Xiaomi Sensors vs Sonoff RF Bridge

I am using various Xiaomi sensors in my flat (Xiaomi Buttons, Motion sensors, Door/Window sensors, temperature sensors). It’s been 1 year already that I haven’t changed any batteries.

1 Like

I don’t think you can speed up the delay. You need to work with the bulbs . I would suggest you default the bulbs to the “eyesaver” settings when ever the bulbs are turned on. Have another automation that gradually fades up the bulbs brightness if they are outside the eyesaver time limits and fades down when they are in . That way most of the time when you switch the bulbs on, they will be in right settings and the delay to react to the brightness is masked by the fade up and down. Need to be careful you have a method you can override the automations with the dimmer switch when you need to find the toy that been thrown out of the cot :slight_smile:

1 Like

The Sonoff firing off GPIO14 thing, would you trust this in a bathroom?
I thought it would be a good idea seeing as your then taking live mains voltage out of the picture for damp/wet hands on a lightswitch but I am concerned about the sonoff and humidity levels in the roof void above a bathroom…

I have one in my bathroom because its on a pulley switch. I managed to fit the Sonoff inside the ceiling rose without the its case and cut the button on it down. Its a bathroom light fitting so i guess IP44? its been there for 6-7 months now with no issues.

So if I take off the “from” part and just have it watch for the “on” command that should speed things up slightly I’m guessing?

I had the same issue using yeelights and doubt it will make any difference. Your waiting for the bulb to boot and connect to the gateway. This is why I personally focused on optimising my HA install so i could replace physical switches with remote switches so the bulb can stay on all the time completely removing the delays. Oh and also carefully thinking about which lights I could live without if HA did fail

1 Like

@dgomes Which plugs are you using for range extension? Does it also extend the range for ZHA devices (e.g. sensors, not just switches)?

Has anybody tried generic Zigbee gateways like Elelabs ZigBee USB adapter or Dresden Elektronik ConBee USB stick successfully?

See my previous post Xiaomi Sensors vs Sonoff RF Bridge

It’s a zigbee plug sold by my energy provider that works as a switch and measures energy.

But, many people use the OSRAM Smart + plug that only works as a switch

Both of them are known to extend range.

The plugs extends the Zigbee network from a start into a mesh (they are called routers) any device gets “extended” coverage

Are they really 2, Xiaomi does not mesh them?

Yes different networks, each gateway is a coordinator and offers no way to add to an existing network

I’m currently using a Hue Bridge for lights and an Aotec Zwave stick for zwave devices. I decided early on I would like to keep as few devices as possible on actual wifi. However this route is a bit expensive. I’ve been using UL listed zwave in wall outlets and switches. Electricity makes me nervous, not sure how important the UL listing is, but it makes me feel better. I see people put Sonoff devices in the wall and I don’t want to do that.

I’ve messed with Sonoff but again, so many devices on wifi. I’ve seen Xiaomi devices but never paid much attention. I’m starting to see the appeal. I wouldn’t mind using them for all battery powered devices since I want a bunch of door/window sensors and flood sensors.

I may have missed something, so I want to make sure I have it right. I would need a gateway, the sensors, and possibly a couple of wall plugs to act as routers for devices that are further away. Xiaomi also reports battery which is a big deal for me. I looked at the zigbee2mqtt guide but looks to require a bunch of extra hardware to get it working. I only have a single free USB port on my rpi left. I may prefer to go the gateway route. I may have missed it, but what gateway is everyone using?

Xiaomi gateway.


(Its the first link I found to it so shop round it may be cheaper else where)

I don’t use any plugs and have no intention on using them. I know others have just got a second gateway and running 2 zigbee networks, which is what i plan on doing when I get to the far reaches of our house.

Xiaomi seniors and gateway for me 20x work great and look good for the waf

2 Likes

Just to note my sensors arrived today so that was a week . Not bad. Package did not originate from the UK, has a customs sticker will value of $8 us dollars, but delivery was quick worth the £3-4 premium in price and no additional customs costs

2 Likes

Has anybody tried generic Zigbee gateways like Elelabs ZigBee USB adapter or Dresden Elektronik ConBee USB stick successfully?

