Hi guys,
A newbie here. I wanted to set up security at home and was looking at cheap sensors. I came across a few which don’t seem to be directly connect to apps. They seem to connect to a central panel such as by tuya.
An example of a full kit (I am wondering about just the sensors in this kit)
Can these be
Thanks for the help!
While a kit like that is convient, and the screen looks great, you are locking yourself into a certain vendor.
If you want cheap sensors then have a look at Zigbee things and a zigbee stick https://electrolama.com/projects/zig-a-zig-ah/
You then can get a lot of cheap sensors and bring them together in Openhab.
Xiaomi Aqara has a great range, cheap if you look well on AliExpress, and reliable:
For motion sensors so far the best (fastest responding) is a blitzwolf bw-is3.
Also all Ikea Tradfri stuff will work, and Philips Hue.
If you get a Zigbee stick, especially zigbee2mqtt ready, then you don’t need all those proprietary bridges from all vendors, just the devices.
I have about 60 Zigbee devices, and 40 other smart devices. Need to repair about 1 zigbee device every couple of months because it lost connection.Takes 30 seconds to repair it.
I run zigbee2mqtt with a MQTT broker, so it is super easy to link everything into Openhab.
It supports a massive number of devices https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/information/supported_devices.html
But Openhab even has a “direct” zigbee binding that you can definitely look into as well.
Zwave bit more expensive and different frequencies for different parts of the world making it more difficult.
Wifi is not bad either and quite flexible if you get devices supported in Openhab.
If I look at the title of your post; I’d dare to say stay away from 433. It is outdated and usually tied into a vendor.
Choose by protocol rather than vendor I’d say if you want to have more flexibility and have a basic technical knowledge.
If you do Openhab (or home automation) well, you don’t need a panel or even app, since you should make it so that everything works automatically and you never need to press a switch, set heating, do blinds, or anything else.
I just open my app once a day to look at the temperature. Cannot remember the last time I touched a light switch.
A panel is something I’m still considering, but in all honesty an old Android tablet running a UI will do just as well. You’ll look at it all the time the first weeks, but then never again 
Finally, Google homes or Alexas make everything voice operated through Openhab.
Just my thoughts, good luck with your setup!
Hi @Ben_P,
Thank you so much. That was a very useful reply!
So getting one of the zigbee sticks (something like SONOFF Zigbee CC2531 USB Dongle) would allow me to connect to one of these sensors?
I do have alexa and smart LED strips. Looking to connect sensors and cameras to it as well.
Thanks!
No it won’t.
This is 433Mhz protocol devices. Zigbee is a different protocol.
433Mhz is cheap but that’s about it.
CC2531 dongles work but they can only handle a limited number of devices, hard to flash and sometimes so-so signal. The one from my link above is a lot better.
But first decide if you are giong to go 433Mhz, which has limited integration capabilities with Openhab,
Zigbee/ZWave that require a dongle but offer plenty of devices and good integration with Openhab one way or the other, or WiFi devices, that work out of the box with Openhab if supported. List of supported devices small as compared to the others; but still worth it.
If you are not technical and want to use Openhab, go for Wifi if the devices you want are supported.
If you are a bit technical, can manage a command line in Linux then go for ZWave or Zigbee (cheaper and jsut as good as ZWave I think)
If you like to get your hands dirty and curse a lot, but get all things really cheap, then go 433Mhz.
One exception might be Tasmota/Sonoff, that seems to be well supported. But I have little knowledge on this.
Great! Thanks again!
I would say I am pretty comfortable with Linux (worked with it for about 5 years) so I think ZWave or Zigbee would be my best bet 
Would prefer to be vendor agnostic as much as possible.
Cheers!
Depening on how technical you are, you could also do this as DIY. The ESP8266 running ESPEasy or Tasmota can work with Reed Switches (contact sensors) and PIR’s with little configuration. These can be integrated with MQTT and then with OpenHAB via the MQTT Binding. The best part is there is no vendor lock-in or proprietary bits. The main issues will be deciding how to power the devices depending on their location and what housings to use (a 3D printer is useful).
As an aside, if your smart LED strips are not supported by OpenHAB, you could look at re-utilizing the strip but replacing the controller with something like WLED (OpenHAB has a binding for this now, but it can also be made to work using MQTT).
@Sunny That sounds like an interesting project!
I might have to look at how complex is configuring the ESP8266 with PIR and reed switches.
If you have any steps and guides that would be great! Power has been something I have been wondering about as well. It seems that rechargeable batteries are the way to go. Unless you have some better suggestions.
A couple of links:
#091 How to properly power the ESP8266 modules - YouTube
ESP8266, Deep Sleep mode test, wake up with a PIR motion detector • DIY Projects
I’ve just integrated sonoff devices (search ewelink binding) and am running the 433mhz bridge with all my existing PIRs and contact sensors.
It works great and no delay on activation.
Bridge was £13 so cheap 
And it works locally without cloud
You can also add 433mhz fobs to arm/disarm
would you be able to provide me with more details on which devices you’re running and how everything is connected together?
I am tech savy however, I’m just starting off with home automation etc.
many thanks!