Plug-in Temperature and Humidity Sensors (Z-Wave maybe?)

Hardware
1

New to Home Assistant, very new to z-wave. I would like to have temperature and humidity sensors scattered around the house, and am struggling a bit.

I am running Hass.io on Pi3B, and from recommendations here got a Nortek HUSBZB-1, and bought one each of a zooz 4-in-1 and Sensative Comfort strips. I got the latter by mistake, somehow I had the impression it does humidity, but it does not. Both work, are configured, neither is exactly a delight.

The Sensative has been flakey. I’ve had to remove and add again, and it always seems really a delay in reconnecting after server restart. But the biggest problem is my fault thinking it had humidity (the sensor specs show a “moisture” , though it is not actually clear if that even works, but if so I think it’s a leak type?

I’m also annoyed that Sensative advertises that you “never” need to change batteries, because you CANNOT change batteries. I get the connection but it’s marketing pushed a bit far.

The zooz has been more reliable in terms of staying connected after restarts, moves, etc. The luminance (which I had not intended to use) though is silly, at 0-100% not lux, and maxing out at relatively low interior light levels. But I didn’t need luminance. What I do need is outdoor use. Though my guess is up under an eve these may be OK.

However… here’s my real question: Are there any decent, fairly cheap ($20-30 or so) temperature and hummidity sensors that are NOT battery powered? The only one I have run across is the Homeseer one (HSM200), which has horrible reviews at some sites about DOA and failure rates. Plus its pretty pricey and not entirely obvious if it works with Home assistant.

I also see the Sonof TH16, which looks a bit promising, though it’s a two part sensor and appears to be indoor only also (though I guess the sensor itself could be run to the outside, though running a wire from inside to outside is a bit of a challenge here (block walls).

I’d just love to find something cheap I can buy, plug a dozen of them in scattered around the house, attic, outside, etc.

This seems like something that ought to be simple and cheap; are there ones I am just missing?

Thanks,

Linwood

2

Sounds like a perfect application for an esp unit using a temperature+humidity sensor with esphome. I have not tried any of these for a specific suggestion for sensor hardware.

3

Thanks, Matthew. I just moved into a new house and my list of things to do is so very long, I really want something already built. I do occasionally enjoy building stuff from components, but right now I want to build a system from already working modules.

Now if I don’t find anything I like, maybe later…

4

I’m very happy with the Broadlink A1 - WiFi, plugged in, also checks VOC levels and costs 30 bucks or so…

5

I’ll look around further, but where did you find them? Most places don’t have any in stock, and I saw them from about $60 to $120 (the latter amazon, former new egg).

Is it accurate? That’s a lot of different sensors for $30.

6

https://m.gearbest.com/living-appliances/pp_363534.html

I might have caught a discount, 40ish seems its regular price…and yeah, looks accurate to me, I also have an Aeotec sensor in the next room and they’re close.

7

If it can be something else than Z-Wave I’d recommend the Xiaomi Aqara Zigbee sonsors connected with the a Zigbee2MQTT-dongle:

Yes, you need to buy the kit to flash the USB thingie, but the sensors themselves are only $11 a pop if you buy them on AliExpress.

8

I run a few z-wave motion/temp/humidity sensors but have 4 of these mqtt as well: