Hi all,
I have been using SmartThings connected to Alexa for many years (started with their first hub then upgraded to the second and stuck there).
I tried switching to Alexa, but reliability and the lack of the advanced features of Inovelli Zigbee switches stopped me from completing the transition.
In now looking at other options and I feel inclined towards Home Assistant. I would like to buy their hub to support the project and I was looking for a recommendation for a Zigbee addon since their branded one seems to be out of stock everywhere. I am pretty invested in Zigbee with most of my devices using Zigbee or Wi-Fi. No z-Wave.
While I’m more inclined towards HA, the fact that their own Zigbee addon is out of stock worries me that the protocol isn’t a top priority and wondering if others think Hubitat would be a better choice before I make a move either way.
Happy to buy their branded products either way to pay forward for success of the ecosystems and teams. Either way would like my Inovelli switches to work best.
Thank you in advance and I know that these broad topics can be difficult to tackle
If you’re willing to do a little assembly, you can get a Home Assistant Yellow instead of the Home Assistant Green. You have to buy the CM4 or CM5 board separately, but once you’ve done that the Yellow has a built in Zigbee radio you can use right away. I have the PoE version of the Yellow and am using the built in Zigbee radio with no problem.
There’s a list of recommended Zigbee coordinators at the link below. I use a Sonoff ZBDongle-P and have no complaints. If you choose a USB coordinator, use a USB extension cable to cut down on interference.
I’m in an old house and don’t have ethernet everywhere. Does the device connect via LAN and rebroadcast the signal? Do I install one in a central spot? Do I install a couple?
I wouldn’t buy the HA Pi setup, go with a NUC or similar mini PC. The cost of the yellow version with the CM5 and flash storage just doesn’t make sense. Support the HA Project by subscribing to the Nabu Casa HA Cloud. I run the TubesZB in Zigbee2MQTT(Z2M), you would need to run 1 ethernet line to an ideal location for your Zigbee devices, that line is PoE either by switch or injector. Most, if not all setups would need 1 ZigBee coordinator like the TubesZB or Smlight. I have also heard great things about the Smlight.
fwiw, there is also the option of using hubitat/HA together. I started on hubitat and later incorporated home assistant for managing dashboards/app as well as a handful of wifi/zigbee devices that didn’t work with hubitat.
I’ve been using Hubitat for several years now and the Inovelli switches (and older sensors and bulbs) have been working really great on the platform. Other than the hub, there’s nothing to buy or physical to add-on since it comes with integrated Z-Wave and Zigbee radios.
The hubitat platform has some built-in drivers and for more features, there are some great Inovelli-built ones which can be used.
Hubitat all the way here. Awesome platform IMHO that runs my extensive zigbee environment. Currently about half way though an Inovelli Blue switch upgrade from an older UPB environment. Just waiting for their next shipment to arrive…
