You WILL Dump Home Assistant When You See This | NEW Hubitat C8 Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- This is a review for the new Hubitat C8 Smart Home Hub, which has the potential for a mile and a half of Z-wave range, support for Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Homekit and IFTTT and has the longest range of any Zigbee device I've tried. It's time to put Home Assistant in a bin... or is it?
This video is sponsored by Hubitat, all opinions are my own.
BUY THE NEW HUBITAT C8 HERE: hubitat.com/products
Probably the best smart home gadget I own, and the Hubitat C8 has Wifi, so no more tying it to your Ethernet!
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Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
2:01 - Hubitat C8 Spec & Overview
3:20 - Hubitat C8 Zwave range test
3:58 - Hubitat C8 Zigbee range test
5:20 - Hubitat C8 compatibility
7:06 - Hubitat C8 Community drivers
8:40 - Hubitat C8 Automations
9:28 - Hubitat versus Home Assistant
11:31 - Summary
#smarthome #smartgadgets #homeautomation #review #homeassistant #alexa #amazongadgets #googlehome #nest - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![The TRUTH About Home Assistant [Vs SmartThings]](/img/n.gif)
I love Home Assistant. It just works. All I had to do was compile a custom Linux kernel for the container orchestrator which runs on the SOC computer I soldered together and 3D-printed a case for, debugged the zigbee stick firmware using Silicon Labs developer software and after six months of analysing digital oscilloscope readouts, threw everything in a bin and now I just use regular lights instead. It just works.
PMSL! 😂
Underrated comment!!
Brilliant! 🤣
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
That's what I'm afraid of😅
Happy Saturday everyone! What do you all think to Linus Tech Tips getting hacked!? Same buggers that got me! Anyway!....
BUY THE NEW HUBITAT C8 HERE: hubitat.com/products
So pleased they are keeping up and not becoming irrelevant, they have always struck me as the best inroad to a reasonable techy house, without going completely mental.
The usability and suitability for a beginner in HA is so much better than Hubitat. Huge changes have been made over the past year. Hubitat can't keep up. I had one running for 3 weeks and had to return it - abysmal user experience.
I converted from a Smart Things hub to a Hubitat C7 years ago. I just use it for hardware access and use Home Assistant for the control panel. I have all my automations in NodeRed. I was contemplating moving hardware access to Home Assistant. You just convinced me to stay with Hubitat and maybe upgrading to the C8.
Really glad that you like Hubitat! I also recently moved from the earlier version(s) to the C-8 and have been extremely happy with the move! I noticed in the video a mention that the Broadlink RM Pro isn’t supported by Hubitat… Wanted to chime in to say I have been using the RM Pro with Hubitat for many years now. There is a great community integration that makes it very easy to use.
Last I looked the integration had been removed and I couldn't find a copy anywhwre
😭
@@paulhibbert there's another integration that has been developed for hubitat and broadlink now.. I'm still using the old integration until it breaks
I have used the hubitat and home assistant at the same time with the HA integration. It worked very well. I had it for a few months while migrating from Hubitat to HA. I kept my zwave on hubitat (until i moved to aeotect 700 a few months later), but controlling all devices from HA.
Linus Tech tips got hit by the same hack as you Paul, gotta make you feel better that even his channels fell for the same attack vector, kinda shows TH-cam needs to fix their security!
Tell me about it. Sadly Linus didn't mention the biggest vulnerability because he probably doesn't know about it. Linus has Google's advanced protection program which stopped the hackers kicking him out. I got booted out of my own account and couldn't get back in because standard 2FA let's hackers swap it out for their own!
@paulhibbert it's insane that once logged in, that you can swap out 2FA without the need to use the 2FA...
Hell, I remember losing my physical 2fa dongle for Final Fantasy 11, and I had to call up and speak to a person, provide proof of purchases, proof of residence matching my account etc before they would remove it and put a new one on! Insane that a game has better security than Google which pretty much runs so many aspects of our lives!
@@paulhibbert unbelievable they allow this to happen.
Totally
@@paulhibbert I'm guessing the only reason it didn't happen to him is because over 20 people have access to his account. It wasn't his specific account that got "hacked".
I love my hubitat! I have the C5 and going to be upgrading to the C8. It does work with Tuya WiFi with custom drivers (I wrote one for the strip). I have it working with a Tuya light strip locally. They also have a community package manager for easily installing community apps and drivers and keeping them updated.
That’s my challenge. My entire place is with Tuya (29 lights)…
But I go nuts when Internet drops or power loss (OK, I live on an island and when power comes back on everything goes full bright.. argh).
