What is Reddit's opinion of Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 Z-Wave Hub Z-Wave Plus USB to Create Gateway (Ordinary White)?

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Z-Wave and HA has been really successful for me. Literally rock solid, no issues at all. Been running for a year. Highly recommended. I have the following Z-Wave stick:

Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Z-Stick, Gen5 Z-Wave Plus 

KVM-based Virtual Machine (all running under Proxmox) with USB passthrough of an Aeotec Z-Wave stick. Hourly snapshots are taken, so even if I nuke my setup, I can restore from a backup in a matter of minutes.

Agree with z-wave as a standard. Also using Home Assistant will allow you to roll in your wifi devices to be used with them.

For example, when I first started I had some wemo wifi plugs for night stand lights. I also have a bunch of z-wave light switches that are connected via an Aotec Z-wave Hub. In my sever I run home assistant which takes ALL my smart sources (wifi + zwave) and makes them compatible with HomeKit and now it doesn't matter what their original source is.

You just need a computer, a zwave hub (the stick works great), and then run HA

You may want to buy a Z-Wave stick and Raspberry Pi device then install Home Assistant to sync your Google Nest devices.

Aeotec Z-Stick: https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Z-Stick-Z-Wave-create-gateway/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr\_1\_3?keywords=Aeon+Labs&qid=1654212191&sr=8-3

I picked up an Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 Z-Wave Hub in May 2019 and it's served me well, but today I'd probably go with /u/gandzas' suggestion of getting the HUSBZB-1 to get Zigbee for a greater range of device options.

this is amazing!

i got tons of old phones with at least android 5 so your method should work on them too right?

with OTG usb cable, i should be able to get zwave usb stick installed right? i dont even know if that's possible. and if so, how?

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Z-Stick-Z-Wave-create-gateway/dp/B00X0AWA6E

This is the one I have... It seemed to be the most recommended and you only need one to handle all your z-wave z-wave+ devices.

I don't have a recommendation for a door sensor (I've only used TILT sensors so far, but on amazon "z-wave door sensor" will yield a lot.

But, that you said its supposed to be a cheap project, a $50 z-wave gateway may be overkill.

If the setup is close enough to the door, you COULD look at wiring a typical security sensor to the Pi GPio ports somehow... How to hook that into openhab is a bit beyond me thought. That would be really cheap to do though.

I don't have any Zigbee, so the Aeotec Z-Stick was good enough for me. The link that /u/Dingofan42 replied to you with looks very promising for achieving your goals of both Z-Wave and Zigbee, and killing two birds with one stone.

I have this aeotec z wave stick

When you say, zwave controller is this what you're referring to?

So I can just put my aeotec z wave stick and put it into the google home hub, and then monitor and control my aeotec z wave smart plugs and temp/light/motion detectors through the google home hub?

I would say you probably do not NEED repeaters. It is that it helps with the health of the mesh. But, no need to buy more than you need, you buy 1, if you need more, you buy more.

I honestly don't know of a hub that does both, but i have never really looked. Xiaomi sensors require the Xiaomi hub, unless you want to use them via MQTT. The Z-wave stuff i dont even have a hub. I have THIS, plugged in to a RPI3B+. My PI is what runs Home Assistant.

So basically i have a Pi that runs HASS.IO with the Z-wave stick plugged in. I then have 4 Xiaomi hubs throughout my house. But, other than that, all i have is devices.

Very cool. I'd still need a hub though, correct? Or maybe this would work? Sorry, I don't know anything about this world.

>$100 CAD for the little kit with case

It goes on sale for $80 CAD and was that price a couple of weeks ago.

>Z-Stick ($60 CAD)

Aeon Z stick for around $50 CAD

>I also have to run some Ethernet wire to a central place in my house for the Lutron bridge as it can't connect to wifi and only has a range of 30 ft so plugging it where the router is would not give enough range to all dimmers.

Can't you run a few smart switches or other sensors in between to bridge the gap?

For flexibility, customization and control, I don't think HA + pi3 can be beaten. I posted a thread a while ago and took in as much info as I could. After weighing my options I realized that the cheapest, most versatile and most complete option was HA + pi3. You'll get there too :).

