Z-Wave vs. Zigbee vs. Wi-Fi! Smart Home Basics: How To Pick The Right Protocol
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ค. 2024
- Today on the hookup I’m going to tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the three most common home automation communication protocols: Zigbee, Zwave and WiFi.
Hubitat Elevation Local Control Zigbee/Z-Wave Hub: amzn.to/2SjLTbl
Zooz S2 USB Z-Wave Dongle: amzn.to/2w9xnu5
Conbee II USB Zigbee Dongle: amzn.to/3bAckRN
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This video answered questions I didn't even know I had. Thank you so much!
Same!
agree
This was a OUTSTANDING video! I am an engineer who put X-10 in over 20 years ago and recently moved so it is time to learn the new technology options. Rob explained it all so that you can understand the tradeoffs. And they ARE trade-offs, if there was one "best" we would all just use it. Duh! Excellent discussion on RF, well done! And as a cyber security guy, you gave me a lot to consider. I still have a LOT to learn, but this 15 minute video saved me gobs of research time. In fact, I was keen on the Z-Wave when you started talking as 933 MHz appealed to me as it is not in a congested frequency range PLUS the penetration of 933 Hz vs 2.4 GHz. That was until you taught me about the Connected Home Over IP standards and how Z-Wave "couldn't play in reindeer games." BUZZ! Thanks for playing. Next! Great video! Good starting point for any geek who wants to learn more! THANK YOU!
Excellent Summary Curt. We are both dated. Cut my teeth on X10. For a long time was the only thing to use for automation. Technology has definitely moved on.
Connected home over IP makes sense if you have a strong WiFi network. Z-Wave makes sense if WiFI coverage is spotty in your house. Then you can take advantage of the Mesh network of Zwave. I was thinking about the Lutron line, but that is proprietary. The switches are extremely reliable. One person has had Lutron switches in his house for 5 years and never replaced one.
@@SidebandSamurai Really good to know. Good intel! Thanks!
Best technology tutorial I’ve seen. Clear language no technical jargon and great metaphors to explain complex protocols to non-techies. I’ve a teaching background in technology and haven’t seen a better presentation. Thank you
Thanks Dave!
Love your vids Rob... thank you for all you do to help advance home automation!
Thanks , Was waiting for someone to explain for ages :)
Keep up the awesome work
The combination of detail and brevity here is great! Thank you!
Super awesome as usual. Tons of useful, accessible information with a reasonable leadin and a brief but adequate plug at the end for self-promotion. I'm going to go check out the patreon now - thank you for doing this!
Wonderfully thought out video. I had been down all 3 rabbit holes when trying to decide which one to pick. It was nice to see a completely independent video reach the same conclusions I did, but explained in such an easy to understand format.
Woah. That drive thru analogy blew my mind! Haha
Thank you for info and your time. "IT IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE TO LOVE IN"
As ever, clarity, well delivered. Thank you.
Very nice tutorial on the various protocols used in home automation!
Great job explaining these different protocols. Much appreciate it!
This is a detailed, accurate and well informed explanation of the home automation technologies. Well done.
Great overview!
Just got interested in the smart home concept and what's there on the market these days, got the answers I needed, thank you)
Gosh darn... i love this channel. Seriously, when i see it when I'm searching for something I know straight away I'm going to watch an informative video, which respects my time and is very well communicated. Thanks!
Fantastic video...your content is top notch mate.
Came here after searching many sites and watching many videos to decide on which protocol to use and I found my answer. Thank you for the clear explanation!
Thanks for the methodical explanations, man! Your efforts go a long way when speaking IOT when so few are prepared to or even comprehend.
great video as always Rob!
This is the reason of being for the internet.
One knows knowledge when one hears it.
