When you ask about room sensors - it depends on if you want something that can also display
I personally like the BLE Xiaomi sensors - they have a LCD display and show Temp and Humidity and battery level - you can then interface them using BLE with a ESP32 using Tasmota that acts as a aggregator/bridge (i have 6 of them talking to a single Tasmota ESP32) - the units are on the walls in each room and pass the WAF and provide useful local information and then the Tasmota unit sends MQTT info from each room to my central Home Automation system
I think the cost is quite Ok if you think on the design, good motor and long battery. If I estimate a "out-from-the-hat" cost, I will really get close to it (think on a I2C display, DC motor with 5V to 12 converter, pushbutton, ESP32 ucroprocessor, 3D printed caps and fit to the "where ever in the world valve connection" and PCB, LiO battery) I don't think I can beat that price.
Anyway, I would like to ask you @BartButenaers , when running on MQTT shelly devices, do you keep the Cloud interface?
I have not yet automate anything on NRed within my home automation solution, and I have not yet configure my devices to send MQTT messages, but I have my ESP32 devices flashed with micropython and talking to mosquitto in my Hassistant environment.
I would like to unify all my communication as much as I can, and MQTT is the best I can think about.
JB
Thanks NotBart aka @TotallyInformation, I have nothing against cloud, since the server is not yet on "production" and it is as hobbist as it can be. I have a pump that is really important at the moment at home and some sensors where other automations/signals are critical for me. So, if something happen to the server at least Cloud can be reached. But surely I have no intention to run cloud in the long run. So far is compromise between time/renovation priorities/parenting
I have recently got Plug S, some 2PM models and I was thinking the to buy TVR. In some units the device rolled bak to cloud when I deactivated, but have not found the time to test really what is the cause. i would research more on the versions and will report in another post (maybe I should open a thread on Shelly , MQTT and removing the cloud later on).
In an old apartment I was living, 5 years ago, I did customize some cheap TRVs, Silvercrest, bought from Lidl, ~9 EUR/piece (atmega based - got info from: Sparmatic Heizungsthermostate – Mikrocontroller.net) with a custom built firmware + RFM69 module so I could control them from node-red. Together with custom built temperature sensors + OLED displays mounted on the wall, I could control the temperature in each room. The main control was to start the central heating if at least one temperature required heating and stop the heating when all the rooms are at temp.
I remember if I wanted to use ZWave TRVs to get all the above functionality I was looking at ~1000 EUR at that time and I was still reliant on some cloud services to get the data. I think today it's way cheaper and accessible using Zigbee.
In the new home, I currently have tasmota (3 Wifi power outlets from a while ago), zigbee with z2mqtt (2 relays + lots of sensors - PIR/water leak/temp+humidity) and a bunch of custom built/custom firmware ESP32 based devices (touch dimmers, relays, on/off, etc.).
Ah, I also have one Shelly Pro 2 that controls a contactor to connect/disconnect the grid when the solar power battery is low. It was my first shelly but I really like what they did and I actually plan on getting more.
Impressive and a little bit jealous (I paused my DIY side a couple of years still since parenting does not give me enough space for it). Your solution can be fitted to my day-job description and I get paid for it, but we are a team, not a single man-orquestra. Well done!
I think it is clear that one can choose Shelly for ~70 € (or 800 SEK in my case, maybe ask for discount on several units) or start from a really low budget and add on (not counting engineering time) to get a much better device. As many mention in the post, shelly devices are far from perfect. I own some H&T and there is a big drift in Humidity calculation from actual relative humidity levels. But I like a lot the design, battery life and that I can reprogram it. I have recalibrate them using an external temperature and its own internal temperature and make estimations once in a while.
I like your Wiki btw, and really inspiring project.
I still think it is hard to beat the price/benefits from what it promises and the reviews I have seen, but that said I would like to know also the experience on this shelly device from this community (as someone commented, good, kind and bright people).
- I only use MQTT on Shelly, I've never turned on the cloud.
- and also use only MQTT on Shelly, I've never turned on the cloud.
