The CHIP project

Ideas & Suggestions
1

Hi

I’m considering to buy a Homey but thinking a bit of the CHIP project that will “replace” Zigbee with CHIP (Connected Home over IP).

Any thoughts on would you buy now or should you wait until they have released their full plans by the end of the year.

2

As with all things technological: you can wait indefinitely for “the next great thing”.

If you want to automate your home right now and the upcoming years (because Zigbee won’t disappear), buy a Homey. If you want to wait and see how CHIP turns out, wait for a few more years and keep managing your appliances manually in the mean time.

But from what I know, CHIP isn’t going to replace Zigbee at all, it’s not a radio protocol but (much) more higher-level.

3 Likes
3

Thanks Robert

I have placed my order :wink:

1 Like
4

Basically, CHIP is IPv6. Old vine in new bags. Others have tried and failed. CHIP is based on the promise of 6LowPAN, which never really took of. Why would it fly now all of a sudden? How can it compete to, for example, BLE Mesh?

5

Can you elaborate? I’m not an expert in IPv6.
Maybe dumb question. If they create something like zigbee but on another frequency. Homey will need a hardware change?

Can they create something on IPv6 but make it impossible to use for homey until homey gets a partnership to allow them to work with CHIP? Do you think it will need hardware changes for homey if this is the case?

6

Here’s some info from the CHIP website:

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It’s basically a protocol that runs on top of existing wireless technologies. Homey supports only one of the three mentioned (Thread requires additional hardware, BLE minimum requirement is 4.1 whereas Homey only supports 4.0), so in theory Athom should be able to implement it once it materializes (whether they will is another question, of course).

7

Ah ok. The vid I saw mentioned an overhead protocol. But wasn’t vert specific.
Although I like a unified protocol for smart home. I fear it will not happen. Big players are to greedy.
I feel homey still has a future. I might buy one once my total setup is known. Still need to check if homey will work with yale linus lock, wyze cams, flic buttons in the way I want them to work together.