They will all run on the Pi without anything extra. They'll be able to communicate with anything else that has internet access (like your hues).

I added a zwave stick (there are other brands as well) to mine to control my zwave switches.

That's exactly right. I've not installed Home Assistant on a NAS device before, so I don't know if there are any compatibility issues. But, this is the USB Z-Wave stick that I've seen talked about the most on here:

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485280889&sr=8-1&keywords=aeotec+zwave

>Control smartthings without going through the cloud

OMG. That would be perfect. If that is the case, it would solve any hesitation i have about migrating to Home Assistant. Do you by chance have a link to the code base?

>Some of the Zwave sticks dont support...

Do you have any recommendation as to which one to get? I was thinking about the Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Z-Stick Because that seems to be the one with the most support. Like I said, I've only done a cursory glance at rolling my own because as "Unreliable" as smartthings is, Its still "Good enough."

I have recently gone down the road of automating my home. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Try not to lock yourself into an eco-system.
2. Google Home and Amazon Echo have similar capabilities, if you already have an Amazon, echo and if you like it go with more Alexa devices. As /u/TwiceBakedTomato already mentioned, Google Home or Amazon Alexa are only going to be voice-control part of your home automation. Also, if you already have a pixel phone, you can check out google's home skills, by using the google assistant.
3. Do not overlook Zwave. You can get a USB Zwave hub like this, and you won't have a bunch of bulbs and switches crowding your wifi network.
4. Check out Home Assistant. It is not really a works out-of-the-box solution (I can't speak for hass.io), but it is not hard to setup and has a lot of resources online. The possibilities with it are quite endless. The kind of automations you can have are only limited by the inputs/components you have configured and your imagination :) You can check all the components Home Assistant supports here. I have it configured with my TP-Link bulbs, switches, LIFX Bulbs, ZWave sensors, Zwave switches, Schalge Smart Lock, Roomba, NAS, Nest Cameras, Thermostat, etc...
5. For the doorbell, I would suggest going with the Nest Doorbell, Keep in mind there is an extra $50/yr (or $30/yr for each extra Nest cam) for Nest to save 24x7 video feed. It has however performed better than my older Ring doorbell which kept failing. Make sure your apartment doorbell is wired.
6. If you are getting more cameras, there are 2 options, going for a solution like Nest or Arlo, where the video feed storage, notification, etc is all handled by an external company; or getting cheaper IP/ONVIF Cameras and using your own surveillance/storage solution. I personally have a mix of both. I have a few nest cameras and a few cheaper IP cameras that record to my NAS. This gives me the peace of mind that in case someone breaks into my home and steals my NAS as well, I can still depend on Nest to have the break-in recorded and stored on their servers. I can also see the feed from all my cameras in a single place in Home Assistant.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

1. Replacing wall switches are really easy, so don't restrict yourself to using only smart plugs. Just keep the older switches and put them back when you're moving out of your rental. (Obviously take appropriate safety precautions when working with live electric wires). They are also better when you have a multi-bulb lamp (like a chandelier), instead of getting 3-5 smart bulbs to make the chandelier smart, you can just get a single smart-switch which controls it.
2. Look into a smart lock, they are easy to install and are great! I currently have this one.
3. You can setup Home Assistant in something as small as a raspberry pi. Or if you have a older laptop lying around you can easily install Home Assistant, an MQTT server, Grafana, etc on docker containers on the same system
4. If you like DIY stuff, instead of getting a $35-$60 multi sensor like this, you can easily put together one with a ESP8266 and sensors which would cost about $8-$10 in total.
5. Make sure you set a budget. It's very easy to start buying stuff and a lot of approx. $30 stuff will add up quickly :)

Hope this wall of text helps you. Happy Automating!

e: spelling

Welcome to OpenHab! I've been using OpenHabian on a Raspberry PI for over a year and I love it.

Here's a link for steps to install OpenHabian on a Raspberry PI.

I'm not sure if it's the best Zwave stick but I use the Aeotec Z-stick Gen 5. I've been using it for over a year and it works great, I haven't had any problems. Getting my Zwave stuff working was the first thing I did when I started using OpenHab, so I'm a little foggy on the setup steps. I think I referenced this link to setup my Zwave stick with my OpenHabian. I don't remember using a guide to setup the Zwave stick. I'll poke around to see if I can find one.