Any direction would be awesome.
Never can seem to get good direction.
Been a while since I've been back to your channel. nice to see you provide a balanced view with a good dose of humour thrown in.... Also nice to see you reviewing the latest kit I have invested in and enjoyed. You are right that Home Automation isn't a one-platform-fits-all game, you need a range of devices and platforms to get a coherent home, so it is nice to see that presented on screen....
Thanks dude! Welcome back! ❤️
But, but, but..................that seems incoherent! As it is, using my Aqara security and devices with HomeKit requires that the security part is set up in Aqara and my controls are in Homekit. I hate having to deal with separate platforms!
Quick fix to try with your HA box is to use USB extension cables for your Zigbee or other dongles. There are interference issues when connect directly to a USB port. This is true for PCs and PIs. Try it, I guarantee it might work! (That's confidence there, huh?) My son's PC couldn't see all of my wireless networks until we put on an extension, now he sees our neighbor's as well.
You may also be able to change the antenna on your Zigbee dongle, depending on the dongle. Mine, Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus, has a screw on antenna but some don't. I know how much you like screwing on antennas!
My biggest issues are that it's a closed box and it lacks many integrations that exist on HA, like Nest. I also understand that the interface is not great and hasn't had as much developement as HA.
Or use Ethernet coordinators like zigsrar/lilyzig
As others have said in other areas. I would love to see a HA video where you migrate away from a Pi to something like a HA Yellow or a NUC with a proper zigbee stick installed on a usb extension cable so it is further away from other devices.
Ohhhh the Zigbee!!! 🤣😂
I'd be really interested in a follow-up video of your experience combining home assistant and hubitat
Same!!!
Same
Thanks Paul, I've been waiting to have time to check it out before I upgrade my C7, but after this video, it's a done deal..
Great video Paul, great to see you got back online! I am running HA Yellow and the range for the Zigbee/Thread radio is terrible! I have to have a zigbee plug next to it to share the signal. Using a Sonoff Zigbee stick makes it much better but then I loose Thread! Always the trade offs hey! Not bashing home assistant but some external antennas could have solved this. On the pictures of the Yellow it shows a plug on the board to add one but my version does not have the plug. And yes I still love Home Assistant !
Finally a Hubitat C8 review. Great job as usual
I'd go to the pub with home-assistant beard man - he'd be a riot.
He would hate that, and he would tell you! 🤣
Ubitat and HA seems a great mix. I'm still slowly building out my smart home. Got one of the IKEA white shade changing bulbs in my lounge and it's great, plus the ikea blinds on google assistant routines to open and close based on sunset/ alarm/etc I'm just hesitant I need to stop turning off the bulb at the switch tho 😂
This is Paul at his best. Great video. Told me exactly what I wanted to know about the C8. All of the newly made jokes made me laugh. And Paul looks back to being really happy again...
I have a lot of the same cheap Tuya stuff so it was interesting to see how well it all worked, apart from the disappointment of no Tuya WiFi! Can anyone confirm that there are ways to make that work?
I'm using a C7, and love it. When I've got some cash to spare I intend to upgrade. As far as dashboards go, have a look at the Action Tiles Hubitat integration.
No issue controlling my zigbee stuff from far away and no issue pairing IKEA bulbs without having the hub close by. I use ConBee II like you. And reliability cannot be compared in such a short amount of time. Everytime someone tries Homey, Hubitat, Hue and different dongles they are always like: Been using something else for years and it worked great until it didn’t. Now I tried this new thing for a week and it is much more reliable 🤔
I use a hacked LIDL gateway (TuYa ZigBee module (TYZS4) under the hood) of all things and it has given me zero problems for well over a year so far. Now I just need to reign in my toddler so she doesn't turn the lights on/off six times in a row, causing bulbs to leave the network ...
I have a question regarding the zigbee on the C8..
How does the module compares to the SLZB-06? is it better?
Paul, I just watched this for the third time. Thank you very much. If I eventually buy Hubitat, I will be sure to use your link
Thanks Paul, great video as always sir. In my opinion, I prefer the Hubitat system especially when it comes to buttons, and then I just run the Hubitat integration on my Home Assistant to control it (I did this because the Conbee stick in my HA Blue sucks!). My house is about 2600 sq ft (not terribly uncommon in the United States). My server closet is at one end of the house and I have devices in my garage, end of garage and by the front gate which is about 300 feet away). I haven't had any success with creating a Zigbee Mesh network and instead opted to use Asus AIMesh (main router plugs directly into CAX80 modem and it communicates with Home Assistant, Hubitat, all devices wireless and wired, and I reserve the use of 5 Ghz band to communicate between my main router and mesh router that is located at other end of the house.
