Suggestions for Reliable Smart Home Sensors

Hardware Home Automation
1

Hi everyone

I’m new to OpenHAB and starting to set up my smart home I’m looking for reliable sensors for temperature, motion, and door/window monitoring I’d love to hear what hardware you use and recommend Any tips for compatibility with OpenHAB or hidden gems that work really well would be appreciated

Looking forward to learning from your experiences and building a solid smart home setup

2

AliExpress and zigbee 3.0 sensors.
Lights sensors. Door sensors. Temperature and humidity sensors. Water/flood sensors. Light bulbs.

3
  • use zigbee2mqtt
  • sonoff dongle - check zigbee2mqtt’s web site for which model to use. I use their zigbee dongle P (I think), but dongle E might be newer and supported by the openhab zigbee binding too if you ever wanted to switch. I am very happy with zigbee2mqtt and have never tried openhab’s zigbee binding.
  • As for devices, I use Aqara zigbee sensors:
    • window/door open/close contact sensor
    • PIR motion sensor
    • Temperature / Humidity sensor
    • Buttons
  • Also check out ikea zigbee stuff (buttons, lightbulbs). I read that ikea’s PIR sensors are a bit slow, but never tested this.
  • Sonoff has an inexpensive mmwave presence sensors
4

I think you will get better answers if you give a bit more specifics on what you need.

For example I have purchased zigbee PIR motion sensors from Aliexpress, the ones with light measurement capabilities have been a disaster stopped working after a few weeks, the ones with just motion detection have been rock solid for a few years. It will also depend on the specific manufacturer and model.

Not a sensor but I have purchased zwave light switches from Zooz, they have worked fine with light bulbs but not with fluorescent type lights even though they are LED.

Just my 2 cents.

5

Also, check the smlight 06 zigbee controller or any of the other related ones. Blows the old sonoff P/E dongles out of the water.

6

Can you comment on these zigbee controllers?, I have one of the sonoff controllers and have had zero problems, I looked into the combination zigbee/thread controller but I am going to wait until I actually have a need for it.

What makes this line of controllers better?

Thanks

7

Poe, or type c powered, Ethernet or WiFi, self updatable (if you never updated your sonoff dongle then understand you’re using an outdated firmware which has certain limitations), has wireguard for vpn, can work as a hub.

Check YouTube for more advantages but overall it’s a much better solution. (I also used the sonoff P)

image
image1920×2560 185 KB