Smart Home - A universal system for your new home: Fibaro vs Home Assistant

Hi

I am building a new house. I would like to choose a system that is reliable but also quite versatile. I am not an electrician, but I can program. However, I would like the application to be operated by my wife. I also want to be able to develop and connect new devices in the future, not necessarily from the same company.
I would like to connect everything I need at home: garage door, cameras, underfloor heating, sprinklers in the garden, lighting in the garden, weather station, etc.
I was thinking of Fibaro or Home Assistant.
P.s. Can I connect third party devices operating via wifi or z-wave to Fibaro?

Well, haven't you thought about basing it on an alarm system?

I don't know if I understood correctly, but yes, of course. An alarm system in the broadest sense would fit in as well.

So even on such an Integra you are able to create the logic responsible for the aforementioned functions.

By choosing Fibaro you are condemning yourself almost exclusively to Fibaro. If you choose Home Assistant as the basis, then you integrate with almost everything.

xury wrote:

By choosing Fibaro you are condemning yourself almost exclusively to Fibaro

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nonsense, you can even integrate modules based on ESP
From what I found out, quickly, about home asistant:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Assistant
I conclude that comparing it to Fibaro makes absolutely no sense.
Fibaro is a commercial product, while HA is only hobby software.
I would sooner compare HA to domoticz , open hub etc.

afgi82 wrote:

Can I connect third party devices operating via wifi or z-wave to Fibaro?

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Yes, both.
Quite a few third party devices already have templates/plugins ready in Fibaro (wifi/eth).
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As for Wifi/Eth: if the device in question has an open communication protocol then you can write a program (LUA) to control it or use ready-made plugins (pioneer, denon, TV sat "n" etc).
You can parse the web page of some service or device and extract the necessary data from the HTML code and then use it. (e.g. wind speed from a weather station located on a ring road/highway).

The first question you should ask yourself is whether it should be cheap in cash but expensive in your own man-hours (hobbyist project), or more expensive to buy but peace of mind when it comes to reinventing the wheel (commercial product).
Have a look at other commercial ones:
- Fibaro (you can buy a control panel + a few modules even without installation and decide on further development)
- Grenton (wired and wireless modules, supposedly good in terms of later development)
- Ampio - I don't know the details
- Deimic (wired only and requires every point and design to be thought through at the house building stage)
-blebox
- supla
and many others
and as I mentioned hobby:
- domoticz
- open hub

Nonsense.
I wrote "almost exclusively".
Fibaro with its integration base can at most clean HA's shoes. And you can do cheaply and just as fast similar to a commercial system. And even with non-standard integrations you need to work with Fibaro.
It is also possible to go into KNX, which is difficult and very expensive - who can forbid a rich person from doing so?

sosarek wrote:

Well, haven't you thought about basing it on an alarm system?

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and is it possible to do heating schedules on this?
or select a channel on the t.v. or change the volume/source on the receiver?
or connect a humidity sensor, light intensity?

Added after 2 [minutes]:

xury wrote:

Nonsense.
I wrote "almost exclusively"

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As I wrote: comparing the two systems is pointless. I'm not going to get into the system crap because I don't know HA, but what would you recommend to someone who calls a repairman when their light doesn't work?

Added after 2 [minutes]:

xury wrote:

And with custom integrations this and with Fibaro you have to sit down.

just like with any other, but it is possible.
With ordinary scenes you also need to sit down and test, but you have a system that works, and if something does not work, you have a phone call to service and support in Polish.

I'm looking for something well tuned, with a good app and reliable. Something to which I can also easily connect the control of underfloor heating and garden irrigation.
I can lay cables at this stage, but ultimately mesh is the ideal solution in my opinion. I wouldn't quite want to rely on wifi alone, as it may or may not work.
In addition, I can handle some intermediate programming, but not much electrical.
Therefore, from what I found out on the internet, I think Fibaro is the optimal solution, it allows for trickiest programming, but is developed enough to be easily integrated with other devices.
Has anyone had experience with HA?

