Some general advice needed: home automation for beginners

Setup, Configuration and Use Beginners
1

Hi, currently I’m a bit “lost in the woods” and hope that some of you can point me in the right direction…

what I have / what works:

  • approx. 30 zigbee-compatible bulbs (hue, Osram lightify, Innr)
  • hue Bridge 2.0
  • 2x hue dimmer Switch
  • 1x hue tap Switch
  • 1x nest protect
  • 1x Google Home

what I want:

  • floor heating (preferrably from the new Homematic IP range)
  • four exterior blinds (German: “Außenjalousien”)
  • some window/door sensors
  • temperature (difference) sensor, wind-sensor
  • control conventional lighning-fixes (without needing to replace everything with hue)

automation purpose:

  • move shaders/shader angle according to temperature, time and wind
  • Status display (near the main door) that is “green” when all Windows/doors are closed
  • ??

for shader control, my vendor recommended EnOcean (bi-directional) actors and switches. He sells modified Homematic CCU2 devices with EnOcean module and antenna… but that means yet another eco-system…

I would be thankful to hear some of your thoughts on how to carry on from here… If I buy the CCU2, I could control everything from there… can I?!
So, where does OpenHAB come into play?! I know, that is an heretical question in an OH community :wink:

thanks in advance.

2

I guess the question will center around how many ecosystems you want/have to combine.
I have no experience with CCU2, but there are a lot of systems out there that do well as long as one lives within their ecosystem. OH2 comes into play if you want to integrate multiple ecosystems.
So if CCU2 allows you to have access to lights, sensors, shades and Aussenjalousien and at a price and functionality you are comfortable with, maybe it is easier to stick with just that. If, however and just for example, it cannot communicate to your lights, cannot read the wind sensors to make the Aussenjalousien retract when it is too windy, OH2 can come to the rescue as it can talk to all these (or at least to a LOT) of systems and you can establish rules that talk across as many ecosystems as you want.
Hope this helps.

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