Xiaomi Smart Home

beanian

Anyone on here have experience of the Xiaomi Smart Home stuff? It all runs on ZigBee and requires yet another hub but the pricing seems very attractive!
For example €6 for a Door/Windows sensor

€6 for a smart button

€40 for a dual paddle zigbee wall switch with local control

There is also a custom component to plug all this into Home Assistant (& SmartThings)

I'd like to hear if anyone has first hand experience with this stuff before I make the plunge.

paulbok

Started getting emails from that site an hour after looking at it :eek:

beanian

I've ordered the Hub, 2 X Door/ Window Sensors & 2 x Button for a total of €55. I'll be the guinea pig for the forum I guess

I'll report back on my experience

ShRT

I guess I'll be the gerbil then! Just took delivery of a gateway, couple of switches, three pir sensors and have some yeelights to setup too. Just waiting on a pi3 to run domoticz to arrive and then the fun begins!

Cona

Interested in the outcome here...seem like great value products

BionicRasher

ShRT wrote: »

I guess I'll be the gerbil then! Just took delivery of a gateway, couple of switches, three pir sensors and have some yeelights to setup too. Just waiting on a pi3 to run domoticz to arrive and then the fun begins!

How are you finding the gateway when it's plugged in to the socket? Is it protruding a good but with the adaptor?

reni10

Interested in this Xiaomi setup too, especially the sensors and PIR, wonder is there a smart alarm system that they could be hooked into?

ShRT

BionicRasher wrote: »

How are you finding the gateway when it's plugged in to the socket? Is it protruding a good but with the adaptor?

Haven't taken it out of the box yet! Just ordered the pi 3 the other day so when that arrives I'll probably start into it in earnest. Looking at the pics it will stick out a bit alright but i don't see it being a big issue as it will be static in the wall in an out of the way place.

What i do have an issue with is the E27 to bayonet adapters for the yeelight bulbs. The bulbs are a bit weighty and i have a lamp as a test bed for setting up the bulbs. When upright in the lamp it's inclined to lean over to the side a little. I'll probably swap a lot of my fixtures over to E27 i think

beanian

So I finally took deliver of the Xiaomi gear yesterday and promptly got started setting everything up.

One mistake i made was setting the Xiaomi app to US instead of Mainland China. It doesnt work unless the location is set to Mainland China.

Once I got the hub plugged in and paired I added one of the door/window sensors to the hub. These things are *tiny*. I've never seen a door sensor so small. Here is a picture vs my Aeotec Z-Wave door sensor (€50) for comparison:

Once I got that setup and working with the Xiaomi Hub I decided to start trying to link it into Home Assistant. I did so using this custom component .
It was a remarkably painless process and I was able to set up a simple light on/light off automation in no time.

I also got 2 of the buttons and set up one of them. You can assign actions to single, double & long press. Again setup was very simple and the Home Assistant integration is first class. I'm still trying to figure out the best use-case for these at the moment so I'm not actively using them.
Remarks:

• This gear is serious value for money. I paid €6 for a door & window sensor and €6 for a button!
• The range on the Xiaomi hub is very good. I have mine buried in my network cabinet in my attic and it works flawlessly anywhere downstairs. I suspect it may be amplified by the hue bulbs I have everywhere as they both use ZigBee & hue bulbs act as repeaters although I'm not sure if the hue bulbs only repeat the signal from their own bridge or if they'll repeat any ZigBee signal.
• The response time is super fast. Much faster then the Z-Wave door sensor I have. I have the door sensor on my closet so the light turns on when you open it and off when you close it and it's so quick I cannot see the light turn on at all.

• How are you finding the gateway when it's plugged in to the socket? Is it protruding a good but with the adaptor?

  Yes it does protrude quite a bit with the adapter on it & the hub itself is bulky enough. It's not an issue for me as I have it buried in a cabinet but may be an issue depending on where you are installing it

Overall I'm very happy with my purchase. It's great to finally stumble across something that's decent quality and cheap in the HA world!
Next on the list is an Aqara Wall Switch!

Any questions just shout!

bk

Cool, a few questions:

- Is the window/door sensor a magnetic open/close only sensor or does it also have vibration sensor (someone breaking a window)?

- Is the wall switch wired into an existing wall switch (replacing it)?

