Smart Home Protocols Explained

A whirlwind look at the main smart home protocols that are out there today including Bluetooth, Wifi, Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Thread. I also explain why I'm sticking with Zigbee as the main smart home protocol in my brand new smart home.

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[avtarchana]

Thank you for a short, sweet and useful rundown on the Smarthome wireless systems. 🙏

[FurtzBR]

two days since i discovered your channel and i've learned so much!!! Keep-up, awesome work and dedication!!!! cheers from Brazil

[Woodgal]

I’m just getting started and to say I feel overwhelmed is an understatement. That is until I watched your video….thank you so much for explaining this all. I now have a better understanding of the basics at least!

[patrickpaganini]

I was about to buy four Tapo P110 plugs today (since I couldn't find the old ones on line). Thanks for saving me! I didn't realise they needed internet to work.

[madisonm]

What an amazing video to explain the different technologies, I don't share YouTube videos very often but will be with this one! Thanks for the great video

[gabrielzalisz]

Best video on IoT protocols I've ever seen. Thanks and greetings from Czechia.

[Joseph-kokl]

Great info. Totally agree with your take on Thread/Matter.

[itsmith]

Thank you for a such great overview and explanation!

[stevewegenast]

Nice clear, concise explanation of the home automation protocols. Well done.

[shiPham]

great video as always! can't wait to watch more then

[omadden]

Great overview and explanation. Thank you!

[lawrencemanning]

Very interesting vid.

Looking forward to hearing your take on light switches. One thing that personally bothers me a great deal is consistency. The nice thing about dumb ugly plastic switches in a typical house is they at least all look the same, ignoring dimmer knobs. Another problem is choosing your perfect switch today and then not being able to find the same ones in a few years when you build that extension. So definitely make sure you buy a load of spares!

[HATipsByLarry]

Great video, most of my devices are zigbee as well. Might be worth pointing out to people that zigbee battery operated devices don't act as zigbee repeaters as this would seriously degrade their batteries. I do also use z-wave devices for my wall switches, mainly as most wifi based ones require you to sign up for the manufacture's app and a lot of them then use the internet to turn them on and off as you described in your video. I really like the zooz zen32 z-wave scene controller, but 2 blueprints have made it very nice indeed now. The lights sync as they should now no matter how something is turned on. I have it installed at my front door showing status of alarm system and my smart locks.

[Middollo]

Once again, very clear explanations. Thansss.

[MrHollow]

Good job on explaining the standards, especially zigbee and thread in relation to matter.

[basmedia]

Awesome video - so much explained to clearly! I'm just learning to crawl and this really helped!

[Maaniic]

It might be worth noting that Zigbee is a radio mesh protocol that has nothing to do specifically with smart home or lights (even if it is synonymous with it today) just like thread thread uses ipv6 as its transport and zigbee has its own node and cluster design baked in.
The standards that lights commonly use over Zigbee for control are called ZLL (Zigbee Light Link) and for sensors and other devices for home automation it uses ZHA (Zigbee Home Automation) it is in these standards that different manufacturers don't always implement it the same way. Most devices today will adhere to the Zigbee 3.0 spec but all that means is that they can join the radio mesh.

It would be cool if Unifi APs could have a Thread radio and act as a border router and be manages like any other network in their system.

[josephiyere]

Wow thanks for the explanation… you sure is a champ

[billhaigh]

Brilliant video, clear, well delivered has helped me understand what is a bit of a minefield to the novice, thanks

[pratahsinnetamby]

Great summary video on the network options. I was not aware that thread allowed you to have a "back-up" controller. I've recently purchased the HA skyconnect as well for my zigbee network. However, this "hub" is tightly coupled with the HA server itself so I'm wondering if it is possible to have a back-up (i.e. two of them running together with one as master)?