So I've had my hub running for a few weeks now with a few ST sensors and a plug.
Everything has been working as should but I'm looking to add more devices now.
Motion sensor: Is there a go to motion sensor that ignores pets (i.e. small dog) but reacts quickly to other motions? I saw a review on the Ecolink 2.5 version but some have had mixed experiences. Or are there other solutions when pets are involved?
Alarm/chime: Currently I just get notifications as to when a door opens/closes but I'd like to have something audible when I'm home or get home. I'm used to hearing something "beep" like when someone has a home security installed and you open/close the door. Not sure if I'd want an announcement (i.e. "front door is open") as it might be or my wife might find it annoying..lol. I plan on getting a pair of Sonos One or One SL. The alarm part would be for an intrusion.
Camera: Any recommendations?
Any other recommended or useful devices for monitoring things or for automation?
For #4... a lot of it depends on what you WANT to do with it or what could be useful to you. Do you want to know what your power consumption is for your house or certain appliances? Is there a bedroom or other room that regularly seems cold so you want to monitor the temperature? Are there windows you want to make sure are not left open (or opened when they should not be)? All sorts of things that can be done.
What I have red so far regarding pets, they usually are ignored by blinding the sensor view so that they do not «see» the area where the pets move. If you have a dog that use your home/furniture as a playground, it might be tricky. For fast once/sensitive once, I have red many good comments on this loved product: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-10-Iris-Motion-Sensor-3326-L-/153437950990
I use the Xioami round small once, and it should be pretty easy for you to blind out the zone of the sensor for where you do not want to detect motion. I think they are very fast and rock steady when you have a good mesh. All these detectors I think are quicker the closer moving objects get to them, and many use two in rooms to be able to keep a short off timer (me included for kitchen and living room) Link for this one is many, but from AliXpress, i bought here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10000004180140.html?
Have in mind that many sensors also have more than motion, so look for illuminance, temp and other functionality when choosing too. You might save some devices when they can be used for more than just motion. Just as a tip. But to find advice, search in the forum for a device your looking at, and you probably going to find lots of info on it. So many are out there, so the perfect device for every scenario, does not exist, I think..
PS: The Xiaomi once also comes with a nice stand that might help you to angle the sensor so it does not read the floor, kind of tip it a bit up, if you do not blind the sensor with some white sport tape or cover some of the sensor window. Easy to do, and they will still look great for you.
Samsung and Dome Water leak detectors. The domes have their own audible alarm which I appreciate and are z-wave, the Samsung are zigbee but also give you temperature. I've enjoyed both.
Smart Door lock. I have the Schlage's. I'd go with a zigbee Schlage or other brand, not the z-wave given the compaints here in this form and other hubs.
Bar none- Sengled Element Classic are my favorite lights, and i think most people agree here. In particular their price, reliability and they don't try and be repeaters which is great for mesh health..
I'm a fan of the Aeotech devices (I have the smart plug that give power readings, and their multi-sensor for humidity and temp but it does much more. They are expensive though.
Before I got into Smart Homes, I went with Ring Flood lights as there were the best wired and battery devices I could find on the market at the time. I'm pleasantly happy with their integration with Hubitat thanks to the community drivers out there.
I never thought of that. But come to think of it I was thinking of getting a new smart thermostat (maybe ecobee) to monitor the living room and master bedroom as those are the two that are either the coldest in winter or hottest in summer.
Is it hard to install a device which monitors power consumption?
For simple thermostat needs - the Centralite Pearls are nice.
I like the Samsung Smarthings buttons. Use them for bedroom sconce light activation. Have been working well. Samsungs products in general are very good like the leak sensors.
IRIS Zigbee outlets from Ebay - great zigbee and (maybe) z-wave repeaters.
Some kind of water main shutoff valve - I use and like the Dome model but there are others.
Multiple hubs if needed or just want to play around with stuff.
Some DIY projects:
Integrated weather station. For basic lux detection I've used an Aeotec MS6 in a clear weatherproof housing outdoors but you can find info on full weather station goodness in these forums.
Converting battery operated sensors to usb powered using charge cables and a small voltage regulator.
simple watering system - I've used a solenoid valve with cord plugged into a smart outlet but there are other cool ideas on these forums as well.
Depends on the power monitoring needs. Small devices, there are a bunch of small, cheap plugs that provide energy consumption data. Heavier users (big appliances) may need more expensive versions. In all these cases though they are just plugs and very easy.
Whole home monitors are more difficult as they usually need to be clipped around wiring in a breaker box/fuse panel. Some people are comfortable with that, some not. I did two of them (a Neurio and an older Aeon Labs one if I remember correctly) without any trouble, but I am not worried about dealing with such stuff.
I just purchased a Gocontrol thermostat on eBay. Its a z wave thermostat and for around $23 you can't go wrong. I got mine along with many others here on Ebay by a seller Alex_Sari GoControl Battery Powered Smart Thermostat GC-TBZ48L Z-Wave 4XAA Iris HVAC 93863134937 | eBay
He lists them as used but I really think they're just open boxed. Works great with the Hubitat's own driver listed or JasonJoel's Enhanced Gocontrol driver. It doesn't have sensors that you can place in other rooms but works great with Hubitat's Thermostat scheduler app. I especially like that apps ECO-mode that allows you to decrease heat temp or increase cool temp by a number of degrees automatically when you leave. Also whats nice about the Gocontrol, is it works with a common wire that could supply electricity to the thermostat OR if you don't have a common wire you can just add 4 AA batteries to power the thermostat. Just a thought for an inexpensive option.