If yes, then I wonder if it could be used with Hue lights? I'd be interested to see how you get on with this.

beanian

bk wrote: »

Cool, a few questions:

- Is the window/door sensor a magnetic open/close only sensor or does it also have vibration sensor (someone breaking a window)?

- Is the wall switch wired into an existing wall switch (replacing it)?

If yes, then I wonder if it could be used with Hue lights? I'd be interested to see how you get on with this.

- The door/windows sensor is magnetic so doesn't detect vibration (as far as i'm aware)

-They come in two flavors, a wireless version which is battery powered and acts like a hue dimmer switch of sorts. The second one actually replaces the physical switch and provides local control of the light. The 2 paddle version is interesting as you can control on/off from one paddle & then set a scene using the other paddle. I'm going to get one of these to control a switch that controls a hue light. I'll still have the issue of the light coming on 100% brightness when power is restored.

Another option is to use the wireless version and hardwire the light to always be on. The switch (86mm x 86mm) looks like it will cover the opening created by a irish/uk switch (85mm x 85mm) unlike the hue dimmer.

EDIT: I found this guide for modifying the button to convert it to a wall switch. The idea being you hardwire the light to be always live and control the hue bulb via the local switch. I gave it a go and it seems to work great on a momentary switch i had lying around. Just need to solder it on and install, but i'll report back on how it goes

beanian

Just ordered a few more bits to expand this setup:

• Zigbee Wireless Aqara Switch (Double Toggle) x2
• Zigbee Wired Aqara Switch (Double Toggle)
• Motion Sensor x2
• Door/Window Sensor x2

€80 for the lot which is stupidly cheap. The wired aqara switch is going to be used to swap out a z-wave dimmer that cost €50 :eek:

TitianGerm

I'd be interested in a few of the window sensors now after reading your comments.

Do you need a hub for those to work? I can't seem to find one on the Gearbest site.

eamonnq

emmetkenny wrote: »

I'd be interested in a few of the window sensors now after reading your comments.

Do you need a hub for those to work? I can't seem to find one on the Gearbest site.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Xiaomi-Smart-Home-Kit-Wireless-Switch-Human-Body-Sensor-Door-and-Window-Sensor-Playing-Methods/32404046903.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.weBcHf&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10065_10151_10068_10136_10137_10060_10138_10155_10062_10156_10154_10056_10055_10054_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10147_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_10171_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10181_10037_10182_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124-10119,searchweb201603_4,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=e0fc7378-40cf-46b3-97c8-5a93b66d33f0&algo_expid=27fd9356-8a7a-49ea-a54b-6f6517b8dc5b-0&algo_pvid=27fd9356-8a7a-49ea-a54b-6f6517b8dc5b

Not just available on Gearbest ( I really don't like Gearbest!! ) :P

TitianGerm

eamonnq wrote: »

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Xiaomi-Smart-Home-Kit-Wireless-Switch-Human-Body-Sensor-Door-and-Window-Sensor-Playing-Methods/32404046903.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.weBcHf&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10065_10151_10068_10136_10137_10060_10138_10155_10062_10156_10154_10056_10055_10054_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10147_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_10171_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10181_10037_10182_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124-10119,searchweb201603_4,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=e0fc7378-40cf-46b3-97c8-5a93b66d33f0&algo_expid=27fd9356-8a7a-49ea-a54b-6f6517b8dc5b-0&algo_pvid=27fd9356-8a7a-49ea-a54b-6f6517b8dc5b

Not just available on Gearbest ( I really don't like Gearbest!! ) :P

I'm thinking of the window/door sensors because our house alarm has no window sensors so these would be a nice addition.

If the sensor connection is broken do you get a notification through the app?

eamonnq

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-Original-Xiaomi-Smart-Home-Kit-Gate-way-Intelligent-Multifunction-Wireless-Switch-Human-Body-Sensor-Door/32775703513.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.54.MHf9lp&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10152_10065_10151_10068_10136_10137_10060_10138_10155_10062_10156_10154_10056_10055_10054_10059_10099_10103_10102_10096_10148_10147_10052_10053_10142_10107_10050_10051_10171_10084_10083_10119_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10181_10037_10182_10032_10078_10079_10077_10073_10070_10123_10120_10124-10050_10111_10120,searchweb201603_4,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=6e78d1e3-1e75-4a43-8d38-c746c92dcba9&algo_expid=3e7affb7-78a2-43f1-9ce5-8f2b4b416180-9&algo_pvid=3e7affb7-78a2-43f1-9ce5-8f2b4b416180

beanian

eamonnq wrote: »

Not just available on Gearbest ( I really don't like Gearbest!! ) :P

That's fair enough. I generally found gearbest to be cheapest and have never had any hassle with delivery etc.

