[mike2872]

Yes, if I understand you correctly then it already works with that setup.

So you can have the ESP32s over ethernet and it still works as long as it's on the same network as TOMMY (Home Assistant Add-on or Docker). Only thing to keep in mind is that the ESP32s need to have Wi-Fi inbuilt with antenna (either PCB or external).

[atmanactive]

... and it is possible to configure a non existing SSID which would then be created as a separate mesh network (no access point), correct?

[mike2872]

You actually won't need to configure a SSID at all. The peer-to-peer communication is handled by the devices internally without any manual setup.

[atmanactive]

Does that mean that Tommy is not using SSID at all for it's motion detection? Where is the WiFi network then? Hidden? What about bands and channels? Overlaps? Interference?

[mike2872]

Actually, you are right. I confused myself. You would need to have them connected to the same Wi-Fi as that determines the bands and channels they communicate on even though the communication is peer-to-peer.

How are your devices connected exactly? Using ethernet on the subnet your HA instance is on? And are you then able to also connect to a separate Wi-Fi SSID you create for those devices?

Also, are you able to join the Discord channel? Then we can create a thread and go a bit more into depth about your setup.

[atmanactive]

Thank you for the explanation. Right now I don't have Tommy or any of it's devices configured (yet). I was just trying to determine what's possible and what's not. I do have ethernet throughout the house. Then, I have three Ubiquity AmpliFi dual-band mesh WiFi access points in an ethernet-backboned configuration. I do a lot of Sunshine/Moonlight low-latency high-def video/audio streaming, so for me, the WiFi quality/speed/jitter is of utmost importance. So much so that I removed all Zigbee and most ESP devices and replaced them with similar Z-Wave devices. The very fact that Z-Wave operates on a completely different band enabled me to have both abundance of home automation AND flawless WiFi at the same time. So, now considering what Tommy has to offer, I'm intrigued, but wouldn't want to go through the whole WiFi degradation and rescue again, hence I'm thinking through all the possibilities. The safest thing, for me, would be to have Tommy devices equipped with ethernet and WiFi, have them talk to Home Assistant via ethernet, and have them use their own WiFi SSID/channel for their motion detection. Otherwise, if that's not possible, then I could let them associate with my existing home WiFi, but then I would like to limit them to 2.4GHz band only, so I can have my 5GHz band clean and intact. Simply, that's my home network building policy: move everything that can be moved to ethernet in order to keep WiFi as clean as possible. That's because I already experienced the situation few years back that I just bought the best WiFi access point (x3) that money can buy and I still can't stream flawless 4K in real-time. Well, not anymore.

[mike2872]

I can understand that. I used to do a lot of game streaming with Parsec and ended up with a similar setup.

Right now, TOMMY only use Wi-Fi and doesn't support using ethernet for the communication with HA and Wi-Fi for peer-to-peer communication. But that is very possible to implement. Just haven't encountered the use case before now.

I'll probably implement an option for split communication (ethernet, wifi) and then allow users to decide the Wi-Fi channel devices communicate on peer-to-peer. That way you'd have full control over possible interference.