[Official] Home Automation Thread

[Vulpix]

Yo...can share what's your planned set up now?

Eh, I not doing anything till December when I get my new home leh, it's still subjected to changes.

 

[gheesung]

Anyone has a Xiaomi Mijia Air Detector ? If you do, can you share with me if you can download daily readings into your machine or the cloud?

Or do you know of any IoT devices (using wifi) that measures air quality and able extract information from the device?

I am using Xiaomi Air purifier which has PMI 2.5 reading and it is integrated to Openhab. The value is stored into influxdb in a raspberry pi.

 

[plustwo]

I am using Xiaomi Air purifier which has PMI 2.5 reading and it is integrated to Openhab. The value is stored into influxdb in a raspberry pi.

didn't know openhab integrated the purifier alr

 

[gheesung]

didn't know openhab integrated the purifier alr

Openhab also supports the MIIO protocol which can control the Xiaomi Vacuum Robot, Yee light etc etc.

The Mi Air quality monitor is supported but I did not try out.

 

[viix]

Guys, can homey supports mijia and aqara devices? I know it supports zigbee but not sure if it's compatible with xiaomi range of products

Supports most devices listed on the respective pages
https://apps.athom.com/app/com.xiaomi-mi
https://apps.athom.com/app/com.xiaomi-miio

things not supported are the zigbee sheperd devices like the leak sensor and smoke/co2 alarms. And wifi devices that are not supported by the MIIOlibrary (not the same MIIO HA python library)

 

[MaoZeDuo]

At first I thought that its was due to the aqara non neutral switch providing constant electrical flow... but then again... outside shops their lights also on 24hr for years... mine only 10 months... the led is 3 color type... any experts know what could be the cause and how I can prevent this?

Pm for StackSocial referral link - to earn credits for online courses! HardwareZone Forums app

 

[punkster]

Anyone know if I can reset the xiaomi gateway to China? Most of my xiaomi stuff are on China server but I recently bought a sensor set from the local mi store which can't connect to China

 

[angy]

I am using Xiaomi Air purifier which has PMI 2.5 reading and it is integrated to Openhab. The value is stored into influxdb in a raspberry pi.

Gheesung, thanks for your reply.
Can you share with me what is openhab? It is a cloud where the devices store the information? How does it work?

 

[gheesung]

Gheesung, thanks for your reply.
Can you share with me what is openhab? It is a cloud where the devices store the information? How does it work?

Openhab is one of the very popular open source smart home hubs. It can run on Linux, Windows, Mac, Raspberry pi etc. Search for openhab and you can find their website and forum. The website is very comprehensive and there are also many Youtube videos on various aspects of Openhab. As in all Open source project, you have to invest your time to understand it.

Openhab can support many devices in the market and integrate to Google home and Alexa. My favourites are Xiaomi and Sonoff products. I have integrated directly/indirectly to various Xiaomi sensors (Temp, humidity, flood, flower soil etc), switches, Air Purifier, Vacuum, Camera, Aircon etc. For Sonoff, I used the switches and RF controller flashed with Tasmota firmware.

Openhab has also very good cloud integration. They offer a free reverse proxy where you can connect Openhab Mobile App to control your home devices remotely. If you're worried about using the free one, you can setup one using one of the public cloud providers (AWS, GCP etc). The mobile app is capable to notify you of event triggering. I have configured it to send the bus arrival time of my home bus stop to the mobile phone when I press a button at home or mobile app. This is more convenient than using the official LTA app.

In term of UI, they offer a variety of interface. The Habpanel is a very beautiful UI that catered to larger form factor such as tablets. I used an old Google Nexus 10 tablet as my control panel. The entire UI is skinnable and if you're familiar with AngularJS, you can design your own button, control etc. Recently I bought a few switches that can measure energy usage. Together with other 3rd party tools, Grafana and influxdb, interesting near realtime power usage charts can be easily created and displayed on habpanel UI.

Just be warned, this is very addictive and once started, it is very hard to stop because there are always new things to integrate and new devices to buy.

 

[gheesung]

Anyone know if I can reset the xiaomi gateway to China? Most of my xiaomi stuff are on China server but I recently bought a sensor set from the local mi store which can't connect to China

The region setting is controlled by the Mihome app and each region has a login account to Xiaomi portal. When you login to China region to setup the gateway, the gateway is registered to your China account. Sensors that need to be paired to the Gateway will also be registered to China account. My understanding is sharing of devices across to another region account is not allowed.

For your case, you may want to re-register again the gateway after the mihome app is login to China region.

