Extra Homey bridges because a lot of Zigbee endusers

Hi all,

My first post on this forum. Great to be able to share problems and questions with such a great community.

I have purchased a Homey Bridge and so far I am quite satisfied. I am still running into some issues though and who knows, someone may be able to help me on my way.
I use a lot of Philips Hue (lamps) and Aquara (thermometers), which I think use Zigbee. So many that the number goes above the number indicated by Athom (see: Advice on building a stable Zigbee network – Homey Support)
Over 40 bulbs alone. And that will be more and more; in addition all kinds of other smart-home stuff, like curtains etc.

My questions:

Can multiple Zigbee networks be kept in the air side by side. For example, can you connect 2 Homey Bridges next to each other, each taking care of a part? And can this then be controlled from 1 app?
Or are routers recommended to divide the traffic a bit, which ones?

Hope someone can give me a direction. Thanks in advance.

Greetings, Sipke.

Hey Sipke, welcome.

A positive experience with Homey (cloud & bridge), nice to hear.

Do you use Hue bridge, or stand alone hue devices?

Aqara & Hue use zigbee indeed.

Multiple zigbee controllers side-by-side are possible, but select the proper channels. Also with respect to your 2,4GHz Wifi channel.

Yes and yes.No.
You could opt for a Hue bridge, that way you can control all devices in one screen, on the Homey app.
BUT you’ll then have 2 mesh networks, and need the router devices ‘spread’ through your location, so you’ll create two seperate network “circles” in your location.

Using as many routers as possible is always a good idea. Zigbee Lightbulbs act as routers, so you’re okay there I think.
But 40 - 50 zigbee devices is the max on a Homey Pro.
We don’t know yet what the workable limits of the bridge are.
Are you gonna test it for us??:wink::upside_down_face:

The Bridge has the same Zigbee hardware as the Homey Pro.

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Noooo…
Multiple Zigbee Mesh networks is not an issue, but in one Homey (Cloud) you can connect ONE Homey Bridge, (And if you like other bridges like one or more Hue Bridges)
Other Bridges I am not yet aware of that they are supported or will be in the future.

Whoops, Geurt. I was under the impression one can connect a Pro and a bridge in the app. Or 2 or 3 Pro’s

But not 2 bridges??

Or is ‘the app’ 2 different apps in reality?

Just the facts ma’am

I’ve seen you making a lot of assumptions about the bridge, don’t think that’s very helpfull. You don’t need to participate in every topic.

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Thank you

Hi Peter,

Thank you. A large network is important. That way you can help each other. Will unfortunately be a lot of consuming in the beginning before I can do something for the forum myself.

The Homey Bridge is still in a beginning phase, but I am convinced that this device will soon become a good “competitor” of its bigger brother (Pro). And hope that then also all apps can be used. I do need those, such as PowerView from Luxaflex, Twinkly etc. I have experimented a lot with KAKU, HomeWizard, etc etc. But would now like an environment where everything is linked, with nice flows :slight_smile:

For the Philips Hue I use the bridge version 2. That one is almost full and I need to add a 2nd bridge. For Aquara I also have a bridge, but at the moment - by logging in again to the Homey Bridge - all thermometers etc. have disappeared from the Aquara Bridge (reset by linking to Homey Bridge).
I see that in time I may have to look at my Wifi :slight_smile: Just purchased a Fritzbox to get all that going too.
All fun challenges then.

Are you gonna test it for us??:wink::upside_down_face:

I’m sure I’ll get above that number of “connections”. With just the lights. And, but I’m not sure about that, the Philips Hue switches I have in use. In addition to the app, I’m also trying to make everything work via the “old fashioned” way as much as possible. I currently see in my HJomey app only the bulbs and plugs, but not the switches. So unfortunately I can’t get the status of the lamps from the Homey app. Because a lamp can also be turned on by a switch. Enough challenges haha.

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Top! Thanks.

That’s not how Athom sees the Bridge (as a competitor to the Pro). If you have “simple” needs, a Bridge will suffice. If you want something more advanced, you’ll need a Pro. There are plenty of apps that will not become available for the Bridge, for instance apps that will require local network access to devices (and it looks like Luxaflex Powerview is one such device) or apps that are marked as “tools”.

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bert, I apparently have greater needs then… Then for myself I see the Homey Bridge as a great opportunity to get acquainted with Homey. Can I try out a few things and when I start DIYing in our living room in 2022, I will switch to the Homey Pro.
Then I can control most things with 1 device and use the tools.

Your view on this info please:

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