If you haven't already, I would recommend reading through the Overview section on the OpenHab website before starting to setup the Zwave stick. That will walk you though the main concepts of OpenHab. If you need more help let me know. I would be happy to offer recommendations for different sensors and actuators that have worked well for me.

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I'm not who you asked, but FWIW: I use the Z-Wave USB dongle by Aeotec with Home Assistant and it works well. You can also use this to force devices to unpair.

I wanted to follow up on this thread with what I have done. I'm using zwave primarily with home assistant. I was using a single Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 for the entire house. This was hosted using the Zwave JS add in.

My house is shaped like a U and some of the walls are reinforced concrete. The overall square footage is 6400 SQFT.

I migrated from this to two Zooz S2 Stick 700 sticks. I placed one stick in the original location which was at the end of one side of the house. I placed another in a rack in the master closet which is the opposite side of the house from the first stick. Each of these sticks are now hosted by a Raspberry PI 4 running zwavejs2mqtt in a docker container.

Selecting which controller I use for a device is now based on the distance to the controller. This puts me in a spot where most devices are a single hop or at most two hops from the controller.

The performance has significantly improved. I have some automations in home assistant that will change the state on a lot of lights. I'm pretty sure that if you call lights.turn_off against a light it will turn it off even if it's already off. Now things are happening instantly.

TLDR: Moved to two controllers on each side of the house and things are faster.

Hello, I'm new to HA and was hoping for some help getting my ubolt pro zwave to hook up with it. I've been trying to get it to connect to my https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X0AWA6E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 that is plugged into the system running home assistant OS. However, while the ubolt works fine on its own, it doesn't seem to want to connect to the hub. (From the hubs standpoint, it seems to be working, does the correct LED flash pattern), but from the app it says it can't connect due to a security error.

https://imgur.com/YOJncvL

 

^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger

Its kind of complicated to explain in a reddit comment what a docker container is, so I'll do my best. Containers are a new-ish technology that allows you to deploy software images and their dependencies as a self-contained packages on top of your OS. I'm pretty sure you can run a home-assistant container on top of windows, although, from what I can tell, that is pretty complicated. You can also just install home assistant on windows if you have a compatible version that supports virtualization and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). I recommend sticking to a Pi. And yes, the device needs to be always on.

For advanced automations, as long as it integrates to home assistant you can use it, be it a z-wave device or a regular wi-fi device, or a zigbee or whatever they support in the future.

Z-wave as of itself is not an automation software, its just a communication protocol between devices and hub. By the way, like I mentioned before, the hub can just be a USB stick that you plug into your Pi like this one.

Yes, the point is communicating with your devices wirelessly, but also setting up automatic routines based on triggers and voice control. A common quirk of a home with multiple devices is to have a different app for each smart device you buy, you'll quickly accumulate a lot of them and its a pain in the ass to manage. Also, usually WI-FI devices talk to their own cloud server through your wifi before doing an action, which adds extra delay and an unnecessary layer for you to control your stuff. I'm not saying wifi devices are bad, but for stuff like light switches which you're going to want to control more often and faster, its just better to have local control.

You can check on the integrations documentation for home assistant, specifically the "alarm" section which companies they currently integrate with. If you click on the integration, you'll see what data or APIs they allow you to read from Home assistant, Abode lets you read all of the sensors, so does Simplisafe. Ring currently only supports doorbell, external chimes and stickup cameras.

I just realized that you may not have a Z-Wave device. I'm using this one and I really like it:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X0AWA6E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 Z-Wave Hub Z-Wave Plus USB to Create Gateway (Ordinary White) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_BZTD9K118FEM8K8X54TP?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Z-Stick-Z-Wave-create-gateway/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=AEOTEC&qid=1611787820&sr=8-5

>Looking to stay zwave. hate Wi-Fi switches. Was going to buy a smartthings

Smartthings is Wi-Fi (unless they changed it)

Smartthings hub -> internet -> hub -> zwave device.

