I just found this thread and am very intrigued. I came to the forums looking for updated motion sensing recommendations, especially given the progress with Matter/Thread, Ikea’s new Matter-based releases, and the new HA Connect ZBT-2. However, it turns out that a month ago I bought a handful of ESP32 C3 SuperMinis and LD2410Cs hoping to experiment in this space. I’m a newbie when it comes to soldering, but I do have what I need to make this happen, including a 3D printer (and the design skills to custom-make enclosures).
@aquariuz23 Did you ever end up giving this setup a try? If not, what did you end up going with?
@FriedCheese If you were starting over today, would you do anything differently?
I entered the home automation world using a few WiFi smart plugs and switches. I’ve had really good success with Kasa/Tapo, and when I got my HA Green, the devices integrated perfectly and have never caused any issues. Once in a while the smart plugs go unresponsive, but a quick reset solves any issues. More recently, I tried a few Shelly relays, and as much as I’d like to love them, they go unresponsive quite frequently (at least once or twice a month), and I have to reset the breaker to get them working again, since they’re in the wall.
I also recently bought a few Sonoff Zigbee relays and they’ve been flawless (although for some reason HA doesn’t always report their status correctly, but that’s a different conversation).
I’d like to start automating lights based on motion detection. Currently I have simple home/away automations that turn everything on/off. My vision is to keep lights on throughout the (fairly small) house, but dim them significantly when motion hasn’t been detected in that room for a while.
So with that being said, any recommendations on which direction I should go? Zigbee? Matter? Stay with WiFi? Curious to know what you think.