I'm thinking of the window/door sensors because our house alarm has no window sensors so these would be a nice addition.

If the sensor connection is broken do you get a notification through the app?

You do need the hub for all these sensors to work.
Yes you can use the Mi Home app to send you a notification if any of the sensors are triggered.
It does also have an in-built alarm system that you can arm like a traditional alarm (away,home etc) however i don't use the mi home app as i have all the sensors connected into Home Assistant

paulbok

Tempted with these so have a few questions Beanian if you don't mind?
Particularly keen on covering all windows that kids can reach internally with sensors.

What are they like to pair with Smartthings or HA?
I've read mixed reports that they are stable once paired, but a dogs mother to setup initially.

Do updates to either ST/HA cause issues with integration?

Can the gateway be accessed by ST/HA? I'd look at using it as an internal siren or doorbell chime.

bk

Fantastic prices on these.

Just a pity that they aren't better integrated with other HA ecosystems. No IFTTT/Yonomi/Stringify/Alexa/GHome. Makes them much more less useful unless you are already using HomeAssistant.

It would be great if they could at least add IFTTT, it is really straight forward and would offer indirect support for all of the above.

beanian

paulbok wrote: »

Tempted with these so have a few questions
What are they like to pair with Smartthings or HA?

You pair them with the hub usingthe Mi Home app and then reboot home assistant and thats it! Really easy to pair.

paulbok wrote: »

Do updates to either ST/HA cause issues with integration?

No. I jumped from HASS 0.35 to 0.41 in one go and it didnt affect the integration at all.

paulbok wrote: »

Can the gateway be accessed by ST/HA? I'd look at using it as an internal siren or doorbell chime.

Speaking from a HASS point of view you can play sounds over the speaker thats built into the hub and also control the light that's built into it.
Check out the component here. It also supports the cube which looks like a quirky device (similar to ikeas motion dimmer) that i might try out for the craic

beanian

Ok so a bit of an update:
I took delivery of a couple of the Aqara Wireless switches and also 1 of the wired. They both work over ZigBee.
My main use case for the Wireless ones was to replace the existing wall switch where the switch controls a hue bulb. I would hard-wire the light to always be on and replace it with this so you can locally control the light without cutting power.

These lights fit Irish/UK switch sizes perfectly.It's not obvious with the wireless version but you can drill out 2 holes in the backing plate and screw it into the backbox, and again these all line up perfectly with our back boxes, see the photos below of my install
Here you can see the location of the 2 holes i drilled


Mounted up on wall


Front plate attached


The wireless switches responsiveness is on-par with a Hue Dimmer.

The wired version i installed in my kitchen to control two spot bars. It can control 2 loads (dual paddle) and doesn't require a neutral.
However i wired it so one paddle toggles both spot bars and the other toggles the under cabinet hue strips(wirelessly)
The wired version offers serious value for money, this replaces a €50 z-wave dimmer switch as i get more functionality out of it.

However, it's not all sunshine & roses . I have noticed drop signals from the wireless switches - I would say 1 time in 20 you would press the button and the lights would not respond and from looking at the logs the signal never made it back to the hub.
It's not a major issue for us at the moment however it is something I want to iron out. I should note where I have installed these switches is a fair distance from the Xiaomi hub which lives in a network cabinet in my attic.
I'm going to install a wireless switch upstairs and will be interested to see if that suffers from the same issue.
I have noticed the same issue with my Hue Dimmer switches but not as frequent. Trying out different zigbee channels might help and is an avenue of investigation i can go down

bk

Very interesting, thanks beanian

How do you have these switches controlling the Hue lights? I assume they aren't talking straight to the Hue bridge?

beanian

bk wrote: »

How do you have these switches controlling the Hue lights? I assume they aren't talking straight to the Hue bridge?