Keep everything local, if internet goes out your home automation will still work. Plus it's faster.

Go with Home Assistant. Run it on a RasPie or old PC/Laptop

https://www.home-assistant.io/

You will need a zwave stick

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_T7-7FbS7REQRH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Edit;

Will take some setting up but you say you are tech savvy

I use an Aeotec Z-Stick and best solution for homebridge I’ve found is to use OpenHAB2 for the z wave devices and connect to Homebridge with the openhab2-complete plugin. Works pretty well! It’s been very reliable in my experience, with 8+ z wave devices including dimmers. OpenHAB2s UI makes it easier to manage z wave devices too.

There is a z wave plugin that exists for homebridge, but I was never able to resolve dependency issues to get it to work. It’s been a couple years since I last tried though, so it may be in a better state.

Aeotec does indeed have Z-Wave Plus USB Z-Sticks. ZWave Plus includes S2.

So, for example, their Gen5 Z-Stick is here on Amazon. Here is that exact product's Certification Page from the Z-Wave Alliance. Aeotec's page announcing Gen5 implements Z-Wave S2.

Lastly, here is the Z-Wave Alliance's press release announcing that any device that is certified after April 2, 2017 will have S2 implemented.

Alrighty that looks like what I was thinking. I was checking on this stick from amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Z-Stick-Z-Wave-create-gateway/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=z-wave+usb&qid=1565731713&s=gateway&sr=8-3

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I have read reports of some users stating that they had an easy time allowing the USB pass through from the ESXi host running the HA VM.

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Thanks for the additional info about the flashing part, something I will need to consider as I would prefer to make my devices linear rather than buying all different types of Smart products.

/u/fiestapinguino's suggestion is good if you're comfortable with (or want to learn) electronics / embedded systems. you can also use a Raspberry Pi, if you have one already or want to host other software on it.

here's what I ended up getting, because I do software, I hate hardware problems and didn't want to dick around with soldering / fitting tiny little wires onto the right spot on a board / etc:

Z-Wave USB dongle

sensor or sensor (I have the former, which are out of stock now; the latter will work just fine since it's basically just the name-brand version)

plus Home Assistant and InfluxDB / Grafana

Z-Wave is cool, it's a fully open wireless protocol for home automation stuff. it's not actual 802.11 Wi-Fi, it's a whole separate frequency & protocol. that's nice because it's damn near impossible to build very-low-power wi-fi devices. the little sensors I have run for a month or two or 2 AAAs. that's only possible because Z-Wave will happily let a sensor wake up once an hour, turn on its radio, send a brief burst of data, then go immediately back to sleep.

Home Assistant can also integrate with damn near anything if you're thinking of building some sort of "if humidity exceeds X, turn on electrical outlet Y" type automation.

• Z-Wave protocol
• /r/homeassistant
• Aeotec Z-Wave stick
• Z-Wave thermostat

My Internet went out the other night, and I didn't even notice (at first) because I was watching on Plex and controlling everything with my phone and locally running Z-Wave, including my thermostat.

P.S. General Electric is a well-known name but all of their Z-Wave products are utter shit. Steer clear of them and go for the Leviton equivalent instead (although I also use other brands such as Aeotec and semi-generic brands like Neo).

All hardware is Z-Wave plus:

• Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5
• Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Smart Switch 6, Gen5
• Aeotec Heavy Duty Smart Switch

I had it integrated, with this hub: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X0AWA6E (Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5). Though, I'm not impressed with HomeAssistant (tries to do too many things and doesn't do a good job at a lot of them), but what do I know.

I do however I use mine. I bought mine from Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X0AWA6E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Something like an Aeotec Z-Stick

Same! The 600W is always more expensive lol

You want this one: Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Z-Stick, Gen5 Z-Wave Plus - ZW090 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_m3HtBbHC12Z7M

It is not prime eligible. I would recommend looking at https://www.aartech.ca first before making any Z-wave purchases. They have good prices and seem to always have a sale.

Edit: don't know of any RPi deals, I bought mine from the Microsoft store last winter, they had the best package deal that I could find at the time. Make sure you know whether you want a 3 Model B or a B+ - last time I looked the B+ was not yet supported by Hass.io

I dumped SmartThings entirely and use HA for everything.