I prefer Home Assistant for the dashboard, the ability to create virtual sensors, comprehensive automation routines and the community support of integrations, but I would not give up my Hubitat and would replace it if it ever were to die.
The Hubitat I am using is also just the C7 and I can tell you that even that has a superior connection to the Zigbee devices than my Conbee stick had when it was working
😠
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience. Question: have you considered the idea that the root cause of your reliability issues could be in the wireless communication itself? In other words, that the reliability might not the result of choosing home assistant but the result of your choice of wireless transmitters?
Can I be excused for jumping in on this one?
I have at last count over a dozen different Zigbee interfaces - Conbee, a Pi HAT, several Sonoff USBs, the Sonoff standard and Plus standalone Zigbee to WiFI gateways and a few others and I’ve run HomeAssistant on Pi through to i7-7700T Mini PC hardware and the simple fact is that none of them have been absolutely reliable.
I end up running a ‘live’ and a ‘test’ HA instance so that I can make sure that when I do something I do it first on the ‘test’ setup to make sure it doesn’t break something on the ‘live’ setup…
Now I’m not bashing HomeAssistant itself - God I love what those guys have done, it’s a massive achievement and it’s because of that that I keep plugging away at it and it is getting better but it isn’t ready for non-techie users who don’t want to have to tend to their home automation setups like a modern day Tamagotchi or Furby.
I’ve been doing this stuff for over 20 years now - I started out with HomeVision and HomeSeer (go look them up) and then I did Clipsal C-Bus and HomeGate (which is the stuff that runs the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium lighting - 4,500 points of control - and places like McLaren Technology centre, I have worked on both of those) and those systems have to be absolutely reliable.
Latterly I’ve done Crestron and again the stability and flexibility of that stuff is hugely impressive so I don’t think I can have the label ‘inexperienced newbie’ levelled against me on this one …
Home Assistant is definitely getting better … it really is … but it isn’t solid or stable *YET* and that’s the point. Home Assistant isn’t yet at a stage where you could set it up in someone else’s house and walk away knowing that you won’t have to go back and tickle its testicles in a weeks time to convince it to do what it was doing previously.
You're both probably right in equal measure! I LOVE home assistant still, but a purpose built system is tidier for now. If I ever get the time I might put the aeotec dingle on an extension away from the Pi (conbee stick already is) and then spend some time turning off the various electrical devices in my house to see if there is improvement. It's all very time consuming though.
If your Pi has USB3 you have to run the Z-Wave and Zigbee dongles on at least 2ft extensions otherwise the USB3 causes no end of issues with noise. I had a Fibaro HC2 before HA and it worked great on the hardware side in terms of reception for Z-Wave, but on HA without extensions the same devices were pretty unusable. Now with both Z-Wave and Zigbee dongles on extensions away from the Pi, its great, far quicker and more reliable than the HC2 and I have at least twice as many devices compared to what I had on HC2.
@@paulhibbert Oh come on Paul, you of all people should know that if you want the missus to accept Home Assistant, you have to elongate the dongle as much as possible. Why, my missus LOVES my Home Assistant after I elongated both dongles.
For best results, I'd plug the dongles into USB2 ports. If you run out of USB2 ports, I'd use a USB2 cable on a USB3 port for anything that doesn't actually need USB3 speeds. You get massive (but fairly localized) interference if you're using a USB3 device on a USB3 port.
@paulhibbert could some of your HA issues be extending from the fact your using a Pi which is very under powered combined with using a lower powered usb dongle for zigbee no wonder your having a bad time. Even the most basic NUC/Dummy PC with the latest Sonoff USB stick has amazing range. That's what my friend recommended earlier this year and I'm not having any of the issues you mentioned. It just sounds like you need something with a little more grunt for HA. Just my 2 cents.
Hey Paul I am curious on what wifi hardware you run? I have 4 unifi access points over my house and have 70ish wifi things on it, and I put anything I can on to Ethernet, at the start I did have some issues but upgraded to the extra waps to keep the wifi rage down. Also on local tuya I had alot of unavailable issues and the creators of the integration have done some updates and it's alot better now, I also created a simple automation that detects if 4 local tuya devices show unavailable for more than 15mins it restarts local tuya, that elevated most of the issues.
Hi Paul how do you get echo 4th generation to control zigbee 2 gang light switch I can only get it to work one switch through the Alexa app or do I need a zigbee hub
You're certainly on the right track. I use both HA and the HE hub - with HA controlling the HE with the maker API. What one cannot do, the other can. I can honestly say that *everything* I have ever bought works with one or the other. Thanks, too, for the insightful and entertaining videos.
