We’ve been using smart thermostats for some time and the winter time makes it a bit more relevant as we go. They are great devices and save us a lot of money in the process, but they also have their own drawbacks, so it was about time to improve it.
Our smart home might not be the most advanced or complete solution, but it’s been a great adventure. We’ve tried plethora of devices and protocols, before we’ve settled on Zigbee and Home Assistant as the main thing. We have some Eve stuff, TP-Link Tapo and other things, but it appears that…
Mix and match is not that great…
To be honest, our heating setup is also far from perfect and it does require some work. We currently run a variety of devices, ranging from the first generation Eve Thermo with no Matter over Thread support, Eve Thermo with Matter over Thread and Zigbee Sonoff TRVZB. They all do the good job of automatically controlling the heaters when needed or scheduled without eating through the batteries to fast.
The most relevant cons of said devices are:
- non-Matter EVE can be only controlled via Home App and doesn’t like rechargeable batteries, almost instantly reporting low battery status
- Matter EVE can be controlled via Home Assistant, but the Matter setup is finicky – phone, HomeKit hub and Home Assistant have to be in the same vlan, Matter plugin version mismatch for Home Assistant might be a problem
- Sonoff requires 3 AA batteries, it’s less HomeKit friendly and scheduled heating requires Home Assistant automations
There is also one more thing that makes all those thermostats a bit rubbish, but it can be easily fixed by, no surprises, throwing more money at your smart home…🤡
The solution!
That’s why, after a brief „reconnaissance” I went straight to AliExpress to get 6 temperature and humidity sensors. The weapon of choice is a bit generic Tuya Temperature and Humidity sensor, but I have found proven to be working with Home Assistant via Zigbee, ramping up ZHA device count up to 40 items.
They were dirt cheap – we’ve got them for €13 for a pack of 6. They run on a pair of AAA batteries. They were easy to pair and set up with Home Assistant and they look unobtrusive enough I sometimes forget where did I place them.
But what problem do they solve, you ask? Well, those smart thermostats are not really that smart. I mean, they can of course schedule the heating, which is nice, but they really suck in terms of knowing what the correct room temperature is. That is not surprising, considering they measure the room temperature themselves and they are literally on the heater. You have to then setup some kind of offsets and other BS I don’t even want to remember.
So what’s the deal?
It’s very simple. The external temperature and humidity sensor moves the temperature measurement away from the heater, making it more reliable setup and actually warm home, which is the whole point of it.
Since the switch of smart home heavy lifting to Home Assistant, I’m not that happy with HomeKit-only devices and HomeKit capabilities overall. The long term goal is to switch to all sorts of Zigbee contraptions and just pass them through to HomeKit. And since I’m not entirely sure that Sonoff TRVZB offering is the best solution, there is plenty of research to be done.
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