No they are talking to Home Assistant which is then controlling the Hue lights

Stoner

beanian wrote:

The wireless switches responsiveness is on-par with a Hue Dimmer.

Great info beanian.

Looks like my hub gang is going to grow.

bittihuduga

is anyone using xiaomi with alexa?
i have the xiaomi yeelights and gateway and other stuff connected to china server.
i believe xiaomi yeelights skill for alexa is published but for singapore server.

is it possible to have gateway connected to chinese server and bulb to singapore ?

beanian

bittihuduga wrote: »

is anyone using xiaomi with alexa?
i have the xiaomi yeelights and gateway and other stuff connected to china server.
i believe xiaomi yeelights skill for alexa is published but for singapore server.

is it possible to have gateway connected to chinese server and bulb to singapore ?

I connect everything into Home Assistant which polls the Xiaomi Hub locally. I also have a yeelight which Home Assistant controls locally.
Anything that is connected to Home Assistant can be controlled via Alexa/GHome via the Emulated Hue component.

beanian

However, it's not all sunshine & roses . I have noticed drop signals from the wireless switches

Just an update on this. I moved my hub out of the attic and into an upstairs bedroom. This has completely resolved all issues I had with the switches

bittihuduga

beanian wrote: »

I connect everything into Home Assistant which polls the Xiaomi Hub locally. I also have a yeelight which Home Assistant controls locally.
Anything that is connected to Home Assistant can be controlled via Alexa/GHome via the Emulated Hue component.

are you connected to singapore server or china server?

beanian

bittihuduga wrote: »

are you connected to singapore server or china server?

Not sure, when i set it up originally I selected Mainland China.
As I'm using Home Assistant all the traffic is local on my network. I just use theMi Home app to add new devices

bittihuduga

beanian wrote: »

Not sure, when i set it up originally I selected Mainland China.
As I'm using Home Assistant all the traffic is local on my network. I just use theMi Home app to add new devices

is it possible to share sample code for yeelights?
I am struggling to connect homeassistant with yeelights

beanian

bittihuduga wrote: »

is it possible to share sample code for yeelights?
I am struggling to connect homeassistant with yeelights

sure is my HASS config

light:
- platform: yeelight
devices:
192.168.1.125:
name: Vanity

Del007

I'm looking for some advice about the Xiaomi light switch.

I'm looking at getting this switch.

http://www.gearbest.com/alarm-systems/pp_610096.html?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=linkshare&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-LiSjbo5gSqWGiEqfr2.NhQ

Will this allow me to turn on and off the switch normally and also through an app on my phone?

Is there anything else that I need for this to work?

Cheers

niallb

Looks like you can use that switch manually and remotely.
You'll need something to link the zigbee network to your wifi network for a phone app to work.

http://files.xiaomi-mi.com/files/aqara/aqara-EN.pdf

Not certain if it will fit the box you already have on the wall, but at that price it looks like a good find.

beanian

you'll need the Xiaomi smart hub to connect this to your network so you can control using your phone.
I have this exact one and its a perfect fit for Irish back boxes

paulbok

Is there a dimmer version?

BionicRasher

paulbok wrote: »

Is there a dimmer version?

As opposed to a smarter version?










Gets coat.......and leaving now......

Del007

Does anyone know if the ZigBee Version wall switch will work with the wemo hub? I already have the wemo hub so that would be handy.

paulbok

BionicRasher wrote: »

As opposed to a smarter version?







Gets coat.......and leaving now......

No one likes a smart-ar$e.....







Unless it's z-wave & zigbee compatible and works with Home Assistant 😉

FrankGrimes

Going to take a punt and gamble on a few different Xiaomi sensors to try them out in my current house tonseenif they'll prove a reliable option for widescake use when we move to our new house in 6mths. How long does delivery from Gearbest generally take?

Will be controlling everything via Smartthings, do I still need the Xiaomi hub? Planning to buy a range of sensors to test them each out (motion, door, humidity etc.), any particular models to avoid?

Stoner

FrankGrimes wrote:

Will be controlling everything via Smartthings, do I still need the Xiaomi hub? Planning to buy a range of sensors to test them each out (motion, door, humidity etc.), any particular models to avoid?

