A few years ago, I bought a z-wave key to control some LED bulbs. For a few days now, I would like to equip my home with temperature/humidity sensors.
However, I can’t find what I’m looking for. I would have liked to know what people using z-wave have equipped in their homes.
I am also considering switching to zigbee when I see the number of sensors (especially Xiaomi given their attractive prices). I saw that there is an integration of a blox Zigbee2mqtt. The idea of this block is to do without a manufacturer’s gateway?
After Z-Wave, it gets expensive quickly… €60 per sensor adds up fast.
Regarding Xiaomi in Zigbee, I clearly recommend this technology: it’s fast, it’s stable, and it’s especially much more affordable, especially if you order online from a Chinese site.
There is a Zigbee2mqtt integration in development, the concept is indeed to do without a manufacturer’s gateway to retrieve the information via a Zigbee USB key. It requires some skill as you have to flash the key yourself, but it works well.
I introduced you to the « all-in-one » key, which is indeed a bit expensive.
But if you know how or are willing to get your hands « dirty, » they explain how to flash a key that costs around €10.
In terms of power, I understood that the model I proposed first is quite powerful and allows for long-range capture. In a house, this might be enough and therefore cost less… to be verified!
I am using a Texas Instruments CC2531 Zigbee key flashed with the latest firmware.
I followed this tutorial Zigbee2MQTT (you need some equipment but it’s not expensive).
I use it with Xiaomi humidity/temperature sensors without a gateway and it works well. My network is not very large and I live in an apartment so I am not at the limits of this key.
Zigbee2MQTT development is not yet finished but already well advanced
I do everything through Tasmota or Arduino+ESP8266+MQTT, but it’s a lot of tinkering and… no key
Next step: 433MHz to MQTT Bridge (via arduino+ESP8266)
By the way, doesn’t something like this already exist?
Currently, I have a Fibaro wallplug behind my TV cabinet to turn it off when I’m away from home. But I was wondering about a smart power strip to manage the connection of each device. (I don’t need to have the home theater or the switch on if I just want to watch the news).
And I thought I could still use the wallplug for charging my phone or other things in the bedroom.
So I think that if I’m going with Zigbee, buying a multi might be a very interesting option.
To add insult to injury, I use Xiaomi (Aqara) opening and motion detectors without going through the gateway (which I don’t have, by the way!).
It works super fast, I’m really surprised. Less than half a second between opening the window and receiving the event.
Well, I just have to wait for the release of the Zigbee2mqtt service to make my purchases! Actually, you shouldn’t linger here, they’re trying to corrupt you from everywhere!
Do you have a link for the c2531 key with the CC debugger card and the c2531 downloader card to flash it on Aliexpress?
Because there are many options available.
In particular, the one I use: slaesh’s CC2652RB