 

[plustwo]

does anyone know how to reconnect to xiaomi gateway without losing all the child devices? for some reason my gateway went offline

 

[pustefix]

does anyone know how to reconnect to xiaomi gateway without losing all the child devices? for some reason my gateway went offline

You can reset the gateway and do the setup again, the last time I did that (few months ago), the child devices are still there. Mine is also offline for months now, however it is still working fine in Home Assistant, so find no need to reset it.

 

[plustwo]

You can reset the gateway and do the setup again, the last time I did that (few months ago), the child devices are still there. Mine is also offline for months now, however it is still working fine in Home Assistant, so find no need to reset it.

reset alr. now old problem of gateway going offline after a few mins. really sick of this stupid gateway. any cheap 3rd party alternative for controlling the sensors?

 

[pustefix]

reset alr. now old problem of gateway going offline after a few mins. really sick of this stupid gateway. any cheap 3rd party alternative for controlling the sensors?

For alternative, I am using this: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/. My gateway will also goes "offline" for hours daily, however all sensors will still work properly. The things that don't work are Aqara wall switches, zigbee plug, gateway light. It seems all the set operation will not work while read will work (hence sensors are working). Hence I have moved my wall switch and plug to zigbee2mqtt, while my sensors are still on the gateway.

 

[viix]

At first I thought that its was due to the aqara non neutral switch providing constant electrical flow... but then again... outside shops their lights also on 24hr for years... mine only 10 months... the led is 3 color type... any experts know what could be the cause and how I can prevent this?

Pm for StackSocial referral link - to earn credits for online courses! HardwareZone Forums app

This is bad, melted the plastic connector?
Looks like the thin wire is causing heat buildup seeing the direction of the melting..
My electrical is rusty, I would assume that when outside lights when they are on 24hr, the circuit is close so there is less buildup of heat up on the wire as there is a load at the LED light. So maybe when the LED isn't lighted in your case, the resistance on the wire is enough to cause a build up of heat.

If you have a multimeter, maybe measure the amp across the wire and connector when the light is on or off.

Does your light flicker or auto turn on with the non neutral switch? I recall reading somewhere not to install LED lights with non neutral switches due to the low current and if you do, it's safer to install it with a load like the Aeotec bypass. CAVET, I dont know if adding the bypass will solve your problem but it looks like the wires cannot take the low current without over heating.

 

[plustwo]

For alternative, I am using this: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/. My gateway will also goes "offline" for hours daily, however all sensors will still work properly. The things that don't work are Aqara wall switches, zigbee plug, gateway light. It seems all the set operation will not work while read will work (hence sensors are working). Hence I have moved my wall switch and plug to zigbee2mqtt, while my sensors are still on the gateway.

this stick need to plug into some type of pc right? means need 2xpi extra at least?

 

[MaxLeung]

They don't need to know anything about home automation. Just tell them to pull a neutral wire to all ur light switches as well. Standard practice is to only have live wires. So when they do ur reno, just tell them you want also a neutral wire at each light switch point too.

My ID and electrician told me that the TP Link light switch require a housing inside the wall. Anyone encounter this and know where that sells this housing?

 

[bullfrog]

My ID and electrician told me that the TP Link light switch require a housing inside the wall. Anyone encounter this and know where that sells this housing?

I got them from amazon for my previous house when i used wemo light switches. But these are surface mounts. You will need to find the appropriate ones if you plan to put them inside your wall.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0028...b_b_asin_title

And this


https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/p...ntId=D5KJKnjhb


You can use this wallplate for the double gang box


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000M...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Posted from PCWX using Me dic stinks

 

[MaxLeung]

I got them from amazon for my previous house when i used wemo light switches. But these are surface mounts. You will need to find the appropriate ones if you plan to put them inside your wall.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0028...b_b_asin_title

And this


https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/p...ntId=D5KJKnjhb


You can use this wallplate for the double gang box


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000M...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Posted from PCWX using Me dic stinks

Thanks for your reply. Does surface mount means it will protrude out from the wall? And are those double gang face plates be used for all smart switches brands?

 

[bullfrog]

Thanks for your reply. Does surface mount means it will protrude out from the wall? And are those double gang face plates be used for all smart switches brands?

They will protrude yes. My previous HDB home had to run exposed wire trunking so those surface mount were perfect for those.

Those faceplates are for USA and Australia regular styled switches. The TP link and Wemo switches are designed for use in those countries.

There is no one sized fits all as our switches are sized and designed a little differently. My current home are using Aqara smart switches which are sized for our use.

Posted from PCWX using Me dic stinks