Best sensors?

Been using Aqara with tradfri repeaters. Some sensors work while others unpair all the time.

  • Need door/window sensors
  • Need temperature sensors (if it matters for ecobee)

Zwave or zigbee.

What do you like? What works?

My favorite door/window are Visonic. Zigbee, supported by HE. Pair easily, slim and trim, and have been very reliable for me. Also provide temperature. I get them at the site below, usually has the best prices, sometimes does nice sales on them as well.

https://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/visonic-mct-340-e-wireless-door-window-temperature-sensor-2.4ghz-zigbee-now-works-natively-with-samsung-smartthings-hub/

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If you have a spare *nix device you can use, I would suggest using [RELEASE] Alpha WyzeSense Integration. I highly recommend using the Wyze sensors. 4 contact sensors for $20

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You might be able to find some of the V2 Iris contact sensors on Ebay. I haven't had any problems with them. Otherwise, the SmartThings contact sensors work well.

I use my Hue motion sensors and Samsung single button controller for temperature. The Samsung button controller is my favorite for temp because they seem to be accurate and reliably report temperature changes.
I average the temp sensors into one virtual temperature sensor with the "average temp" app in Hubitat's github. It allows me to give more weight to some sensors than others.

For sensors, I prefer Zigbee. They usually are faster to respond than Zwave. I like the Iris, but they are getting more and more in short supply, but you can get incredible deals on them if you are patient. Samsung Zigbee sensors seem to be pretty well liked here, maybe look into them.

I think the Aqara are hit and miss, but they can be okay IF your mesh is perfect. No Zigbee bulbs (except Sengled), no peanut plugs, and so on. If you are having dropoffs, there is probably something in your system causing it. I have a few Aqara, but I wouldn't use them everywhere or for important things you really truly rely on, they just aren't as good as more expensive sensors. Mine do seem fairly stable now that I have done some things to improve mesh overall, and got rid of the bad actors, so at least you might be able to make what you currently have work.

Depending on what's in stock I either go with Samsung's:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SmartThings-Multipurpose-Sensor-GP-U999SJVLAAA/dp/B07F956F3B

or Visonic's

https://www.amazon.com/Visonic-MCT-340-Wireless-Window-Temperature/dp/B06XDJ3KYC/ref=sr_1_1

As stated above depending on the size of the home you may need Zigbee repeaters. Even though many say the peanut plugs are problematic as long as you use the lower radio frequencies with them they are great repeaters tradfri repeaters work well also.

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I prefer the Visonic zigbee sensors, they are small. They are not the greatest at reporting battery life accurately. The batteries needs replacing every 1-2 years on windows that don't get used much. I also have modded them to use a larger battery for an outdoor gate sensor and a sump float sensor.

He has Peanut plugs. I stopped having dropoffs when I ditched the Peanuts. The funny thing is that I didn’t have to replace the Peanuts with something else. My four Samsung outlets picked up everything that six Peanuts had been dropping.

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:+1:

Same here.

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The price of the sensors is very appealing, though there’s also the cost of a wyze camera and bridge that’s required for the sensors to work (not a huge additional expense I admit). But I would recommend using sensors that work natively with hubitat unless one has other compelling reasons to stick with the wyze gear.

This solution has several additional possible points of failure: the wyze cam, the bridge, the Unix box running python, and the community developer’s app that integrates it with Hubitat.

A zigbee or z-wave sensor, OTOH, pairs directly with hubitat and if it’s on the compatible device list, has a built-in driver maintained by Hubitat devs in the event of any future platform changes.

You don't need a camera. $20 for the bridge, 2 contact sensors, and 1 motion sensor. The bridge connects to the Unix machine and the code is run there. No camera needed.

If you have a reliable Unix machine then there's nothing to worry about, but ymmv

Thanks for clarifying, I edited my post. I still think directly connected devices for core automation functions like contact and motion sensing are worth the additional expense :wink:.

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definitely, directly connected is the way to go. for me though, i couldn't pass on the value. for $40, i got the bridge, 6 contact sensors, and 1 motion sensor. that's the price of one zigbee/z-wave contact sensor in some cases. i was already getting wyze cams anyway, and saw they had the sensors.

i was so glad when the app was released and made available for HE. using it as intended, wyze -> IFTTT -> HE, it was like a 45 second delay. doing it through WyzeSense -> HE, it's basically instant. i was able to spin up a VM instead of buying a pi, so that was also another expense i didn't have as i had existing hardware

I compare it to hubconnect between multiple hubs, and it works rock solid. with a few rules to automatically reconnect it if the link ever drops and i don't have to do anything in it

You can always pick up some Iris v2 contact sensors for $5 a piece, when bought in lots of 10 from this ebay seller. You’ll need to provide your own magnets, but those are cheap on eBay as well. :slightly_smiling_face:

Note: many users have bought from this reliable ebay seller.

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no magnets or battery though. those can be gotten cheap i guess, but kinda a messed up move by that seller

He’s been selling in bulk ever since Lowe’s shut down Iris. I bought 20 Iris v2 Motion sensors and 20 Iris v2 Contact sensors. All came with batteries back then, with pull-tabs still in place. Magnets are cheap and you can choose a variety of styles that fit your requirements.

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I use Iris v2 Motion sensors and love them. They are quick, not big or bulky, have great battery life, and just seem to work well. I purchased my lot from the same eBay seller as @ogiewon and would do it again.

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Thanks I’ve purchased iris motion sensors from him before.
Just placed order thanks!

Now just need temp sensors for my new ecobee :slight_smile:

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I wish he'd have another sale...I'm just about out of the Iris motion sensors, and always like to have a few in hand for my next evil automation idea.

What’s a Peanut plug?