Just won a sub. Well done man
This video is put together well and has great detail. Thanks and Cheers 👍
Very good narration. Very informative and easy to understand by any layman. Thanks
I have to admit that my default reaction to home automation videos on TH-cam is pretty much me rolling my eyes at the IT geek who has decided he can teach the world about HA, BUT this is actually pretty solid. It’s hard to find fault in a factual review of the technologies. Good stuff man!! 👍 My much more subjective opinion can be summarized as follows: build your HA primarily on a non-cloud controller (just trust me), ignore WiFi devices as an option COMPLETELY (unless you come across specific use cases like Shelly relays), use zigbee for anything battery powered and Z-Wave for anything hardwired. Lastly, run run run run RUN from the SmartThings hub (the hub, not the zigbee devices), it is absolute trash. The only hubs I would consider at this time is anything running HomeSeer, and the Hubitat hubs (the latter really has really impressed me, even though I have been using HomeSeer for over a decade). Just my $0.02
Curious why you say Zigbee for battery and Z-Wave for hard wired device?
@@JohnVanderbeck Zigbee can use other zigbee devices as a signal carrier so you can have a chain of devices going a very far distance. If you're using battery devices you're probably putting them far away and wires are too annoying, so Zigbee would be good.
@@hydroaegis6658 Still, don't see how that has anything to do with wired or battery. Personally I use primarily a Zigbee setup when I have a choice and most of those are wired devices that extend the network.
Very detailed and awesome explanation. Much appreciated.
Awesome content, great delivery, down to earth language, know his audience but also adapts the message to newcomers... Thank you so much for making these videos.
Wonderful explanation of the differences , keep up the great videos.
Would love to see a video on your opinion of the Ubiquiti UDMs.
Another great video Rob.
Great video! Thanks for your detailed explanations.
Well stated by a true technology professional. Thank you.
Nice presentation Rob. I'm a bigger fan of zigbee myself, not really for concrete reasons except it was more appealing as far as price and availability of products (most likely due to the zwave being so locked down as you mentioned) Ultimately I'm glad I have less devices to worry about with my wifi AP. Ultimately a great video for newcomers. Good work.
Great video! Although quite technical this is the first one that was understandable as well.
Very well explained. I liked a lot this video.
Thank you Teacher! Amazing video. Thanks for you time.
Great video, well delivered.
thank you so much for this AWESOME video!
A good overview. However you missed the Z-Wave is extensible language. What this means is manufacturers have to use the existing commands if one already exists but can create new ones if they do not exist in the spec. So for example if someone wanted to make a Z-Wave instant pot they would have to use the Z-Wave standards for on and off but they would get to use their own commands for setting the temperature. Z-Wave is actually administered by the Z-Wave Alliance which while mostly controlled by sigma designs does have several dozen companies involved who wind up voting on which new commands to add to the protocol.
Excellent discussion and advice!
Excellent presentation
Excellent explanation, thanks!
Love the vid, I have smarthings and a mix of wifi and zigbee. I had a pile of issues with interference when I started since I also have 5 wireless roku TVs that use wifi remotes. Once I upgraded to netgear orbi and moved my main devices over to 5gh things got better. The one thing I wish that was easier is finding new products it's such a pain to verify if they work with smart things because I hate having to use another app for each device. This vid really helped me understand the difference for sure thanks for your info.
As an old RF enthusiast from the walkie-talkie days thanks for the catchup on comm tech for the home. Best Buy and all are selling this stuff and almost no one you talk to understands the big picture or the science behind it. (this includes cable-internet providers). I hope to be able to get enough out of this to get some project off the ground for modest cost.
Fantastic overview! I'm building up my Home Assistant system with both Z-Wave and Zigbee. I've been avoiding Wi-Fi because it's possible for those devices to communicate over the internet unless I specifically block them on my firewall but I hadn't heard that there was custom firmware available...it sounds like there is another rabbit hole for me to dive into.
This is a guide to video communication protocols. Thank you
This is a very nice video, thank you
Very informative!
Awesome job!
Excellent video and channel.
