Hi There,
I was wondering if I could get some advice on OpenHub and I do appreciate the feedback.
How does this platform interface with Z Wave and Zigbee networks? is this a MUST to have a so-called hub e.g. Wink or SmartThings ?
tx
I don’t think there is a Zigbee binding (officially at least) but the Z-Wave binding is very mature. You need a hardware dongle to interface between openHAB/software and the Z-Wave RF network. Typically people use the Aeon Labs Z-Stick, or similar, or the Razberry daughter board for the RPi.
The Z-Wave binding for openHAB then communicates with this hardware dongle via a serial connection and translates the messages into updates and commands to/from openHAB.
So in short, no you do not need a hub. openHAB in effect becomes your hub as it contains all your automation rules and logic. openHAB speaks to the physical/outside world via bindings which interface with various protocols and devices. Z-Wave is just one of these.
Thanks Ben for the quick reply.
Can you then point out the best practices for talking to ZigBee modules, as many of the devices I will be dealing with are indeed ZigBee, some are talking to Wink Hub and some to SmartThings, and I do not see none of these bindings on the list on the website.
Thanks again for the help, this will be greatly useful for me in evaluating OpenHab for adoption with some preinstalled systems.
Zigbee support is in the works for OH 2. There is no support for Zigbee in OH 1.
If you have a rooted Wink hub, I believe you can install some software on the HUB to enable a REST API that openHAB can then communicate with. I’m not sure about SmartThings.
Beyond that there is no way I know of to get openHAB to communicate with Zigbee devices until OH2 comes out with the Zigbee binding.
Thanks Rich, that clears up the ZigBee question then.
I see there is a binding for Hue, I assume this one requires the Hue Bridge, am I right?
Yep it does require the hue gateway…
Tx Frode!