No need to do anything. When the hub/coordinator powers back on, everything reconnects and you carry on like normal.
As for color/cct, in my (very limited) test, when the hub powered back on the adaptive lighting add-on did it’s thing and changed the bulbs back to the proper white for the time of day automatically because the entity used as a trigger went from unavailable to on. You are correct though that there is no bulb color control when there is no connection to the coordinator or hub.
The only workaround I can think of to that is to run zigbee2mqtt in a separate docker container. I personally have the add-on running plus a second docker container to keep all my Aqara devices on their own zigbee network. When home assistant is off, this second docker container still runs. Having the container separate though would add an additional point of failure, so I don’t know if you’d be any further ahead as far as reliability goes.
This is fantastic. Love a design that not only covers all the regular use cases, but also considers fail and corner cases.
I also like your idea of a second backup controller. I was wondering about a high availability version of Home Assistant ( a HA HA, ). I’m sure someone has tried a failover server version somewhere. But for now, when we finish the new house, I have enough projects for a few years.
Thanks for the fantastic response. I owe you a number of adult beverages.
The second instance of zigbee2mqtt was out of necessity. Aqara sensors don’t fully conform to the Zigbee protocol and don’t always play nice with routing devices. So I had to build a second zigbee network that I put nothing but Aqara and Ikea devices on, then all my other Zigbee devices are on the primary network. It’s far from ideal.
I’d also like to look at a failover, but I don’t think there’d be a way to have failover for Zigbee or Zwave since all of the devices will only connect to a single coordinator. WiFi devices would be a different story.
Some people have managed to do this using the backup and restore capabilities to “move” coordinators to a different host by activating an identically configured stick there after deactivating the malfunctioning one.
As Home Assistant, Zwavejs2MQTT, and Zigbee2MQTT can all be run from docker containers, you can use swarms or kubernetes for software redundancy and multiple USB sticks with cloned configurations for hardware coordinator redundancy.
I’m a retired engineer, but this is beyond my current project list!! Have a look on Reddit r/homeassistant to see discussions and approaches on HAHA.
So, your managed to convince me on Blue Series 2-1 (major order next week!), Philips Hue and Sengled! So, what family of sensors play well together within Zigbee. I need to get a pile of sensors (motion, door, lux, presence, water, temp & humidity, etc.}. I did see that Aqara has a broad family of sensor, are economical and a lot of Home Assistant influencers appear to promote them. Aqara also has a thread router in one of their hubs.
Aqara makes pretty good quality, very low priced, and small form factor sensors for just about everything. But they can be picky on routers because they don’t fully comply with Zigbee standards. Once I put them on a separate zigbee network with nothing but ikea routers (plugs and usb routers), they have been absolutely rock solid. Not a single drop-off in over 6 months. Batteries are holding strong. They just work.
I’d have no hesitation recommending them to anybody as long as they’d be willing to separate the network in the event there’s issues. Realistically it’s just another docker container and a $20 sonoff coordinator. You could also put them all on Aqara’s hub and then connect that to HA, it will accomplish the same thing. How they work with the blue series? I can’t say because I’ve only got the single beta unit. I also think the new lineup may not have this issue at all.
Yes, but it’s not funded yet and I need to automate a new house in January. In addition, I believe in separating (physically) the sensors (PIR, presence) from the switch for optimum placement. The PIR sensors in switches, works best for small rooms, with a single entry, like walk-in pantry/closet, laundry room, bathrooms (maybe - shower issues), etc. Actually, the optimum placement for a mmWave sensor in on the ceiling facing down! Assuming you don’t have any fans, fluttering curtains, pets, etc.
Wish I could find the old CC2652/CC1352 based SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus ZBDongle-P rather than the SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus ZBDongle-E (based on EFR32MG21). It’s not “officially” approved by Zigbee2MQTT yet, but lots of people are using it. Amazon affiliates are now rouging the price to $30+ Maybe the ZBDongle-E might work much better with Blue, which uses the same EFR32MG21 chip.
Ahh yes if you need to meet that milestone of January then it’s probably not for you.
I think the best sensor will be multiple mmWave arrays in the walls. Use something they use to cover sprinkler heads to make your wall look flat, but doesn’t block the rf. This way you have true 360 degree coverage and can be used together to track an individual better. It’ll prevent false positive triggers.
Here is one [ Zemismart Tuya WiFi Human Presence Sensor] - a little larger than I expected and not recessed. Also have the challenge of powering it in the ceiling. Could run it off a light (smart bulb/SBM), but I have fan in all my room lights, which would kill that approach.
If that’s the case then good to go. If someone is installing in double gang box with outlet or repurposing an outlet with 120 still in the box then that’s a no go.
A box isn’t required for PoE. The ceiling-mount mmWave or PIR devices I’ve seen all seem significantly smaller than a single gang box as well. POE with a USB adapter would definitely be the way to go here!
Understand that. I only stated you can’t put it in a box with Romex. None of my ceiling cameras or WAPs are mounted to a box. My inwall APs have low voltage trim plate so I can mount the AP to something.
One solution I’ve stumbled across. Zigbee Scene, to preset a bulb temperature/color for adaptive lighting. Can set at any time even the Bulb is “Off” and when the CCT lighting is next activated, the color temperature is preset and you don’t have that abrupt adjustment to the bulb color temperature, when initially turned on.
yes. 120 on the right and low voltage on the left; however it’s separated in the middle. This is not a double gang where Romex would be in the same compartment.
). I’m sure someone has tried a failover server version somewhere. But for now, when we finish the new house, I have enough projects for a few years.