Home Asst is our topic of course but which system is HE?
@@MonkWithoutACauseHubitat Elevation
@@KorsaKing Thx for that! I've been reading up on hubitat and managed to miss the E completely!
@@MonkWithoutACause Hubitat Elevation - the actual topic.
@@thosharmon5901 True! I'd have gone on blithely just calling them C8s only, so thanks.
Great video, Paul! At the rate your channel is growing, you'll be in a 3,000 ft home (or yacht) in no time!
Why did I have to scroll so far for this comment?
Hubitat OG early adopter here.... The HA cope in this comment is incredible 😂. Love you guys ❤
Hi Paul! I want to say first off, I find your videos informative and entertaining. Loving what I've seen so far.
Something I'm having difficulty with here is that you're saying "Home Assistant vs Hubitat" when these aren't really the two things you're comparing. Home assistant is software that can be installed on any hardware. When referring to things like range, you're leaving out whether you've installed antennas on your Raspberry Pi (or whatever hardware you are using.) Those "rabbit ears" aren't special, and you can install something similar on a Pi (or again whichever hardware you've chosen.) As you've pointed out, it's possible to use Home Assistant, Home Bridge, Hubitat, and other tools, in harmony. It seems to me the hardware is responsible for a large portion of the benefit you're seeing in this video.
I think it's important to point out that you're comparing (software with unknown hardware) with (software and hardware made to work together and packaged up for you by a manufacturer)
I think there is a fair point here, but I would note that Hubitat did seem to be much cheaper compared to similar hardware for home assistant.
@@nowfocus577 That's called "Moving the goalposts" because price comparison wasn't really part of the review, yeah? When you run SW on underpowered HW this is exactly the kind of behavior you will get. Hubitat is great for something, and has narrow gates (defined by the manufacturer alone) when it comes to expandability and future-proofing. The real lesson here is about buying the right kind of solution for your actual problems.
Have you tried using a mesh router because I've noticed that as long as your signal maintains a medium to high strength most issues tend to disappear. My house to about the same square footage is yours but I went with the Nighthawk mesh Network and now I still have Wi-Fi signal down the road and across the street
I updated from the C7 hub to the C8 hub. I have a 2,750 sq foot home and I am down to zero hops as well. The migration was painless. Both hubs have been very reliable / low maintenance. I use the hub primarily for home security so reliability is high on my priority list.
What are you using for your HA hub?
@@scdealey4867 I am using Habitats hardware hub. Not using HA. I set my system up primarily as a security system. Habitat for the most part for me has been set it and forget it. Not as feature rich as HA but I think it is pretty easy to set up and it is reliable.
if home assistant gets the home yallow box you can get when it com out can you do a side by side compare of that and Hubitat, and see if they still can work together or??..
will this work with the defunct D-Link Z-Wave products?
So, I've been hating the cloud based servers I'm running on, and tried the c7 before, but being so new to it, I couldn't get on with it.
I also tried HA on a local server, but it crashed.
I'm now toying with The c8 as I want to persevere and bring all my automatons local.
My only worry is things like my wifi lights, aqara sensors and my flic controls.
Have you any advice on this?
Hi Paul,
First of all thank you for helping out the world with all the tech stuff.
I have an issue i have been struggling with for quite some time mostly i get all the answers from your videos but this one is though.
I bought lifx led strips a while a ago now some of the controllers have given up.
I tried buying just the controllers but lifx doesnt sell them.
Now i want to know if its possible to connect the led strips to an alternative controller such as a wled ahtom controller? Could u be so kind and explain this or make a video about this because lots of people are struggling with this issues without any solutions according to google.
🙏🏻 thank u
Hi Paul, what lights are you using down at the bottom of the garden on the Zigbee plug?? I ordered a set that look identical last summer and after one day of light rain half the bulbs died, returned and replaced with Amazon - a week later one day of rain and the same thing! Been hoping to find a better version for permanent use this summer
I read SO MANY reviews before settling on these for this exact reason, though there are still some reviews on these where people have had issues. I guess the perfect festoon lights don't exist, but my experience has been good this past year...
Outdoor String Lights Dimmable,... www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08YYS5HPK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
So if you setup a three way are you not using a Co-ordinator on HA? Sounds like the popular choice is to use Hubitat as your Zigbee device handler and HA for automation, for example. I would have thought if you have both running Zigbee devices (pairing different devices), they would conflict on the Zigbee network
I've been using Hubitat for about 3 years and really not happy with the dashboard aspect. I've just ordered the latest home assistant to try it. However! I'd not considered using both... thanks Paul for opening my mind.
