Where to buy zigbee devices in 2023? Just starting my home automation journey

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Where to buy zigbee devices in 2023? Just starting my home automation journey

ianganderton

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#302970 7-Jan-2023 17:43

Good afternoon from a very damp Titirangi

First post in this section

I'm just starting my home automation journey and I'm looking on recommendations on where to buy Zigbee devices.

I'm currently experimenting with a couple of echos, 1 x echo 4th gen and 1 echo dot 5th gen

I've ordered a Home Assistant Yellow that will arrive just after I move into my new rental in Rotorua.

I first brought a couple of TP-Link bulbs and plugs from Noel Leeming (on sale) and I've now just purchased a couple of Phillips Hue bulbs, a plug and a motion sensor from Mitre 10 (15% price matched against Noel Leeming! Quite pleased with myself)

I'm interested in the following projects (all pretty normal stuff):

Living/kitchen/dining area lighting automation/scenes via uplighters and small lamps

Moebot control via home assistant https://github.com/Whytey/pymoebot

Heat pump control via IR

Old robot vacuum control/scheduling via IR

Vegetable/herb bed irrigation

My question is where should I buy the following types of items (I'm looking for the value sweet spot, I want to keep costs reasonable but don't want to have to experiment with reliability)

I need some switches to put on light switches, something like this - Aqara Wireless Mini Switch Zigbee

IR Blaster to control the heat pump & vacuum

Where is the best place to buy Phillips Hue bulbs? Is there a cheaper Zigbee bright option for places like the garage and laundry.

There are the bits and bobs that seem to make automations and monitoring work - presence, motion, temp and humidity sensors

What brands and sources have proven reliable. Aliexpress is great as long as the right stores and brands can be found.

The flipside of that question is what should I avoid like the plague!!

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions/advice

Ian

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#3018297 7-Jan-2023 18:01

For the sensors, Tuya and Xiaomi stuff of Aliexpress is good. There are a few places selling it locally but there's a markup on it. Depends how quickly you want/need it.

Handle9

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#3018303 7-Jan-2023 18:12

If you are looking for bulbs Ikea tradfri bulbs are excellent and much much cheaper than hue. I've had over a dozen of them for 4 years and haven't had one fail (knock on wood).

Edit: Their outlets are good too, I use these as routers which I need as my house is entirely built of concrete block.

ianganderton

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#3018318 7-Jan-2023 19:09

Handle9:

If you are looking for bulbs Ikea tradfri bulbs are excellent and much much cheaper than hue. I've had over a dozen of them for 4 years and haven't had one fail (knock on wood).

Edit: Their outlets are good too, I use these as routers which I need as my house is entirely built of concrete block.

How do you get them here?

ianganderton

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#3018319 7-Jan-2023 19:18

PANiCnz:

For the sensors, Tuya and Xiaomi stuff of Aliexpress is good. There are a few places selling it locally but there's a markup on it. Depends how quickly you want/need it.

I'm seeing a lot of Tuya stuff. Is it a brand or a system? It looks like quite a few manuafacturers use the app?

ianganderton

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#3018390 7-Jan-2023 21:06

ianganderton:

I'm seeing a lot of Tuya stuff. Is it a brand or a system? It looks like quite a few manufacturer's use the app?

Answering my own question

Tuya Inc. (Chinese: 涂鸦智能; lit. 'Graffiti Intelligence'; dba Tuya Smart) is a Chinese artificial intelligence and Internet of things (IoT) platform as a service provider founded in 2014. The company provides a cloud development and management platform to developers, brands, and OEMs to program, manage, and monetize smart home and IoT devices.

Tuya is supported by New Enterprise Associates and Tencent. In March 2021, it raised $915 million in a U.S. initial public offering and trades on the NYSE. It launched a global offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2022, giving itself dual primary listings in Hong Kong and New York.

Internationally, Tuya partners with companies including Schneider Electric, Lenovo, and Philips. It is a member on the board of directors of the Connectivity Standards Alliance and has committed to supporting the Matter connectivity standard

ianganderton

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#3018393 7-Jan-2023 21:16

Whats are Aqara products like in terms of function and reliability?

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/zigbee-sensor.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.1000002.0&initiative_id=SB_20230107001323&dida=y

Handle9

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#3018444 7-Jan-2023 21:39

ianganderton:
Handle9:

If you are looking for bulbs Ikea tradfri bulbs are excellent and much much cheaper than hue. I've had over a dozen of them for 4 years and haven't had one fail (knock on wood).

Edit: Their outlets are good too, I use these as routers which I need as my house is entirely built of concrete block.

