Advice on hardware choice (Zigbee, z-wave,...) appreciated

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
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Hi forum

my situation:

  • I’m an absolute beginner with home automation
  • I decided to go for openHab as it seems more flexible and powerful in the long run
  • I would like to start simple and easy but set up my base hardware to be scalable for more advanced things

My current approach:

  • Fritzbox 7590 running
    • ordered, not jet installed: FRITZ!Smart Thermo 302 and FRITZ!DECT 440

I want to use the Fritz components to do some very simple first steps inside the Fritz automation environment but also have something which seems to be easily integrated in Openhub

  • Raspberry Pi 5 with openHabian (5.0.1) running
    • Fritz Binding installed and the Fritzbox is configured as Thing and online
      • Not figured out, if I can do anything more than that (Turn on/off Wifi, Gues Wlan or such things)
    • RITZ!Smart Thermo 302 and FRITZ!DECT 440 connected
    • First Items on Overview page created, can control the Set Temperature via App

Next step will be to connect the Fritz components into the current setup and try to learn what I can do with them solely staying inside the Fritz Environment and then move on to the openHab environment and play around.

Already some limitations I found:

  • Can’t seem to set the ECO Temp or Comfort Temp via OpenHAB

After that I want to get going with some non Fritz components. Possible use cases I have in mind:

  • Switch on/off sensors to detect open windows and shoot an alarm if a window stays open for to long during winter time
  • Humidity/Temperature sensor placed in a room and connected to the control of a thermostat (maybe a non Fritz one)
  • Lights I can turn on and off or change the color via openHab smartphone app

Now the questions, what is a good way to go these next steps? What “protocol” is in my situation advisable? Zigbee? Z-Wave?

My understanding is, that whatever I decide to choose, I will need some kind of gateway hardware probably in USB form to directly attach it to the Raspberry Pi.

My pain. There is so much choice and I’m totally lost on even how to decide what to choose. Is a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus suitable to get started but also be prepared for the future? Based on the price it seems rather high end. Is a Conbee II more suitable? Is the missing antenna maybe a problem to be future proof (I don’t want to have to set up repeaters and such.)
Depending on the protocol, what would be a good temperature/humidity sensor to start with?

I’m not on a tight budget, but I also don’t want to blindly go for pricey high end products and be totally over engineered. I would like to have some quick positive experiences with having accomplished something to stay motivated.
Also important to me is my privacy. Therefore I don’t want to use components which communicate “home”, rely on a cloud or things like this.

A most helpful answer for me probably would be for example:

  • I started with $protocol, used $this $hardware. Had these experiences, came across the problems, stayed with the choice because, switched and got happy because
  • If I would start now days I probably would start with $… because
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Unfortunately there are a lot of variables which you’ve not provided details about which can make one technology a better or worse choice than the others. For example, Zigbee uses the same frequency as WiFi so if you are in a congested environment Zigbee can make that congestion worse. Zwave tends to be a bit more expensive over all compared to Zigbee but often one will find Ziigbee-ish devices which require special handling. Matter is great but there still are not a lot of devices out there that use it, but the list is ever growing.

Why not both?

Not necessarily. It all depends. Devices that use WiFi or BT won’t required additional hardware. But Zigbee and Zwave definitely will require a separate dongle. There are a few Zwave/Zigbee dongles out there on the market which give you both in one device.

One of the nice things with openHAB is your choice doesn’t have to be forever. If you chose one and figure out it’s not the best for you, you can switch to the other and keep using the old stuff. openHAB is all about “yes and” instead of “either or”. It’s whole reason for being is to get different technologies to work together.So it really isn’t that important that you make the perfect choice right now. Just start small and you can pivot when you need to.

Both Zwave and Zigbee are mesh networks. Matter also supports a mesh network when using Thread. This means every mains powered device (i.e. not battery powered) is a repeater in addition to what ever function it provides (e.g. smart plug) (I think they call it router in Zigbee but same thing). So if the network isn’t great, you can improve it just by adding more mains powered devices that do things and you get the repeater for free.

I don’t think you’d be over engineering at this point as much as giving yourself flexibility.

You could spend a little more and get something like the Z-way.me Z-Station and get Zwave, Zigbee, and Matter TBR all in one device. Even if you only start with Zwave (for example), you will always be able to use devices from these other technologies when the opportunity arises. This greatly expands the number of devices you can use so that you are more likely to find exactly what you need and/or be able to use the cheapest device regardless of the technology.

