Hi , The Myenergi company sell home devices which are all networked together. These are an EV chargepoint (zappi), a water heater (eddi), and a "hub" which connects to the household router by an RJ45 ethernet cable. The zappi and eddi communicate with the hub ,
not by wifi, but by a proprietary 868MHz wireless protocol.
Why didnt they just use wifi throughout?
You can see the 868MHz antenna in the bottom left of the Harvi device here at 4:04...
(a "spring" antenna approx 4mm diam by 20mm long)
At 12:38 of this video, you can see the 868MHz antenna in the top left of the product (a "spring" antenna approx 4mm diam by 20mm long)
At 00:08 of this video you can see the 868MHz antenna on top of the eddi
At 3:01 of this video, it explains why the 868MHz protocol is better than wifi.....
..so it does appear that the lower frequencies are better for going through walls and buildings etc.
.....so why is wifi so widely used?
What is confusing , is that all of our prodcuts are set up with wifi, and the installer doesnt sign the job off until they see full wifi connectivity......but sometimes the wifi drops out after the installer has left.......so howcome there is so much problem with wifi?....i mean, if wifi drops out, then why doesnt it just reconnect itself?
Why are we having so many customers who get their product installed with wifi that works on the install day...but then some days or weeks later, the wifi drops out, and our customers simply cannot re-connect the wifi...what is going on?
...but then you have to ask yourself...if 868MHz is so good at getting through walls etc, then why did this guy have to install a really long antenna cable and antenna so that the 868MHz antenna was within "Line of sight" of the zappi?...(otherwise his comnms dropped out)
...and why did his comms drop out when it was cold?