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?
Zigbee/Z-Wave/Thread are all meant for sensors. WiFi not so much. It’s easier to host more sensors on the purpose-built network types. Special consideration for Z-Wave since it uses different frequency than WiFi, which the others do not.
WiFi and batteries don’t really go together, which also puts a real limit on what you can do there.
I also thought zigbee was more open and had less licensing fees.
One thing I like about Z-Wave and Zigbee devices is that they can’t connect to the internet no matter what, because they don’t have the hardware for it.
- This means you don’t need to worry about them phoning home with usage data. (privacy)
- It means you don’t need to worry about them being used by a hacker to penetrate your network. (security)
- It means you don’t need to worry about them being a node in some botnet mining crypto for someone else with your electricity. (resource usage)
You’ve already got HomeAssistant to connect them to your Google Home or HomeKit account, so you can still turn on your closet light from the bar or whatever, so you’re not losing anything by them not being connected to the internet directly. You just never have to worry about that stuff. Instead of having to keep 40 devices that were sold by some company that no longer exists up to date on their firmware, you just need to keep HA up to date.
All for the cost of a usb dongle that costs $30.
I very briefly tried a couple zwave light bulbs with a USB zwave adapter for Home Assistant, but couldn’t get it reliable. I do like the mesh + low power idea though and played around with ZigBee dev boards previously.
I have settled on mostly Tasmota firmware on ESP8266 based devices. Lots of switches (from the CloudFree shop among others), smart plugs, and other devices. I also like to assemble my own sensor/relay boards, which Tasmota is great for. I did have to set a fixed 2.4Ghz channel on one router, and later set “IoT mode” on my Unifi network, to avoid devices falling off the network. I also have flashed most of the devices, but am happy to do that (not so different from uploading an Arduino sketch once you’re used to it).
ZigBee devices are really nice because they are low energy, easy to set up and don’t add extra strain on your wifi access point(s). The battery operated ones last for months to years on a small button cell battery and most plug-in/wired ones act as repeaters. Also, a lot Wi-Fi devices are cloud based or require flashing to make them completely local. With ZigBee or even Zwave you are certain they have no internet access and cannot phone home without you having to put any precautions in place.
Can confirm that zigbee is much better for IOT things, I find the zigbee stuff is quicker to react to events as there is not WiFI setup. Some WiFi devices running on batterys will have lag while they get WiFi link back up.
If I already have a handful of WiFi devices, do you think it is worth it to replace them? Say, 4-5 switches. I’m planning to invest in a few more and a home thermostat. I certainly want to commit before buying a thermostat, since they tend to be a little more pricey.
Is there a greater danger of ZigBee not being sustainable over decades? WiFi will probably be available for the remainder of my lifetime because it is already so ubiquitous.
Probably not worth replacing things now but you may consider using zigbee and zwave on any new devices. I have a mix of all three in my setup.
ZigBee is already so widespread that I don’t see it going away. I’d be much more worried about your WiFi devices.
While WiFi as a network technology certainly isn’t going anywhere, most WiFi-connected devices talk to a service on the internet. You probably created an account somewhere to manage your WiFi devices. So if the manufacturer shuts down their service, which happens all the time when they either shut down the whole business or abandon a product line, you will have no way to manage your devices.
ZigBee will continue working as long as your hardware does, because you control the software managing it.
It depends, but I’d say you should definitely try it. Zigbee is so cheap (not just initial cost, but batteries also last waaasy longer and it doesn’t saturate your local network), and it’s very possible you can still build a nice mesh, maybe reusing a couple of your Wi-Fi switches somewhere else in the house if you need a Zigbee router in one of those spots.
It was never the best idea to fill your home with tiny Wi-Fi devices. Wi-Fi IoT devices are more for people who basically want to automate a couple of things, not 40. I would become mad just for the battery changes, and scared as heck I’d be toasting my brain with so many devices screaming radiowaves (and a clear slowdown of my Internet connection).
Matter sort of makes Wifi more viable, but Zigbee is a proper mesh that generally works great. The more devices, the more reliable the network.
Zwave theoretically works similarly, but I’ve found it to have way more problems.
