Question

I am just getting in to the whole smart home thing. starting with a couple smart plugs and bulbs. I have read some things on hubs. What is the benefit of a hub?  

Answer 1

It allows you to control what you want to control.  

Comments

Please explain what you mean. I mean what would be the reason to get a hub over say just using alexa?  

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Z-wave products need a hub then you control the product using Alexa through the hub.  

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You can usually control WiFi products through Alexa directly .  

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@newberry Thank you for the reply. Would there be any benefit in to using products like Z-wave over using WiFi products?  

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@homocyclic Some say Z-wave is more reliable and stronger . Not sure but that's what I have read.  

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I am just looking at if I should be looking in to a hub. I only want to control a few lights and maybe the gradge door. I am not expecting to get in to the whole security side or even a thermostat.  

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There are advantages and disadvantages to z-wave. Yes it is reliable, but it's not future-proof. Should you decide to get more product in the future, they may not work with the hub you get. I've learned the best way to future proof your home is with WiFi controlled devices.  

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@campos624 most people have a residential grade access point / router in their house. A device that is trying to do way too many things and does none of them well. This would probably my biggest reason not to go Wi-Fi devices. Smart home I feel like becomes an addiction if done right. I started with a couple of lights now I have like a hundred and twenty eight devices. You'll be amazed at how much data the Google homes and other smaller devices use. Now combine that with 4K video streaming through the house or 8K in the future. I also like how Z-Wave can act as a repeater, so if you don't have a great system for access points and you have a larger house there are no issues with connectivity. To me the hub is in no brainer, they're so cheap compared to some of the other devices. It's a very small price to pay for functionality and future proofing.  

Answer 2

What do you have for devices now?  

Comments

I have 4 gosung plugs, a LIFX bulb. I have 4 more bulbs and 2 switches on the way. I also have 2 dots and a set of sonos speakers

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I think the switches are gosung also and I dont remember who makes the bulbs I did make sure all were WiFi and did not need a hub

Answer 3

If all you want is a fancy remote (smart phone or Alexa) keep following your current path. On the other hand, if you want a truly Smart Home with automation and all that you will need a hub. Now the real question is local or cloud based. My preference is as local as possible. Things like Alexa are currently cloud based and not much of any other options right now. But the good thing is you can be totally local with everything else and have Alexa 'talk' to your local server. The final thing is how much effort do you want to put into the project. How tech savvy are you and how much are you willing to research and learn.  

Answer 4

The advanced programming a hub can handle, the fact some rely on WiFi. The list goes on  drop me a pm if you would like more information

Answer 5

A hub is a flashy word for a controller. Some controllers have routers built into them (zwave or ZigBee) others do not. Think of them like mini computers. Their sole job is to run and accept commands from the parts of your system. That could be sensors, programs, media whatever. Some companies sell hubs as a way of making revenue which support their programming. Others do not. A lot of systems do not need a hub. In fact hubs are generally underpowered and overpriced for what they are (but the companies need revenue so we understand why). If you choose a system that doesn't need a proprietary hub you can essentially run the controller on your own hardware. Whether that's a raspberry pi (more than capable in most instances), or a virtual machine on your computer or that old pc or laptop you got lying in the cupboard. Now if you decide to run your system on a raspberry pi or your main workstation you might still need a router to allow it to talk to ZigBee or zwave. These are cheap. Cheapest ZigBee router is $5 (cc2531), all the way up to around $30-40. If you want z-wave they're generally a little more expensive but can be had for around $30-50. If I was you, I would stop looking at systems that need a hub and look towards systems that are open and can be run on hardware of your choice. All of the open systems should be able to I react with WiFi/Alexa/Google without issue.  

Comments

Thank you @elene for the reply. I had not even thought about using an old PC or a PI to set somethings up with. I will have to look in to that more.  

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@homocyclic i was running home-assistant (and node-red) on a raspberry pi 3 for several years without issue. Total cost including my zigbee router, $39! I love home-assistant, but appreciate it's not everyone's cup of tea. The latest upgrades in the last year have really made it much more user friendly. I'm currently running my HA installation on a 6th gen intel nuc that I got off ebay. 2gb ram, 32gb ssd, works perfectly. I also have an unraid server (bit of a beast - dell r720) and that runs home-assistant in docker, as well as docker for mqtt, node-red, zigbee2mqtt etc. It's so much easier to do a snapshot/backup, restart etc. I think you're going to experience a lot of providers trying to bork/force users into paid upgrades (hub overhauls), subscriptions etc. look at what's happened so far with some of the platforms already: These are essentially gone or going close-sourced. Stringify Wink Nest (google shut down 3rd party) Lowe's Iris Revolv Lighthouse AI Insignia Connect (best buy) IFTTT disconnecting various api's

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@elene OK now your starting to speak Greek to me LOL The computer stats I understand. Is home assistance, google? Ok so back to a previous question of mine. What is these type of services bring to the table that alexa can not do? I have the plug that I have programmed to turn on and off at sunset and sunrise. I can also tell alexa to turn it on with my voice. What more can I possibly do with this thing? Same kinda question about this smart bulb I have. I know for me If I had to pay just to turn a light on and off I would just end up going back to a dumb switch.  

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@homocyclic :) if your internet is down Alexa is down. Alexa can only do what Amazon skills allow you to do. With something like home-assistant (different to Google home) you can make your own routines, entities, automations etc. Have a look at home-assistant. io

Answer 6

The biggest advantage of a hub is that your system is local, so it doesn't matter in the future that ifttt or whatever app no longer supports your stuff, the hub will always support what you have, the massive advantage is you do not share your information with a server in china.  

Comments

So does that mean you would not need to make accounts with the manufactures to register and do the set up prepossess?  

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You would, but you can use trusted us ones, like home seer etc, not wing wang in china

Answer 7

I use a hub because I don’t need the extra congestion on my Wi-Fi network. I work for an ISP and have seen many places that get a few Wi-Fi switched or bulbs and they start having issues with their internet.  

Answer 8

Future proof yourself and get a Universal Devices ISY-994i Just about all the others out there lock you down to only using their products, and having to rely on a 3rd party connection across the internet. Do it once, do it right.