ᐅ Wireless or wired smart home systems? What about the issue of radiation?

Hello everyone,

we are currently undertaking an extensive renovation of a house from the 1970s. We have been considering for several weeks how to approach the entire electrical system and smart home setup.

As part of the renovation, electric roller shutters will be installed.

At the moment, we live in a rental apartment with electric roller shutters, where I have partially installed Shellys. The lighting works through various lamps (Yeelight, Philips Hue, Osram smart plugs, etc.). We also have several Amazon Echos, which makes the setup roughly the way we want it.

The configuration was somewhat tedious, and the system is not 100% stable. However, this is most likely due to the still poor Wi-Fi network.

Dependencies for triggering actions (e.g., closing the roller shutters when exposed to sunlight) are not very important to us. It’s more like managing about 10 roller shutters, 15 lights, and 15 sockets/outlets.

Our question is whether to use a wired system (bus) or wireless?

We are also concerned about the impact of wireless radiation on our health. Of course, wireless internet access will be provided throughout the house via multiple access points. Nevertheless, we find it difficult to assess whether smart wireless devices are significantly more harmful to health than wired devices, or if wireless devices increase health risks considerably.

Another alternative is EnOcean technology. What is your opinion on this? Can it significantly reduce harmful radiation?

Are there other technologies we might not yet be aware of?

PS: We are, of course, aware that except for EnOcean technology, everything else also means higher power consumption.

Best regards & thank you

There is no harmful radiation from Wi-Fi, not even radiation that poses a health risk. Your mobile phones, which you use daily, are much stronger sources of radiation...

Zigbee and EnOcean are the most energy-efficient systems in terms of power consumption and airtime.

Wired connections are, of course, the best solution if you are concerned about electromagnetic radiation. In general, wired always has advantages over wireless beyond the "radiation" aspect, which you have already noticed. Overall, these devices operate at power levels that are completely harmless.

So, a counter question: Do you completely turn off your mobile phones at home? Is your house electromagnetically shielded? Are there any insulation measures on the electrical wiring? If you answered "no" to any of these questions, then you really don’t need to worry about anything else. The biggest emitter in most homes is usually the mobile phone when it has poor signal reception, and the frequencies from 700 to 2600 MHz (megahertz) also penetrate walls from outside without any stopping.

For my company, regarding the outputs from "Sentinel Haus," I once wrote a brief report on smart home wireless standards and their "hazard potential." After reading it, a customer who considered themselves “well-informed” by their own biased perception stopped raising the issue entirely.

Besenkammer84 schrieb:

The question is whether to use a wired system (bus) or go wireless!?

For the "trivial" applications, using a bus system? That’s like using a nuclear bomb to shoot sparrows.

“Radiation,” meaning electric and magnetic fields, occurs everywhere in a house—from every household appliance, every lamp, etc. This is not harmful. Wireless solutions are no more harmful.

Every cable acts as an antenna and emits radiation. Every device radiates at different frequencies. Every power supply even emits back into the fixed wiring, which in turn acts as an antenna – and this is much more significant than any signals from home automation systems, regardless of the protocol used.

Araknis schrieb:

Zigbee and EnOcean are the most energy-efficient systems in terms of power consumption and airtime.

Wired connections are naturally the best solution if you are somewhat concerned about electromagnetic radiation. In general, wired is always preferable to wireless, and you’ve already recognized the advantages beyond just the “radiation” aspect. Overall, the devices all operate at power levels that are completely harmless.

So, a counter question: Do you completely switch off your phones at home? Is your house electromagnetically shielded? Are there any isolation measures on your electrical wiring? If you answered no to any of these, then you really don’t need to worry about anything else. The biggest emitter in the house is usually the phone with poor cellular reception, and those frequencies from 700 to 2600 MHz also penetrate the walls from outside without any control.

NO, we are normal people :-D

Araknis schrieb:

Wired is generally always preferable to wireless, and you’ve already recognized the advantages beyond just the “radiation” aspect.

Do you mean that’s mainly because it is more reliable?

SaniererNRW123 schrieb:

Using a bus system for “small-scale” applications? That’s like using a nuclear bomb to shoot sparrows.

Yes, that’s basically how we think as well! But we are worried that WLAN might become too widespread eventually, so maybe it would be better to use wired after all. On the other hand, as I understand it, with a bus system you’d need a separate cable for every controllable light. With Shelly devices or Wi-Fi lamps, for example, you can just control the device itself, so a separate cable is not necessary — you could even use tapped power lines.

@ALL: Is the extra effort of a bus cable really worth it?

Best regards & thanks