Zigbee is great!

[randy]

Wim;

I am also very happy with this plug-in and the hardware. I have only Hue bridges, Hue lights and several Dresden LED strip controllers.

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to running deCONZ on a Pi with a RaspBee controller over the Hue bridges? I do see that deCONZ can provide a map of connections, which would be useful if I were chasing problems - I have none. Does it offer more flexibility, range or anything else?

[Guest]

would you, if it’s not to long, mind explaining youractual setup with both deconz and the hue bridge?


I forgot to bring back the hue bridge at bestbuy. So i wonder what i can do with it (exept of updates)

[randy]

would you, if it’s not to long, mind explaining youractual setup with both deconz and the hue bridge?


I forgot to bring back the hue bridge at bestbuy. So i wonder what i can do with it (exept of updates)

I don't have a deCONZ bridge, that was the reason for the above post. I have 2 Hue bridges,17 Hue bulbs and one set of Hue strips. I also have 5 Dresden RGBWW controllers for LED strips. 8 hue bulbs and 4 of the Dresden controllers control lighting along the driveway and front of the house. We use them in warm white most of the time, but have color schemes and animations for holiday lighting. On the interior we primarily control color temperature and brightness based upon activity and time of day, but can play with colors for fun.

[Guest]

I don't have a deCONZ bridge, that was the reason for the above post. I have 2 Hue bridges,17 Hue bulbs and one set of Hue strips. I also have 5 Dresden RGBWW controllers for LED strips. 8 hue bulbs and 4 of the Dresden controllers control lighting along the driveway and front of the house. We use them in warm white most of the time, but have color schemes and animations for holiday lighting. On the interior we primarily control color temperature and brightness based upon activity and time of day, but can play with colors for fun.

HAaa rorry for my misunderstanding.

Thanks !!! yeah color things .. I think it would be better with the hue bridge with all the app on there.

[w.vuyk]

Wim,

To clear things up a bit - I'd like to add some Xiaomi Aqara Smart Water Sensors to my system using Zigbee of course. Question is, do I required some routing devices for this to work and/or can they mesh through each other to get to the Combee or are do/can they reach the Combee directly?

Robert

langenet

Most sensors are battery operated and then by definition are endpoints. Battery operated devices do not mesh, but take advantage of it :-) Very similar to Z-Wave I think.
Standard advice from Dresden electronics is to have at least one router (bulb or plugs) in the network. But I noticed on github more users have a sensor only network. But then there is no meshing, all sensor have to reach for the ConBee.


If your water sensors are out of reach (you need to test that maybe) which is more then 7 meters away (floors might shorten this), you need to find an excuse to have a router in between to build up the mesh. Within the 7 meterrange, they can reach the ConBee, but I have seen sensortypes dropping the access to the conbee... I guess it will be part of the testing to be done

[w.vuyk]

Wim;

I am also very happy with this plug-in and the hardware. I have only Hue bridges, Hue lights and several Dresden LED strip controllers.

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to running deCONZ on a Pi with a RaspBee controller over the Hue bridges? I do see that deCONZ can provide a map of connections, which would be useful if I were chasing problems - I have none. Does it offer more flexibility, range or anything else?

,

Advantage of deCONZ is less brand dependencies and especially a broad support for sensor, like smoke alarms, motion sensors, weather sensors, window alarms, switches, plugs etc. the developers behind this are quite responsive to new requests. Their goal is to support all zigbee3 and HA1.2 devices. So if you want more choice in devices deCONZ is (at least for me) the best choice.
As for ranges, I have the impression the RaspBee is having a bit better range, but this is only a feeling for me, I did not scientifically test it. I have a Philips Hue bridge running here, a RaspBee with deCONZ and a ConBee with deCONZ. But in my reasonable smal house that is overkill and only because I need to be sure the plugin stays stable.


Philips is moving also though on opening up the bridge. They now support more other brands of lights and that is a big step compared to a year ago. But on sensors they are still very limited, they will probably only suport "Friends of Hue" sensors in the future. And I am guessing that they certainly will not support the cheap sensor that are already available and even very reliable and battery friendly.
And a last argument, deCONZ is supporting OTAU updates for sensors and bulbs. But... Philips will not allow other gateways to update their devices. Which means that if you have Philips devices and want them up to date, you will need to connect them back to the philips bridge periodically. However you can ask yourself that if they work stable, do you need to update them if you do not need the new feature? But that is for each one to answer themselves I think.

