Since I’m talking Cameras and what has and has not worked, I figured I’d talk about my other devices as well.
I am currently using:
- SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus-E Gateway. Plus-E. (This is important!)
- SONOFF SNZB-02 ZigBee Temperature & Humidity Sensor
- SONOFF SNZB-04 ZigBee Wireless Door/Window Sensor
- SONOFF S31 Lite ZB Smart Plug
SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus-E Gateway
I got off to a rough start. I ordered the Plus, but not the PLUS-E gateway. If you want “plug-n-play” you really want the Plus-E version due to the chipset and direct support in the ZigBee binding. Once I got the correct device and plugged it in, it was detected and has been happy since. You must load the proper Windows (in my case) driver, and add it to OH via the binding.
Overall? I am very pleased with this device as a gateway.
SNZB-02
I have a total of 10 of the SNZB-02 sensors. After a lot of digging, it turns out that they are spec’d at about 0.5 degree F correlation. In an un-scientific test with them all sitting side-by-side, I’d have to say that that are at least very close to that. The binding found them just fine. The OH / SONOFF support is good. The “Properties” (that you can create Items from) are:
- Temperature
- Humiditiy
- Battery Level (1-100%)
- Battery Voltage
Overall? I am very pleased with these devices
SNZB-04
I have a total of 6 of these devices. Front/Back door. Front/Rear Sliders on the Sunroom. The Laundry door (we need to know if we remembered to let the cat into his litter box. LOL). And soon - the Shed which is just outside the back door.
Once again, the devices were easily detected and added to OH. The “Properties” (that you can create Items from) are:
- Contact Portal 1 (The ‘switch’). Portal 1 implies more? Like pins for an extrnal hard switch? But they do not exist.
- Tamper - If you open the cover you get a message.
- Battery Level (1-100%)
- Battery Voltage
- Low Battery
In my configuration (distance to gateway and repeater device) I am very pleased and they have been very reliable.
S31 Lite ZB
We have 3 of these plugs which replaced older WEMO plugs. The older WEMO plugs were always a bit… difficult to play with. They had a mind of their own. The S31’s were detected with zero issue. And work great. Since they are powered, they work as repeaters for the SNZB-02’s and 04’s.
After dealing with WEMO plugs for many years, this was actually a very pleasant experience.
The only property exposed is:
- ZLL_ON_OFF_PLUG_IN_UNIT: Switch
I am exceptionally pleased with these devices. Anybody want some WEMO’s?
Additional comments
The furthest any device from the gateway is 30 feet. But the furthest from a (single step!) repeater is 15 feet. There had been some comments about missed status changes. After doing some further research with help of others here, it should be very difficult to miss a status change due to the fact that the device requires an “ACK” back from the destination. If that is not received, the message is sent a few more times. I suspect problematic cases were devices that were nearing the limits of connection.
The Temp/Humidity and Door contact devices are well built. However – getting the “lids” off to access the batteries was horrible. I’m surprised I didn’t break anything opening these. And I had the device sitting in my hands at the time. Someday, when the battery dies, this is going to be a pain. I will almost surely have to remove them from their (3M) sticky tape and change batteries and remount them. This is the only complaint I have. And this may be very common for all such devices for different brands.
So far, I am only monitoring the door switches and temperature/humidity. I am not “doing” anything with that information yet. Eventually, I want to push a notification of some kind while we are status away and a door opens for instance. The plugs are using OH scheduling to turn on/off plant lights on a schedule. Hasn’t missed one yet.