Moving to a new house in a month or so, and leaving behind my dated Insteon (primarily) system. Have the opportunity to start fresh, and looking for tips on the best hardware platform. Looking at zooz, inovelli, or maybe Lutron. But with matter these days (that I’m not familiar with), just not sure best tech to start with. Primarily looking for lighting controls, garage door controls, maybe some door and leak sensors. Also have an outdoor lighting system I’m going to want to control. And thermostat of course. And who knows what else will pop up.
I imagine I’ll have about 100 devices to control. I’m going to have an electrician in to put in a new main panel and was thinking of having them install all my switches for me, so looking to plan this out ASAP
The best is wired stuff and the best is stuff that any local company can grab in an instance depending where you live look around at major electrician hvac window etc websites and see the most common systems they market and search openhab forums for integration and choose that. Keep the lights shutters heating cooling and ventilation up the professionals take their systems incoporate into openhab and then add the last quarter of like leak detection and fancy stuff youself using battery powered stuff or wireless but make sure backbone of the house is stable as a rock and you have support in easy reach. That is my recommandation unless you have all the tools an knowleadge to support youself in case something goes wrong then the best systems will be the ones you have experience with or you are willing to learn.
I’m slowly converting as much as practical to Matter
For lighting, I’m satisfied with Leviton Matter devices. they are Wifi but are mains powered and available at Home Depot. No Thread Border Router(TBR) needed
Lutron stuff is Super Awesome Nice, can run locally without a cloud, it’s available at Home Depot and Lowes, and generally “just works”, I had it in my previous house…
BUT…
STUPID expensive
It’s PROPIETARY
It REQUIRES a PROPIETARY Hub
It has artificial limits designed to force you into higher cost tiers
For sensors, it’s really hard to argue the the new Ikea Matter over Thread devices. Once I had all of the ipv6 issues on my network and OH Server worked out, they run flawlessly. And they are AliExpress Cheap and available at Ikea.
They are Thread devices so a TBR is REQUIRED! I have an Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini as TBR’s, Ikea also has one. You can use any of the big name TBR’s or the Ikea one. I provision the Ikea devices with Apple Home, Generate a new pairing code in Apple Home then add them to OH. You can do the same with any big brand Matter app.
Most of them are battery powered
I have Zigbee and Z-Wave devices I’m stuck with for the time being because replacing them would be stupid expensive and/or nothing available that meets my needs
I’m looking at my Bali Z-Wave blinds, They are great but new blinds are EXPENSIVE.
The functionality of my Honeywell T6 Pro Z-Wave thermostat is unmatched by any available Matter Thermostat
If you’re starting from scratch, I’d opt for KNX first. Anything that can’t be covered by that system, I’d implement using Shelly, Philips Hue, or similar providers—the main thing is that it remains locally controllable.
The advantage of KNX is, first of all, that it’s hardwired and doesn’t require a bridge to control basic functions; meaning, if the server goes down, you can still operate the lights, roller shutters, and others.
In case anyone thinks KNX is too expensive… I discovered MDT back when I was setting things up. They are significantly cheaper than established brands like Gira, etc., yet work just as well—and are sometimes even more innovative. Plus, when I needed support, I spoke directly to the developer rather than just some person reading from a manual on a support hotline.
It’s a recurring question on the forum, and there’s no ultimate answer but there’s some dos and don’ts.
Dont: get a proprietary system whatsoever.
Even standards based ones like zwave, Zigbee and Matter are still closed eco systems of their own where one device must be able to talk to others and all of them must be compatible with the controllers.
Dont get devices that depend on anything else like a hub or even cloud to work.
There always is the question wired vs wireless (for the control part). There’s no local (self-contained, independent) devices which use wired communications so quite some people recommend KNX as the AFAIK only standards based wired system - or even proprietary tech.
But to me, wired or not is the wrong question (note we’re talking about the control part, not cable vs. battery) powered. The right one is: will at least your critical infrastructure still work when the communications network or the controller is down. No matter if wired or wireless.
So install your essentials like one light per room and HVAC to have local control (i.e. light switches) so they continue to work.
That being said, my recommendation would be to go for an all-Wi-Fi system with independent devices.
Note that you will have to make sure to have a rock steady home (Wi-Fi) network all over your house and terrain anyway for your multimedia, advanced hvac and other today’s living essentials.
So why not use that network for home automation, too.
Shelly would be my favorite vendor. Dunno availability and pricing outside Europe, though.
Having a mix with a second vendor as an alternative is a plus.