Generally, Zwave is going to give a more smooth experience (unless it’s a brand new device not yet in the binding’s database, but that is still relatively smooth to get it added).

Zigbee has a bunch of Zigbee + type devices which are Zigbee as a base but to access everything they do requires more. Hue, Ikea, Xaiomi (or what ever they are calling themselves these days), Aquara, etc are examples of this. Generally if it has the Zigbee logo on the box that means it’s certified and it should work with the binding.

Matter is new and it works a little differently. Reading the docs makes it sound really complicated but, just like a board game, once you do it once it becomes really easy.

A lot of people will run a separate program (zigbee2mqtt and zwave2mqtt) instead of using the OH binding because these services have a larger set of developers adding support for these not quite Zigbee devices or add new Zwave devices faster than OH can.

I started with Zwave using hardware that is no longer available so I won’t bother looking them up. I never really had any problems once I had enough mains powered devices to cover the whole home. But I also use Zigbee, Matter, and BT and I’m happy with all of these.

If I would start today, I would probably let the specific smart plug, switch, or what ever that I really want to use drive the choice. Once it gets into OH it really doesn’t matter what technology it is.

I have some DIY sensors based on ESP8266’s which publish to OH using MQTT.

I also have some Govee temp/hum sensors which use Bluetooth which I chose because they were cheap and have a little display (lots of these sensors do not).

I also have two Airthings Wave+ which do temperature and humidity but I mainly got these for their radon sensors.

I know there are lots of Zigbee temp/humidity sensors out there, few Zwave ones which are relatively more expensive. So if price is an issue I’d choose Zigbee.

1 Like
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@rlkoshak Thank you for your extensive answer. I will try to answer some “questions” you pointed out.

My home automation “playground” is not very congested in my opinion. To try to give a practical indication. The number of different Wifis I can see is below 10. My direct neighbors are not into home automation.

Your link to the z-station is broken for me. Nevertheless, I think I found it on google. It seems very powerful. But maybe a little bit over the top for just getting started. Amazon can’t ship it atm, but I found prices in the range of 130€.
Maybe the Aeotec Z-Stick 10 Pro - Zigbee 3.0 & Z-Wave 800 Series USB Adapter would be a good alternative choice, to not start to big, even tho it only supports 2 options?

Is there any experience with this product availability?

Especially with respect with your remark about mqtt2zigbee / mqtt2zwave vs the binding. If I use such a multi purpose dongle, can I still go the route via mqtt and treat them separately?

2 more hardware questions.

  • My Fritz Thermostat reacts quite slow (as they normally do, if I read the internet correctly). I want to try a different one. Is the Danfoss Ally thermostat okay or are there any things I should be aware of when going for this one?
  • I have a light switch based on a Busch Comfort Switch/Sensor. It is old and requires 40W minimum load. For modern light bulbs that is way to much.
    Would be a Sonoff Smart Light Switch a good start (Considering that I need the 2 wire option without the neutral one to begin with, I have a powerplug right next to it, were I could get the neutral from)?
    • I linked an option with 2 “buttons” because my idea would be, one button to physically turn on and off the light and the other to just send a signal to the home automation and “do something”. Would this be possible?
    • Also I don’t fully understand the functional consequences of the “no neutral” installation.
      • I do understand, without neutral I need a consumer which requires minimum 3W for this device to work correctly
      • I don not understand the router part. It means the switch wouldn’t work as a repeater in the system? But does this also mean its passive energy consumption is less?
      • What does the phrase “smart switch as load” Supported/Not supported indicate? Is my assumption correct that this might be interesting if I have a smart light in the system? Because in the one case I can completely power off the system when using the switch as load. And if I don’t use it as load I’m in the 2 wire case were I have a constant minimum consumption?
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:person_shrugging: Like I said, I don’t have direct experience with any of these.

But I would caution that if you wanted to splurge on anything up front, I’d splurge on the controller/coordinators. It’s a pain to move a network to a new dongle.. You don’t want to charge it out later if you can avoid it.

Yes, reach appears as a separate device.

:person_shrugging: I’ve no experience with either device.

I’m also not an electrician so I can’t help with the light switch questions either. Not having a neurtral limits your options but I think there are some zeave or zig ee switches that work without.