Pros and Cons of Xiaomi Zigbee Devices

@Srwhite does not have Xiaomi zigbee devices as far i'm aware.

It's also incredible what some people say about the Xiaomi zigbee devices. They are Rock solid!! There are 85 Million of those devices sold. The fact that they are engineered in such a way that helps their tiny battery to last 2 years is a feat on itself.
As someone posted in another topic they do not reply to commands as they are in sleep mode and only respond when they start the conversation and only for a short period.
They also take some time to respond when you don't know who they are and need a little effort to be persuaded to share that information.
But... after you understand how to talk to them and that they get acquainted they are Rock solid.

In essence the how good they are depends on good good your software translator is.
HW wise they are beautiful pieces.

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Sorry to burst your bubble here, as far as ZHA 1.2 goes, they are anything but rock solid.
There's a good reason these aren't on our official supported devices list.
If they work for you, awesome.

I am not going to get into a debate on these, nor point fingers as to where the issue lies, or what specifically these are doing and or not doing that can make them challenging to keep online, the bottom line is, for new customers that are looking for stuff to just work, we won't be promoting their use in the community.

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Fair enough.
Just not sure if I would agree with your statement regarding promoting.
I normally see more fails across the different plataforms with brands like iris than with Xiaomi devices for example.

Are you taking a similar approach to air is as well?

I am having great success with Xiaomi contact sensors so far. But i do have ikea outlets splashed around the house. I have ordered more and motion sensors as well to try out.

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Thanks for your information about the Xiaomi. It would be interesting though to know what the main issues are so we can make an informed decision to use them or not. Unless you are looking at deciding to not support them at all in the future ?

I have been thinking about purchasing additional Xiaomi devices, but I won´t if they are having issues or will cause issues down the line.

My comment about a possible integration into the Xiaomi hub, would that be a possibility ? Assuming that the Xiaomi hub plays well with their own devices.

OpenHab had such an integration in place.
On the original gateway version, you could enable a Lan mode through the miapp, that Lan mode would work similar to Philips Hue

Not sure if it works on the recent gateway. You need the recent gateway for the Aqara

Edit: Here is the link to the official Support page of OpenHab for their integration with Xiaomi devices

Honestly I was one of the haters of Xiaomi, they were junk for me, but after some time, instead changing my whole setup in my house I added a second HE hub just for Xiaomi and Tradfri, it's working fine, so I don't hate them now, I ordered 8 contact sensors, 2 cubes and one motion.

The integration of the Xiaomi hub it's a good idea, the hub is cheap, so you can add all the Xiaomi there, if something fails, its Xiaomi, so troubleshoot Xiaomi hub not HE hub, everyone wins, another HE hub is expensive for some users here.

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Personally, I would just rather avoid having another hub. So far I have HE, Lutron and Hue. T If you have all Tradfri (and does anyone know how that's actually pronounced? It sounds dirty when I try to say it.) and Xiaomi and it works for you, that's great. But for someone who's just starting and doesn't have Tradfri outlets for repeaters, then your Xiaomi is going to be tough to integrate.

And remember, with a second hub means a second set of repeaters. Each mesh will need it's own. Luckily with Hue, ZLL bulbs make great repeaters for other ZLL bulbs so I haven't needed to add any repeaters to my hue mesh...yet. But adding another HE for Xiaomi devices means you would need another set of repeaters for those devices if they are far away from the hub. Something to consider if you're looking at that as a solution.

The problem I see is Xiaomi is cheap in price, so we will continue to see users with Xiaomi trying to integrate to HE, in my case I have a small house, 1500sqft, I already have about 28 zigbee devices on HE, now with the second hub with 2 Tradfri I cover my home, so I removed one Iris from my old hub and added a Tradfri to the new hub. The 8 contacts are going to the indoor doors of the house and a test for a safe box. I can sell the iris and buy 2 xiaomi.

I have to agree with @mike.maxwell. He's in the trenches with these drivers and devices. They're not following a standard. Simple as that. Volumes sold are impressive, but that shouldn't mean you don't need a standard. It should rather be a stronger reason for tight adherence to one. So I completely agree with their decision today, as it's too difficult to add official support for a moving target.