Under these assumptions, I would go for some kind of commercial system: you outsource everything you don't do yourself or don't like, and play around with reconfiguration and programming. The only time a problem might arise is if you want to make a claim/warranty, and the contractor will know that it has been "rummaged around".
Fibaro has the advantage that it requires practically no adjustments to the wiring and even if you want to resign from some point or lighting, you dismantle the module and install it somewhere else, and the previous point will operate without control - the old way.
Apart from that, Fibaro can be used like a cable system: by mounting modules in a switchboard on a DIN rail. (using a star topology in the wiring).
I've always wanted to delve a little deeper into grenton, as it is supposedly wired/wireless, but somehow the time is not there.
On the other hand: if you are at the construction stage and able to plan everything, and finances are not a key parameter then you might consider Deimic: it will come out cheaper on a single point, because you buy "in bulk". Extensions are possible, but quite expensive because they don't have single output/input modules on offer. Unfortunately, in recent days prices in construction have gone terribly crazy and cables have become more expensive, so this aspect is starting to be significant.

Of the commercial ones, you still have, for example, Ampio, Loxone, Grenton, KNX. They can be distributed, central, radio and mixed systems. You can, for example, do part of the installation in a star and install the devices in a switchboard, part of it connected by bus and installed in boxes, part of it connected by radio. There are training videos on the Grenton/YT website - you can see what is available, how to connect, configuration, automation, etc.
HA is an open system - this has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that you can use multiple devices, multiple companies. When it comes to wired devices there is not much choice. For that you have Zigbee and thousands of devices from different companies (in Mesh topology), Wifi, z-wave. But you have to control it yourself. You don't know what surprises an update might bring. If there is a problem - you solve it yourself. There is an app, but without a fixed external IP it costs money (Nabu Casa) or you need e.g. DuckDNS (which can be unreliable - if e.g. the IP changes you lose access).
Personally, I wouldn't choose Fibaro.

GanzConrad wrote:

sosarek wrote:
Well haven't you thought of basing it on an alarm system?

and is it possible to do heating schedules on it?
or select a channel on the TV or change the volume/source of sound on the receiver?
or connect a humidity sensor, light intensity?

Well, what's the point of changing the channels if they take everything out of the house because you base the whole house on toys without thinking about securing it?
The author's assumptions i.e.

afgi82 wrote:

I would like to connect there generally what is needed in the house: garage door, cameras, underfloor heating, sprinklers in the garden, lighting in the garden, weather station

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can be integrated with the alarm system and managed remotely - the rest are typical gadgets, but the basis should be a well-chosen and configured alarm system which will take over some of the automation.

sosarek wrote:

Well, what good is it to you to change the channels if they take everything out of the house because you base the whole house on the toys without thinking about securing it?

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This is a fact and (I think) every 'smart home' manufacturer stresses: these systems have no security certification and should be treated as gadgets. Some manufacturers do a one-way integration with the alarm system: from the "smart home" you can arm the alarm (e.g. with the "I'm leaving" scene), but you cannot disarm it.

Integration of the BMS with alarms can range from unidirectional control panel - BMS (e.g. use of control panel in/out states) to bilateral (including disarming). With more automation, control panels are not the optimal choice - especially if you want to make changes yourself - the logic of control panels is not particularly intuitive.

sk1977 wrote:

There are training videos on the Grenton/YT website - you can see what is available, how to connect, configuration, automations, etc.

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Do you happen to know how this differs to Fibaro?

Added after 2 [minutes]:

sosarek wrote:

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Well, what's the use of changing the ducts if they take everything out of the house because you base the whole house on the toys without thinking about securing it?.

I saw somewhere that in case of a break-in, Hubert saves the last hours automatically in the cloud

Added after 1 [minute]:

sk1977 wrote:

Integration of the BMS with alarms can range from unidirectional control panel - BMS (e.g. use of control panel in/out states) to bidirectional (including disarming). With more automation, control panels are not the optimum choice - especially if you want to make changes yourself - the logic of control panels is not particularly intuitive.

So what do you suggest is different?

Added after 51 [seconds]:

sk1977 wrote:

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Personally, I would not choose Fibaro.

Why?

afgi82 wrote:

Do you perhaps know how this differs to Fibaro?

dramatically . Grenton is primarily a wired system (central, distributed, mixed). Z-wave is complementary. Fibaro conversely - mainly wireless. Fibaro is easier to install - even by people who have not had much contact with the BMS., Grenton, Ampio, Loxone, KNX - here you need more planning, thinking - but the possibilities are completely different.