I am trying to find an outdoor temperature sensor for either Zigbee (preferred), or Z-Wave. All I am finding so far are mickey-mouse things that have their own proprietary hubs, and I don't want to end up with a shelf full of hubs for manufacturers I never heard of.
I don't need anything fancy; just the ability to detect temperature while putting up with outside conditions. Thanks, gang!
Many use the Phillips Hue Outdoor Motion sensor connected directly to their Hubitat hub for this purpose. It connects via Zigbee and can do motion, illuminance and temperature reporting.
Z-Wave -
I did some rooting and pawing around after sending my question, and it looks like that is how I will go. The Hue stuff is price-y, but if the sensor in my garage is any indicator, the quality is very high and they are easy on batteries. Thanks very much.
And that Hue sensor uses regular AA batteries.
I have only heard good feedback on their sensors and the ones (Indoor units) that I have have also been working great!
I hear they can sometimes be found at Costco in the states - might be worth looking into that option.
All the better. My first sensor (motion sensing for garage lights) was a Zooz. It excelled in two things: a) not working consistently and b) sucking down VERY expensive batteries in at little as a week. My Hue sensor that replaced the Zooz has been on the same battery since I installed it several months back, and yet still reads 100% in my Hubitat Device Manager. Either it is lying, or it is really easy on batteries.
It may be lying but I have found them to be easy on batteries.
My closest Costco is about 250 miles away, so, Amazon or Home Despot is the better solution.
This could be due to a signal that isn’t strong enough…
On the topic of batteries - if you have cold winters, you might want to consider Lithium batteries as they don’t get impacted by the cold as much.
Oh! I always do. I have some of those atomic clocks that do outdoor temperatures, and being I am in NE Tennessee where it can get down into single-digit F temps in the winter, lithium is the only way to go for the sensors.
You could always spend a little more and get a Weatherflow Tempest... Get a little more than just temp reading 
Here's a comparison from three temperature sensors that are within 10 feet of each other in my backyard.
Tempest Weatherstation:
ecowitt Outdoor Temperature/Humidity sensor:
Philips Hue Outdoor Motion/Lux/Temperature sensor
I had calibrated the Lux sensor about a year ago against an outdoor thermometer. It is currently reading a temperature of 85.3F, which is corrected to 84.2F.
Seems to me that they are all pretty close. The cheapest option is the ecowitt. The sensor + gateway are about $40, and the gateway integrates via the local LAN with Hubitat (no cloud needed).
While I also recommend the Hue outdoor sensor I am aware it's kind of spendy. Another possibility is the cheap Visionic contact/temp sensor on eBay. If you buy more than one you can knock the price down to about $5 each. Mount it as best you can to stay out of direct rain and than it should last awhile. Maybe put it in a ziplock type bag, be creative.
If your looking for local temperature only, consider pulling info from Weather Underground? You can store a value into a variable... I use a wierd method - my Blue Iris server has an overlay that pings Wunderground and stores the temp value. I run a macro that puts the string into an HE variable - at least I used to! The beauty is I can pull the data off a PWS (personal weather station) reporting about 2 blocks away at the local University... The price is right, at $.0 it's a steal!
This also worked, it's a bpt app.
I ordered a 2pack on costco.com for about $70 (so about $10 cheaper than buying two on amazon or at Home Depot) shipped. Got it in about 3 days. I dont know if you can order if not a memeber, or if you if the price might be higher.
I held off these for a long time, primarily because of the price, but im glad i finally did it. Fwiw, in my garage I have a Ecowitt multi channel temp/ humidity sensor. Im also really a fan of the ecowitt stuff for weather / environmental monitoring. Love having the plants tell me when they need water!
Do you have model numbers for either or both? I am looking at the Hue website and all I see is a sensor that resembles a little version of an outdoor light fixture, black with a lens, and it says nothing beyond it being a motion sensor. Hue seems to lack a lot of description qualities...
Not sure I replied. Thanks again if I did. Do you have a model number for these?
This is it:
Download the Hubitat app
