this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2024
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Questions about Zigbee, Wifi and Smart-Plug measurement accuracy (self.homeassistant)
submitted 2 weeks ago by wasabi to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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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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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
  • Zigbee > WiFi
    • Zigbee is a mesh, it's more reliable, it's low power so it allows for battery powered devices
  • Z-wave
    • Perhaps even more reliable than Zigbee due to using a different spectrum

Home Assistant can run Zigbee and Z-wave radios simultaneously. I have two. Then you can pick devices from a wider range of vendors and models. When considering smart plugs, keep in mind that most have relays rated for non-inductive loads. Motors are generally inductive loads. I'm not sure if computer power supplies with their big capacitors would cause similar problems or not. If you want to be able to plug anything without thinking, make sure the plug you buy says its rating is valid for inductive loads. I have some units from Zooz which qualify. My IKEA ones definitely do not. Philips don't either but they've survived switching some ductwork fans for a few years.