You still need the hub

pastor

Xiaomi Yeelights now have Google Home integration as well as Amazon Echo. I have not set it up yet but will do so over the weekend.

the heathen

pastor wrote: »

Xiaomi Yeelights now have Google Home integration as well as Amazon Echo. I have not set it up yet but will do so over the weekend.

I've a single Xiaomi Yeelight bulb which I set up last night with Google Home. Works well although I couldn't get it to activate the preset scenes like 'sunrise' etc or my own self-created favourites.

Xiaomi do say that they should be usable with GH so I'm probably just not asking it correctly. It does turn on/off, dim/brighten and change colour perfectly though.

Let me know if you have more luck Pastor.

Xiaomi post on new Google Home integration - http://forum.yeelight.com/t/yeelight-work-with-google-home/1768

pjproby

I am having trouble with the Xiaomi gateway hub. it stopped working about four weeks ago-the yellow light flashes-a message is given in Chinese-but obviously I have no idea what the message is. i have deleted the gateway but the app cannot find it now despite repeated attempts I emailed Xiaomi support to no avail. App is set to mainland China and the gateway is used to control two censors.
Any suggestions appreciated.

jmBuildExt

Hi - took delivery of a 4 in 1 kit yesterday (gateway, door sensor, motion, wireless switch). Got it going on the phone, then I used some python scripts to start talking to the gateway to send commands and see the status of the sensors.

Anyway, I can see a voltage status coming back from each of the sensors. Its in the 3100 range for each sensor - so I assume its mili volts.

I'm looking to know at what voltage you should swap the batteries out at so I can set up something to flag that its running low.
Im sure openHab must take care of this? Maybe one of the guys who use it can tell me what it does (although its prob configurable).

Cheers.

jmBuildExt

Stoner wrote: »

You still need the hub

Not necessarily.
I dont use smartthings but it has the hardware to talk directly to the sensors (it uses zigbee).

@FrankGrimes - During my brief googling I came across a thread where a bunch of people in the smartthings community got them working directly with smartthings hub (i.e. no need for xiaomi hub), but there were issues with them "dropping off" or "unpairing" - I'm not sure whether it was resolved.
Heres the link
https://community.smartthings.com/t/xiaomi-zigbee-door-window-sensor-motion-sensor-smart-button-device-type-beta/31948/1

Its quite long, I didn't get to the end so im not sure whether they resolved the issue. It seemed to change with different versions of smartthings firmware.

Gimme Stitches

Xiaomi's answer to Alexa: https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/26/xiaomi-mi-ai-speaker-smart-assistant/

tipperary

Currently considering one of these and looking for some advice on what I need to get. Currently have a number of outside lights all controlled by a single switch. I would like to replace the switch with a 'smart switch' that I can configure to turn on when it gets dark, and turn off at a set time (say 11pm).
Questions are is this the system that will best suit my needs, and what parts do I need to make this work?

paulbok

Ordered some kit from Xiaomi last night, the hub and some sensors. Also got one light switch to try out, I'm hoping it will be what I'm looking for in a switch - local, remote & automated control of non smart lights. I believe it will, I want to have smart control and eliminate accidental turning off of the traditional switch .
Had been tempted by the G2 Lightwaverf kit, but there is no comparison on price

FrankGrimes

paulbok wrote: »

Ordered some kit from Xiaomi last night, the hub and some sensors. Also got one light switch to try out, I'm hoping it will be what I'm looking for in a switch - local, remote & automated control of non smart lights. I believe it will, I want to have smart control and eliminate accidental turning off of the traditional switch .
Had been tempted by the G2 Lightwaverf kit, but there is no comparison on price

Who did you buy from and what’s the anticipated delivery timeframe? Will order some to test how well they actually work with SmartThings

paulbok

Ordered from Gearbest, (Link on 1st post). Paid extra 9 Euros for 5-7 day delivery. Did have free delivery but that was I think 15-22 days delivery. Going to setup on Home Assistant, kinda giving up on Smartthings.
If these are a success, I'll replace the remaining ST gear I have and flog it.

bk

I ordered the hub, wireless switch, 2 x door/window sensors, 2 x motion sensors from Gearbest a few days ago. Going to give it a go as a basic connected security system.

If it goes well I'll probably add at least one wired switch and some more sensors.

I really like that you can cheaply add sensors as you need.