How do you get them here?

You’ll need to use a shipping service of some kind, at least until ikea opens in Auckland in 2024. Either that or buy when you are on holiday in Aus.

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timmmay

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#3018448 7-Jan-2023 22:02

The Matter standard has been finalised recently. I would consider making sure anything you buy now is potentially compatible with that standard, or likely to be updated.

Handle9

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#3018453 7-Jan-2023 22:24

timmmay:
The Matter standard has been finalised recently. I would consider making sure anything you buy now is potentially compatible with that standard, or likely to be updated.

That’s not going to do much at all for zigbee devices. The gateways will be effected but zigbee isn’t changing.

timmmay

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#3018455 7-Jan-2023 22:28

I wonder if ZigBee will fade away, replaced by Matter.

Handle9

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#3018459 7-Jan-2023 22:43

Unlikely given they both have the same standards organisation.

Tinkerisk

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#3018486 8-Jan-2023 03:16

ianganderton:

Good afternoon from a very damp Titirangi

First post in this section

I'm just starting my home automation journey and I'm looking on recommendations on where to buy Zigbee devices.

Before you buy new devices have look to matter for upgrades of your existing devices and already available new devices.😉

Sensors, switches, lamps, sockets and actuators with direct matter capability are then controlled by only one gateway (the Yellow and/or the echoes in a mesh) and no longer require a proprietary gateway from the respective manufacturer.

The Yellow already has the zigbee/thread (for matter) chip on-board as well. zigbee will stay to be downward compatible or to integrate older devices.

- NET: FTTH, OPNsense, 10G backbone, GWN APs, ipPBX
- SRV: 12 RU HA server cluster, 0.1 PB storage on premise
- IoT: thread, zigbee, tasmota, BidCoS, LoRa, WX suite, IR
- 3D: two 3D printers, 3D scanner, CNC router, laser cutter

ianganderton

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#3018495 8-Jan-2023 08:14

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated

I'm aware of Matter but seeing as the standard has only just been finalised 'inexperienced-me' thinks its going to take a while for it to become available across a wide range of products that we can get here.

Has anyone looked into whether Matter will fit into NZ's radio frequency standards? I've read the pinned post regarding the Z-Wave issue

Will Matter offer any performance advantages over Zigbee? My understanding is that of the Thread systems Z-Wave has the greater distance reach but ZigBee uses less power so has the better battery life.

As mentioned the Home Assistant Yellow has a chipset that supports both Zigbee and Matter and the Alexa devices I have also have both Zigbee & Matter so I'm future proofed there for a bit.

I think I've decided to use Phillips Hue bulbs in key areas of the house where scenes will add significant value and it looks like the Hue hub is already compatible with Matter

Looks like Ikea will be migrating from TRADFRI to DIRIGERA products that support Matter. I think I'm planning to use TRADFRI bulbs and plugs where utility lighting & power is needed like hall ways, laundry and garage. They are ZigBee so will work directly long term with my network

I'm going down the Ubiquiti road with a UDR so will use the protect cameras and Home Assistant has an integration to access their sensors - that should be fine for quite a while.

Am I on the right track?

Still need to decide what I'm going to do about:

IR Blaster for heat pump & vaccum control - any recommendations there?
Button to use as an automation trigger like turning lights on and off
Blind and curtain operation

Any recommendations gratefully received

mattenz

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#3018500 8-Jan-2023 08:34

Kia ora, I'm in Titirangi too!

I'd always go for smart switches over smart bulbs, I use Shelly.

Matter uses 2.4GHz signals, which means it can use the same radios as WiFi/Zigbee, but might still get clogged. The whole problem with Z-Wave is that it uses frequencies that are not set aside for consumer use internationally.

HVAC control depends a bit on your exact unit, mainly on the brand.

ianganderton

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#3018507 8-Jan-2023 09:05

mattenz:
Kia ora, I'm in Titirangi too!

I'd always go for smart switches over smart bulbs, I use Shelly.

Matter uses 2.4GHz signals, which means it can use the same radios as WiFi/Zigbee, but might still get clogged. The whole problem with Z-Wave is that it uses frequencies that are not set aside for consumer use internationally.

HVAC control depends a bit on your exact unit, mainly on the brand.

Well it’s not raining yet!

Next month I’m moving from tropical Titirangi to the smellier RotoVegas 😜

I’m not up to speed with Shelly as yet. Where do you buy the devices you need?

I was reading about Wifi 6 yesterday. Seem that the main advantage it has is the increased device capacity to reduce network clogging. I’m going down the UDR road so that should give me headroom in a relatively small house set up

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