Buy the GE Z-Wave switches, then get a z-wave stick similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Z-Stick-Z-Wave-create-gateway/dp/B00X0AWA6E

Then you pair the stick to the lights and HA controls the stick. Z-Wave sticks are very well supported within the HA community. https://home-assistant.io/docs/z-wave/

I have the aotec and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Z-Stick-Z-Wave-create-gateway/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514406146&sr=8-1&keywords=zwave+usb

and which usb? This? https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E

It says it's certified: https://smile.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/

HASS on a Rpi3 with this guy: https://smile.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/

>From what I am reading I can just buy a Z-Wave USB stick and use it on the PC that is hosting HASS?

Yup. I have one of these, works great: https://smile.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/

>Are there zwave switches that arent a physical switch?

How about just getting one of these? https://smile.amazon.com/Light-Switch-Guard-Toggle-Shields/dp/B00DTXKOTM/

>Are there any zwave relays?

There are, though I'm not aware of anything 12v.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01G7OD1F8/

https://smile.amazon.com/Vision-Z-Wave-Micro-Switch-relay/dp/B00R883YKU/

>Any ideas on how that can be accomplished?

No idea on this on. I'm sure it's possible with HASS. At the very least you can call and external script to make said announcement. You might ask out on the forums, they have a good community: https://community.home-assistant.io/

Cheers!

https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/

http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G143452239825

I am using the Aeon Lab Z Stick , which works really well in my home.

1. https://home-assistant.io/
2. https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Aeon-Labs-ZW090-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1479870595&sr=1-1&keywords=z-stick+gen5
3. https://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-Control-Switch-Z-Wave/dp/B0035YRCR2/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1479870611&sr=1-1&keywords=ge+zwave

**Requires Neutral wire.

I use a Raspberry Pi and a Aeotec Z Stick along with Home Assistant

Your Harmony can do more if you get the hub extender: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/harmony-home-hub-extender I'm not sure exactly what it can do since I don't have it (yet).

I started with the Aeotec zwave stick instead of a hub. http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E I want to play around with different software solutions and there are plenty of open source or free trial options. I think if you buy a smartthings or Vera your stuck with cloud based locked down software.

You may also want to consider Lifx bulbs instead of Hue. The Lifx are WiFi and from what I understand no bridge is needed to use them. http://www.lifx.com/

Post back where you decide to go and what works/doesn't. I'm especially interested in what the Harmony Hub Extender can do.

You can still get it on Amazon.com :)

http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449062832&sr=8-1&keywords=aeon+gen+5+usb

Not, wifi as I wasn't thrilled with some of the options. So, I'm about to go down the Z-Wave route: USB controller and Light switch.

I'll be basing my setup off a Raspberry PI.

If you're looking to use openHAB, I would start by consulting the supported hardware list: http://www.openhab.org/features/supported-technologies.html

However, don't let that dissuade you from trying other technologies as I've typically never run into issues finding a round-about way to integrate my devices.

For a Z-Wave stick I would recommend Aeon's: http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E

If you just want to toy around with Z-Wave devices and not break the bank, I would recommend starting with turning something on/off using a wall plug: http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-DSC06106-ZWUS-Z-Wave-Energy/dp/B007UZH7B8

I'm not an Aeon rep, I just happen to know both of those products take very little time to get working on openHAB and tend to work flawlessly with it.

I would start there and then decide how much further you want to go with automation.

Just set up a Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Z-Stick, Gen5 ZW090 yesterday, Link on Amazon for reference below. Used a RPi2, works like a charm.

http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E

> Its a legitimate question.

What is? "Say whaaaaat?" It really isn't.

Take this item for example...

https://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-Z-Stick/dp/B00X0AWA6E

Amazon sells it for $45 bc they limit overhead with ZERO technical staff and no real retail location. Now when someone locally puts the work into making this available for you all they ask is retail price ($55) and your reaction is shock and terror.

> As if no one sells things in B&M stores that are also sold on amazon

This thing isn't your average item. It's an unbelievably small, microscopic niche item.