I’m hoping to buy some smart sensors (Door / Motion / Temp / Humidity etc) to integrate into my HA setup but I’m not sure whether to go for generic sensors that say they support Tuya or Xiaomi Mijia / Aqara sensors or any others that are out there that I haven’t yet heard of.
What are peoples opinions and findings on reliability and compatibility with HA of these types of sensors
Hi xion2000,
I would advise against the Tuya sensors. The Xiaomi sensors are generally very good. If you want to have it “local” you can use “deConz”, the sensors from “Philips Hue”, “IKEA Tradfri” and also the “Xiaomi” sensors can be connected. If you are a hobbyist I think “ESPHome” by Otto Winter is great !!! There are still sensors that transmit at 433 mHz and are very cheap, but I have no experience…
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+1 for Xiaomi, I have around 15 door/window sensors integrated with deCONZ. Long battery life and stable since the beginning (ca. 1 year)
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Tuya
cons - not everything with tuya is supported via the out of the box tuya integration
cons - the out of the box integration has to poll the tuya cloud - and can be slow (will create lots of warnings depending on the device, and requires ongoing internet access.
cons - most (all?) devices require mains power as they use wifi
pros - many devices can be flashed with tassmota or esphome (not tried it, can’t comment)
xiaomi
cons - need a zigbee hub - not all (xiaomi/mija) hubs can provide HA integration
pros - if your hub works, uses local access not internet
pros - can use a third party zigbee hub if you dont like the Chinese one
pros - battery life is typically a year.
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Thanks for the replies guys. I’ve dipped a toe into the smart sensor market & ordered a temp & motion sensor from AliExpress & being a bit of a cheapass rather than spend £37.95 on one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PZ7ZHG5/ref=crt_ewc_title_oth_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1C032QA58NB8M, I’ve spent £12 on one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zigbee2mqtt-Zigbee-USB-CC2531-Use-for-Home-Assistant-or-ZigBee-Hub-USB/333369310363?hash=item4d9e5bfc9b:g:DXYAAOSwRY1drKqp (hoping it will do the same job!!)
Which temp & motion sensor did you order? Did you check that they are compatible with the ZigBee2MQTT stick you ordered?
The first stick is for DeCONZ and the second for ZigBee2MQTT, both should do the job.
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Are there any smart plugs (UK spec) with energy monitoring that can be display the energy monitoring in the form of live charts in HA that will work using this gateway. I’ve read about plenty (and own a few) that can be flashed with custom firmware but I really don’t feel confident going down that avenue. The only plugs that would meet my requirements seem to be the rather bulky (& a little pricey) TP-Link HS110’s
It would have been better to order the parts instead of the kit. You won’t need the gateway from this kit and the plug will probably also not work. The other sensors should work with the stick you ordered as far as I know.
I did, but if I selected the individual items to get the address to post the link the web address did not appear to change.
I only ordered the motion & temp sensors (no gateway or any others)
Ah I understand, then it’s fine 
Have fun setting up your sensors !!! I have the TP-Link HS-110 and I highly recommend it. It is a bit more expensive than others, but it works without problems, it is very easy to set up and you do not have to do any “flash”. He is often on sale at various retailers, just keep your eyes open …
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Just to check before I buy…
I am currently using all Tuya sensors (Motion, humid&temperature) and a lots of Tuya smart socket.
Due to complication integrating Tuya with other stuffs like Alexa or HA(Temperature reading wrong etc), I am thinking to change to Aqara Ecosystem,
Does Aqara support Alexa? example, can I say “Alexa, whats the temperature of living room”, does aqara support Alexa to obtain the sensor info?
Hello kavierkoo and welcome to the forum. I don’t have Alexa at home. I can highly recommend the Xiaomi sensors, and much better compared to the Tuya sensor I have !! I would implement the integration via a deConz module or USB stick. The control and communication would then be local. I find NodeRED very interesting for newcomers to HA.
This is my opinion. I hope you enjoy setting up HA and if you encounter any problems you will definitely find help here in the forum.
are your sensors wifi or zigbee?
Hi, who are you asking that question too
“are your sensors wifi or zigbee?”
Hello Reilly911. My Tuya sensors are connected via WiFi. The Xiaomi sensors are connected via zigbee. The Tuya sensors are integrated via the Tuya app, the status change here is (much) slower than in comparison to the Xiaomi sensors.
Hey Volker, but you managed to connect your Tuya zigbee devices to hassio? can you share how?
I have climate/contact/motion sensors i’d like to connect to hassio.
Hello Reilly 911, the Tuya sensors are connected via WiFi, and that was only via the Tuya app on the smartphone! And that’s why I’m not convinced by the sensors. I also don’t think that the sensors can be integrated into HA. I believe that the Tuya sensors can be connected via IFTTT using the Tuya app? But IFTTT is just a temporary solution.
Hi.
Can I check I have a tuya zigbee hub and an aqara motion sensor. Can they connect?