Hubitat for AUS/NZ Chat

🌎 Around the World 🇦🇺 Australia
2326

Thanks @sburke781 and @dJOS. I'd seen the Ecowitt mentioned a couple of times, but I don't know much about it. Are they sold locally, or would I have to order directly?

I'm still slightly confused about how the system works. I see mention of the GW1000 Gateway, and then there are also several different types 'Monitor Consoles.' Do you need specific monitors to support specific data types (eg. air quality), or can all monitors display all data types. Can you, if you wanted to, run without a monitor, and just a gateway (integrated into HE)?

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2327

I bought from Amazon.com.au and then added the soil sensors later and some additional indoor temp sensors for other rooms. Think of each module as a radio stations, they all transmit and you just need a receiver so tune into it. Australian ones are all 433mhz. The displays pick it up and the GW1000 pick it up, they pick up everything on the 433mhz and display it on the console and push it up to Ecowitts weather site, and other more. I don't have a display as I use the GW1000 and then just have a tablet on the wall as part of my home automation panel that connects to the ecowitt website to show the data and graphs from my station. It's all pretty easy actually and works really well, just buy from Amazon AU and you will get everything the right frequency (433mhz is the important bit ).

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2328

From what I have read I think they are based on China, though don't quote me. I bought mine from Amazon:

With the one I bought, in the Amazon link above, If you look at the main product image, it comes with the outdoor Personal Weather Station (PWS) with sensors for UV, rain, pressure, temperature, etc, which you need to mount on a pole you supply (I used an old vacuum cleaner pipe). It also comes with the gateway that has an indoor sensor attached, used to measure temperature and humidity. The gateway is about the size of a matchbox and is powered by USB, I plugged mine into a Raspberry PI I recently bought. The gateway connects via RF (I think) to the outdoor PWS and then via WiFi for data distribution. You can purchase other sensors (the air quality one in your case) and connect them to this same gateway, though form memory there is a limit per gateway, but this shouldn't be a problem for your use case I would think.

In terms of data access, there is an app for real-time readings, but only the current values. When setting up the gateway in the app you can choose from various places to send your data. EcoWitt provide a service themselves (I think it's them...), but also offer integrations with Weather Underground. So along with real-time readings in the app, you can also log onto their web site and look at current and historical results.

Thankfully for us, they have also opened this option up to any service that accepts what appears to be somewhat of a standard format for weather readings. So you can configure an endpoint for your HE hub and send the data to a device with the EcoWitt Gateway driver I linked in my earlier post.

Back on the product line, there are various monitors you can buy, but they are more for people without something like a HE hub.

Simon

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2329

Hello All, I'm a soon-to-be Hubitat owner from Melbourne, with my hub on its way. I just thought I'd introduce myself... and then write a short essay about my setup I guess:

I'm moving mostly from Telstra's walled garden, though also have a few Tuya devices (Mirabella globes and powerpoint, Cocoon sensors and alarm), a Broadlink RM Pro which is on the fritz at the moment, and a standard non-Telstra Sengled globe and Sengled Smart Switch (neither of which are currently connected to anything).

Don't judge me too harshly about the Telstra Smart Home - I got all the pieces cheap through ebay and similar and it works well, though not $10 a month well.

I've now got the 5 cameras (three iCamera2s and two OC830s) running outside the Telstra walled garden via Tinycam Pro on my Nvidia Shield in background/sleep mode. I know I can send webhooks from Tinycam Pro, but I’m not planning on integrating the cameras with the Hubitat for the moment.

I'm guessing the Zen thermostat should link up to the Hubitat and work fairly easily, though I understand there are some minor issues.

I understand the door/window sensors are the same as the ones as @snell has drivers for here. They are Sercomm AY300D-1 which are apparently actually SZDWS04 (though don’t rely upon this info without checking).

The Telstra Sengled light globes are different to the regular ones, so I'm not sure how easy they will be to connect. Has anyone had experience with Telstra Sengled bulbs?

I believe that the motion sensors are Visonic K9-85s and Visonic Motion Curtain Detector Clip MCWs and that no-one has been able to get them working so far, so I might have to sell those. A pity, as they work well.

I’ve seen the post for the Sengled Smart Light Switch here.

I’ll be trying Tuya Convert on PC/Mac for the Mirabella and Cocoon devices and hopefully I can get some or all of them working with the Hubitat.

Any advice for a new/soon-to-be Hubitat owner?

2330

Welcome! The biggest thing I would recommend is start slow and make sure things work before adding too much on.

