Total newbie help required (UK)

[JDRoberts]

Zwave should be compatible with SmartThings, although some older “scene controllers” may not work as expected. And because zwave frequency varies by region, you have to make sure you’re ordering one that has the correct frequency for your hub.

Zigbee is a whole different story. There are many zigbee devices that do not work with SmartThings. See:

FAQ: Zigbee Application Profiles, or why not all zigbee devices work with SmartThings

Zigbee is always zigbee, but the standard allows for different "profiles,"including manufacturer proprietary ones. [image] These are not all able to communicate with each other, they don’t even use the same addressing schemes. SmartThings uses the Zigbee Home Automation profile (ZHA 1.2) and part of the Zigbee 3.0 profile. Devices using other zigbee profiles may be able to join to the network, but their communications may not be understood, or they may frequently drop off because they don’t receive a handshake message they are expecting. There a lot of different ways to explain this, but I think one of the easiest is to think of zigbee as a post office and the different profiles as different languages. The outside envelope for different messages may look similar, have a specific format…

And I second the recommendation for Vesternet. Excellent technical support, good technical information on the website, good selection. Not everything there will work with SmartThings, so always check the forums before ordering, but it’s definitely one of the dealers to consider:

Z-Wave

There are some more shop options listed in the following thread:

FAQ: List of Home Automation Retailers

Auction and second source sites Sure, you can just look on eBay or BuyDig, but personally I prefer to buy from a place with a decent returns policy and a fair reputation. Too many reports of people buying from eBay and getting a different model than what they ordered (sometimes in the wrong box). Also note that some manufacturers (Aeotech is one) believe that everything sold on eBay is used and will not honor warranties for items purchased through this channel. You can buy Chinese made items from AliBaba express. I myself don’t use this as a source – – too many issues with the product description, or even counterfeits. But a lot of people do. Remember that for Zigbee, you want devices which are certified for Zigbee Home Automation 1.2 (ZHA 1.2). There are many Chinese zigbee devices wh…