Domoticz

Hello
The new Shelly PM2 Gen 4, the newer fourth generation, has arrived.
Of course, since I still have 12 old Shelly 2.5 units, one of them regularly fails, and a few days ago, another one failed, so I need to replace it. I was planning to buy the Gen 3, but it turns out there's a new generation: https://www.shelly.com/products/shelly-2pm-gen4

So I bought it.
The question now is about integration with Domoticz: is it possible to get it to work on the same flow in NodeRed? Or unfortunately not?

If it turns out that I would not like to warmly ask my colleague @FireWizard for help with integration.

The new fourth generation has ZigBee connectivity, so maybe that's the direction we should be heading. The problem is, I don't have a ZigBee gateway, I've never used one, and I don't even know how to get started or what's needed.

If it has zigbee all you need is a zigbee coördinator (usb stick), Plug it in your RPi and use zigbee2mqtt with Domoticz mqtt AD gateway or a python plugin like Zigbee for Domoticz. It is all documented in the wiki starting with https://wiki.domoticz.com/Zigbee

So I definitely need to start with ZigBee.
What device should I buy that's compatible with the Raspberry Pi on which I have Domoticz?
I once bought a CC2531 for this purpose, but it's sitting on a shelf. Will it be suitable for this purpose?

It can be used but is not powerful enough. Better buy a sonoff zigbee stick. For example SONOFF ZigBee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus, TI CC2652P Coordinator, Universal USB ZigBee Hub, ZigBee Gateway for Google Home https://amzn.eu/d/c3WdeOs

You do indeed, that will work but it's very old now, I think that will only support 32 direct connections. I use one of these :-

https://support.electrolama.com/projects/zig-a-zig-ah/

I am going to upgrade to the SMLIGHT SLZB-06p7 as it's IP based and supports POE so you can put it anywhere you have an ethernet port. Have a good search around if you want to use one of those as the prices vary wildy, for instance on Amazon in the UK it's £109 but from Aliexpress its £30

Hello @Daro1003,

You said in your first post:

If it turns out that I would not like to warmly ask my colleague @FireWizard for help with integration.

According to the Shelly website there are differences between a Gen 3 and a Gen 4 device.
For a comparison, see: https://smarterhome.sk/en/blog/shelly-g ... u_166.html

Short.

Gen 4 devices have more powerful hardware and more memory.
Gen 4 devices support Zigbee and Matter.
Shelly 2PM Gen 4 devices support obstacle detection.

This all has a price. See the link.
It is dependent of the country and your supplier.

You have to decide, what you need now or what you expect, you need in the future.

As there is no difference in the MQTT protocol, except maybe the obstacle detection, and, if you are satisfied with
the MQTT solution, we created, with your Gen 3 devices, there is no reason to switch to Zigbee.
This is more expensive, because of the higher price for the Gen 4 devices and the extra price for the Zigbee hub.

Also the Zigbee to MQTT with MQTT Autodetect in Domoticz has no added value as the number of sensors/switches for each blind is limited.

But is up to you to decide.

Regards

You never know what the future will bring; you might need to switch to Zigbee.

Generally, I think that if the device is a newer generation, it's better, more durable, works better, etc.

Generation 3 also has obstacle detection, but I don't know how it works; I haven't tested it.
The Shelly 2.5 series also had it, but unfortunately, it didn't work.

As there is no difference in the MQTT protocol, except maybe the obstacle detection, and, if you are satisfied with
the MQTT solution, we created, with your Gen 3 devices, there is no reason to switch to Zigbee.

Yes, I'm happy with the performance. So far, I'm using one GEN 3. Now I'll add a second one and see how it works. Will there be any interference, will the two flows work okay, will it put too much strain on the Raspberry Pi, etc.? I think it will be fine.

Yes, you're right, GEN 4 is more expensive. In Poland, GEN 3 costs about 135 PLN, while GEN 4 costs 200 PLN, but I'd like it to work reliably. If it has to work reliably on GEN 4, I'm willing to pay extra.

The question is whether Zigbee is more stable than Wi-Fi or whether it would be better to switch to Zigbee for control of such devices. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Zigbee because I've never used it.