Out of all those brands and models, there are two basic winners:
If price is very important then you go with the Aqara device. (However, please note: you must prepare carefully with a good Zigbee mesh, with lots of appropriate repeaters). Around $14.
If price is not as big a factor, then you go with the NYCE model. It's fast, small, compact, never misses a beat, Zigbee 3.0 compatible, and expensive (around $50)
I don't trust pet safe sensors, at least for security. Too much chance of them false alarming. I have some Bosch Tritech sensors that are dual IR/Microwave and they seem to work well, but I still don't trust them. You'd need a Konnected board or an alarm panel to use these though.
For me the most important sensors in my house are my are the water leak / moisture sensors. I have one under every sink, behind every toilet, and under every appliance that uses water. At a minimum you can be notified. Next purchase would be a water shut off valve or a smart switch for your well if you are on well water. Water damage is expensive and these devices will save you a lot of money in the long run. I have been using home automation since 2013 and water sensors have saved my ass twice.
I have some Bosch sensors. They have two windows, a large horizontal one and a small oval one. The Bosch sensor comes with the small sensor blocked by a foil faced tab. It is supposed to be pet friendly, but I can't vouch for it since we do not have any pets with which to test it.
I just recently got a Google Nest Mini (free for being a Google Fi subscriber) which I use with the Chromcast Integration app. I do have a door open announcement, but it is set to go off if the door is left open for half an hour as a reminder to shut it. The other announcements are for mode change and for alarm arming/disarming. The GNMs are a lot less expensive than Sonos devices. I have the microphone shut off as I do NOT want the device listening to me. The sound is pretty good for such a small speaker.
Unfortunately, there is no camera integration into Hubitat and I do not know if there are plans to do so. However, there are workarounds for cameras if you want to do so. My own method is to have my existing Lowe's Iris cameras (actually made by Sercomm) running and using the Motion application on Linux to record to an external hard drive. I recently changed my router to a Netgear AX3000 (model RAX40-1000NAS) router that has the capability to set up a VPN server. I did so and now I can view my cameras remotely. Do a search on the forum for Camect or go to https://camect.com. It looks like it would be good since it, like Hubitat, is local with internet access optional, but it is somewhat pricey.
A smart thermostat is very handy. When used with the Thermostat Scheduler, or with custom rules, it can adjust for home/away or day/night, or other settings to meet your needs. I have a Zen Zigbee edition thermostat and am happy with it. I had to create some custom rules for it, but since doing so, its performance has been solid. Again, search on the forum and see what others are using. There are several options.
Smart switches and/or dimmers are great for setting up motion activated lights. I went that route rather than tackle the headache of "smart bulbs." I added controllers to my ceiling fans for the lights since I was not able to lay my hands on one that could control both lights and fan. The fans don't have separate wires for lights and fan and I did not want to run a separate wire.
More contact sensors for doors and possibly windows. I have them on the house doors, the utility room door, the crawl space door, the tools shed and the yard equipment shed. I had a number of Iris 1st gen sensors and purchased some 2nd gen contact sensors. If you are going to get some, go for the 2nd gen sensors since they are Zigbee HA1.2 compliant. I had to separate out my 1st gen devices and put them on a separate hub as I was experiencing instability with them on one hub.
When it comes time to change our water heater, I would like to get one that can be integrated into the system. It is easier if the WH is electric, but ours is natural gas. It will be a while before it is needed since it was fairly new when we bought the house about 5 years ago.
Anyway, I'm sure you will get more replies with other suggestions as well. Hopefully, this will help.
+1 on water sensors. These things have saved me multiple times over the past 12 years. Also, temp sensors in fridges and freezers. I lost well over $1k worth of meat in my freezer a couple of years ago. Since I have installed temp sensors, they saved my main fridge food, and the food in a different freezer (I hate grocery shopping and buy in bulk).
I have tilt sensors to monitor garage door status, and the buttons are wired to relays on my Elk. Having garage door control from the phone or Alexa is pretty awesome.
Do you have a reco for which brand you use for the low temps?
+1 on Water Sensors, I'm in an old house and just in 1.5 years they have detected leaks that- while small and didn't cause a ton of damage - for sure saved me way more hassle then their cost.
I have successfully used Iris V1 and V2 contact sensors in refrigerators and freezers. The larger CR2 batteries hold up to the cold temperatures. I have one in every freezer and fridge now. The SmartThings contact sensors with button batteries do not cut the mustard.
@tcc I've read most of the posts in this thread thus far. I see that the Xiaomi sensors were mentioned, so I'm going to pipe in. Please research Xiaomi in the forum as a whole. You need to know what you're getting yourself into. Cree bulbs. I'm just going to get them out of the way as well. Just don't buy them in HE. In any case, please make sure that you research the recommendations people are giving you before you buy because they may have the ability to make them solid out of know how. You may not have those resources like an extra hub at your disposal. Please just keep that in mind. I do see a lot of great recommendations here, but you should still research before you buy and check the compatibility list so that you know what you're getting yourself into. Just search the threads. You'll read the things people aren't bothering to tell you.
Wow, thank you everyone again for all of your recommendations and uses. I will definitely do my due diligence in researching recommended products as i'm very picky anyways
