I typically avoid anything smart, but given practicality, I’m looking for general tips or recommendations for smart bulbs?
I have just started self-hosting home-assistant, and would prefer ones which integrate well with that.
What should I look out for when buying them? Any brands to avoid? Any cybersecurity concerns you’ve come across? Or should I avoid them altogether?
**Thanks everyone for the responses! I may not get back individually, but it’s a great point to jump in from
ZigBee is a fully local mesh protocol. Matter is a local protocol that can run over either WiFi or over Thread, a local mesh protocol designed to replace ZigBee. Zigbee, Matter and Thread are your friends.
I cannot even begin to recommend this highly enough:
https://sonoff.tech/en-nl/products/sonoff-zigbee-thread-usb-dongle-dongle-plus-mg24
Get one of those - or an equivalent device from another manufacturer - to allow Home Assistant to talk directly to your bulbs using Zigbee or Thread. With that, you HA can speak directly to any bulb that uses Zigbee, Thread or Matter which is 99% of the bulbs worth bothering with.
Anything that connects to WiFi without explicitly using Matter should be avoided at all costs and especially if it uses Tuya - look for the mark of the beast hidden on the packaging of kit sold under other brands.
IKEA Tradfri (ZigBee) and Kajplats (Thread) bulbs are excellent, especially for the low price. Philips Hue (ZigBee/Thread) is the gold standard but not cheap.
Devices running ESPHome or Tasmota are rarer but also highly hackable and work entirely over local WiFi. Take a look at Local Bytes for some good kit like that.
ZigBee, ZigBee, ZigBee. Don’t get sucked into these big brands that use WiFi.
Avoid TP-Link wifi bulbs. The ones I bought reboot again and again if their constant reports to China are blocked. TP-LInk and their employees do not need to know when I’m home and when I’m on vacation.
I replaced them with inexpensive Thirdreality Zigbee bulbs and they have worked perfectly for over a year.
I would also get the thirdreality bulbs, they’re kind of the cheapest but still decent zigbee brand. I am struggling with my piece of shit sonoff zigbee dongle though, so maybe look into that.
(It’s unavailable in home assistant, all the fucking time. I can fix it temporarily by unplugging and plugging it back in but it barely lasts).
One more thing - check your cable. If I’m remembering correctly it’s the high frequency electrical noise generated by USB 3.0 ports that causes the problem. USB 2.0 cables block those frequencies so the dongles will work.
Do you have it plugged directly into the USB port? I had to buy a USB extension because my Sonoff dongle wouldn’t behave without it.
I tried it that way, but started with the included USB extension.
So far I’ve tried with or without the extension, every USB port on the PC, and trying different locations within reach of the extension.
If you end up replacing it, in my experience Hamgeek coordinators work much better than Sonoff.
I have a Zigbee USB dongle and Zigbee2MQTT. This way I can use Philips hue and Ikea bulbs without an additional app or bridge.
This is exactly what I have done for 10 years and never needed to replace a bulb. Start with ZigBee, then any ZigBee bulb including hue. I use hue because their product is honestly great
I recommend Phillips Hue bulbs, but add them directly to ZHA and skip the Hue hub. Their bulbs are the best I’ve tried, and they’ve been perfectly stable for me on ZHA.
To clarify, because you probably never heard of ZHA, that’s the Home Assistant integration of Zigbee.
In terms of security, it’s definitely best to use either zigbee or thread bulbs with a dedicated dongle plugged directly into your HA server (never use the manufacturer’s hub). That way, they can only communicate with your HA directly, and there’s no way for them to access the internet surreptitiously.
I highly recommended the Sonoff dongles, I’m using the MG24 for my thread devices and an older model for my zigbee ones and they’ve been rock solid. Just make sure to use a USB extension cable to plug them in as your USB ports can generate electrical interference - do not ignore this advice! I did at first and it caused me problems. (Iirc the MG24 actually comes with one in the box)
Something else to note is that you can’t use the same dongle for both ZigBee and Thread at the same time, they each need to be flashed with the respective firmware for the protocol you want to use.
Well, If you, and quite a few others in this thread seem to have had to fight USB fuckery, I wouldn’t consider them rock solid.
Esphome or ZigBee bulbs are the way to go, avoid tuya for WiFi bulbs
https://www.athom.tech/esphome
ZigBee bulbs I have gotten from aliexpress, they are usually pretty good, but you’ll need a ZigBee antenna or bridge.
Tuya require a cloud connection, so best to avoid.
I did the same with the Athom bulbs, they were easy to get connected to Home Assistant and the firmware is easy to manage.
Unfortunately they are not so easy for managing PWM sensitivity. They have a fairly high level of flicker and for some people, such as my partner, it can be quite bad on the eyes.
Apparently you can modify the PWM frequency to something much higher and fix the problem, but I have not been able to figure it out yet.
I have heard that you can flash the tufa bulbs with localTuya, so if you are comfortable with flashing your stuff, that might be an option. I haven’t tried it myself though, not quite there yet on a skill or comfort level. I now use openhab, so I don’t know if it would work the same, but openhab used the cloud only for discovery and does local control, as per the information on the binding. I don’t know if it works the same way in homeassistant.
I have converted some tuya bulbs in the past, but its never been a good time. The exploit methods tend to get patched, so I had to open the bulbs and solder wires to flash, and the bulbs don’t go back together nicely. Better to just avoid that headache imo.
I’m really pleased with Hue directly to ZHA, also IKEA when they still supplied TRÅDFRI (I think, their Zigbee-bulbs). I’ve attempted “converting” their new Thread/Matter-bulbs, but I have had no luck getting the process done correctly.
First: Don’t get cheap bulbs. Feit is bad. Check the HA site for compatibility.
Also, Do you have occasional power outages, no matter how small? Some bulbs will reset and/or go into a flashing pairing mode. It can be awkward if you have to unscrew the bulb to get it back online. Again, get the best possible bulbs.
FWIW, I have found it to be better to use smart plugs for lamps and smart switches when possible/needed.
To be honest, I wasn’t even aware of smart switches… This could be the way to go…
THE way to go. But think through your system first. My house has radio penetration issues, so I have a mix of zwave and insteon. I prefer the zwave, but you just can’t stop an insteon signal. Home assistant makes it simple to have a zwave switch also control an insteon device and vice versa.
govee have been super reliable.
no flicker, always work. stay the color they are set to. dont know about home hosting that though. that sounds facinating. how would that even work?
also highly recommend remote switches expecially for controlling older switches. safer than reaching in and always shutting them off by hand.
Interesting, I had the opposite experience. The light would work for a few weeks or so and then something would randomly disconnect, so sometimes I’d try to turn the light on and end up with an obnoxious blinking light until I went through the whole pairing process again. It was like the app forgot the bulb existed.edit: never mind, just realized that I mixed Govee up with a different brand/app. Govee has been fine in my experience. Feit’s the one that was a problem.
ah thanks for sharing! now we know which one to stay away from!
Thanks! Can I ask what you mean by “closing them off by hand”?
so you dont have to use your hands to reach in on older lamps to shut them off or unplug
Ah I understand, thanks!
Sonoff Zigbee dongle plus ThirdReality smart lights is what I’m running
I would not recommend IKEAs KAJPLATS bulbs right now. There is a bug in firmware 1.2.0 (which has been out for ~8 months now) where the bulb will turn a neon Shrek green if you have it set to a very warm white/orange color and the brightness is between 49-99%.
Really annoying since you know… people tend to like warmer colored lighting in the evening and at night.
No such issues with their now discontinued Zigbee-only lights or Philips Hue lights.
I use a mix of Hue, Cync, and Nanoleaf bulbs. Hue are easily the best of the lot. They have best colors, the best temps, the best brightness, the best room control, the best app. That said, they are 4 times as expensive as the next cheaper alternative, and they require a hub. I have not yet setup my home assistant box, but it will be interesting to see how things improve after that.
You can “adopt” Philips Hue bulbs into ZHA and ditch the hub entirely. I agree they have the best bulbs, but using their hub was a no go for me. Happy to report they’ve been working perfect directly on ZHA.
Thanks! When you say “directly” do you mean lights direct to server, or is there a dongle/hub between?
You’ll need a ZigBee dongle. I have a Conbee III but there’s a few options out there.
They aren’t the most perfect light bulbs, but I use the nanoleaf essentials matter over thread bulbs all over two homes. They’re very reliable, support color temp as well as RGB, just wish they sometimes ran brighter. With matter over thread it’s a solid mesh network, works fully offline, and supports multi admin setups i.e. the light bulb can be added to home assistant, apple home and google home and can be controlled by all three at the same time.
Afaik it’s easy to add a thread radio to your home assistant install.
What about smart wall switches instead? What are you trying to automate?
Almost all of the lighting I have that I automate, I do with a zigbee smart plug instead of a smart light.
The plugs then replace the existing wall switch, right? And do they then need an additional dongle?
I believe I will head in the direction of smart switches instead as colour changing isn’t important to me, only dimming and remotely turning off/on from central points without needing to rewire the house.
