Smart Home Connectivity

In this video I want to discuss issues I had with connecting to devices in my house.
I initially had a Mesh Router setup which has 2 channels, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and the router, when connecting to your device determines which is the best channel your device should connect to. So if your device (eg your Mobile Phone) is near the router it will connect to the 5GHz channel, but if your device moves further away it may reconnect it to the 2.4GHz channel.
Now this is not good for Smart Home Devices (SHD) as they all pretty much run on the 2.4GHz channel only.
Having a Mesh router can cause issues when you are trying to pair the SHD with your mobile phone as your phone initially may be connected on the 2.4GHz channel but in the pairing process may switch to the 5GHz channel and then the pairing fails.
I ended up connecting my old router which has dedicated 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels, so you can connect to either channel of your choosing.
The process for connecting 2 routers can be done if you watch this RUclips Video ( • Connect Any Two Home N... )
I did this and used the 2.4GHz channel, named DRAX, to connect my SHD's wifi bulbs, HW Heating Switch and Power Meter. All these devices are WIFI devices and after setting my mobile to DRAX network connection I had no trouble pairing the devices and could them trigger them by Mobile App.
I'd set the 2nd router in a far corner of my house and I had connectivity issues with one bulb near the other end of the house. The signal strength was too weak to keep the connection. So I relocated the router in my attic space in a more central location and that issue was resolved.
I then had issues with my power meter failing, and this occurred as I added more SHD's to my system, and I concluded that this caused the Wifi signal to be weaker further away. So I used a wifi extender and located it near the power meter and that solved that issue. When you use a wifi extender, it cannot have the same Wifi address as the main wifi, so I named the wifi extender name to DRAX-EXT and connected the power meter to that network name. As they are both on the same 2.4GHz range that is fine. I just need to be aware that that device is using a different network name to connect to.
A zigbee system, it runs also on the 2.4GHz channel, but there is a main HUB (think- router) and the devices connect to the hub.
The reason for using the zigbee network is that it is designed to be low powered so you can have battery charged devices, such as temp/humidity sensors that run on batteries that talk to the zigbee hub which in turn talks to the router.
So Zigbee battery powered devices are great for existing homes as you don't need to have a power outlet nearby to connect to and no messy wiring required.
You can have the SHD such as a thermostat/hygrometer that sends information to the hub, at say, 10 minute intervals, and then goes into a low powered passive mode (that still maintains its wifi connection with the zigbee hub, then wakes 10 minutes later and sends the temp & humidity information again, then goes into a passive mode again. In this way the sensor is not using too much power and can last for months on the batteries it has installed, before they need replacing.
Pairing a Zigbee device is the same as when you pair a wifi device, except at the end of the pairing process it asks what device you want to associate the sensor to? in this case we chooser the Zigbee hub that we have previously set up and connected to the wifi router.
The zigbee hub is a small device and they usually are connected to a USB charger (5v, 1-2A) so they have constant power.
As with the wifi routers, you may not have the coverage that you require from one Zigbee hub, so you may decide to add another zigbee hub at the other end of the house. In this case the new zigbee hub device you have added needs to connect to the original hub. You can only have ONE HUB, so the new hub is a SUB-HUB under the main Hub that you already have setup. So sensors can connect to whichever hub is nearest.
Similar to the Wifi Mesh Routers, where you can add other routers to the system to get a better coverage in your house, Zigbee protocol allows you to have zigbee devices that are connected to mains power to act as sub-hubs as well. Eg. If you have a zigbee plug socket, it can act as a zigbee sub hub, so sensors in close proximity to the plug ill send their data to the plug, which will then send it to the Zigbee hub which will send it to the router and then on to the cloud.
Now bluetooth devices can connect to the Zigbee network. I've only used tuya bluetooth devices and they connect to the zigbee network without any If you are thinking of using smart devices in your house, the first thing you will need is a good strong wifi network on the 2,4GHz channel over the whole of the house.
If you are looking to use Zigbee devices too, then you also need to have good Zigbee coverage over the whole of the house.