I have a rather large house and I am not sure that a single hub would do. If I put a hub on the upper floor and one on the lower floor, would that work? Does the system work like wi-fi extenders? Or do the devices on the lower floor need to connect to the hub on the lower floor and the same for the upper floor, with the 2 hubs connected to each other?
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Not sure if this might help your thought process and planning.
I live in a 3 story townhouse (garage/basement on bottom floor, LVR & DR on 2nd, BD’s on 3rd.) I have my M2 in my 2BD, G3 cams (to watch our cats and security) on 2nd floor, and new G410 doorbell on 1st floor. My devices are conencted to the closest hub respectively.
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I have a 2 story house with a basement and put an m3 hub on my second floor. It is able to communicate with items in the basement just fine. It’s worth trying and you can add another hub or extenders if needed.
Depends entirely on what kind of appliances you’re going to use. Zigbee needs one coordinator, that’s what M2 hub and the likes do. They also enable control over internet, from what I know, but that’s irrelevant now. If you’re going to use zigbee devices, you will need some devices that are connected to mains, not battery-powered, that work as extenders. It’s a good idea to check if they work as routers before buying them, tho, because you can never be sure enough. For example, you get a zigbee hub, and replace your light switches with smart ones (if you have neutral wires available), they need to be in range of each other, and at least one of them in rance of the coordinator, that way you can extend your network without real limit. There even are usb switches, or dongles that extend the range. It may require some planning depending on what’s your layout and needs. Some led bulbs also work as repeaters, but you will have to keep them powered on at all times, and turn off the light with your app, not manually. Some presence sensors or cameras also work as repeaters if they’re powered by cable. I don’t think you can just set up separate 2 hubs, because they should have separate networks then. Well, it might work in the app, I guess, but they will still be 2 separate zigbee networks, making it less reliable. Zigbee likes a lot of routers, so the devices can pick one that they have the best link with, and the command has to reach the hub/coordinator.
Hubs connect in a mesh, while the end devices only to the nearest hubs.
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If you are going to install Zigbee devices powered by mains like switches and power sockets as far as I know they work as extenders. If you have enough of those you don’t need a second hub. You could also use designated extenders like: The Aqara Hub E1 - Aqara
Here is a nice article giving more ideas for Zigbee extenders:
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I’m able to hit my M2 Hub in my 3 story house, inside and out devices. I have motion sensors in the garage, patio. They’re reaching just fine.
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@imajica Recommend using one standard hub (e.g., M2, M1S, etc.) per room, then deploying an M3 hub to manage multiple standard hubs, forming a hub cluster. This multi-tiered, distributed network architecture can enhance the stability of home automation systems. For reference, here’s a ’s experience implementing a robust setup with multiple Aqara hubs:
Robust Smart Home Setup Using Multiple Aqara Hubs: Observations & Best Practices