Launch a range extender or upgrade to mesh network
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I was looking for another answer here on the forums and came across this very very very long thread.
"The plugin even offers support for multiple houses. So it is finally possible to create multiple houses and control them together."
Takes about 20 minutes to set up and works as it should. All you need is a computer (I recently went for the Rasberry Pi 400). Whilst a computer costs money, if you already have one this software is all free.
Hope this helps
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The sun is shining. We don’t care right now, but will continue to struggle with Tado next fall.0
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If it’s possible to create a range extender via a Raspberry Pi, it’s clear that Tado’s “not possible due to hardware limitations” response is nonsense.1
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This might not work. Multiple homes have individual thermostats - this plugin will just group them together under one homekit. Unfortunately it doesn't resolve the issue when you have home with one thermostat and need to control multiple individual TRVs separately - unless the thermostat itself is there as one of the devices. It will still need a lot of configuration to make sure it switches on/off when needed for devices that are not directly connected to it. I'm also not sure if you can have TRVs on the seconds account without a thermostat? Perhaps somebody could try this if they have multiple bridges to see if it can be all configured?
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It's my annual 'check to see if Tado have bothered to deliver a range extender solution', but once again another winter with intermittent dropouts is on the cards. I installed Starlink yesterday to improve my internet connection. That manages to talk to satellites 500km away and just works. But Tado, can't even develop a solution to make all my SRVs reliably talk to a bridge in the same house.
I struggle to understand why a third party electronics engineer/developer hasn't produced an extender. Surely it can't be that difficult if one has the necessary skills.
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It’s a hardware problem and the locked in software problem from a vendor that does not care.
I’m migrating off Tado as my funds allow and I see offers for Aqara Smart Radiator Thermostat E1. https://amzn.eu/d/fVtCA1u
They need a zigbee hub but I use my HomeAssistant to mange it with zero dropouts and all local on site access - no cloud and no internet needed.
Tado is dead to me.1 -
Do the Aqara thermostats really work with just Home Assistant? I've just ordered a Home Assistant Yellow but can't find Aqara Radiator Thermostats as a compatible device in the assistant documentation?
And what is the range for that zigbee signal, I have to go 4 stories up ...
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They do, but I found the new Sonoff TRVZB ones easier, better and cheaper for use with Home assistant. Range not an issue - any zigbee powered device that acts as a repeater improves the mesh.
Sold all my Tado kit on Ebay for more than I paid for it five years ago!2 -
Any mains powered zigbee device should act as a repeater, so just throw in a zigbee smart plug somewhere in between, and that should work fine.
What are you all using for boiler controls when using with Home Assistant. I've got a smart relay device that I could use, but just wondered if aqara or sonoff have something already.
I used to have a few sonoff devices (door sensors and motion sensors), but I found them way too unreliable and ended up ditching them all.
How are you finding their thermostats?1 -
They are MTQQ compatible and they work great. They have both temps and schedule ability in HA.
Here's a screenshot from mine. I go for Aqara over Sonoff as the Aqara dont require any accounts to use and the Sonoff devices I've had in the past needed Wifi and accounts which I don't like.
Ref the mesh - it's only mains powered devices that boost the mesh, battery powered do not (usually).
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That's great now why didn't I find out before spending so much on those POS Tado's.
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I got 10 Tado so I'm with you on that about the POS (and Aqara don't bug you to upgrade to pro for $$$ and zero benefit) - when the next Amazon price drops I'm tempted to buy new Aqara and sell the Tado on ebay.
I use the Aqara motion sensors and door contacts throughout my house (every door and window that doesn't have a Ring sensor [that also feed into HA on the MTQQ]).
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Sonoff reliable so far, got 15 and working flawlessly so far. I'll let you know in the spring! No account or Wi-Fi needed - just paired directly to zigbee2mqtt1
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I have EERO mesh wifi, it seems that those also act as zigbee hubs so that would mean I'm all set.
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I use and love Sonos
I use and love BTs compete WiFi mesh discs
Both reach every corner of my house
Tado bridge is a weakling and has dated connectivity. It’s such a short range. Adjust the bridge position and lose a rad the other end. Let it connect to whole house WiFi it’s obvious!1 -
@Mrscottie
WiFi is no good for items which need long battery life.1 -
Depends, I have NEST smoke detectors on battery, have had them 4 years.
The battery is still 100% and it looks like they connect a few minutes every day.
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Nest has 6 AA batteries, only connects to wifi once per day and doesn't have to drive a motorised valve.2
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... and as Tado have refused to come up with a fix for five years now, don't hold your breath for a solution with this outdated generation of hardware. I see they are selling off cheap on Amazon at the moment, so maybe new hardware (not backward compatible?) is on the way...1
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Isn't that what I said? 🤔
"any zigbee powered device that acts as a repeater improves the mesh"0 -
Surely tado devices pick and choose their bridge? Otherwise, in a terrace house, if your neighbour gets tado you'll be turning each other's heating off.
So all you need is a device to coordinate two bridges. Yes, you'll need a second router to plug the other bridge into if tado can't be bothered to incorporate it, but these days routers are dirt cheap.2 -
The annual check-in to see if there is any movement in this area.
Very frustrating that this isn't being looked into by them yet. Another year with a partially smart heating system.
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Annoying. Like others here I have just shelled out 100s of pounds on a system that doesn’t work for my largish property.
Any updates on a range extender solution?1 -
Never going to happen with the current hardware. Five years and counting...0
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Send it all back if you can and get a Drayton Wiser system instead. Very happy I sold up my crumby tado system and went Drayton which has range extenders.0
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Checking in on this thread to see if Tado has given up on offering a material solution. They have stated that a mesh or multiple bridge setup is not "realistically achievable". We're all pretty much asking you to try and be unrealistic here and figure out a breakthrough.
From where I stand, considering the Internet Bridge is locked to one per account and is the central device in the entire communication between radiator thermostats, the boiler thermostat and the internet, it may be easier to consider a separate device for range extensions.
- Smart Radiator thermostats would have to pair to the extender, the same way they pair with the bridge, this shouldn't be too difficult, just make it look and act like a bridge to the radiator stat's eyes.
- The extender should relay requests to the Internet bridge through LAN on the home network.
- The bridge would need to differentiate between directly connected radiators, to communicate wirelessly with them, and devices connected through the extender, and connect through LAN for these (the extender would fulfil the wireless part of the communication)
I know you've already brought this up with your devs and they were all like "sheesh, that's a lot of work, can't we just fine-tune the RF signal?"
My setup worked really well last year after fiddling with placement (and figuring out the best compromise was my TV stand), but this year it doesn't work well AT ALL, and I'm struggling to make things better. Come to think of it, I have a new TV now, it may be interfering more than the previous. I'll try messing with placement again, but it's getting really complicated.
Have some courage and do the work. I'm sure you can come up with something. This thread isn't going anywhere.
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Well I got 6 of the cheapest ZigBee valves on Amazon and 3 hubs
Set up the valves and hubs in about 30min, the app shows signal strength on all valves in one account, I can group whatever I like and set up smart scenes with any device and the hubs are wifi so no need for another cable. All for the price of 1 tado starter kit. Now to try and offload the tados to some sap who doesn't know.-1 -
Selling them was surprisingly easy, good riddance!
Loving the new system, didn't have a disconnect yet and the temperature readings are better than what tado gave
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What make of zigbee valve did you purchase?0