All Zwave must work with all other Zwave by its manufacture specs. Zigbee is "open source" but does NOT have to work with other Zigbee devices. This means that Zigbee can work one day then not work because of a software change. Just be aware of this when you design your systems. Best advice is to get a hub that has all of the "radios" you will need.
geez man... it's like you speak my language. great advice and exactly what i want to know. Really want to see a video like this evaluating the current state of outdoor cameras and how to use them with local control. a shootout of cameras, if you will... thanks again!
Here you go: th-cam.com/video/fwoonl5JKgo/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/WXD82epDPE4/w-d-xo.html
thanks for all the explanations, I wonder if something from your conclusions would be different today :)
Great Tutorial !!! Thank you ..
great report
Very well done sir
Great info... thanks!
Interesting video. Now my 2 cents :-) Bluetooth avoid. Wi-Fi avoid as it congests your Wi-Fi router (if you have a lot of devices) and a bunch more issues. Zigbee ignore as it is flaky, and everything seems to interfere with the devices. As for Z-wave and Smartthings, I have 79 devices devices on Smarthings, the vast majority of them being Z-Wave, only RGB lights and water leak sensors are Zigbee (RGB lights are actually hue , but even they will connect directly to Smarthings without the Hue bridge.) Out of those 79 devices, only 1 device runs on the cloud, everything else runs locally, even most routines / automations. The only thing I do not like with Z-wave and Zigbee is a lot of devices use stupidly expensive batteries, hence why I hacked some of my devices which use 2450 batteries, to use 2 x AA batteries which now last massively times longer. As for that 'Group' , i'm pretty sure most of that will be cloud processed and all your information then being shared by everyone.
Awesome explanation. TY
Great video!
Another great video. My smart home consists of all Z-Wave devices running on homeseer Smart Home software. Really easy to configure in use very versatile
This was going to be my comment as well. I have been using HomeSeer for the last 12 years and would estimate I am 80% z-wave. Home automation has nothing to do with being able to turn your lights on and off from your phone (that is remote control, not HA). Home automation is all about whatever system you select being able to remove manual steps and automating the results. IMHO the event engine and extendability (plug-ins) of HomeSeer makes it by far the best option currently and should be mentioned in every HA video. ... but you know, just my opinion 🤗
Bought a CC2530 stick from aliexpress and flashed it. Zigbee2mqtt for use as a hub. Integrated into Home assistant. Works perfect, finally I can use Hue motion sensors for some other lights than Hues. And total cost under 10 usd. And they have very wide support for devices and you can even make new devices supported yourself. Only minus is that you need additional powered CC2530 sticks to get over 15 zigbee devices. Recommended!
Great video. Thanks.
Thank you for the awesome video! One thing to mention, if you want smart dimmer switch and you don't have neutral wire, Z Wave is your only choice (as of today IIUC).
you *could* cheat and use a ground :)
@@leen.3785 might trip DFCI breaker?
Very informative thank you
I setup Z-Wave in my house 10 years ago and have not touched it since... it just works...
That’s great to hear, you must have a robust mesh with lots of devices.
@@TheHookUp Thanks. I only have about 20 devices. I did take the time and testing to minimize hops where I could. Had the same experience in another house we had. Packing to move to a new house now and it appears Z-Wave is still the right choice for what I want to do. I'll wait to see how Project Connected Home shakes out. I get a bit nervous when a few big players try to get together and play nice... sometimes one gets greedy and it all goes to hell.
great content!
FYI, Silicon Labs fully aquired Z-Wave in april of 2018 so it is no longer true that is licensed by Sigma Designs. Silicon Labs has since then changes the licence to make it a more open standard so that other companies can license the rights to make Z-Wave chips, but as far as I know no other company has done so as if yet.
Good video!
Well explained..
Thanks for your video it was super informative. I appreciate it's now 3 years old. Have you considered doing a video about ‘Matter’ Smart Home Standard?
Very informative content! :)
In the long run, after using WiFi, zwave and zigbee devices for several years, my favorite is wifi.