A faithful viewer from deep in the woods of Arkansas, USA.
I think it's the best possible solution!
I really shouldn't have dinners in front of my computer while watching your Saturday night videos. The three-some comment. Oh, it could have been so very very messy. 🤣🤣🤣
All threesome are messy! Especially when food is involved! 🤣
Looking to get into smart home what would you recommend Hubitat or Home Assistant to someone new.
He finally said it!!! He finally said it! "These incredible people running UP your screen". UP! UP!! Aah love this man. Keep it UP Paul. Thanks for everything you do.
Great video Paul. Are the Aqara E1 TRVs likely to work as currently I have 16 of them over 2 hubs as range not good. Is Hubitat similar to Homebridge (excl the radios of course).. Also dont think you mentioned and plans to add Thread…. So I assume not?
No thread unfortunately. Looks like your TRVs will work though!... community.hubitat.com/t/aqara-smart-radiator-thermostat-e1/105894
I am very happy that you passed the previous ordeal and I wish the best to all the universe following you from Egypt
You convinced me! You convinced me to get more powerful antennas for my home assistant!
*Humps the air! You should always capitalise HOME ASSISTANT to let everyone know you're shouting it!
Have you compared to the new Homie Pro with the C8 hubitat? I know there’s a massive price difference but I am curious what is the better product?
Since it's usb powered you could have used a power bank to move around and sync the bulbs?
Does the new Zwave radio help older Zwave devices? BTW the guy down the road from me has a 25,000 sqft home.
Question: if I have the old Hubitat C-7, do you think the C-8 is a worthy upgrade? I've just started switching from a primarily Alexa-driven smart home, to having the Hubitat manage pretty much everything it can, and it's been great. What does the C-8 bring that the C-7 doesn't have? I see hints that they may support Thread and Matter on it later this year; do you think they'll deliver on that? Maybe I should just wait and see if they do a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale and spring for the upgrade then?
My C7 is absolute junk. I was having all kinds of problems connecting to any of my devices, while SmartThings could reach a sensor in my mail box 200Ft away and through two walls… And that was with the hub parked directly on top of my Wi-Fi router. The C7 can’t connect to my Zigbee bulbs unless they are three feet away… And that is with the external antenna mod people were doing on the forum and as far away as possible from the Wi-Fi router. With the issues I have had with it, I will not be risking even more money in the C8. The Hubitat forum has been nothing but toxic towards me and the work arounds and excuses they give for things that work just fine elsewhere has convinced me to stay away as well. I think they just want to get bought like SmartThings did and that requires good hype and a large user base. Once you buy the hub, they have your money and don’t care if it’s working for you.
Ok but Homeassistant is software, tho the video talks about hardware dependent problems 🤔? I'm a bit confused.
Could you clarify? Are you running HA on C8's HW?
how does it compare with the Sonoff iHost which can also work without internet?
I think you are simply brilliant. Good content and a great sense of humor! Cheers!
Quick tip if you want to use the Alexa integration on the Hubitat since it's free. Use groups even if it's just a single device. For example, if you want to control the bathroom lights via a smart switch, setup a group in Hubitat, have that light switch be the only device in that group, then control the group via the Alexa integration. This way, you can mess around with exactly what the device is and what it's paired to, and don't have to worry about setting everything up again in Alexa. Alexa controls the Bathroom Light Group. The Bathroom Light Group can have a single switch that's paired directly to the Hubitat. You can replace the switch because AEKETLH is the sponsor of the week and oh boy is Hue in trouble now! Then switch back because turns out it's crap. Then you get a new Home Assistant Greyscale box and pair everything to that. Then you decide to switch out the smart switch for smart lights (side note, I setup groups to expose full color control even if the actual devices don't actually support that yet...just in case future devices do). As far as Alexa is concerned, nothing has changed. Just makes life a little easier.
can i still use my wifi swiches and plugs Tuya and sonoff with the C8
I think I will start testing Home Assistant. If this grows on me, then Hubitat will be my next addiction :D
Is the Matter compatability as a coordinator or a router? Just got a Sonoff iHost (allows docker containers so considering running home assistant in it). Very buggy though. Did get a very early bird device though. Kinda knew it’d be buggy. They’re adding matter, but as a router (forgotten terminology for Matter), so you still need a google home etc. to control everything. Seems a mistake to me. Maybe running a coordinator in a docker container will work (requires an SD card in the back).
I suspect hubitat will run in a similar way, but I don't know, I'm just guessing.
