! HP23 all-in-one beginner guide / compatible devices!

[Ioan_Maris]

Hi everyone.

Would be probably a little bit longer post, but i think it would be welcomed and needed, as i see there are more and more questions from begginers, on products that can be paired directly to HP23! So please take your time and read it from beginning to the end, as it is intended to help the new users with their first steps as a begginer.

First of all, what is Homey Pro 2023?? To keep it simple, it is a smart HUB that tries to bring together different smart products from different manufacturers, that comunicate through different protocols and wants to integrate them all, to comunicate and work toghether in a smart home.

The different protocols that exists today, when talking about a smart home, would be:

• z wave
• zigbee
• bluetooth
• wi-fi
• and more recent thread and matter.

So different manufacturers are producing different products that comunicate through different ways (protocols). And to make it all work togheter, you will normaly need a HUB from that producer and need to install the coresponding app to be able to install and control those devices.

Homey Pro 2023 comes as an integration HUB, that is equiped with multiple sensors/antenas ( z wave, zigbee, wi-fi, bluetooth, radio, matter will be unlocked in the future as well) and can communicate with all these products, thanks to it’s internal components/modules. Further more, it’s interface will allow you to create from simple comands to advanced flows with all the signals that are comming from your smart devices.

When it comes to smart devices, as it is intended to be an absolut begginer guide, it’s worth mentioning that these are grouped in a few categories:

• smart lights
• smart switchers
• smart plugs
• cameras
• sensors
• actuators
• thermostats
  Etc

Until now, you would probably need an HUB almost for every category/product. What Homey Pro 2023 it’s trying to change. It supports thousand and thousand of products, from hundreds manufacturers that can be DIRECTLY connected, but also products that still need their OWN HUB. For those products that are connecting directly to HP23, you will need to install their APP in Homey Pro 2023 interface.
Here it is VERY IMPORTANT to check the compatibility of the product with HP23, by consulting the Homey compatible Apps, in the dedicated section of Athom site. Would be recommended to do the check BEFORE you buy an product, as there are nowadays thousand and thousand of smart products, many of them produced in China, that doesn’t always have the best connection option or compatibility.

It will come the question, why do we need to install different apps, from different producers, if we have HP23, which promises to bring all devices togheter!

Well… you can look at the HP23 as the hardware part, the communication HUB. But it will still need the “drivers” from different products and producers to know how to communicate with all different devices. Those apps will integrate all the connection data, that are technically hard to explain in a beginner guide, and will assure that the device communicate corectly to the HUB (HP23) and with all other devices in the network.

Further more, as i allready specified, HP23 will be able to control all those devices, receive all informations from them, centralize them and work with all those informations, in form of commands, scenes and advanced flows.

As a very basic example, if you have a simple door sensor that can identify when your door is opened and a smart light bulb, you will be able to make an absolut basic command where to tell the light bulb to turn on, when you are coming home (opening the door).

As HP23 is evolving, more and more users are working with this device every day; more and more devices are tested, more and more solutions to problems are found and the developers are working to make the product more stable and more usable through updates.

As a beginner myself, i have tried to read all the informations on this forum, what is absolutly impossible! There are thousand and thousand of posts, messeges, questions, disscutions. This is why i felt the need of such an topic! Where to beginn. And later, as more and more experience is gained, we can go to the more advanced topics, and expand our knowledge and our smart home as well

I am asking our collegues in this forum, which allready have the minimum experience of setting/pairing an device with HP23 to share their experience with us and new other users that are in exactly in the same situation: the first step!

And to do so, to be very easy and to transmit very clear information, i would like to ask our colleagues to list in their comment very very transparent and very simple information about their products, that they succesfully connected to HP23 and are working fine and stable.

For example, someone can list in a few words: “as smart lights i am using XXX product from YYY manufacturer, that is directly connected to HP23 through ZZZ protocol, it is stable and works fine”.

Please restrict your examples to DIRECTLY connected devices, as we are still adressing to the absolute beggi ers! Would make no sense to adress an begginer guide where we read about other bridges, hubs, home assistent integration and other advanced situations. For those discussions, we will adress us to other topics from this forum.

Thak you all,

Hope we will be able to simplify the first steps into our smart journey, by listing as many devices as we can, that directly connect to HP23!!

[Marcus_Smit]

Hello Ioan_Maris,

I was looking for a post like this and i am really puzzled about the lack of responses to this post. There really should be a post (or page or document) that ‘has it all’:

• wat is home automation
• competitors to Homey
• best products to start with
• security
• HAHA (home automation high availability)
• predictions/expectations of HA future.
• … and more!

If there are people on this forum who are willing to feed me with information, then i am willing to start such a document.

[dudu_95]

Hello, I just came across your message. I’m new to Homey in 2023 since early November, and I was previously using the eedomus box. When I started with this box, it was a bit challenging to understand the operation, as I was used to another box that had a different approach. Regarding my modules, I mainly work with Z-Wave, specifically with the Fibaro brand. Overall, the installation went well. Sometimes, the module wouldn’t pair, but with persistence, it worked. I also had electrovalve modules that integrated well, but I had to disassemble them because they wouldn’t integrate due to their distance from the box, which was over 4 meters between separate floors with a thick wall. After integration, they work perfectly.

One thing I’ve noticed with Fibaro door sensors is the instability of battery measurements, which can go from 100% to 35% or even 1% within a few weeks, despite a 6-hour wake-up interval. However, browsing the forum reveals many reports of battery measurement instability, which was also the case on eedomus.

I have several Vision brand door sensors that struggle to communicate with the box. Occasionally, they lose the connection, and I have to remove and reinsert the battery. Fibaro and Hank flood detectors work well overall. Fibaro motion detectors also function well. I have a Ring keypad to control the alarm, and it occasionally exhibits strange behavior. There were instances where it failed to transmit the alarm activation information to the Homey box, even though the keypad works perfectly and has over 70% battery. I don’t understand why, but looking at forum discussions, it seems quite unstable. Some suggest restarting Z-Wave, leading to the loss of all installed modules and requiring each module to be reinstalled, if I understood correctly. Honestly, I hope Homey addresses this issue if it’s indeed the case.

Now, the most significant problem I’ve encountered on this box that frustrated me is with Aqara Zigbee battery-powered door sensor modules. After about an hour, they disconnect from the box, despite having an Ikea Zigbee bulb intended to act as a bridge. It was a total disaster. I had to delete and reinstall the modules several times. After a while, it becomes tiresome. Supposedly, the box serves as a hub for this network like Z-Wave, but it’s not at all reliable for Zigbee. I tested six modules, and all had the same problem. So, for me, only 220v-powered Zigbee modules will be installed, but never again the battery-powered ones. Of course, I use the correct apps. I much prefer Z-Wave. I also use Dio remotes that work very well. I also use Fibaro switches, and again, no issues. I have a Fibaro roller shutter module, and there are no problems. I have several Fibaro plugs that work marvelously. That’s what I can share about my experiences with these different modules.