Zigbee and zwave tends to disconnect from time to time and require re-pairing, which is sometimes not easy, and very frustrating.
Wifi on the other end didn't pose issues (but need to be hardwired)
This video isbeautiful explains alot
Thanks Rob.
Great explanation! Learned a few new things (I had no idea of C.H.I.P. for example) and also re-affirmed some stuff that I already knew about. There is however one extra popular solution that you missed out on and which is primarily used by big companies: cable, and in the case of home automation, ethernet cabling. It is by far the most reliable option and also the one that has the lowest latency (speed is not as important, when your temperature sensor requires 1Gbit/s speeds you might have other problems) and you can send out electricity as well which eliminates the need for batteries. That being said, installing cable everywhere isn't something to get started in the IoT stuff: wifi and zigbee work just as well. Can't speak for Z-Wave as I don't have any device that uses it.
The dream is to have walls filled with miles of cat6 cable, unfortunately not very common though.
Great stuff
Vivint SmartHome uses all three.
It uses WiFi (or Ethernet, optionally, if it’s a new construction or something and hardwiring the whole thing is feasible) to connect the hub to all the cameras and also to connect the hub to the WWW.
Vivint has a Z-wave hub built in to connect to locks, lights, window blinds, Vivint’s Element thermostat, etc.
Vivint also uses WiFi to connect to some compatible products that use Zigbee, such as the Phillips Hue lightbulb system.
think it's important to clarify something, about this "No such thing as incompatible wifi" point. Because for the context of our topic, it's important to understand that these _Wifi_ "smart devices" are not directly operating by receiving and reading, writing and sending, raw instructions and status information - that just happen to be wrapped up in the type of packaging neccessary for sending and receiving them through your wifi router (etc). They basically have tiny, simplified computers inside, running their own software. And the data being communicated back and forth, is in a language and format this software understands. It is then this software that decides what to with it, and eventually instruct the hardware inside to do something (like send power to the LEDs inside its lightbulb). However, this software and the languages it knows can be different even between different types of devices from the same manufacturer, and especially so for devices from different brands/manufacturers. Also, each device has its own ID. So even if the case where software running on two devices from two different brands, happen to speak the same language - they may look at the device's ID, see that it's not a device from the same brand/manufacturer, and then just ignore or throw out any communication going to or coming from that device. Or, in some cases, one of them may have a very rudimentary understanding of one language both knows, and therefore only send, receive and execute very basic instructions. Like only turning on or off an RGB lightbulb, not doing any adjustment of the color or dimming.
As a metaphor: These devices _do _*_not_* operate like if you make an image of a lightbulb and a lit up power button, prints and puts that image in an envelope and the right type of stamp (here your postal service have strict regulation of which envelope types are allowed). Then you sends that envelope through the postal service (your wifi router/network) to your friend, he/she opens the envelope, see the image (image illustration is used to sidestep any language barrier) - and then know to push the button to switch on the lightbulb, and does it.
Instead, these devices are running software systems, like a very small and simple computer. And all incoming and outgoing communication goes through that software layer. Like if you and your friend is working for two different companies. To communicate, you call up the company Communication Department and tell them what you want your friend to know. Then that department create the letter, put it in the appropriate type of envelope, and send it through the post - to be received by your friend's company's Communication Department.
The important thing to note and understand here - is that this software layer, the Communication Departments - they don't just universally perform this task. They also decide which companies they are willing to send mail to, and receive mail from. And it's very common that they will only process mail to/from from other branches of the same company.
Excellent ! Tks
Galaxy Brain: run Home Assistant with dongles and you can have any combination of WiFi, Zigbee, and ZWave devices and integrate them all however you want
This is a topic I have been waiting on for a while. Thank you!
As an IT engineer I cant help but think that wifi smart home devices will congest my wifi network. This may not manifest in real word degradation but I cant get past the theory so I go with z-wave, about 60 devices total.
