home assistant

[durbster]

If anyone's looking for a really good presence sensor, the Everything Presence One is back in stock now and they've upped the production quality quite a bit. This was the one designed by a smart home YouTuber who was so frustrated there wasn't a presence sensor that did everything he wanted, he made his own.

It was really successful and they kept selling out, and it sounds like he's really stepped up the quality and delivery. I've been holding out for these and ordered a couple this morning. I've been using cheap Sonoff ones which to be fair, have been great, but they need supporting by a separate PIR to get the quick response time.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

i want to buy some but no idea how id use them really

[ARHarh]

RizzoTheRat said:

I've certainly seen similar ones, that's why I want to move up to 25 or 26. That article says some devices don't support 26 but no idea how old it is, most (maybe all) of my devices are Zigbee 3.0 so no idea if that's still a problem.

Annoyingly my mesh wifi (Deco) doesn't let me specify the channel so I can't keep them away from the Zigbee channel


Would my code editor only be showing me the main files and not the backups? What's the best way to access the files otherwise? I'm running HA in a VM on a Synology NAS if that makes any difference

I had the same issues with a mesh wifi, not allowing me to pick channels. Binned it i the end and added a Ubiquiti AP instead.

With the mesh I set my zigbee to channel 15. Found an app which told me the channel my mesh things were working on and moved the mesh units on channel 1 and 6 as far away from the zigbee controller as possible and put the mesh unit using channel 11 nearest to the controller. It worked but sometimes it would change channels for no reason.

Bought the Ubiquiti AP removed the mesh and not had an issue since. Cant remember the make of mesh I had as I just stuck it on eBay and forgot about it.

[durbster]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

i want to buy some but no idea how id use them really

They're useful for lights - lights on if somebody's there; lights off if not. PIR sensors are good for fast detection but no good when you're sat down not moving much. It means you end up in darkness, then have to wave your arms around to get the lights back on

I've got a PIR that turns on the lights when you walk into the bedroom, but use a presence sensor to make sure they only come on if there's nobody already in the room. Basically, if I get home late from the pub and Mrs d is already asleep, it won't turn the lights on.

The other main case I use one for is my home office. It's a separate building with no central heating, so I use one to control a heater in there. If there's nobody there, it'll only keep the room to a minimum temperature but while I'm working, it keeps it at a nice warm temperature all day. Works really well.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

yeah non of them are really things im needing to solve i mean i could put them everywhere and track the cat

[durbster]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

yeah non of them are really things im needing to solve i mean i could put them everywhere and track the cat

That would work. Even the cheap Sonoff presence sensors can pick up my dog when she's conked out on the sofa.

[RizzoTheRat]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

i want to buy some but no idea how id use them really

I'm using one of the new Sonoff mmw presence sensors to control the lights in the kitchen. I did have them on a PIR but had to have the timeout set to 10 minutes otherwise if we sat at the table for a bit the light would switch off

The Sonoff one works well but annoyingly it only updates the bright/dim lux reading once it detects movement, so I have to trigger it on light as well as detection. They're a great idea but need to be powered so limits where else I could use one rather than a PIR sensor.

[outnumbered]

RizzoTheRat said:

I've certainly seen similar ones, that's why I want to move up to 25 or 26. That article says some devices don't support 26 but no idea how old it is, most (maybe all) of my devices are Zigbee 3.0 so no idea if that's still a problem.

Annoyingly my mesh wifi (Deco) doesn't let me specify the channel so I can't keep them away from the Zigbee channel


Would my code editor only be showing me the main files and not the backups? What's the best way to access the files otherwise? I'm running HA in a VM on a Synology NAS if that makes any difference

Are you having connectivity problems with the Zigbee stuff that's made you want to move channel ? FWIW mine is on 25, and I'm not using any WiFi channels that clash with this (although my neighboour is). I think I was still having a few issues though until I made the Zigbee network a bit more diverse. Ikea smart plugs at £6 each are a very cheap way to do this, so you've got more of a mesh and the sensors should always find something they can talk to.

Edited by outnumbered on Friday 29th November 18:09

[RizzoTheRat]

outnumbered said:

Are you having connectivity problems with the Zigbee stuff that's made you want to move channel ? FWIW mine is on 25, and I'm not using any WiFi channels that clash with this (although my neighboour is). I think I was still having a few issues though until I made the Zigbee network a bit more diverse. Ikea smart plugs at £6 each are a very cheap way to do this, so you've got more of a mesh and the sensors should always find something they can talk to.

Edited by outnumbered on Friday 29th November 18:09

Yeah, I find the network will be fine for ages and then suddenly 2 or 3 things will drop off around the same time. I wonder if its the wifi changing channels and causing issues.

The network should be pretty robust, I have about 15 light switches (Smartwise and Moes), 3 Tradfri bulbs, 2 Sonoff ZBMinis, 3 or 4 smart plugs (Sonoff and Ikea), a Sonoff presence sensor and an Ikea booster/USB charger. The Tradfri bulbs, ZBMinis and the presence sensor in particular seem to be really good routers and are connected to the majority of other stuff

[outnumbered]

RizzoTheRat said:

The network should be pretty robust, I have about 15 light switches (Smartwise and Moes), 3 Tradfri bulbs, 2 Sonoff ZBMinis, 3 or 4 smart plugs (Sonoff and Ikea), a Sonoff presence sensor and an Ikea booster/USB charger. The Tradfri bulbs, ZBMinis and the presence sensor in particular seem to be really good routers and are connected to the majority of other stuff

Better than mine then Sounds like it's worth persisting with moving it away from an active WiFi channel, at least to rule that out as a problem. I don't think I've had any problem with battery powered devices (mine are all Sonoff) dropping since getting rid of WiFi on channel 11 and installing a couple of extra Tradfri plugs.