Z-Wave/Zigbee still relevant?

I guess that’s “questionable” - I’d probably rephrase this in a way that is probably more in-line with what @mpuff is getting at…

WiFi routers designed for the home environment probably don’t expect to have to run 150 devices connected simultaneously. Sure - you can buy such routers, but then they are probably sold for business use, and that bumps up the selling price.

Conversely, systems like ZigBee and ZWave are specifically designed for this application.

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Regarding battery sensors in general… If its a device which´s hardly every used, (read, triggers seldom), the battery will last for very long. On the other side, if its a sensor which is in use (triggers very often), like a doorsensor on a high trafic door, you will see Zigbee as well as Z-wave devices consumes the battery very fast.
In Z-wave there is a polling setup, which can be used to minimize the battery use. As far as I know, there are no such thing in Zigbee as the polling periode is fixed.

My impression is that zigbee is the way to go for battery sensors.
The Philips hue indoor and outdoor battery sensors works very well with the zigbee-binding.
The Aqara weather complement them well in my system.

On zwave the sensors eats batteries much faster.

WiFi battery sensors simply do not exist.

As just mentioned… That depends.
And as I mentioned as well… on Z-wave you can change the polling periode. Thats not possible in Zigbee.

That’s what really surprised me though, that my Aqara Zigbee sensors which get used/triggered a lot (70-150 times every day) do not show any more battery drop than the less used sensors. I know my above graph is a bit crowded - I have split them up in sensor type for better overview myself - but it does show no significant drop in a year of usage for any of the sensors. I wouldn’t call that very fast battery drainage at all :wink: and expect quite a few more months form the batteries.

No experience with Z-wave here, but some comparison with similar sensors would be interesting.

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Nope. That’s true for specific edge case devices at best but untrue on average or on the technology level you made this statement on.
I’ve also got battery sensors in use that are based on a proprietary 433MHz RF protocol.
Like them as they don’t even do polling so battery life is even better, and it’s AAA batteries hence cheap to replace or to use rechargeables.

That’s not really correct. ZigBee allows changing of the reporting period from the device. Polling is generally a bad idea for any network (ZWave or ZigBee) and should be avoided.

This is one of those issues - everyone has an opinion based on their own experience, but I don’t think there is any reason at all for ZigBee to be better than ZWave when it comes to battery performance. Both systems use similar technology, so should have similar battery demands. We’ve all had devices that have chewed through batteries - but I doubt there’s one systematic reason that you can blame on a specific technology.

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Hmm maybe I mix it with the wakeup periode… ??

Yes, of course it depends, on many things.

In my case I have some MS6 and some Fibaro eyes on zwave.
Both use CR123 batteries.

On zigbee I have Philips Hue indoor and outdoor and Aqara Weather.

Im slowly turning over to the Zigbee combination because in practical use I do not have to change batteries as often.

Yes, I am comparing apples and oranges.
A specialized sensor as the Hue indoor (lux and movement with temperature as a bonus) is always better than the multipurpose MS6 on batteries.
That is, when lux, movement and temperature is what you need.

I have a bunch of Miija (Xiaomi) door/window sensors. Two are used for garagedoor opened/closed status, and the rest ar used for doors opened/closed. They were all installed at the same time, but one door, which is out main door, uses alot more battery than the others.

I also have a tilt sensor (Z-wave) connected to my garagdoor… This has been installed aprox 2 years ago. And its still reporting 100% battery, even though its in use at least 8 times a day. (Im starting to wonder if the battery status works at all).

I then have a motion sensors (Z-wave). This one is placed in a central spot inside the house with lots of trafic. It has used aprox 40% battery within a year. The other motionsensor I have (different brand and z-wave as well) outside our frontdoor uses about the same. My Philips Hue motionsensor has had battery changes twice within a year. Another Zigbee motionsensor (Trust), has had battery changed three times within a year. Both are located in my home office (thats where I test stuff).

My worse device is a temperature/humidity sensor (Z-wave). I cant really recall how many times I have changed battery. At least 5-6 times in aprox 2 years… Its a very bad device… But its old, and I dont think its Z-wave plus compatible.

I agree the Aqua/Miija sensors use very little battery. But my experience are for all devices in general, it really depends on how often it triggers.

Particular this device I have not had good experience with regarding battery consumption :slight_smile:

It can vary among individual devices too.
I have 3 cheap Neo Coolcam sensors. One I have replaced the C-123 battery twice in a year. The other 2 still have their original one. I am getting ready to replace the battery hungry one with a Zooz outdoor sensor using AA batteries. If it gets too power hungry USB power is an option too.

I have a Neo Coolcam as well. And just like yours, this one consumes more battery. But I´ve noticed after last change of battery, that it runs longer, The new battery is a different brand, maybe thats the reason.

I just replaced that battery :frowning: Forget about any warranty too. They want you to pay to ship to China before they will even consider it.

Not worth it…
If I can hit it using a baseball bat targeting China, they can do whatever investigation they want afterwards :smiley:

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Including denying a claim :frowning:

true story :slight_smile:
the most routers was made for a little family with some smartphones and tablets, not for hundrets of sensors :wink:

Most cheap wifi devices has next to no security. Worst yet, one of the reasons I dont buy WiFi devices is that different brands have different controlling website/app and some can stop working because the host service is no longer available. Zwave/Zigbee at least requires special hardware and have to be close by to break in. One exception is Aqara/Mi devices where they have custom implementation of zigbee for some reason.

as a genral rule in my home i use wifi for what ever has power
and zigbee to battery devices

This would not be a recommended solution and this will seriously limit your network. A ZigBee network requires mains power devices (routers) to work. Without this, range will be limited, and the number of devices will max out at around 16.

For ZigBee and ZWave, it’s highly advisable to get a good mesh which requires mains powered devices.

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You miss out on having powered Zigbee devices repeat & route in a mesh network then. Every devices needs to talk directly to the coordinator.

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