Xiaomi Smart home gear on Aliexpress?

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Xiaomi Smart home gear on Aliexpress?

mokoshakalaka

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#247852 27-Feb-2019 02:04

Hi all,

I'm kind of new to the smart home scene. I was looking into getting some cheap and cheerful xiaomi gear ( hub / temperature sensor / door & window sensors / smart plugs ) to use with RPi with Openhab.

I've been looking on Aliexpress and i'm getting overwhelmed with the number of resuppliers, i'm not sure which ones are trustworthy to make a purchase.

Does anyone have any recommendations on sellers Aliexpress or sellers in nz?

Thanks in advance!

rp1790

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#2187829 27-Feb-2019 07:39

I have bought Xiaomi gear (plus and sensors like you're after) from the two stores below and both have been great. Reasonably fast shipping, good reviews and good pricing.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1486388

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/2096053

mokoshakalaka

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#2187941 27-Feb-2019 10:59

Thanks heaps! I will take a look at these guys!

gcorgnet

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#2187943 27-Feb-2019 11:01

For what it's worth, I got a bunch of Aqara temperature sensors and they're pretty good. Using them with Home Assistant on a NUC.

mokoshakalaka

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#2187978 27-Feb-2019 12:03

Also from Aliexpress or elsewhere?

Yeah i plan to get the aqara temperature ones.

Suckerpunch

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#2188024 27-Feb-2019 12:35

Those who have bought the Xiaomi temperature sensors, are you able to please tell me how frequently does the temperature get reported?

And secondly, do you need the Xiaomi hub to communicate between OpenHab\Home Assistant or can you use alternatives to the Xiaomi hub?

Thanks!

Phil.

kobiak

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#2188070 27-Feb-2019 12:53

Suckerpunch:

Those who have bought the Xiaomi temperature sensors, are you able to please tell me how frequently does the temperature get reported?

And secondly, do you need the Xiaomi hub to communicate between OpenHab\Home Assistant or can you use alternatives to the Xiaomi hub?

Thanks!

Phil.

sensor reports back on change, or manually on demand when view that sensor. so it's pretty much instant.

you can use universal zigbee2mqtt hack (special usb dongle) if you wish not use xiaomi hub

helping others at evgenyk.nz

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Mark

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#2188077 27-Feb-2019 13:06

The Samsung Smartthings hub can also sync up to Xiaomi zigbee devices, gives options.

gcorgnet

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#2188079 27-Feb-2019 13:09

kobiak:

Suckerpunch:

Those who have bought the Xiaomi temperature sensors, are you able to please tell me how frequently does the temperature get reported?

And secondly, do you need the Xiaomi hub to communicate between OpenHab\Home Assistant or can you use alternatives to the Xiaomi hub?

Thanks!

Phil.

sensor reports back on change, or manually on demand when view that sensor. so it's pretty much instant.

you can use universal zigbee2mqtt hack (special usb dongle) if you wish not use xiaomi hub

I am using the zigbee2mqtt think for Home Assistant, which means I don't have a Xiaomi Gateway. Works really well and was a breeze to set up.

neb

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#2188122 27-Feb-2019 14:09

Is Xiaomi gear faked much? I assume there's enough of it floating around that it's easier to just resell the originals, but I'm wondering if there's much trade in fake gear. The originals are generally pretty good value, so I'm wondering how careful you have to be about getting fakes.

Yoban

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#2188597 28-Feb-2019 09:12

gcorgnet:

I am using the zigbee2mqtt think for Home Assistant, which means I don't have a Xiaomi Gateway. Works really well and was a breeze to set up.

Heading down this path myself - zigbee2mqtt looks a better option that zwave. Was wondering how you housed the USB dongle as looking at the setup guide, it would seem to be an exposed circuit board. I have a trial HA running in a container on proxmox box.

gcorgnet

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#2188674 28-Feb-2019 10:31

Yoban:

gcorgnet:

I am using the zigbee2mqtt think for Home Assistant, which means I don't have a Xiaomi Gateway. Works really well and was a breeze to set up.

Heading down this path myself - zigbee2mqtt looks a better option that zwave. Was wondering how you housed the USB dongle as looking at the setup guide, it would seem to be an exposed circuit board. I have a trial HA running in a container on proxmox box.

I've left mine as is (expose circuit board). It has an annoying green LED that you can in fact disable through the config.