Sorry if this is a newb question; I’m coming in cold. I’ve had HAOS running on an RPi4 for months, but I haven’t invested in any smart devices to connect yet.
I’d like to start with some (ideally open source) smart gauges just to check the temp out front and back. Any recommendations?
Thanks!
Grab yourself a Zigbee coordinator and some Zigbee Temperature Devices off AliExpress or from Ikea if you’re willing to pay more.
I’m a bit late, but if it helps, I’ve had good results with the Sonoff and Tuya zigbee sensors. I prefer the Tuyas, just because they use AA instead of CR2032 batteries.
$50 will easily get you everything you need to start.
You might also want to think about getting a 433MHz radio for the system.
If you live in a built up area, you’d be surprised how many people have equipment transmitting on 433MHz already (free data!).
And a lot of generic wireless temperature sensor kits use it as a standard, making it a good value way to get weatherproof gear.
I got a generic fridge/freezer kit for about £10 that works perfectly with this.
Again, $50 or so for a DVB-T2 receiver. Just be aware that it’s a little more technically involved than pairing zigbee devices.
Bother me with DMs if you like, I’ve been fiddling with just about every protocol I can get my hands on for under £100!
Like others have said, ZigBee is the way to go for low-traffic things like temperature sensors. It uses a lot less power than WiFi, so battery-powered devices can last for months on a CR2032.
I’ve got some Aqara temperature/humidity sensors that I have hooked up to my Smartthings Hub and then imported into Home Assistant through the cloud, but you can use any ZigBee adapter that works with Home Assistant: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/using-aqara-temp-and-humidity-sensor/408166/9.
I also recently got some Sensibo Elements boxes, which are wall-powered WiFi air quality sensors that include temperature/humidity. They have an official HA integration. If you go for them, don’t worry about the sale countdown on the website; it doesn’t actually seem to ever end.
Have you considered other protocols, especially ZigBee?
I’ve tried a few other ZigBee Coordinators and this is the only one I can really suggest. Home Assistant even has their own that used to be called Sky Connect. I was having things randomly drop off my network with Sky Connect.
Get the one that has experimental Matter-over-thread support for future-proofing. You can even get it with POE support if that’s helpful for you.
If you’re trying to avoid a whole zigbee or zwave network, Govee makes some inexpensive battery-powered bluetooth thermometer/hygrometers, and have a HA integration, but bluetooth can be tricky to get running on Pis. I feel like most of the actual wifi devices are phone-home type setups. My govee thermometers have pretty good range - one of them even reads from inside the refrigerator.
I would recommend this product from Shelly https://www.shelly.com/en-us/products/shop/shelly-h-and-t-gen3-1
Doesn’t no app or hub requried, works via wifi or bluetooth, has an e-ink display to conserve battery. I’ve had it since October and its been running without issue. Uses 4 AA batteries which I haven’t changed at all and are still above 75%!
There’s a newer generation (I have the previous one) so I can only imagine its even better.
Yep! The device has a built-in web server. You connect via it’s IP from any browser and configure it how you want. Here’s what it looks like in homeassistant.
Overview:
Historical data: