New Shelly Smart Devices Have One-Mile Range, Thanks To Z-Wave (pcworld.com) 15
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCWorld: Smart home devices compatible with the Matter standard have garnered most of our attention lately, but the compelling features in the latest generation of Z-Wave chips convinced the IoT developer Shelly Group to build no fewer than 11 new products powered by Z-Wave technology. The new collection includes a smart plug, in-wall dimmers, relays, and various sensors aimed at DIYers, installers, and commercial builders. Citing the ability of Z-Wave 800 (aka Z-Wave Long Range or LR) chips to operate IoT devices over extremely long range -- up to 1 mile, line of sight -- while running on battery power for up to 10 years, Shelly Group CTO Leon Kralj said "Shelly is helping break down smart home connectivity barriers, empowering homeowners, security installers, and commercial property owners and managers with unmatched range, scalability, and energy efficiency to redefine their automation experience."
[...] While most homeowners won't need to worry about the number of IoT devices their networks can support, commercial builders will appreciate the scalability of Z-Wave 800-powered devices -- namely, you can deploy as many as 4,000 nodes on a single mesh network. That's a 20x increase over what was possible with previous generations of the chip. And since Z-Wave LR is backward compatible with those previous generations, there should be no worries about integrating the new devices into existing networks. Shelly says all 11 of its new Z-Wave 800-powered IoT devices will be available in the first half of 2025. The new Shelly devices will be available in the U.S. in the first half of 2025.
Here's a list of the devices enhanced with the new long-range capabilities:
- Shelly Wave Plug US
- Shelly Wave Door/Window
- Shelly Wave H&T
- Shelly Wave Motion
- Shelly Wave Dimmer
- Shelly Wave Pro Dimmer 1 PM
- Shelly Wave Pro Dimmer 2 PM
- Shelly Wave 1
- Shelly Wave 1 PM
- Shelly Wave 2 PM
- Shelly Wave Shutter
[...] While most homeowners won't need to worry about the number of IoT devices their networks can support, commercial builders will appreciate the scalability of Z-Wave 800-powered devices -- namely, you can deploy as many as 4,000 nodes on a single mesh network. That's a 20x increase over what was possible with previous generations of the chip. And since Z-Wave LR is backward compatible with those previous generations, there should be no worries about integrating the new devices into existing networks. Shelly says all 11 of its new Z-Wave 800-powered IoT devices will be available in the first half of 2025. The new Shelly devices will be available in the U.S. in the first half of 2025.
Here's a list of the devices enhanced with the new long-range capabilities:
- Shelly Wave Plug US
- Shelly Wave Door/Window
- Shelly Wave H&T
- Shelly Wave Motion
- Shelly Wave Dimmer
- Shelly Wave Pro Dimmer 1 PM
- Shelly Wave Pro Dimmer 2 PM
- Shelly Wave 1
- Shelly Wave 1 PM
- Shelly Wave 2 PM
- Shelly Wave Shutter
Exactly what I needed (Score:1)
Yawn (Score:1)
I've been using nRF24L01 for almost 8 years now and regularly get over a mile range.
Low cost, long-range, low battery consumption, getting anywhere between 250 Kbps to 2 Mbit depending on range and error rate (it will adjust protocol and compression automatically). You would need to add some shielding and capacitors to fine-tune for longer range.
You can deploy full TCP/IP stack with included libraries https://nrf24.github.io/RF24Et... [github.io] and even build a full mesh network.
Re:Yawn (Score:4, Informative)
Cool story bro.
The ZGM230S uses less power than an nRF24L01, when transmitting at the same power level
Less than half the power when receiving
8x less power in shutdown mode
Less power with the built in MCU running than the nRF in sleep mode.
The selling point here is low power and long range.
I'm not saying the nRF24 is bad, but it is 10 years old now. It also requires a separate MCU to really do anything.
Re: (Score:1)
Z-Wave 800 only gets 100 Kbps vs NRF24L01's 2 Mbps.
At 0 dbm on TX: 11.3 mA on for NRF24 vs 10.7 mA for Z-Wave.
It's not much of an improvement, both are either GFSK or a variant, but that speed could be better at long range.
For long-range you would run NRF24 at 250 Kbps, with 32 byte packets.
Some got as far as 10 km https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] with 500 PPS it would translate to 128 Kbps
nrf24l01:
Transmission: 11.3 mA at 0 dBm output power
Receptio
not good +7dB-USD (Score:4, Informative)
>> The selling point here is low power and long range.
The problem with this new chip is the price. It is +7dB-USD (costs 5x more)
It would be better to go to a widespread standard like LoRA, which is 3dB-USD better and widely deployed.
Re: (Score:2)
Which LoRa modules can I buy on Digikey for less than $2 with a built in MCU?
is 1 mile range enough? (Score:2)
Finally a standard suitable for the size of ShanghaiBill's house.
If you need more range... (Score:2)
Deployed this in my mansion (Score:3)
Zoom Z-Wave LR ZST39 . ZEN76 LR wall switches. Using home assistant and z-wave JS UI.
The range is definitely improved since Z-wave JS added LR support.
However, one LR switch in my garage regularly goes "dead" in my dashboard . I have had to add an automation to ping it every 5 minutes and wake it up. It's at most 100 ft away from the Z-wave stick.
Unfortunately, LR devices don't support mesh. They don't support associations, either. They are a compromise.
I also use Yolink devices, which use LoRA as well. The door sensor on the freezer next to the above mentioned switch works. The temperature sensor lasts only a few days. Battery goes dead after that. But the range is OK ...
Yolink motion sensor is the only one that works in my mailbox. Not sure if there are any Z-Wave LR battery powered motion sensors yet. The non-LR models worked outside the metal mailbox, but not inside.
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately, LR devices don't support mesh. They don't support associations, either. They are a compromise.
I'm also on Home Assistant and Z-Wave JS. The devices themselves are fully backward compatible. I have a 700 series hub that doesn't support LR. I recently added the Zooz ZEN71 [getzooz.com] switch and ZEN34 [getzooz.com] remote switch which are both 800 series and support LR. I've associated them to act like a 3-way switch and my network map shows the ZEN71 part of the mesh and hops to a device before reaching the hub.
With a hub that supports LR, is it a choice you make when you include the device to connect as LR or not? And you los
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, with LR devices, you have a choice of including them in LR or non-LR mode.
When I first bought my ZEN76 800LR, the LR support was not available in Home Assistant yet. Thus, I had paired them in non-LR mode.
Once the support was added, I had to exclude them, and reinclude them in LR mode. It was not obvious at all. You have to select the protocol (LR or not) before scanning the QR code for Smart Start with your phone (if you have setup SSL for Home Assistant; I have). Changing it is a PITA, and I already
Droid (Score:2)
"redefine their automation experience"
It was a perfectly fine announcement and then they had to go ruin it with this marketing droid speak smh
Re: (Score:1)
I think it was supposed to go in ads.slashdot.org.
And why would you need... (Score:2)
...a one mile range on UTTERLY INSECURE IoT?
Do they still explode and lie about capacity? (Score:2)
Shelly lies about their capacity by a massive margin. They overheat and shut down at less than 70% of their alleged limit, which Shelly claims is for continuous loads.There's also plenty of people posting about how various shelly products, including some that are never under load like power monitors, catch fire or explode.