and because of that they can also be manufactured with lower quality design and components.
I believe that all Z-Wave devices designed to be plugged into AC mains-power and sold in North America or the EU (European Union) all have UL or CE certificates, and as such they have probably first been independently tested to be electronicly safe as well. Because of this they are more expensive to manufacture, because they use higher quality components, etcā¦ That is another reason why they often also look and feel like high end products.
As far as I know, Shelly was the first company that makes Z-Wave devices to challange this idea with a a fundamental change in approach of making relativly inexpensive but good quality products by using the same hardware designs with different IoT radio chips for WiFi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Zigbee and Thread. Since then Aeotec has followed this paradigm shift as well and are now selling both Z-Wave and Zigbee variants of the same product, with proper UL and CE certificates.
It is however probably safe to use most low-power battery-powered IoT devices that have standard batteries which can be replaced.
I have a lot to say about component quality and safety, having worked with mains electrical for almost 40 years personally and professionally. But thatās beyond the scope of this thread.