Home assistant: I should’ve allowed your brother to “fix me”. He is an executive and has a vacation home. mama said.
Those anomalies happen with hubitat too. Press button to turn on 4 lights and 3 turn on no matter how many times you press. Ask alexa and it turns on the forth one. Several instances of lights not turning on or off from switches, automations etc in hubitat too. Improves if you reboot regularly. C7 I have
Does anyone know if hubitat works natively with LightwaveRF Smart devices? the only info I can find are community posts from years ago where people have written custom integrations
Huh. I'm feeling that "Home Assistant must be better", but also thinking "man, I'm glad you found something you liked that helps solve some long-time issues!" It's easy to be happy for someone who's needs are being met. Also, I like competition in the market.
Hubitat adopter here. Only thing I miss is the ‘pretty dashboards’ as you so finely put it.
Hey!! Does it easily do the ST security system?? I just need that! Please say it does! PLEASE!
First, thank you for the video, I Only have one question, I have some Wifi wall switches instead of bulbs. Those use Smart Life application and I have some automations in this app with Zigbee sensors. So if I purchase hubiat, I will be not able to turn on/off those switches ?
There is a community driver for tuya smartlife Wifi devives but it was made in 2021 and I've tried more than once to get it to work without success. 😕
@@paulhibbert thank you so much, That is sad, I have to think first the cost to change my switches to a ZigBee alternative before purchase hubitat.
Fun video. I have Smartthings but am not happy with it as it can’t really help with monitoring my new solar PV and battery, so am looking at HA or Hubitat. You didn’t mention whether Hubitat has displays for electrical flows when using solar Pv and battery or whether it offers any advantages over Smartthings that also supports both Zigbee and Z-wave.
What are the string bulbs you have up in your garden, are they zigbee😮?
I have been using Hubitat (C5), HA, Alexa, and Google all together in my 3800 sq ft home. I tried the Conbee stick you recommended and the Sonoff stick - both shit. I only use Hubitat to pair my devices, then I import it all to HA for automations (better UI). I got rid of any ZigBee and wifi bulbs - z-wave lights are FAR more stable. I've been so happy with my GoControl z-wave bulbs, Zooz z-wave multi sensors, third reality zigbee motion sensors, and Sonoff ZigBee plugs. A year worth of headaches to get to this point. Still can't find reliable contact sensors tho.
Morning! Now you post this just as my HA yellow arrives. Wonder if you can swap the antennas to target certain devices.
Home assistant yellow is a bit more purpose built than sourcing your own parts so fingers crossed you'll have an awesome experience!
is there a custom driver for Broadlink and Hubitat?
Great video, as ever, Paul. Quick question, regarding the driver for your Tradfri Bulbs, I can’t seem to find one anywhere in the “community”, and I’ve tried typing in all sorts of variations. Any chance you could point me in the right direction, as to where you found it or who created it? 7:20
I’m new to Hubitat, and only just got hold of the C7 about a month before they released the C8, so gutted I made the jump a little early.
Keep up the great work 👍🏻
I'm not at home at the moment but I THINK it was this one...
github.com/eliotstocker/hubitat-ikea-rgbw/blob/main/ikea-tradfri-rgbw-device.groovy
Like I said in the video, I had to hold the hub against the bulb to pair it, so keep that in mind 😊
@@paulhibbert thanks 👍🏻 I managed to get them parked without any real issues, but soon realised the colour spectrum was not going to happen 😂
The other thing was, I bought the ones with the dimmable controllers, but when you “pair” them with the light, that’s the only way to use them then, so have to re-install them on Hubitat. Not seen anything to show you can use them both together yet, but keeping a look out
Thanks again Paul 😊 really appreciate it 👍🏻
Hi Paul what is that light switch you were using at the start of the video
The aeotec quadmote?
Hi Paul are you still using Hubitat in April 24?, just moved my Zwave and Zigbee devices to the new C8 Pro, what can I say this hub connects to devices my Sky Connect couldn’t even see, even though I have loads of routers in every room.
Post migration to Hubitat connection are super rock solid. I am using this hub as a bridge to Home Assistant, Alexa and HomeKit but am using safety monitor and lighting automations, which have rock solid.
Shame Hubitat cannot update their Dashboards.
I see they've still not invested any time in the interface. I lasted about 4 days with my C7 before I relegated it to the great storage box in the sky (well, my garage tech dumping ground). I still struggle with the cluster£$%^ of the Home Assistant interface but it's leagues ahead of the Hubitat, still.
