#Ideal network topology for SmartHome

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

limpid basin
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First 🙂

karmic moat
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I'm not sure your question makes any sense

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  1. Is run network cables
  2. Is use IP address
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It also assumes all your devices will be wired, what about Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, etc?

limpid basin
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Primarily just cable

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It doesn't always have to be IP, different types of buses can be used such as DALI, KNX etc.

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Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread are all wireless technologies that I would rather avoid when designing a network topology.

karmic moat
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Everybody's version of "ideal" will differ, but hopefully somebody will be along who understands your question better shrug

limpid basin
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Maybe my point got lost in translation. I apologize. Can I clarify something to make my question more meaningful?

karmic moat
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What's your goals here? What are you wanting to achieve?

limpid basin
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Oh, I see.

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I want to control the whole house with Home Assitant, but at the same time ensure that if Home Assistant fails, the smart house continues to function at least partially. Or decentralised.

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I want to minimize electromagnetic radiation and maximize safety. Therefore, I will run everything in cables and only the bare minimum in wireless technologies.

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Have I managed to explain my needs better?

karmic moat
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KNX is probably your best solution then. Just not a cheap one.

limpid basin
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I have considered KNX as well as DALI for lights, I like the bus connection , security, decentralization, but I am bothered by the limited number of devices that support KNX :(. + price and complexity of setup.

hot elbow
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There's a youtube channel called "Superhouse" or something by some crazy dude who has run 2 cat6 to every light switch and socket around his house and put a full size arduino into everything...
It's probably rock solid and infinitely expandable, but definitely not cheap.

karmic moat
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Fully wired setups tend to be more expensive, because they're professional level (or at least priced that way)

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If you want affordable you have to give up the desire to wire everything

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You can do a lot with both Zigbee and Z-Wave to let things work when HA isn't working - whether that's by using smart switches instead of smart bulbs or using binding (Zigbee) or association (Z-Wave) to let devices directly control another one.

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Of course, I can count on the thumbs of one hand the number of unplanned outages I've had of my smart home in the last 6+ years

limpid basin
karmic moat
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It's not hard to design a system that's highly available, it just costs more

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If you want highly available and redundant you have to pay for that. You don't get something for nothing.

limpid basin
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I'm willing to pay 🙂

karmic moat
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Yeah, but you said you're bothered by the price of KNX 😉

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So, maybe not so willing tongue_out_winking_eye

limpid basin
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What lights would you recommend for a smart home, controlled by wire? I don't think I know of any.

karmic moat
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Smart switch/dimmer

limpid basin
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My main problem with KNX is the limited availability of devices.

karmic moat
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And you've carefully avoided mentioning where in the world you are...

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Here in the UK a quick search turned up loads of KNX options

limpid basin
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But the smart switch/dimmer won't allow for circadian rhythms in the lights, will it? Or does it?

karmic moat
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Not for colour temperature, no

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But you're going to find very few wired smart lights AFAIK

limpid basin
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Czech Republic .)

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A smart light on an ethernet cable would be ideal :). But I don't know of any 🙂

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So your ideal solution he hybrid? Part of the network to be ethernet and part wireless? For example, ZigBee?

karmic moat
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I don't have the kind of budget you're talking about... my ideal solution would be very different than yours ablobjoy

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That said, if you want smart bulbs then yes, you'll need a hybrid setup, but if you do that you're back to having HA as central to it working

limpid basin
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And can I decentralize control through Home Assistant?

karmic moat
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That's very much the point of HA

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It's the "hub" for a few thousand different platforms, allowing you to treat them all as one big happy system

limpid basin
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Yeah, I understand that. But I'm tempted to have a Master HA and a Slave HA.The Slave HA's job is just to monitor whether the Master HA is online and continuously copy its settings. If the Master HA goes down, the Slave HA takes over control of the home without fail. But I guess there is no such solution yet :)?

karmic moat
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Well, you could search the forum for High Availability Home Assistant but there's nothing off the shelf

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That said, unplanned outages are usually a hardware issue, not a HA issue. Or because you did something wrong.

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If you're experienced in running a clustered environment it shouldn't be hard to run a pure Container install that way

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If you're not experienced in that, it's not going to be easy

limpid basin
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Thanks for the discussion and your time.

karmic moat
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Good luck in finding a solution agooglethumbsup