Most FYTA sensors – FYTA Beam G1, FYTA Beam G2, FYTA Mini and FYTA Sphere – communicate exclusively via Bluetooth with the FYTA Hub or the FYTA app on your smartphone, which then forwards the data to the FYTA Cloud.
There are several reasons for this:
1. Significantly lower power consumption
The Bluetooth LE standard used requires significantly less energy than Wi-Fi. This allows our sensors to operate for a long time with a small battery. Direct Wi-Fi operation would significantly reduce battery life.
2. Stability with many plants
Many households already have numerous devices connected to their Wi-Fi network, such as smartphones, laptops, game consoles and smart TVs. Each Wi-Fi device requires its own IP address in the home network. The number of these addresses is limited.
If every single houseplant were a Wi-Fi device, this could quickly lead to network restrictions with many sensors.
By using Bluetooth sensors and one or a few FYTA Wi-Fi hubs, only the Wi-Fi hubs are integrated into your home network, regardless of how many sensors you use.
3. Optimised for multiple indoor plants
Many users have several plants in different rooms. Bluetooth enables multiple sensors to be connected energy-efficiently and reliably via a FYTA Wi-Fi hub without straining the home network.
Why does FYTA Terra use Wi-Fi?
FYTA Terra, our outdoor sensor, uses Wi-Fi directly. In the garden, sensors are usually used in much smaller numbers, for example one for the lawn and perhaps one for a hedge or raised bed. Therefore, there are usually no restrictions on the home network. The size of the device, coupled with the built-in solar cell, allows for higher energy consumption without affecting operating time.
This combination of Bluetooth sensors for indoor use and WiFi sensors for outdoor use ensures an optimal balance of energy efficiency, stability and ease of use.