Latest news with #ZWA-2
The Verge
2 days ago
- The Verge
This big stick solved my smart garden connectivity problems
I recently installed the biggest smart home antenna I've ever seen, and it helped open up new areas in my smart home, from the attic to the chicken coop. The towering 12-inch-tall Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2, which launched this week for $69, plugs into any Home Assistant system via USB and can connect to any Z-Wave device, including those using the new Long Range (LR) spec. I hooked the ZWA-2 up to my Home Assistant Yellow hub and, within minutes, it was controlling a plug all the way at the bottom of my garden. I've struggled with connectivity issues in my garden for years. An Eero Outdoor 7 has been a good fix for W-Fi devices such as cameras and robot lawnmowers. Now Z-Wave LR, which uses the same 900MHz band as Z-Wave to connect devices up to a mile and a half away (in ideal conditions), opens the door to using sensors, locks, and other low-powered devices in further-flung corners of my property. The antenna itself is almost comically large. To get the best performance, it needs to be out in the open, which means it's perched on a cupboard in my sitting room. The HA team says it is 'designed to blend into home decor. It not only resembles a candle, but it also lights up like one.' Credit to them for avoiding the 'black spider' look, but it still sticks out like a glowing blue sore thumb. That size, though, lets it pick up even the faintest Z-Wave signal and should help make your network more responsive and stable. Until now, Z-Wave antenna options in Home Assistant have been in third-party USB sticks about 3 inches long, and on other platforms, they're generally hidden inside hubs, which can limit their range. Setting up the ZWA-2 was easy. I screwed the stick into the base and plugged it into my Yellow using a provided USB A-to-C cable. Home Assistant instantly recognized it, creating a new network. If you already have a Z-Wave network on Home Assistant, a migration tool can move your devices over in a few minutes (I saw a demo that took under 5 minutes). For my first test, I used a Zooz Z-Wave LR smart plug ($35) to control two fans in my chicken coop. The coop is located at the bottom of my garden, about 50 yards (150 feet) from the antenna, through two brick walls. I scanned the plug's QR code, selected the Z-Wave LR option (you can also choose traditional mesh; the antenna can do either), and it onboarded quickly. I then plugged it into an outlet in my garden shed near the coop and ran an extension cord to the fans. Even at that distance, the plug responded instantly to turn the fans on and off. Next, I set up a Zooz Z-Wave LR water leak sensor ($39) in my attic, where my HVAC drip pan recently overflowed, leaving a nasty stain on my ceiling. The setup was similarly straightforward. Z-Wave LR is a good solution here because sub-GHz protocols draw less power than Wi-Fi, so the coin cell battery in the sensor should last longer. (There's no outlet near the unit for a plug-in sensor.) If you use Z-Wave devices, which many Home Assistant users do, and have had trouble with connections or want to automate more areas of your home — a mailbox sensor, a gate sensor, leak detectors in your basement, and so on — the ZWA-2 is an easy recommendation. I've only been using it for a short while, so I can't comment on reliability, but so far, the devices I've connected have done so smoothly in spots where I've struggled to find good options. And while, despite Home Assistant's admirable efforts, the ZWA-2 really isn't a décor piece, the range gains are worth the trade-off. Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Hands-on Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Smart Home Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Smart Home Reviews Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
Home Assistant Proves Z-Wave's Longevity With New Official Hardware
The new Connect ZWA-2 from Home Assistant has been built with Z-Wave Long Range in mind. Home Assistant Home Assistant is giving Z-Wave a serious range boost with its latest bit of official hardware: the Connect ZWA-2, which has just been officially announced. Built by Nabu Casa (as all official Home Assistant hardware is), the Connect ZWA-2 is a $69 USB adapter designed to tap into the latest performance improvements from the 25 year old smart home standard. The ZWA-2 is purpose-built by the Home Assistant team with a precisely tuned antenna and base that match Z-Wave's ideal wavelength, helping signals punch through thick walls, dodge interference, and reach places your Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth gear can only dream about. With support for Z-Wave Long Range (currently in North America and Europe), it can link devices far beyond your living room, think a motorized gate at the end of your driveway or a mailbox sensor down the street. Theoretically ZWLR boasts a range of up to 1.5 miles in ideal conditions, with no signal repeaters or awkward routing needed and there are already a bunch of devices, such as Shelly's new range of devices, which went live last month. The Connect ZWA-2 is powered by the latest 800-series Z-Wave chipset from Silicon Labs and plays nicely with all Z-Wave generations, from early gear to Z-Wave Plus V2. Home Assistant's software does the heavy lifting, with S2 security, SmartStart, OTA firmware updates, and a setup wizard that walks you through getting online in minutes. If you are already running Z-Wave on another adapter, then Home Assistant are stating that the migration process takes via a new software wizard. The design, while perhaps a touch clunky due to the antenna size, is designed to blend into home décor; it even glows softly, candle-style. Inside, you'll find a Silabs ZG23 Z-Wave chip and ESP32-S3 USB bridge, with full documentation and firmware available for tinkerers. The ZWA-2 is the second release in the Home Assistant Connect line, following the Zigbee/Thread-friendly Connect ZBT-1 in 2022. Available now for $69 in the US and €59 in Europe, the Connect ZWA-2 is Home Assistant's clearest signal yet that Z-Wave still has a long future ahead, even in an ever-increasingly Matter-connected world. 'Home Assistant supports a lot of different smart home standards, and while Z-Wave may be a couple of decades old, it has many strengths,' explained Paulus Schoutsen, founder of Home Assistant. 'Connect ZWA-2 makes the most of those strengths with its optimized antenna and support for the new Z-Wave Long Range standard. We want to breathe new life into this standard and keep the millions of Z-Wave devices in people's homes working great far into the future.'