If you are talking about speed of response then it is probably not fair to compare a 4 year old RPi4 vs the latest Hubitat C8. I would be interested to know things compare with latest HA hardware and radios.
I’m looking at switching to hubitat from home assistant I’m tired of the integrations on home assistant constantly breaking. Today tuya integration took a dump so that has my smart home completely screwed up.
have you considered the idea that the root cause of your reliability issues could be in the set up and quality of your zwave/zigbee coordinators used on your HAS instance?
Yes. The theme of this video really is that a purpose built box is less susceptible to these issues. I imagine home assistant yellow is a good solution too!
As a long term home assistant user and having used several coordinators over the years I can tell you this. There is always a few problematic devices for some reason no matter what you use. It's can be maddening.
Paul please tell me what is this lamp you've used in your summary?
"Part of me likes the abuse" - sums up most of our journeys with HA 😂
I've been running a Habitat C5 for three years, and I have been considering a C8.
Is be curious to hear your thoughts on HomeSeer. I've been using that for a number of years to run just about every darn thing in my house.
so, what if you built a pc with HA which has a network card in it that can connect multiple antenna's
1:37 | What is the RGB cloud light used in this scene?
Paul, I'd be happy to help you walk through any HA issues. I've had a whole bunch of different problems, and a lot of it has to do with a couple of things: 1) cloud services - i.e. Tuya. The fix is to ditch their ... crap ... for the most part. 2) Overlapping frequencies with Wifi and Zigbee. My TP-Link multi-node WAP system has a wide frequency space in the 2.4Ghz range, but I've managed to get all 3 (yes I said 3) of my Zigbee sticks to run outside of the used 2.4G Wifi Channels. The reason I have 3 is that I'm migrating from the built in ZHA to Z2MQTT so that's 2 on the main HA server, and then I also put a 2nd HA in my upstairs and run a separate Z2MQTT Zigbee stick on that box. I use the Remote Home Assistant HACS add-on to tie the servers together. Geek? Yep. Why, because I want each floor to operate on their own if need be. For example, running automations on the local box instead of only on the main server. AND, now one last thing .. get off of RPi and get a mini PC. I'm so much happier since migrating over. I'm on your Patreon as well, so feel free to reach out.
I have 29 Tuya lights. Typically way cheaper and, when I bought them, way brighter than anything else. Now I’m stuck and wishing for a way to move Tuya to local and such. Ideas??? 😁
@@scdealey4867 the problem with Tuya lights is getting them to work with Tuya Local. I've seen some videos on YT of people who can get them to work, but I found that it was way more trouble than it was worth, and as it turned out no 2 Tuya bulbs were just like another. It seems they got every manufacturer to make them and though they all act the same to the SL/Tuya App, they are not the same in the Tuya Dev website, and therefore did not act alike in Home Assistant under Tuya Local. I ended up swapping out almost all of my Tuya bulbs for Singled Zigbee bulbs and I keep buying exactly the same bulb, so they are the same acting and same wattage in HA. I'm planning to sell my old bulbs. Another nice benefit of getting rid of Tuya devices is that my Wifi network is much more reliable now. Yes I said devices... That means outlets too. I'm buying a variety of zigbee and zwave outlets. Some of them are power sensing, and I use them for special purposes, like seeing if the washing machine is running and then I have an automation that watches it. The outlets are a crucial part of getting the zigbee and zwave networks to be reliable.
i've been using Hubitat and HA together for around 18 months. I have a C4 and a C7 and am debating buying a C8, but need to prepare myself to update all my HA dashboards and automations as the Hubitat integration will add a whole new set of devices and entities. Hubitat is a reasonably good controller, but can be frustrating in that sometimes (and with no explanation) devices will just not work, maybe the C8 is the solution. The other thing Hubitat needs to fix is the drivers, especially for us in Europe and the UK (Fibaro drivers for example), the functionality is very limited (Fibaro switches have the capability to monitor energy, but Hubitat doesn't use this) and Hubitat needs to improve them and the overall user experience which can be poor. The community is good, but they can't solve everything. Keep up the videos Paul, thanks.
i have a fibaro external outlet and some double switches, both report energy and power.
I feel you man, i am the biggest HA fan and i love it but there are some issues that are truely annoying. Like some lights don't come on, crashes, endless updates, reverting to old backup when restarting, z2mqtt losing half it's devices etc.
Nonetheless it's still the most versitile and usefull home automation platform
endless updates is just a silly complaint though. If you don't like the monthly update cycle don't update monthly.
@@wizbowes1267 Free bug fixes and new features, how dare they?!
I've never had any of these problems with HA. I wonder if it's a PEBKAT issue (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Touchscreen)?
