Mains powered zigbee sensors - PIR & Climate

🌎 Around the World 🇬🇧 UK
#1

Hi All,

I am UK based and am currently in the process of completely redecorating a number of room in my house, including the bathrooms. I'd like to take advantage of this work and integrate some smart functionality.
I have Hubitat Elevation C5 with a number of zigbeen devices / sensors throughout the house. Also some Tuya devices running Tasmota.

I am looking for recommendation for certain devices...

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

RG

#2

Just curious to understand - why do they need to be mains powered?

#3

Not having to buy and change batteries all the time :slight_smile: .

@user2244 I'm in the same boat as you, although I'm from Denmark. In my country we have a system called Zensehome, which uses powerline as a backbone between devices and MQTT support. That's the way I'm thinking of going, but haven't decided yet.
I will follow this thread with interest :slight_smile:

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#4

That's a tall order. Is this available in your country?

Multi-Sensor 4 in 1,Zigbee Motion Sensor with Temperature Humidity lumiance Light ,Requires TUYA HUB,Zigbee Connection,USB Cable or Battery Operated https://a.co/d/7cNg3cd

#5

HI Rocketwiz,

There are a number of reasons...

  • not having to change batteries
  • I currently have a number of battery based sensors (motion / temperature) now, They are pretty good, but I do find that from time to time they loose connection, especially since they need to preserve power. I have never had any problems with any of my mains powered devices.
  • Since we are doing a complete refurbishment, including lighting / electricals / etc, I figure this it is a good time to setup a more permanent / reliable installation

Thanks

#6

Xiaomi motion sensors have a battery life of up to 2 years. Sonoff less so unfortunately. Philips Hue also well over 12 months.

If they are losing connection (zigbee) this is a mesh issue, not to do with 'preserving power'.

Fair enough. The Aqara FP1 is USB powered and now has HE drivers thanks to @kkossev.

I don't know how it works in the UK but here in Australia those mains tuya stuff are not legal as they aren't electrically approved.

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#7

Thanks Jnosa,

That looks like a nice one.
Amazon UK does not have it, but it does look like a lot of other UK sites have it (or very similar) as well as Aliexpress.
Just out of curiosity, in case you (or anyone else) know, how would you get the USB connection if it is all recessed in the ceiling. Are there any USB compatible converters / chargers that can be recessed in the ceiling.
Thanks

#8

I'm not sure to be honest. I know there are some weird USB cables/power options from my days looking to power my fire tablet dashboards. I remember seeing all kinds of stuff to go with dashboard frames on Etsy. I don't know what the different options are but that would be as good place took and figure out what options exist. Search fire tablet dashboard. Many sellers also sell interesting options for power.

Example, look at the power options.

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#9

I know you want mains powered but if you get a sensor that uses anything but those button cell batteries you can pretty much count on two years battery life. NYCE comes to mind,

#10

Thanks

#11

Although currently unavailable, due to shortage of components, this is a dandy unit although the "packaging" may not be suitable for your case.

#12

I am finishing up on an addition in the back of my home. I ran Cat6 ethernet to many low voltage boxes, that way I am using POE along with POE adapters to power cameras, hubs and sensors. I also have purchased about 6 outlets that have USB ports built into them for various reasons.
Here's one example, and yes they do really support fast charge.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MTDDFBX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

You can also place dual duty electrical boxes, one side is mains power and the other is low voltage, where you could put POE Ethernet and or a converter to generate low voltage from mains.

I avoid using power for any sensors tied to my alarm system, as it must work with or without power. All my motion , door and sirens are battery powered, some with mains power also.

Just run Cat6, it's perfect for low voltage &/or ethernet/power and many other uses. You never know what will be invented that requires a connection to the web. Can't have enough data ports

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#13

There are rechargeable batteries for nearly every possible "home automation" device. Yes, one still must replace them, and track battery levels ("Device Watchdog" does that well, for those devices that report battery level), and there is a standard system log warning message when a device has not been reachable for some period of time ("No event seen from the device for over 3 hours! Something is not right... " which is flagged with the device number).

The problem with "mains" power is that it requires every device to have a high-voltage section, and some sort of rectifier and voltage divider or voltage regulator to make the very low DC voltages for something that draws negligible current. This added parts count could easily double the cost of the hardware, and making something that plugs into the mains forces the manufacturer to go through testing (like Underwriters Laboratories in the USA) for each new design. This is precisely why your sleek lightweight laptop comes with an ugly "brick" power supply. The power supply maker has to go through the agony of "approval", and the laptop maker just buys them wholesale.

