Sharing this tip on a rain sensor with solar panel!

Just wanted to share this tip because I think it can be useful so therefor creating a new topic.

From the topic of a DIY rain gauge, I bumped on this interesting device: a rain sensor with solar panel that seems to do a good job.
Link to a review: https://smarthomescene.com/reviews/tuya-zigbee-solar-rain-sensor-rb-srain01-review/

Notice that it can distinguish the rain intensity which might give an idea about the quantity.

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Interesting device.
I bought one to test.

Yes, it definitely is!
It’s amazing that they put in 2 sensors, a solar panel, a rechargeable battery, a communication module, that bracket and screws for that kind of money and on top it seems to work well! :sparkler:

Would be nice to read your findings.

So, did you receive it already and have you seen this: Rain/Solar ZigBee Sensor not working as expected... loosing connection

Nope…
It’s still on a donkey on route to a raft and then it’s just a few months more.

I got it a few days ago, no rain yet but it seems to work fine.
I have the custom quirk for ZHA so I only get wet/dry and battery.
I will see if I csn get the intensity working in ZHA. But I doubt it’s useful.
Rain or more rain is still rain.
I just need to know if there is on not

I keep having issues with it becoming unavailable.
I don’t know if it is due to range but it shouldn’t be.
But I will try and place it indoors for a few days and see if it still disconnects.

The real issue is that the pairing button is on the bottom behind the mount.
So every time it disconnects I need to remove it from the mount, press the button and mount it again.
Since this is an outdoor sensor and I don’t live on the ground floor, it all becomes a bit problematic.

hello,

just received mine on monday and work great…until i put to far from the nearest router (led bulb).

I put it on a wall 4 meters from a window where there is a zigbee led bulb. Need to put just in front of the window, if not just in front of the window, signal is lost like your example above.

I think mine is about 2.5 m from the closest router. But through a wall.
Not really sure what to do then if the range is this poor.

have you paired it at the exact same place?

because i have paired it first in the middle of my house, and i had some trouble when moved it.

Then i deleted it from z2M and repair at the end place, outdoor.

my wall is 20cm of concrete and 4m away from the window it doesnt work…

perhaps there is a way to add an external antena?

hi
I am interesting for this device. Do you know if it could work with conbee II?

I use mine with Conbee II.

I have had some issues with range. Right now it’s working fine.

It keeps connecting to my Conbee instead of using the router right next to it.

It has very poor reception when connected to the Conbee but for about three days it was connected through the router and it had much better reception.

Is there any way to lock it to a router?

The really annoying thing with this device (for me with poor reception) is that it has the pairing button behind the mount.
So I first have to take it off the mount then re-pair and mount it again.
But apart from that it seems to work fine.

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Nice that it works with conbee II. May I ask how precise is this sensor when the rain stops? Right now I have a water leak sensor for rain and the main problem is that it reports that the rain stopped after at least 1-2 hours than the actual time the rain stopped (until it dries)

Since you already have the conbee I think you will know the answer for my next question (unrelative). Can I add a sonoff zigbee device to use it as zigbee2mqtt?

I have read that the sonoff dongle is better than conbee (wider range etc) but I don’t want to remove conbee and reallocate all my sensors :frowning:

If you look at the image above it seems to detect dry rather quick.
Much quicker than I expected.
Perhaps something is not correct, I’m not home at the moment.
But it said wet at 9:45, then 9:54 it was dry.
This could be a smal drop that it first detected then it dried or dripped off.
It has not rained when I have been home while this device also worked since I got it.
This has been the first test today actually.

I don’t use sonoff or Z2M so I don’t know.

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ok, please if possible give us feedback when you can actually monitor it’s behavior when you are at home.

yep it will work with sonoff dongle and z2m.

i use usg-01 router and z2m, works great for weeks.

Cross posting from here: Rain/Solar ZigBee Sensor not working as expected... loosing connection - #9 by elzorro

TL;DR: the sensor loses connection very fast and even from a short distance.

It’s been working great for me. Accurate and reliable. It is 2 meters from the closest router.

I have also a device, works flawlessly. Its about 10m away (through a concrete wall) from the connected device (its a philips hue bulb).

So far so good.

Ronny