I’ve been strolling the community to find answers, but I’m lost now. Basically these are the questions I face:
does Homey create 1 Zigbee mesh if you use a bridge for Hue and 1 for Ikea?
or should I use another app to get these 2 brands together in 1 Zigbee mesh (i.e. without any bridges, directly to Homey)?
if I can use 1 bridge (Hue it is in this case) and I can add Ikea to it, how does that work? How can I add an Ikea lamp or remote to the Hue app?
The reason I ask is that we now have a bed room at the attic with only 1 connection for a lamp and therefore would like to use Hue or Ikea, or both, to get a comfy atmosphere before going to bed. I also have a Google Nest in place and 2 Neo Coolcam smart plugs (can be replaced). On starting the Hue devices I noticed that Homey has trouble connecting to these, due to lack of devices half way (1st floor). I do have the intention to add 1 or 2 additional devices on the 1st floor, but would like to know whether it should be Hue or could be Ikea as well (less dependencies).
Who has the right answers, or sources I should review for this, cause I’m lost…
Homey, Hue bridge and Ikea bridge all are zigbee controllers which create their own mesh network. They don’t “see” eachother.
Make sure the channel numbers are different.
This could be possible with this and this app.
Afaik Hue and Tradfri are compatible, but problably not each and any device.
So how to build your Homey zigbee mesh, with only Hue devices or only Tradfri devices , or a mix of the two, I can"t tell.
So basically this means that I am able to add the Ikea bulbs to the (original) Hue app, but this might disturb the functionality of the bulb. A cooperating mesh of the 2 systems is a no-go anyway. The only way to have the mesh reach the attic is either add 1 or 2 simple devices (non-battery) to the first floor, or move the Hue bridge to the attic.
In the latter case, will Homey become part of the Hue mesh and extend it to the living room? Or is that too much to ask for? Wishful thinking is a bitch
Why would adding Ikea bulbs to a Hue mesh cause problems for the bulb?
Using different hubs has the advantage of expanding capacity (hubs have limitations) but the disadvantage that each hub needs to build it’s own mesh with enough routers to reach far points. You also get to use the specific functionalities of the respective hubs, which will usually exceed what Homey can do. As said you also need to make sure the hubs all use different frequencies so they do not hinder the other ones. Homey will never be part of the mesh of other hubs. It just uses the ip network to talk to the other hubs.
Using a single hub has the advantage of a single mesh, so all Zigbee routers contribute to a more stable and often further reaching mesh, at the expense of a more limited maximum number of devices. Homey’s Zigbee implementation is more limited than e.g. Hue.
Also worth noting: switching is in both scenarios close to instantaneous. But when Homey is linked to multiple hubs, Homey will not always see state changes from other hubs immediately. Homey may need to periodically ask the hub if anything has changed.