I tried with one of the mijia zigbee buttons and couldn’t get it to pair haven’t tried with any of my other sensors yet. I’m just using the Xiaomi gateway.

Juan
I know this is completely out of topic, but I’m trying to setup a couple of rf devices via sonoff rf brdige
I have flashed the tasmota + portisch firmware, and managed to sniff the correct rf codes
on my configuration.yaml, I can turn on the lights, but cannot turn them off via HA
I can , however send an MQTT message to the topic and this turns the light, but can’t figure out how to do it through the HA interface

This is the configuration.yaml:

  • platform: mqtt
    name: “Bedroom light”
    state_topic: “tele/sonoffrf/RESULT”
    command_topic: “cmnd/sonoffrf/backlog”
    payload_on: “rfraw AA B0 2E 05 08 1B1C 0186 00A0 029E 2666 481A3B2A3A3A3A3A3A3A3A3B2A3B2A3B2A3B2A3A3A3A3B2A3A3B2B2B2A3B2B2B2A3A 55;rfraw 177”
    payload off: “rfraw AA B0 2E 05 08 1AFE 0154 00D2 02D0 26FC 481A3B1A3A3A3A3A3A3A3A3B1A3B1A3B1A3A3B1A3A3A3B1A3A3A3A393B1B1B1B1A3A 55;rfraw 177”
    Can you point me in the right direction?

Gracias

Hi Javier: this is a sample:

swithch:
- platform: mqtt
  name: “Code 555503 emitting”
  state_topic: “tele/sonoffq/RESULT”
  command_topic: “cmnd/sonoffq/RfCode”
  qos: 1
  payload_on: “555503”
  payload_off: “555507”
  retain: true

if that fails and have to use mqtt try this:

- platform: template
  scan_interval: 5
  switches:
    bedroom_light:
      friendly_name: 'Bedroom light'
      icon_template: mdi:ceiling-light
      value_template: "{{ is_state( 'binary_sensor.rfbridge', 'on') }}"
      turn_on:
        service: mqtt.publish
        data:
          topic: 'cmnd/sonoffrf/backlog'
          payload: 'rfraw AA B0 2E 05 08 1B1C 0186 00A0 029E 2666 481A3B2A3A3A3A3A3A3A3A3B2A3B2A3B2A3B2A3A3A3A3B2A3A3B2B2B2A3B2B2B2A3A 55;rfraw 177'
      turn_off:
        service: mqtt.publish
        data:
          topic: 'cmnd/sonoffrf/backlog'
          payload: 'rfraw AA B0 2E 05 08 1AFE 0154 00D2 02D0 26FC 481A3B1A3A3A3A3A3A3A3A3B1A3B1A3B1A3A3B1A3A3A3B1A3A3A3A393B1B1B1B1A3A 55;rfraw 177'

for the value template binary_sensor.rfbridge - put your sensor that reports the state of the light.

Thanks Juan
I will try tonight and let you know
Javier

Juan
Only today I have been able to look a this
Unfortunately, neither solution works:

  1. I cannot use those simple payloads, as I was only able to use the raw rf codes, as per my original entry: “rfraw…”
  2. I don’t think there is a binary sensor created to check the status of the lamp . Even the original app ( LHC) doesn’t show if it is lit or not. The way I understand it is this:
    when you click on the wall switch it simply turns on or off the lamp, it doesn’t send any rf signals at all!. when you send the command through the rm pro, it does send an rf code to the switch to turn the lamp on, and another to turn it off, but I don’t think there is any feedback
    I can live with that.
    from HA dev-MQTT I can actually send those codes and it works:
    Publish a packet
    topic:
    cmnd/sonoffrf/backlog

payload:
rfraw AA B0 2E 05 08 1AFE 0154 00D2 02D0 26FC 481A3B1A3A3A3A3A3A3A3A3B1A3B1A3B1A3A3B1A3A3A3B1A3A3A3A393B1B1B1B1A3A 55

One code turns the lamp on, the other turns it off

All I want is to able to do this through the web interface

Thanks again