Wim

[w.vuyk]

HAaa rorry for my misunderstanding.

Thanks !!! yeah color things .. I think it would be better with the hue bridge with all the app on there.

There is also an app for deCONZ on Android I believe. It is always good to allow playing using the app and have HS3 with sensors take care of stability

[randy]

,

Advantage of deCONZ is less brand dependencies and especially a broad support for sensor, like smoke alarms, motion sensors, weather sensors, window alarms, switches, plugs etc. the developers behind this are quite responsive to new requests. Their goal is to support all zigbee3 and HA1.2 devices. So if you want more choice in devices deCONZ is (at least for me) the best choice.
As for ranges, I have the impression the RaspBee is having a bit better range, but this is only a feeling for me, I did not scientifically test it. I have a Philips Hue bridge running here, a RaspBee with deCONZ and a ConBee with deCONZ. But in my reasonable smal house that is overkill and only because I need to be sure the plugin stays stable.


Philips is moving also though on opening up the bridge. They now support more other brands of lights and that is a big step compared to a year ago. But on sensors they are still very limited, they will probably only suport "Friends of Hue" sensors in the future. And I am guessing that they certainly will not support the cheap sensor that are already available and even very reliable and battery friendly.
And a last argument, deCONZ is supporting OTAU updates for sensors and bulbs. But... Philips will not allow other gateways to update their devices. Which means that if you have Philips devices and want them up to date, you will need to connect them back to the philips bridge periodically. However you can ask yourself that if they work stable, do you need to update them if you do not need the new feature? But that is for each one to answer themselves I think.

Wim

OK. I guess I will build a deCONZ on a Pi to play with. I have plenty of spare Pi boards and a RaspBee is only about $35. We'll see how it works. I can keep the Philips bulbs on Philips bridges.

[langenet]

langenet

Most sensors are battery operated and then by definition are endpoints. Battery operated devices do not mesh, but take advantage of it :-) Very similar to Z-Wave I think.
Standard advice from Dresden electronics is to have at least one router (bulb or plugs) in the network. But I noticed on github more users have a sensor only network. But then there is no meshing, all sensor have to reach for the ConBee.


If your water sensors are out of reach (you need to test that maybe) which is more then 7 meters away (floors might shorten this), you need to find an excuse to have a router in between to build up the mesh. Within the 7 meterrange, they can reach the ConBee, but I have seen sensortypes dropping the access to the conbee... I guess it will be part of the testing to be done

Thanks Wim. I was thinking that was the case as well. What do you recommend as far routers are concerned?
Would this work? I could use a couple of these...

Thanks,

Robert

[w.vuyk]

Robert,

I know the OSRAM plugs are working. I know cowinger is using them. Those are used in europe as well as the US. Canada has US plugs right?
I like those, they are quite reliable. the only setback is that the Power usage reporting is not working yet.

Wim

[langenet]

I wanted to register the bridge (combee) and according to the documentation:

"With the RaspBee/Conbee gateways, you'll have to go the the ip address of the gateway, login (default delight/delight) and go to the settings page. On this page choose “Unlock gateway”.

When I start plugin with the deConz running, my cpu shoots to 30% and I don't understand the above statement. In my case, I can't see where the registration happens.
How to I register the gateway?

Robert

[cowinger]

I wanted to register the bridge (combee) and according to the documentation:

"With the RaspBee/Conbee gateways, you'll have to go the the ip address of the gateway, login (default delight/delight) and go to the settings page. On this page choose “Unlock gateway”.

When I start plugin with the deConz running, my cpu shoots to 30% and I don't understand the above statement. In my case, I can't see where the registration happens.
How to I register the gateway?

Robert

In Phoscon, Select the "Gateway" then Advanced, then select Authenticate App. Go to jowihue plug-in (make sure it is already running) and tell it to search for bridges.

[w.vuyk]

Or - maybe a bit easier - in the deCONZ window on your machin you will see two buttons, Phoscon and WebApp. Press the Phoscon button and follow cowingers guide.


I will update the documentation with that.

Wim

[langenet]

Yes... that step was missing. Registration works like a charm. The deConz works as a service with FD as well.

[langenet]

Just wondering if there is a way to control lights after power is restored? I have a Phillips hue that when it is plugged back in after being unplugged (aka power fail/restore) that it comes back full on. I kinda wished it would assume the previous state - so if it was off before the power was pulled that it would be off when power is restored.

Is this usual?

Robert