NZ Zigbee switch options

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › NZ Zigbee switch options

m1013828

35 posts

Geek

#272512 28-Jun-2020 20:19

After doing more research for our house build, we are settling on homeassistant +Conbee with a smattering of smart switches, and I'm considering going all in on zigbee, however zigbee physical switches seem thin on the ground right now....

Just looking at 2 dimmers, a 3 single gang switches and a double gang switch initially.

Apart from Arteor by Netatmo, whats available in NZ, as those switches are crazily priced,

I see some whispered rumors of PDL Switches on the way back in January, but no clue on their website of availability.

Zorg2000

64 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2514133 28-Jun-2020 20:29

Hi there,

There's a guy in Christchurch Future Systems or Futures, he has Lanbon wall switches which are Zigbee I think. Not sure about pricing but being Chinese made I can't imagine they are too expensive. The other thing is I think they are locked to their own app and can't be used with other apps.

MightyApe

You will find anything you want at MightyApe (affiliate link).

Jase2985

12348 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2514134 28-Jun-2020 20:33

why zigbee over zwave? there is way more of the latter

hairy1

3251 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2514152 28-Jun-2020 21:13

You could take a look at Shellies. They are all about to be certified to NZ standards. There is a thread here:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=73&topicid=272374

No bridges required and fully supported in Home Assistant.

Cheers, Matt.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2514168 28-Jun-2020 22:38

Zorg2000:

Hi there,

There's a guy in Christchurch Future Systems or Futures, he has Lanbon wall switches which are Zigbee I think. Not sure about pricing but being Chinese made I can't imagine they are too expensive. The other thing is I think they are locked to their own app and can't be used with other apps.

That dude is pretty switched on!

But yes, Lanbon switches, all connected via Wi-Fi, and you must use their app. They are more about bringing automation to "normal" users rather than those of us who want to play.

As mentioned, why Zigbee?! Either Shelly (Wi-Fi), or fibraro, aeotec, etc for z-wave.

Edit: My personal view is Wi-Fi is just significantly better. Get everything talking using MQTT. And you just have a normal IP network to deal with. Z-wave really annoyed me the way you pair new devices and all the "healing" stuff it does sometimes - all just annoying, but also something I had no idea how to diagnose. IP is a known quantity and very easy to deal with.

Shelly switches are awesome. I use the dimmers - they work great, there are a couple spots i get flickering on on my LED's, but have just dealt with moving past those points using automation in Node-RED.

m1013828

35 posts

Geek

#2514171 28-Jun-2020 23:13

I keep going back to the drawing board,
I really wanted the plug and play of zigbee and ultra low power, and it seems to misbehave less than Z Wave, so long as there's enough nodes/range

but yeah the price for Arteor Netatmo switches are insane, It looks about 200bux for 1
Its for a new house build so need sDOC. The Lanbon stuff is no good from Home Assistant.

There are a lot of cheaper wifi switches around, even Harvey norman and Bunnings have them, but first they need flashing, I'm not getting no soldering iron our breadboard etc, so it would have to be Tuya convert OTA stuff.

Ive never used Tuya and all that, so I'm just installing ubuntu on my old surface pro 3 now to have a better tutu with things and learn as I go.

neb

8906 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2514369 29-Jun-2020 12:29

Jase2985:
why zigbee over zwave? there is way more of the latter

Is that globally or specific to NZ? Given NZ's restrictions on frequencies and whatnot I would imagine our Z-wave use is vastly less than global use because we can't (legally) run most of what's out there.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2514375 29-Jun-2020 12:37

m1013828:

I keep going back to the drawing board,
I really wanted the plug and play of zigbee and ultra low power, and it seems to misbehave less than Z Wave, so long as there's enough nodes/range

but yeah the price for Arteor Netatmo switches are insane, It looks about 200bux for 1
Its for a new house build so need sDOC. The Lanbon stuff is no good from Home Assistant.

There are a lot of cheaper wifi switches around, even Harvey norman and Bunnings have them, but first they need flashing, I'm not getting no soldering iron our breadboard etc, so it would have to be Tuya convert OTA stuff.

Ive never used Tuya and all that, so I'm just installing ubuntu on my old surface pro 3 now to have a better tutu with things and learn as I go.

Look at the Shelly range.

Firstly, their native app is pretty good. But then you also have MQTT support out of the box with no requirement for third-party firmware. The only downside is that to enable MQTT, it disables their cloud app - however, if you are considering homeassitant, that won't be an issue for you.

m1013828

35 posts

Geek

#2514377 29-Jun-2020 12:38

it appears Z wave has a few more options than zigbee currently, even in Backwater NZ.

Everyone is being lazy and using Wifi, despite its high idle power consumption.

Even the Zigbee stuff uses non-standard communications protocols, it appears I cant just use standalone Arteor Netatmo switches with Homeassitant with USB Zigbee hub.

Theres no "great" solutions in NZ in my mind.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2514420 29-Jun-2020 14:05

What realistic impact is wifi going to have on your power bill in the scheme of it though.

Its seems a silly limitation to place on it when you look at the benefits of it - multiple access points for one thing as opposed to a single zigbee/zwave hub.

m1013828

35 posts

Geek

#2514485 29-Jun-2020 14:47

Im still learnin' and it seems a vendor neutral zigbee mesh is the dream, but not the reality. Lanbon, Arteor Zigbee physical layer isn't backed up by fully zigbee compliant protocols....

I Also only learnt of shelly from this forum, with 2 relays now NZ compliant. And yeah, for a sub 1w idle power, its not worth hundreds of dollars difference in price of a single switch.
Shelly with MQTT natively, seems the go to, just waiting on dimmers and blinds up/down switches to go with it......

meesham

973 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2514508 29-Jun-2020 15:11

m1013828:

Im still learnin' and it seems a vendor neutral zigbee mesh is the dream, but not the reality. Lanbon, Arteor Zigbee physical layer isn't backed up by fully zigbee compliant protocols....

I have a bunch of Aqara battery devices (buttons & climate sensors) and ended up going with Hue plugs to build my mesh, using a cc2531 and Zigbee2MQTT to talk to Home Assistant. It seems to work pretty reliably and I've managed to get rid of all the hubs from various vendors. I originally wanted to using Zigbee light switches to act as repeaters but like you couldn't find anything suitable. I'm now waiting on a bunch of Shelley 1PMs to automate the ceiling lights.

The Hue plugs aren't cheap (about $60-65 each) but I had a load of Airpoints dollars doing nothing so I got them from Mitre 10 using those, and still use the plugs to automate the electric blankets and some table lamps.