This big stick solved my smart garden connectivity problems

I precocious installed the biggest smart location antenna I’ve ever seen, and it helped unfastened up caller areas successful my smart home, from the attic to the chickenhearted coop. The towering 12-inch-tall Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2, which launched this week for $69, plugs into immoderate Home Assistant strategy via USB and tin link to immoderate Z-Wave device, including those utilizing the caller Long Range (LR) spec.

I hooked the ZWA-2 up to my Home Assistant Yellow hub and, wrong minutes, it was controlling a plug each the measurement astatine the bottommost of my garden. I’ve struggled pinch connectivity issues successful my plot for years. An Eero Outdoor 7 has been a bully hole for W-Fi devices specified arsenic cameras and robot lawnmowers. Now Z-Wave LR, which uses the aforesaid 900MHz set arsenic Z-Wave to link devices up to a mile and a half distant (in perfect conditions), opens the doorway to utilizing sensors, locks, and different low-powered devices successful further-flung corners of my property.

The antenna itself is almost comically large. To get the champion performance, it needs to beryllium retired successful the open, which intends it’s perched connected a cupboard successful my sitting room. The HA squad says it is ”designed to blend into location decor. It not only resembles a candle, but it besides lights up for illustration one.” Credit to them for avoiding the “black spider” look, but it still sticks retired for illustration a glowing bluish sore thumb.

That size, though, lets it prime up moreover the faintest Z-Wave awesome and should thief make your web much responsive and stable. Until now, Z-Wave antenna options successful Home Assistant person been successful third-party USB sticks astir 3 inches long, and connected different platforms, they’re mostly hidden wrong hubs, which tin limit their range.

Setting up the ZWA-2 was easy. I screwed the instrumentality into the guidelines and plugged it into my Yellow utilizing a provided USB A-to-C cable. Home Assistant instantly recognized it, creating a caller network. If you already person a Z-Wave web connected Home Assistant, a migration instrumentality tin move your devices complete successful a fewer minutes (I saw a demo that took nether 5 minutes).

For my first test, I utilized a Zooz Z-Wave LR smart plug ($35) to power 2 fans successful my chickenhearted coop. The coop is located astatine the bottommost of my garden, astir 50 yards (150 feet) from the antenna, done 2 ceramic walls. I scanned the plug’s QR code, selected the Z-Wave LR action (you tin besides take accepted mesh; the antenna tin do either), and it onboarded quickly. I past plugged it into an outlet successful my plot shed adjacent the coop and ran an hold cord to the fans. Even astatine that distance, the plug responded instantly to move the fans connected and off.

Next, I group up a Zooz Z-Wave LR h2o leak sensor ($39) successful my attic, wherever my HVAC drip cookware precocious overflowed, leaving a nasty stain connected my ceiling. The setup was likewise straightforward. Z-Wave LR is simply a bully solution present because sub-GHz protocols tie little powerfulness than Wi-Fi, truthful the coin compartment artillery successful the sensor should past longer. (There’s nary outlet adjacent the portion for a plug-in sensor.)

If you usage Z-Wave devices, which galore Home Assistant users do, and person had problem pinch connections aliases want to automate much areas of your location — a mailbox sensor, a gross sensor, leak detectors successful your basement, and truthful connected — the ZWA-2 is an easy recommendation.

I’ve only been utilizing it for a short while, truthful I can’t remark connected reliability, but truthful far, the devices I’ve connected person done truthful smoothly successful spots wherever I’ve struggled to find bully options. And while, contempt Home Assistant’s admirable efforts, the ZWA-2 really isn’t a décor piece, the scope gains are worthy the trade-off.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge