Post #2019330

I'm using the HomeAssistant Blue. Amazing device you can no longer get but can build something similar. I'm slowly working on integrating HomeAssistant into an old house I'm fixing up while I live in it. I build many of my own sensors and controllers using ESP32'S and ESP8266's. They run on wifi and use a bit more power but I can build a single box that costs me about 30 bucks and will cover multiple zigbee devices so don't discount the use of wifi. The ESPHome Bluetooth proxy paired with the Bermuda BLE Triangulation is another plus for ESP32's for tracking as you can use a phone with Bluetooth low energy setup in the HomeAssistant app or you can use the android ble trackers. I've been integrating some zigbee devices lately and ones like the Sonoff ZBMINIR2'S are really nice to have since they can turn any dumb switch into a smart one. This will be less useful in an apartment but something to keep in mind. For zigbee sensors I use a vibration sensor on my front door and have some moisture sensors that will be paired with a zigbee faucet valve for automatically watering my garden this year. I have a couple zigbee rgb bulbs and they seem fine as well. Another project to look into is WLED is truly amazing for RGB strips and strings.b For the thread/matter vs zigbee stuff there is a ton of information out there. They use different frequencies (zigbee overlaps with wifi thread/matter doesn't.) Thread/matter utilizes IPv6 and can provide internet access while zigbee does not. Zigbee has been around longer and is very stable and mature thread/matter is newer and aiming for higher bandwidth an better interoperability. Just to throw a wrench into the works there is also Z-wave https://lemmy.world/c/homeassistant is a good place to get more help and info on HomeAssistant as well as directly on the HomeAssistant site.