Problem exists between hardware and hardware AND between hardware and software, and in some cases between software and software I'm afraid. If you're as smart as you think you are you would know the issues I've described are not user configuration issues just from their description, and before you start down the "put the dongle on an extension" road, I've already done it.
I'm using the recommended hardware too before you toss that one out. Home assistant just isn't as good as you think it is once you add enough stuff, or push it past a certain point. It's an incredible technological achievement, but it's never going to be as reliable as a purpose built system, if yours is then that is because either 1, you just happen to have constructed a unicorn, 2, you haven't pushed it as far as you think you have, or 3, you're pretending the many problems you've experienced (and likely are still experiencing) never really happened.
Anyone that pretends that home assistant is flawless are only fooling themselves.
Great little device, but I love HA. I moved my HA from a raspberry pi to my Unraid server and put it on a docker. HA runs a lot better, and updating HA has never been easier. However, I do have a Unifi setup with 2 APs, which wifi coverage in my house it awesome.
Conclusion on the video:
- base on Home Assistant
- add a hubitat
- add alexa
- add more things 😂
Love the garden lights Paul, what make are they? Very Christmassy.
Can you tear it down and plug its zigbee adapter to Home Assistant?
Hi Paul, I did not understood how you control the tuya 3 button dimmer that you show on minute 5:30. I have one as well and I have been strugle to use it. Only was able to use 2 button up to now, and poorly. I have no additional hubs or bridges, only HE C7.
I have several similar ZigBee switches... Can anyone tell us if they 'just work' on the C8?
Post your Tuya dimmer device details in the Hubitat forum and surely there will be a solution for your particular device model/manufacturer.
How is anything for sale in the iot world after 2020 that does not support tuya wifi?
Thanks Paul. Happy Saturday!
Happy Saturday Ron!
I have been using a c7 hubitat as my device hub, connected to HA for automations and interface, for about 2 years. This is the way.
What benefit do you feel you get from the hubitat? I ask as someone who ran a similar setup, but recently migrated everything to HA and retired the hubitat because it seemed redundant.
@@geoken2 Simplicity of hardware setup. HA runs in a docker container for me.
Use sonoff zigbee dongle. I had same issues with other small dongles and they had no range or connectivity issues. It's not HA problem its the hardware you use with it.
Hi Paul, I have been using Home Assistant with Hubitat for past 3 years, and get the best of both worlds. So most of my Z-Wave and Zigbee devices connect to my C7 (I may upgrade to C8 at some point), and most automations are controlled via Home Assistant on my QNAP NAS via the HA->Hubitiat intergtraton. It means I can reboot Home Assistant when needed and because the devices are connected via the C7 they resume immediatly upon HA restart. It is a bit of a faff getting the devices into HA using the Maker API, but not overly complcated. Thanks for another great video.
The conbee is known to work a lot better when you add a extension cable in order to reduce interference with the wifi of the raspberry pi.
Absolutely. When I first tested the stick on my desk, I had some trouble with the pairing of devices. At some point I lost interest and mounted the PI back into the rack. And of course I used an usb extension cord, so the itself stick can be outside the rack. And suddenly I could pair devices without issues. I had a similar issue with the left HDMI Port and Wifi-Channel 1. That is the reason why my RPs are all mounted inside a small rack.
I have home assistant and a Sonoff zigbee 3.0 dongle plus. Can this control Tuya Zigbee devices?
Yes! 😄
@@paulhibbert Thank you. I googled if and got lots of mixed replies. I knew you were the man to ask! 😊
I've had my Hubitat C7 for about half a year and it has been very consistent without repeaters. But my house is pretty small. I like hubitat. I've got a whole bunch of stuff on it (Aqara, Ikea, Yeelight, Sonoff, a broadlink IR blaster and an assortment of Tuya blind motors, sensors and more) and it has all been working flawlessly. I don't see any reason to switch to HA and will probably just grab one of these C8s if I ever move into a bigger home.
You have a Broadlink RM pro working with Hubitat?
@@Fastmack Not a pro, it's an RM3 mini (off Aliexpress). Not sure about the pro but there's community drivers for several broadlinks. Getting it connected is a pain though and it's the only device that will be dodgy at times.
I bought the new Habitat C8 before the video was over. I'm hoping I can resolve some of the inconsistencies in my smart home setup that drive my husband crazy. Sent from my 2,650 square foot house. 🙈
Think there is broadlink support, it's 3rd party but mine is working on RF and ir
Would be interesting to know, if you can flash the C8 with Home Assistant?
I wish! 🤤