Home Automation

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Discussion about general home automation ideas and projects, home automation protocols like Z-wave, Zigbee, Matter, etc, and home automation software and hubs like HomeSeer, Home Assistant, OpenHAB, Homey.

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Feeling Overwhelmed Picking Door Sensors (self.homeautomation)

submitted 5 months ago by njordomir to c/homeautomation

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I'm looking for door & window contact sensors and motion sensors to replace an old Simon 3 ADT security system. I've read a lot of posts and such and I'm still having a hard time picking out sensors that will work with an existing Smarthings v2 Hub (currently used for lights) and eventually Home Assistant once life calms down a bit more and I have time to go through all the setup. As I understand it, matter/thread support was added in the v3 hub so I don't have this on my ST v2.

I'd like to avoid anything from Amazon and locally functioning sensors are preferred.

Can anyone advise on how to pick good devices? There seems to be tons of info out there, but I'm having trouble sifting through it for the info I need. This is a surprise for a family member who has been considering replacing an older system. I'd like to get it in place before they have the chance to buy a crappy, locked down, spyware riddled system from a company like Amazon so that I can be sure everything will transition smoothly to Home Assistant later.

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[–] whaleross 5 points 5 months ago

I got me a Zigbee usb stick for home-assistant and have three different makers of window sensors (Sonoff, Ikea, and Tuya OEM from AliExpress) because of no particular reason. Everything is local, no cloud services. The integration of all has been smooth sailing.

[–] solidgrue 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The SmartThings hub does both ZigBee and Z-Wave, right?

I have been pretty happy so far with the Aotec ZW187 sensors on my doors, and the Aquara TZ-006 ZigBee sensors on my windows. The Aotec sensors are Z-Wave, and the Aquara sensors are ZigBee. So far the battery life on the Aotec devices has been stellar, but the ZigBee once seem to fade within a couple of months.

Both are local-only devices, and paired right up with my HUSZ-B combo stick USB controller. Both are well supported in Home Assistant.

I got both through Amazon, but I'm sure you can source them elsewhere as you prefer.

[–] lemming741 1 points 5 months ago

I didn't want batteries, so I used these magnetic reed switches. There are other places to get them-
https://konnected.io/products/contact-sensor-recessed-magnetic-for-doors-or-windows

You just gotta figure out power. I'm fortunate to own my home that has an attic and a crawlspace so drilling holes and pulling wire is simple.

Then I got a Shelly i4 DC. I think it's out of stock now but a Uni would work too. Shelly is all local, cloud disabled by default.

An ESPhome could do it also, and I wish I knew about esphome before I spent any money on importing the Shelly. Get a UNI and after you figure that out, get some esp32 dev boards from AliExpress.

[–] Serinus 1 points 5 months ago

These are what I've been using with Home Assistant. I can't vouch for Smartthings huh, but if it works with Matter/Thread it should work with most things.

SmartThings supports Matter, but not Thread. So if you have something to act as your Thread Border Router, it should work.

Aqara Door and Window Sensor P2

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTL8B72D

[–] NeoNachtwaechter 1 points 5 months ago

I have tried door/window sensors from Aliexpress that run on batteries and send a 433MHz signal. If you look hard enough: the type that sends 'open' AND 'close' signals.

Then a 'Sonoff' bridge device with Tasmota firmware to translate from 433 to WiFi/MQTT for HA.

This works very good. The range of a 433 signal is enormous. (It was >5 years ago, so I don't know if that bridge device is still available now)

Their advantage is that this technology needs only low power, so the sensors can last long on a battery.

The disadvantage is that replacing batteries in the sensors after 1 - 1.5 years still sucks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I'm also interested in this answer since I want to replace my ADT system as well.

Though I'd personally like to order it from Amazon (not made by Amazon though) as I prefer my spyware from the US with same day delivery. AliExpress doesn't do it for me unless I get a "buy specifically this one" type link and it's the only option.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've got aqara open/close sensors that I use on 3 windows and 2 doors. I like them. I've had them a couple years without needing to replace the batteries but I have some spare coin cells on hand for when I do.

Specifically these ones: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09TP7VMKB?psc=1

They're not a security system in the sense of "can detect a smashed window" but they're great for window open/close automation in my NYC apartment.

[–] njordomir 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Based on your comment and a few others, I ended up buying two packs of these as a starting point and they seem to work well. One sensor lost connection but I was able to fix it and the mesh is more dense now, so it may not happen again. Thanks for the recommendation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Glad it is working well for you!