WiFi smart home devices are all on 2.4ghz, so you really shouldn’t see any issues with the devices that you want to be “fast”. It also means that WiFi 6 isn’t going to have a large impact on smart home devices,
@@TheHookUp i came to this video because my wifi is congested with too many switches, caneras etc all connected to the 2.4 Ghz band. But I'll search for the network channel congestion fix per your video first.
Thank you! very interesting)
I am fond of the local network setup you described, but the network is not a physical redundant infrastructure, but a VLan based one with all the access restrictions in place
Hey Rob,
They actually opensourced Z-wave a day after the Connected Home Over IP was announced.
Too late
@@TeodorMarinov Better late than never.
This very awesome video was released in 2020, however Sigma announced that it was making Z wave an opensource standard since 2016 www.sigmadesigns.com/news/sigma-designs-releases-z-wave-interoperability-layer-into-the-public-domain/
Just checked and it seems like Sigma Designs went bankrupt. Wow.
They aren’t bankrupt, they were purchased by SiLabs, one of the largest chip producers in the world.
Z-Wave also use different frequenzy in different regions.
Thanks!
Thank you for the great video it's really useful. I understand you don't tend to advertise specific brands but what do you recommend for wireless wall switches and IR blasters for home assistant? I'm using Raspberry Pi 4.
Got a few comments as one that works in a business that uses the zigbee standard, a. zigbee has several frequencies we use 868MHz and 2.4GHz and zigbee is an open standard allowing third parties to create products but there are also many standards that are applied by zigbee to specify the way this different types of items can talk but not restricting the provider from giving more options, i.e. the "Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications" adds onto the zigbee specification adding the protocol definition for a metering device, this means that a device that talks to a metering device must follow this standard in order to be zigbee certified, i think there is also a consideration to the power per distance area, as a mesh network only needs to reach its next node it uses far less power over the same distance which will result in less interference and add the sleepy end devices and zigbee green devices which are only active when they need to bee you have a lot of power and interferance savings that make the mesh networks like z wave and zigbee far more reliable than a wifi
Another thing with Wifi devices... they want to 'call home' send data to company EVEN If you don't USE cloud. Kasa TP link devices. as an example. I put them on a non internet network.. ( check out your pi-hole see all these devices 'calling home' using bandwidth...
Also, Get router with OpenVpn built in. Then get Open VPN App on your phone... fun times had by all!! Cut out the "cloud" middle man!
Great Video.
like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, th-cam.com/users/postUgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)... but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn't support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have.... Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with... I don't sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn't really matter to me....
Small note / correction Z-Wave uses the 915 MHz ISM band (in the U.S / Canada for example) and the 868 MHz RFID band (in Europe) if you are purchasing devices from an international seller make sure you get the correct one for your region.
Well said, a customer of mine had this issue, not all people know that the frequency depend on region
Thanks for the video =)
Glad to subscribe.. so many things learned here in a condensed layman language :)
It it worth noting that all these standards communicates on different frequencies in us and europe and rest of the world.
Wish I had you as my science teacher
Amazing about frequencies and their danger. Know that in labs treating cellular communication we are not only interested in frequencies (ionizing or not) but also in the power emitted and captured by the body.
The danger is different though. If you are around high amplitude waves you know it, you can feel the heat on your skin and the danger comes from heat rather than chemical changes. Ionizing radiation is much less detectable and does damage on a molecular level.
Pls rob, can u do a video about the rf433 mess as well? How they communicate and why not?
Thanks
Thanks for very informative video. You could also include some content about Bluetooth mesh This is a new and emerging Technology getting a lot of traction in industry.
Excellent info on Smart devices connectivity, i have been researching for about a week, i this is video helped a lot, i am still looking for more info on how often WiFi devices communicate to the router and what is the Tx power output , i.e. constant communication ? every certain period ? when device is off or on only ? time of activation communication etc.. i can find much online.
Zigbee - ability to cut out the cloud for local access/communication is a key point that other videos fail to mention.
All the protocols can do that.