this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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Questions about Zigbee, Wifi and Smart-Plug measurement accuracy (feddit.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I want to dip my toes into the smart home world and decided that I want to use homeassistant and primarily use devices based on zigbee, as I do not want to overload my wifi with a bunch of devices.

Smart plugs seem to be most interesting to me as I would like to have accurate power measurements for my homelab and applicances. The keyword is accurate here. There seems to be some science showing that the accuracy of smart plugs can vary a lot. I have read that devices that are flashed with the tasmota firmware can actually be calibrated. Unfortunately this firmware is only available for wifi devices.

So my questions are:

  • Are there zigbee smartplugs that are known to be very accurate or can be calibrated to be very accurated?
  • Is preferring zigbee over wifi actually a good Idea? I mean both use 2.4 GHz, which is known to be crowded. When will wifi smart home devices become a problem?
  • Is a calibrated tasmota smart plug more accurated than a typical zigbee plug?
  • Is this inaccuracy reported in the paper even relevant for non-scientific use?
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[–] spaghettiwestern 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Despite fairly congested 2.4ghz wifi in my area with 18 networks detected by my phone, all Zigbee and Tasmota wifi devices on my network are nearly 100% reliable. In my experience Zooz Z-wave devices have been less so and occasionally are unresponsive. Other Z-wave devices have been much better.

The Tasmota plugs and lights in my network generate very little network traffic. Power monitoring plugs will generate more, but with 1 second update intervals that traffic should still be minimal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Damn, that's crazy to hear! Zooz stuff has been the bedrock upon which I've built all my automation. Like, I have dozens of ZEN04 LR plugs all over my house. What specific Zooz stuff has been unreliable for you? I've only used the ZEN04 LR, ZEN14 LR, and ZEN15 LR plugs so maybe it's just not anything I've ever touched.

[–] spaghettiwestern 2 points 1 week ago

I have two Zen 30 switches and since I wrote that comment a week ago both have died. Zooz is blaming the failures on an installation error after 18 months of use! Instead static discharge is the logical cause and since it's a fact of life in my home, if Zooz won't replace the Zen 30's I'll move away from their devices and will install Shelly wifi relays and Minoton wireless controllers instead.

The Zen 30 switches have mostly worked until now, but occasionally they haven't responded to Home Assistant for a minute or two - really frustrating when standing in the dark waiting for the lights to come on. Leviton dimmer plugs and Minoton wireless controllers connected to the same Zooz Z-Wave stick have been flawless, as have all my Tasmota wifi and Zigbee devices.