homeassistant

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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io

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ZigBee and Zwave? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I see a lot of posts about people who like their Zigbee and Z-Wave products. As I'm setting up the hardware in my home, I'm using Wi-Fi products because I already have Wi-Fi. I don't see much difference in price. What is the actual benefit of setting up a separate network for home devices? Is there a reason that I should consider setting up one of these networks?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I prefer zwave and zigbee because they give me 12 months plus on small batteries, and I can not get this on WiFi devices. This greatly improves where I can install sensors and the like.

Even when I have a larger battery, such as the 60ah battery I use for my back garden lighting, I still use them as it reduces power draw over a WiFi controller.

I can also directly connect them to smartthings and more recently home assistant thst I have migrated to rather than connecting to a WiFi device via a Web service. This improves reliability and speed on average.

I get no problems with running a large network of such devices, I have over 100 bulbs, relays, plugs, and sensors that are connected. My WiFi is decent and supports 8 nest cams that are outside plus another 20 or so devices that are inside, so it offers a similar range for me.