Zigbee or Z-Wave what to choose

Configuration Zigbee
1

Hi,

I have a dilemma here. I want to change to Zigbee or Z-wave because of the mesh technology.
First of all: Wich one to choose. I Use Swiches, dimmers, remote contols and temperature sensors.
The second question: What hardware to chooce. There is a lot in the market. I’m using a PI4, but I want to change to Odroid in the future.

Please advise

2

No reason to choose one or the other; I use both. But if you want to pick one, I’d see what kinds of devices for each are available in your area that meet your needs.

Advantages of Zigbee include that it uses the same frequency worldwide (2.4 GHz for home automation devices) and has lots of cheap devices available, though IMHO not all of good quality; advantages of Z-Wave include that it uses a lower frequency that may give longer range, is a bit more standardized (though chances are that either ZHA or Z2M will work with any Zigbee device by the time you get it…), and may have more devices of different types available (I can find lots of Z-Wave thermostats and in-wall switches/dimmers, but only a few Zigbee ones; this may vary depending on where you live — one reason I suggest looking at devices when considering).

Both have some disadvantages, too: Zigbee competes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in 2.4 GHz space, and the latest Z-Wave generation that is widely available (700-series, though 800 is coming soon) had some growing pains that caused problems for early adopters, plus it’s a bit more picky of a protocol in general in my experience.

For hardware, assuming you mean on the Home Assistant side, if you’re planning on moving from a Pi to an Odroid, you might want to stick to USB (or perhaps network) receivers for both Z-Wave and Zigbee, then, as opposed to something like a “shield”/HAT for a Pi. That way, it’s easy to move. These are a lot easier to find anyway, at least where I live. If you go with Z-Wave, I’d probably pick a 700-series controller at this point (e.g., the Zooz, HomeSeer, Aeon, or SiLabs “reference” 700-series Z-Wave USB sticks), just make sure you update its firmware to avoid earlier bugs; for Zigbee, the TI-based chips are more well tested with Zigbee2MQTT if that’s the integration you use, otherwise most should work with ZHA, and I imagine SiLabs chips will work better with Zigbee2MQTT (and already work well with ZHA) as time goes on if they don’t already — this is what is inside the new Home Assistant Yellow. The integration you use will normally document what works well with it, and the hardware you buy will often say what it is compatible with as well (particularly for Zigbee if they are aware of Home Assistant; I don’t think there are any widely available Z-Wave sticks that don’t work with something).

But … a lot of it just comes down to preference. :smiley: (And what you can find where you live.)

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3

I originally used a nortek USB controller, which supported both ZigBee and z-wave. I appears z-wave has fairly hard limit for range of about 200ft. I have a device that is 250 ft from the house. I contemplated uses z-wave with a repeater to get to this location. I never actually used any z-wave devices, as they are generally more expensive than a zigbee or wifi based device. My original ZigBee solution was marginal, 50% of the time it was unavailable, Soo fairly unreliable.
I have since moved to a SONOFF USB dongle 3.0plus with a 9dBi antenna off Amazon. This has shown great coverage out to 300ft. But I am still fighting the cheap SONOFF temp sensor issues in other areas. I have continual problems of them dropping off the network. I have out buildings, that are about 100 ft away, that I would like to monitor the temperature. My novice experience is that Zigbee has quirks. Various device incompatibility issues, my opinion from the open standard implementation issues. Z-wave my be better, as it is a closed standard. It maybe more reliable.

Final note, I solved my 250 ft device with a esphome wifi with a 9 dBi external antenna. It’s been 100% reliable. Never drops off the wifi network from the house.
Maybe this info helps?

4

Hello,
Until now i used z-wave, but i want to combine with it zigbee.
I run ha on nuc and use aeotec z-stick for z-wave.
Zigbee seem to be more challenging in term of compability and i try to determine the type of stick to buy. I want something that is a bit of future proof.
Any uggestions?

5

If your budget it is not extremely low then suggest trying both since a Z-Wave Controller USB adapter and a Zigbee Coordinator adapter are by themselves relatively inexpensive. Personally recommend getting Aeotec Z-Stick 7 USB adapter for Z-Wave and CC2652P based “Sonoff ZBDongle-P” USB adapter for Zigbee as those currently are as future-proof as you can get today if looking for dedicated Z-Wave and Zigbee adapters.

Regardless be sure to read and follow this → https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy/wiki/Generic-best-practice-tips-on-improving-Zigbee-network-range-and-general-stability

I personally use both, with Z-Wave network and Zigbee network with over 100 devices of each, and in my experience, you get what you pay for. Z-Wave devices generally have higher quality and are more stable out-of-the-box but they also cost a lot more. So it depends much on how much time you are willing to spend tinkering with your devices or if you just need them to work, as in “production” for WAF → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor

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What is the difference between this 2 models?

P vs E

And which one is recommended with home assistant?

7

Hello all

What is the difference between the two sonoff models ZBDongle-E and ZBDongle-E?

Which one is recommended with home assistant?

Will appreciate any help :slight_smile:

8

See my first post here for details on ZBDongle-E including technical comparision:

And my first post here for details on ZBDongle-P including technical comparision:

Summery;

Note ZBDongle-P is better supported in Zigbee2MQTT today if want to use that instead of Home Assistant’s ZHA integration, this is as Zigbee2MQTT’s zigbee-herdsman library’s support for EZSP adapters is experimental, for details see ongoing development there → https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee-herdsman/issues/319

Also note that if you are using the ZHA integration today then it is now very easy to migrate back and forth between ZBDongle-E and ZBDongle-P (via ZHA integration’s built-in backup, restore, and migration features).

In addition, remember that you can always convert ZBDongle-E and ZBDongle-P adapters into dedicated Zigbee Router devices that can work as stand-alone Zigbee signal repeaters and range extenders if used in USB charger for power to achieve better coverage in large homes.

A tip is therefore to buy both a couple of ZBDongle-E adapters and a couple of ZBDongle-P adapters then reflash the one you are not using as a Zigbee Coordinator with Zigbee Router firmware and use those as dedicated stand-alone signal-repeater/range-extender if simply plug into a USB charger for power. This follows best practices → https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy/wiki/Generic-best-practice-tips-on-improving-Zigbee-network-range-and-general-stability

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