#14

Ok. If you are pulling cables to the location you want motions sensors, why not drop wireless completely?

https://konnected.io/ lets you use traditional wired alarm motion sensors. You then can integrate the Konnected board into Hubitat and they look like normal motion sensors in hubitiat. This also uses low voltage wires so no need to involve an electrician. A CAT5e wire pull is overkill for the application but it works well and it easy to source.

I have two of these. https://konnected.io/collections/shop-now/products/alarm-panel-pro-board-only

You do not need to have an existing alarm system to use this. I have one, so I am taking advantage of wires already pulled around the house to existing motion and door sensors. You can integrate with a lot of existing alarm systems or you can simply remove everything except the wires/existing sensor - the choice is yours.

konnected offers an option to be completely off the cloud with the setup. So that dovetails nicely into hubitat also being off the cloud.

I have played with this hardware and it seems to be robust. I got the Pro board so I can use POE and a wired connection. I avoid wireless devices whenever possible.

I HATE, HATE, HATE using battery powered devices - it is wasteful and murphy's law dictates that the battery of something will die at the most inconvenient time. (Say while on vacation.)

So it I think it is something you might want to consider.

#15

I'll tell ya a little story. I love rechargeable LiIon batteries and use lots of them...however by only 1 volt over the 3.2 volt normal voltage, allowed me to fry a wink siren. It was an EBL 3.7 volt RCR123 and I'm guessing the circuitry inside the siren was crappy quality(to match the wink system ?)
Some companies, like Tenergy, make 3.2volt RCR123's and I have a few sets but can't find them any longer. Considering how rechargeable prices have skyrocketed and the life span of the rechargeable cells(5 years?), I'm not certain the cost advantage is great as it was

#16

Hi All,

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments.
Apologies I have have been quiet on this.

I sent a few emails / messages around to find out more about the some of the devices that are available, got a few responses. Since a lot of them were lacking in detail, I had to ask whether they are suitable for use in a bathroom....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09DCNG3NY?ref_=pe_780071_42242491_dpLink
For this one the confirmation, that it is not suitable for use in the bathroom.

For this one from MouseHouse, the response was...
'After ceiling installation, only the front part is exposed, the rear part is hidden on the ceiling, and the exposed part can reach IP44，please feel free to install in bathrooms.'
It also comes with a AC to DC transformer bundled.

I ordered 2 of the MoesHouse PIR sensors (Zigbee) from AliExpress. It is a bit of a risk, but I thought its worth a try as on paper at least they suit my requirements.
Although, I am able to pair it with my Hubitat, there is currently no compatible driver, so this will be my next step.

Thanks & Regards,

RG

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#17

Tuya mmWave radars are supported in this driver.

1 Like
#18

Hi Kkossev,

Thanks for your response.

I've followed the instruction to load the custom drivers. It is now at least detecting something, though I'm not sure it's working correctly.

AFAIK, the sensor is able to detect motion and luminance. However, the driver appears to be interpreting it as Temperature.
I am uploading some pictures of the devices, so that it is easy to identify.

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Below is some of the information from the Device within Hubitat...

Current States

  • motion : active
  • powerSource : battery
  • tamper : detected
  • temperature : 14.5

State Variables

  • packetID : 4
  • rxCounter : 2000
  • hashStringPars : 24243209f7d37f1d813fbd
  • driverVersion : 1.0.11 2022/08/22 9:48 PM
  • txCounter : 22
  • notPresentCounter : 0
  • lastBattery : 0
  • motionStarted : 1662387847982

Data

  • endpointId: 01
  • model: TS0601
  • application: 44
  • manufacturer: _TZE200_wukb7rhc

According to the manual, it should have the ability to set the sensitivity of the sensor, which is not currently not available in the driver.

Thanks again for your help,

RG

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#19

This is a new Moes radar manufacturer, so it was not recognized as a mmWave radar by the driver.
I have included the device fingerprint in driver version 1.0.12 Plese update the driver from the development branch link :
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kkossev/Hubitat/development/Drivers/Tuya%20Multi%20Sensor%204%20In%201/Tuya%20Multi%20Sensor%204%20In%201.groovy

After updating the driver, it will be better to delete the device from the web page UI and then pair it again as a new device. This driver should be now automatically assigned when paired to HE.

Let me know if it works for your device.

#20

Thanks Kkossev for that very quick update,

The sensor / driver appears to be working well.
I need to play around with it a little bit and configure.

Many Thanks,

RG

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