Having said this, I am a proponent for anyone in the community that understands the requirements to make these work well and the limitations. They are inexpensive and if you accept what you're buying, then it's a nice affordable way to build out your sensor array.

I'm in a similar house size (smaller actually) to @vjv. The number of devices I have is smaller than many, so definitely not an acid test here. I'm not in any way in need of a second hub for my devices. I have one, but it's strictly for testing. I solve the conflicts by keeping my Zigbee lights that repeat (e.g. Non-Sengled) off of the hub's Zigbee network via a Hue Bridge. I've so far not found any issues with other Zigbee devices and Xiaomi when using the Zigbee 3.0 Trådfri Outlets to repeat the signals.

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Ok, but is not a good idea the integration of the Xiaomi hub? HE did the Yeelight, from Xiaomi, I did not had any color bulbs, after the integration with Yeelight I have 14 color bulbs, they are cheap, same case will be for the Xiaomi hub, is cheap, I never thought about adding sensor to all the rooms doors or closets, but for less than $65 I got 8 contact sensors... I can afford $65, not $160.

Don't want to burst this bubble either, but I have yet to have one of their batteries last nearly that long--some as short as six months. (I haven't even had most of mine for two years yet but have probably replaced nearly every single battery, some multiple times.)

Not Mike, but...Xiaomi devices are not standard ZHA 1.2 devices. Hubitat is (among other things) a ZHA 1.2 hub. Xiaomi devices just happen to be close enough to ZHA that the community has discovered ways to "trick" them into working, and they do for many people. But you have to be careful with how you build your ZigBee mesh, otherwise you will likely have problems. While standard ZHA 1.2 devices, like Iris v2 and later devices, vary in quality, all should theoretically work on a standard ZHA 1.2 network without problems--or at least not any more problems than mesh networks otherwise cause some people. :slight_smile:

I completely agree with the decision to not officially support these and even more with not recommending them to new users. Standard ZHA 1.2 (or ZigBee 3.0) devices require no additional special consideration and are certainly easier for any user, old or new. If you know what you're doing (and understand the technical issues), Xiaomi devices are certainly an option you can turn to, as many have.

Do you mean "Iris"? Those are standard ZHA 1.2 devices, as I stated above, and in no way suffer from problems on standard ZHA 1.2 networks like the Xiaomi devices do. (Again, it is possible to build a bad mesh--or none--that will have problems with any ZigBee device, but that is a different issue. Iris plugs in particular also seem to have a problem on the Z-Wave side for some people [it's a ZigBee plug with a built-in Z-Wave repeater], but that is a different issue.) Hubitat does not manufacture or brand their own sensors, and their approach seems to be to add as much official support for standard ZigBee and Z-Wave devices as possible.

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I think you need to be Swedish, but it's closest to Troad-Free (Google Translate)

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This will depend greatly on the number of event triggers so each case is a case.

Close enough :smiley:
"Trådfri" literally translates to "wire free"

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There's this on ST. I don't use much Xiaomi devices other than just testing but I can see the appeal.

It's pretty simple.... if you want to run xiaomi devices buy a few tradfri outlets, Done.

Plus they are as cheap as xiaomi.

The fact that something is compliant with a given standard does not mean it will work neither the other way around.
Besides Aqara Sensors are zigbee 3.0 certified devices by zigbee Alliance for example.

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Its not in question here how to incorporate them to work, rather if they are a reliable and trustworthy device for new users.

Mike and the HE team believe not hence they are not sanctioning their use. Specially for new users. Most likely there will be arguments that for those that use them, that they are the cause of the issues.
For me the fact if anyone use a device, any device from any Mft, be considered a culprit of any mesh issues, any issue on the platform, just because there is a believe that they are the root cause of all evil is very wrong.

I believe that even for new users they are reliable devices, and even without adequate support, they are on the top of the list on relation quality/price. That's is clear on the number of devices sold.

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Thats what Im saying Shoutout to all new users, use xiaomi with tradfri outlets :slight_smile:

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