I’m thinking about transitioning from z-wave to a newer technology but am wondering if it’s worth the effort or if I should just keep adding/replacing with z-wave. I’m looking for increased reliability and more advanced switch choices (mainly for scene control).
So I don’t have to buy all new hardware I was considering adding a second type into my system. I understand that this may be personal preference but hoping some of you may have made the same type of switch and have personal thoughts on if it was worth it.
I’ve been using z-wave in my house since 2008 and have a mixture of z-wave and z-wave plus hardware. I have two basic issues:
Devices go missing
Lack of options for multi-button in-wall scene controllers
The first problem could just be that I need to be replacing my older, non “plus” z-wave devices. The second issue may not really be solved by different tech.
What controller is used and what devices do cause issues? I use the following combination without such issues: raspberrypi2 + razberry modul + rasbian + openhab2 and fibaro devices (important: not the newest devices on the market)
Whats wrong with using the Aeotec ZW130 Wallmote Quad device? Seems to work for me. (not “in-wall” enough ? )
Well, in general there’s still no overall better technology even for lighting (ZigBee is good, too, but has its own set of problems) so since you’re asking for replacement, I’d say no it isn’t worth it.
ZWave if done right is reliable (and range better than ZigBee) so on your #1 I’d investigate reasons.
That definitely isn’t normal.
First thing to check would be if you use 2.4 or newer with the new zwave binding to add back network healing.
On #2 can’t really comment. There are a number of devices on the market (more than with Zigbee I’d say), and there’s in-wall devices to have an input you can attach traditional switches to.
Other than that it’s an ever-tricky thing but often there’s also misunderstandings what a scene controller is really supposed to do. They are just supposed to send scene commands which you can then evaluate and act upon in OH. They’re not meant to e.g. allow for dimming by press-and-hold. That can be accomplished by some devices to have direct associations to dimmer devices but that’s not part of the scene controller functionality then.
I agree with Marcus. Unless you are looking to switch to some wired technology like KNX, the grass isn’t really greener on the other side. They all have problems.
But one thing that is a little missing in the discussion is that you are not limited to just one lighting control protocol. You can add Zigbee or WiFi devices and they will happily live along side the Zwave devices. Once you get to the Item level in OH, they all look the same too so it’s not really all that hard to swap a Zwave switch for a WiFi switch, for example.
I find Zwave to be the most reliable of my tech, but I think they are all Zwave Plus, or if not, they are significantly newer than some of your devices so maybe that is part of the problem. And it’s hard to really say Zwave is the most reliable since my WiFi Sonoffs and Shelly1s are super reliable too. I haven’t done anything with Zigbee yet, despite using a combo Zwave controller/Zigbee coordinator.
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