Wired Homey Connection Using Coax Cable

[Peter_Kawa]

If Athom would be willing to add a driver this should be possible (afaik):

Connecting Homey to wired ethernet with USB dongle or something?

I have done that with an y-cable. My report once in the aatp channel that Homey did not correctly restart was answered by Athom with the question to remove the usb2ethernet cable that showed up in the bootlog. But imho different drivers, cables, possibly instable power supply (even due to questionable cables) and support for a multihomed Homey probably was enough not to implement the driver although openly discussed as a hacky Friday option.

[xAPPO]

Athom could and should provide support for a USB Ethernet device. Not having wired Ethernet on a home automation controller is a serious oversight and basically knocks it out of the credible players field and back into the hobbyist playground.

This is made even worse by the flawed WiFi implementation within Homey.

Do not try the mod suggested in the OT though. It’s not a viable solution and could cause serious damage to your unit.

[Undertaker]

The competition has been offering this for € 16 for years. All that is missing is a driver in Homey and no one would have to get upset any more.

[Chris_Peters]

@Michel_Kamp

I think that this could help too : TP-LINK AV500

Yes that is a good suggestion if the problem is to improve the WiFi connection, but at least in my case the WiFi is fine. What I want to have is a shielded wired connection that cannot be jammed.

[Chris_Peters]

@xAPPO

Do not try the mod suggested in the OT though. It’s not a viable solution and could cause serious damage to your unit.

Do you have some more details on how that damage would occur? I am asking because it is certainly not impossible to connect two WiFi antennas using coax. The problem is to have the right setup

[robertklep]

@Chris_Peters

Do you have some more details on how that damage would occur?

Without attenuation too much power can be put on the line. Also, ground loops if you’re not careful.

Oh and you’ll lose your Homey’s BLE capabilities because they use the same antenna.

[Michel_Kamp]

okay but as already mentioned in reply’s this makes no sense since the devices are wireless so ALWAYS a possible jam victim. So you will have to wire the client devices too https://www.bastibl.net/reactive-zigbee-jamming/

[xAPPO]

@Chris_Peters

Do you have some more details on how that damage would occur?

I don’t think anyone has the exact details of the Homey WiFi hardware to provide a ‘safe’ solution here.

Wired connections provide huge power increases over WiFi and this can , and will damage electronics if not attenuated correctly. Quite how much attenuation is required is not known for Homey and this forum has many experimental readers. The damage would be to the receive circuitry making your Homey deaf to WiFi.

[robertklep]

@xAPPO

I don’t think anyone has the exact details of the Homey WiFi hardware to provide a ‘safe’ solution here.

Homeys use the Solidrun i.MX6 SOM’s, I think the C1000S for the “old” Homey and the C1000DL for the Homey Pro.

Both SOM’s have optional wireless/BLE, depending on the SOM revision either a BCM 4330 (older) or TI WiLink8 (newer) based module.

Taking the latter, it has a power output of 17.3dBm ~ 18.5dBm and a sensitivity of -95dBm ~ -96.3dBm. That’s quite a difference. There will be some transmission losses over coax, but a lot less than when transmitting through air. I have only a limited understanding of RF so I have no idea how much attenuation would be required to make this safe.

[Svenson]

indeed this one + Micro USB to Mini USB Adapter F/M - Micro USB Cables | Belgium micro to mini usb adapter.

The Ugreen Y cable with LAN adapter works like a charm and 100% stable on my chromecast it is a 100% professional solution supported by Google.

If Google supports and agrees with it then it is a good solution for Homey too. Itwould bring homey to the big players market instead of the hobbyiest’s one.