Already quite familiar with my Gladys V3 setup, I’m gently tempted to try the V4 but haven’t really taken the plunge due to some compatibility issues with my current setup.
Let me explain. Most of my installation communicates via 433 MHz (powered sockets, roller shutter modules (replacing buttons), and alarm (with SIM) with various detectors). I once integrated Bluetooth nuts for presence management, but they drained the batteries very quickly, so I abandoned them.
To truly take advantage of the V4, which is currently running idle on a second Raspberry Pi, I think I’ll need to change a large part of my hardware, if not all of it.
My goal is not to be completely dependent on the internet connection (which is unreliable where I am).
What protocol and hardware would you recommend to enjoy the comfort of internet connectivity but not depend on it to maintain permanent functionality of the installation (alarm, for example, with SMS sending if necessary)?
I see a lot of posts about Zigbee. Does this communication require the internet? It seems possible to complement it with eWeLink (already supported in V4).
Z-Wave seems a bit expensive to install.
Would Gladys V4 be able to serve as an alarm center?
NB: I tinker a bit but get lost quickly in programming.
I strongly recommend Zigbee; in my opinion, it’s the technology that’s growing the most, and for several reasons:
Reliable technology that works well
Open standard
Mesh protocol, which can theoretically support more than 65,000 devices on a network.
A lot of compatible peripherals for very cheap (a peripheral can start at a few euros on a Chinese site, and 8-10€ bought in France), while being of excellent quality. For example, Xiaomi’s hardware is super design, while being unbeatable in price
Many USB sticks from different brands, at many prices, starting at 8€.
And above all, an open-source project, Zigbee2mqtt, which is very active, that we use in Gladys and which offers us compatibility with this entire ecosystem via MQTT, very simply.
On the Z-Wave side, I advise less:
Devices are expensive (50-60€ per peripheral)
Proprietary protocol so far. They announced at the end of 2020 that they were going to become an open standard like Zigbee, but so far it remains a closed standard, which has complicated the first open-source library initiatives at the time.
Gladys integration is based on open-zwave, a library created in the era when Z-Wave was not open, the library was designed by reverse-engineering the protocol, and therefore suffers from many issues. A new, more modern library has emerged (ZWaveJS), but we do not use it in Gladys.
In a more general way, I clearly see a future based on Zigbee, but a future based on Z-Wave much less!
In terms of hardware, I bought a few days ago on my side a Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB key on Domadoo (I haven’t tested it yet, but I’ve seen good reviews on the internet)