For example, add a few ZigBee or Z-Wave devices, and then work on other stuff (Rules or Apps) to let the ZigBee mesh "build" or run a Z-Wave repair if you added a few of those. "Build" your mesh out from the hub as you add additional repeating-capable devices over time, so it becomes nice and stable. Do not rely on ZigBee bulbs for repeating.

Last, do not hesitate to ask for ideas, help, or whatnot. The forum has lots of helpful people and an absurd amount of useful information already posted.

2331

Sounds like you should get some compatible repeating devices BEFORE you start adding your existing devices.

Happiness comes from having a strong MESH :blush:

2332

Not sure if anyone else has had an issue where the web ui was painfully slow or not but mine has always been. Finally this morning i had a search on the forums about it and found a post with instructions on how to fix the issue with Asus and Netgear routers. I'm using an Asus and this has made a huge difference, just thought i'd post it in case anyone else has the problem. Apparently it's supposed to automatically update the setting on first boot up but i'm sure mine didn't.

2333

Is Hubitat available for purchase in Australia yet?
Import costs are estimated to be $153 (broker), ontop of the $183 cost of the unit. They really should add it to Amazon international marketplace.

2334

I just ordered mine directly from Hubitat, there were no import costs when I got it , admittedly that was a while ago but I doubt you will have to pay any.

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2335

Same here, although I’m still waiting for mine as it’s sitting in Sydney somewhere waiting for Australia Post to finish delivery.

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2336

Yap, got mine directly from Hubitat sure along with 10% discount. Total Aud $232.26 along with UPS delivery.

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2337

Cheers. Will grab one then.

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2338

Hi all, soon to be new HE owner here. I was using Phillips Hue and Smart things but the smart things side has not been used much - can't get over the stupid lag from a button press to it actually doing what it's supposed to.

We're about to replace our air conditioning system to a ducted one. I've been looking at the various controller options out there - MyAir/Airtouch/iZone. Which do you guys think is the better one in terms of integration? I'm leaning towards izone since it at least has smart things integration. Worst case I just leave the smart things hub running.

Thanks

2339

Thanks for the tips @snell and @njandra. I understand from a little bit of reading that in Aus the Samsung SmartPlug ($49) and Tradfi Signal repeater ($20) are what people often use as repeating devices for Zigbee. Are there any other recommendations? I might pick these up while I’m waiting for the hub to arrive (it has only been 12 days so far, but feels like longer).

What do people use for Z-Wave repeating? Also what Z-Wave devices do people have that they highly recommend? Does it make sense to skip adding Z-wave devices and repeaters for the moment? I won’t be rewiring any in-wall switches (I’m a tenant, not homeowner).

2340

Most Z-Wave devices that are mains-powered (plugged in or wired) will act as repeaters. So a lot of the time it is just finding what might be useful to you. Since you do not want to rewire things (good call as a tenant) that leaves any number of plug-in devices. For those, I personally have used indoor and outdoor outlets but I have now built up a pretty good collection of wired switches so I doubt my mesh relies any of the outlets anymore.

2341

I started my system off with Z-Wave, thinking it would be the better option. As time has passed, I've added a whole lot of Zigbee devices, mainly for 2 reasons:

  1. Noticeably faster response times from motion sensors (apparently the newest Z-Wave devices are faster, but I don't know)

  2. Larger selection of devices at affordable prices.

One device type that I still feel is better with Z-Wave (at least in Australia) is the in-wall switches, dimmers, etc. (I like having AU-certified devices that are highly configurable and allow me to keep using my physical switches) Since you won't be installing any of those, you may have no need to go down the Z-Wave route.

ps. I think I think I'd agree with using SmartThings plugs and Tradfri repeaters. I don't have any repeaters, yet, but I have several ST plugs.

2342

Thanks, good to know.

2343

FYI guys.
I just grabbed this offer 10 Ecolink Zigbee Wireless Door/Window Contact Samsung SmartThin | eBay
That 10 pack is pretty good value and the devices do temperature as well as contact. :+1:t3:

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2344

Finally got around to doing some of the DETA switches. I made a "thing" too, but it still nearly beat me. I tried all kinds of combinations, used a 3.3v regulated supply, held GPIO0 for a few seconds, the whole time, everything I could think of. Eventually I changed my USB cable to the serial board, powered the tyw3es using the 3.3v output and somehow it worked! Maybe the other cable didn't supply enough current? Then I tried another switch and it still took me about 20 tries to get it working. I really wish OTA worked :frowning: but at least I've got some tasmota switches happening now. Thanks for the tips.

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2345

Do these do vibration sensor as well or are they just contact/temp sensors?