Hi Guys,
I’m looking for an inexpensive way to monitor the above items in my house with HA integration obviously. I’, about to commit to the Xiaomi range (buy a gateway etc)
Whats everyone’s thoughts? Does anyone have any other alternatives?
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personally I have a Raspberry Pi with several HC-SR501 PIR Motion Sensor Modules.
I also have a BMP280 that gives me the temperature and atmospheric pressure. You can upgrade for a BME280 that would also give you humidity.
I personally prefer wired sensors as there will be no need to change their batteries and as a result no false reading when the battery goes low or dead…
For Temp and humidity I also have a few other devices that provide this: Nest Thermostat, CurrentCost EnviR, Cresta T34C…
I would recommend the Xiaomi range of sensors, but don’t get the gateway and use this:
Works a treat!!!
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I use Xiaomi as well, works like a charm (I use multiple gateways).
@lolouk44 I do not know about other devices but the xiaomi sensors do not give false readings when the battery get’s low they just stop working. To avoid that you can have a battery low warning.
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I have one Xiaomi Temp/Humidity sensor, and two Sonoff TH10’s with temp and humidity sensor’s connected to them. Now this is just my OCD kicking in probably, but I prefer the sonoff’s, as they are powered, they give a more updated reading. With the Xiaomi battery one’s, they only update if there is a significant change, I guess to save battery, but it just makes the graph look weird, I mean there is nothing wrong with the actual reading, its just my OCD 
Sonoff
Xiaomi
I have some Sonoff plugs around as well, so have ordered the parts to do this to them,
https://github.com/arendst/Sonoff-Tasmota/issues/670
So can add some more sensors around the house that are powered.
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So I have a TH10 that’s flashed and works for the power but I haven’t managed to get the temperature from it. I have a probe that looks like a little metal bullet, if I visit the device via http I can see the temp so it is working. Do you have any instructions you followed to get urs working and to graph it?
Looks like I’m heading down the xiaomi route as well 
You need to add a MQTT sensor, presuming you have it setup to connect to a MQTT server, and from there this is my code, so adjust to fit your sensor,
- platform: mqtt
name: "Loft Temperature"
state_topic: "tele/extractorfan/SENSOR"
value_template: "{{ value_json['AM2301'].Temperature }}"
unit_of_measurement: "°C"
retain: true
- platform: mqtt
name: "Loft Humidity"
device_class: "humidity"
state_topic: "tele/extractorfan/SENSOR"
value_template: "{{ value_json['AM2301'].Humidity }}"
unit_of_measurement: "%"
retain: true
By the sounds of it, you have the waterproof temp sensor, so not sure that does humidity, so can probably ignore the second bit, but it also has a different name, so if you got to the tasmota/http page for the sonoff, and then go to the console, you will see the messages it is sending to the MQTT server, should be something like this,
12:53:10 MQT: tele/extractorfan/SENSOR = {"Time":"2018-08-03T12:53:10","AM2301":{"Temperature":28.5,"Humidity":49.5},"TempUnit":"C"}
the AM2301 part is the name of the sensor, yours will be different, so just change out that part of the code for what your’s read’s and it should be good to go.
Before you do, have a look at this.
I did the zwave course (xiaomi -zigbee) and this solution is just better in all respects. It works, It’s inexpensive and It’s easy to setup.
The simplest way forward with this is to get a couple of Sonoff rf gateways, flash them with a simple micro usb (no soldering, no wiring, nothing ) and order 7 to 8 dollar motion and contact sensors from china. There’s a list of proven sensors.
and what he said
thanks chaps! god i love this mqtt stuff!!!
Can you point me in the right direction for more info on doing this? Please and thanks!
what exactly do you want need help with / what part were you interested in?
Can you explain your setup @juan11perez? I’m interested in 433mhz, infrared IR to and from MQTT on ESP8266 . How are the sensors setup? Is it similar to MySensors, where you use a microcontroller like Arduino or ESP8266 to connect the sensor to. Then sensor inputs are sent via MQTT back to HomeAssistant?
@benhuson1 Which Zigbee USB do you use? I’m keen to know about this route as well. As I have some IKEA lights and a hub already.
Hello!
I just used everything on the Zigbee2Mqtt setup.
The wiki pages show you all the bits you need to get going:
Its a really well written guide
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Hi @sentur I’m in a 2200sqft flat. I have two sonoff bridges spread out. I use the sonoff only for 433mhz sensors; but you can use it to transmit to RF devices. I have 10 pirs, 8 door/window and 1 fire/smoke alarm.
I started with the openmqtttgateway sketch last November and it worked fine. About 2 weeks ago I decided to move to Tasmotta, since I have many “tasmotized” devices and I use the Tasmoadmin docker to monitor them I wanted to have consistency. Flashing to tasmotta is very easy (you can use the Drzz video).
The sonoff acts as a gateway. It receives RF signals and transmits back to HA via MQTT (similar concept to Mysensors, but with sonoff bridge the device is ready!). It works very well; in 9 months now using this system, I have not had any issues at all. Moreover sensor batteries are now running for 9 months also.
The other advantage is you can put as many gateways as you need/want. They’re only USD14 and they’re connected via wifi. No USB limitations or complications passing them to dockers or virtual machines or whatever is the set up.
The sensors are another advantage. You can get good sensors for an average of USD7.
As I said before I started with zwave because everybody does as it seems easy, but it’s not. This forum is filled with tons of zwave complaints/problems from the most elementary to the most cumbersome.
I understand people feel a bit intimidated with “flashing” devices, but the youtube videos are very easy to follow.
If I can offer further details let me know.
Thanks @benhuson1.
Thanks for clarifying your setup @juan11perez. It sounds like a very promising route to go down. Can you provide any links to where you bought your PIR sensors from and the gateway hub?
Do you have multiple gateway hubs in your flat in order to maximise coverage?
Are there any down sides to your setup. I’d read some negative comments about the window sensors. People keep saying the sensor only reports on the window being open. There’s no sensor output to say when it has closed, as far as I’ve seen. Is that true?
Im using these Pirs.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DIGOO-DG-HOSA-Wireless-Infrared-PIR-Detector-Sensor-For-433MHz-Home-Security-Alarm-System-Kits/3043029_32819986075.html?spm=2114.12010608/itm2home-1.0.0.3cc51f3cNHHcTb 17
Very good quality, hard plastic good range. Been running on same battery 9 months now.
I use this door/window sensors.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3ps-lot-Wireless-Alarm-Accessories-Intelligent-Door-Window-Sensor-Magnetic-Door-Sensor-for-G90B-GSM-PSTN/32761822450.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.259.3d243c00pfWlgn 18
They provide on and off signal. Same battery length thus far.
I have 2 gateways (sonoff rfbridge) to ensure coverage. You can add as many as you want/need. All you have to do is use the same topic in all to ensure at least one gets the signal. The first to get it will report it, so no issue there
this is the oem https://www.itead.cc/sonoff-rf-bridge-433.html
Buy only the gateway from them and the sensors I suggested above.
The comment about the window is true if you get a sensor that only provides an on signal. buy the one I suggest as it provides on/off (open/closed). No downside on my view.
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Brilliant. Thanks for the all the details of your setup. It’s helped me and I’m sure will be useful to others.
One last thing, are the PIR sensors quick to respond or is there a noticeable delay? Also which smoke alarm do you have?
I tried a couple of PIRs, the one’s Im suggesting are very good. 1 or 2 sec I would say same response time as zwave.
Smoke alarm also from the same manufacturer of Pirs. You’ll find it in their store site.
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