Xiaomi sensors

[northan]

Hi,
I know this has been covered in a few topics, but tbh I'm still not 100% sure on the answer.
I have all these xiaomi contact sensors around the house. Historically they were okay, but recently they drop off occasionally and I have to repair them. I understood this was a risk when I got them, but I thought I would risk it.
So if I were to keep these sensors, I understand that routing them through their own gateway is the best solution. I don't want to buy another hubitat as this is a little overkill.
Could someone point me towards the cheapest simplistic solution?

[aaiyar]

@northan

I understand that routing them through their own gateway is the best solution.

When that is said, people usually mean the Mijia or Aqara gateway, and not another Hubitat hub.

My solution was to pair them to zigbee2mqtt (running on an SBC like a Raspberry Pi), and to bring them into Hubitat via Node-RED (also running on the same SBC).

Other choices would be to use Home Assistant running on the RPi.

A RPii costs about $40-50, and the USB dongle cost about the same.

Edit - I am modestly proficient in Linux, and it took me about 2 hours to set it up with a few sensors. It worked so well for a week that my zigbee2mqtt setup currently has about 75 devices - all of which are exposed to Hubitat.

[northan]

sounds good, but a non proficient Linux ( as I'am) user may find this daunting.
I was hoping a mijia gateway and an app to link to the hubitat, is that possible? If so what is the best gateway and app to this?

[aaiyar]

@northan

I was hoping a mijia gateway and an app to link to the hubitat, is that possible?

Kind of possible. Still needs an RPi though. There are two ways of bringing in data from a Mijia gateway into Hubitat.

1. With the old Mijia gateway, an RPi running Node-RED or running @fison67's Mi-Connector app
2. With the new Mijia gateway which is HomeKit compatible, you'd need an RPi running Home Assistant to pair the gateway to, and then there's an integration to bring devices from Home Assistant into Hubitat.

[northan]

Okay that's great, simple enough explanation.
I was toying to keep the sensors or change to a less finickity type, that has made up my mind.

So can anyone suggest the cheapest zwave or zigbee contact sensor in the UK that is rock solid with Hubitat?

[aaiyar]

@northan

zigbee contact sensor in the UK

Zigbee sensors use the same frequency worldwide. I have heard good things about the Sonoff zigbee sensors.

[bobbles]

@northan

cheapest zwave or zigbee contact sensor in the UK

I've moved across to the Sonoff devices.
I have all 4 types and they do work well with in-built and custom device handlers. They are not everybody's cup of tea but they work for me.
I have found that the motion sensors are fractionally slower than Xiaomi/Aqara devices but not by much.
Others have said that the range of the motion sensors is not as good but in my use cases they are fine. I suppose it depends on the range you need them for. For me the max I need is around 3m and I'm not having issues.
I was having issues with false motion detection with a couple of them but in another thread someone pointed out that the battery contacts can not be as solid as they should be. I adjusted the contacts and haven't had any issues since. (Touch wood).

[Royski]

Or, if you want to keep them, deCONZ is a good solution.

[rocketwiz]

I was going to swap out my sensors for ST ones but since I moved my non-compatible repeaters to zigbee2mqtt (alternative to deconz) they seem to have no issues. I actually prefer the xiaomi sensors to ST simply due to the form factor.

[gavincampbell]

Lots of good options hear. I'll just add one more.

Two things I would look at.

1. Take an inventory of all your other devices that may server as routers. Not all routers play nice with these devices. Maybe you have one of those. Also if you have no routers, there is a limit to the number of devices that connect directly to the hub. Not sure how many devices you have. I currently have converted all of my repeating devices over to ikea only and they play really well together. I had to get rid of some others that were causing me a headache last year or so.

2. Take a look at the zigbee channel. If you haven't messed with it, it could possibly be getting interference from other devices like your wifi. I have an eero mesh setup that runs on channel 1 and I set my zigbee to run on "0x14 (20)".

These are the two things I focused on in my setup to get them working nicely.

[rocketwiz]

@gavincampbell

number of devices that connect directly to the hub.

32 zigbee devices max

@gavincampbell

a look at the zigbee channel

Also check your access point settings - you may find an option to scan for congestion which will also help to see what channels your neighbours are using.